BHP Orange Run

It's the last weekend before Ramadhan and what better way to go in the fasting month with a short 11k run at BHP Orange Run. The run was held at Piazza, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara. Quick shout out to the usual suspect who again bailout in the last minute. I guess 5 bucks was not a big deal to burn. In the other hand, Hafriz was down with Bieber fever the night before so find it hard to hear the morning alarm and the tons of missed calls! However, we got a newcomer in the running scene. Welcome Zawawi. Damn, this dude is mad fast! Got to be those long legs. I lost sight of him by KM3. Eventually caught up with him in the last KM. I think he slowed down for me. 

I was quite surprised with the numbers of runners turned out for this run. Perhaps they missed out the registration for MH night run like I did. Well, it was worth it if you considered the cost benefits. The route was great. Love the downhill part. Gatorade was provided at water stations. For post refreshments, they provided variety of drinks from coffee, teh tarik to ribena and chocolate milk along with nasi lemak. Happy tummy happy runner =D

SELAMAT BERPUASA

Those rare quiet traffic days

With Zawawi a.k.a Dirt Nowitzki

With Mr. Choi and his son

Night bash.. zzzz

With Ariff, Pak Mat, Uncle Jo and Amir

First major climb where there's no shame in pushing

Bash#213 at Sepang was a night ride. First night ride since I started riding with KLMBH in 2010. My last bash was back at Kemensah in March. That was also the last time I got on a bike. Been really into running lately. I thought running would complement cycling, vice versa, but that's not the case. Every time I ride one of these bashes, it always got me cursing when those cramps starting to creep in. And bash#213 was no exception. On on!

We got a full crew this time around with Arif, Amir, Pak Mat and Uncle Jo. On this ride we would say hello to Pak Mat's new Merida and goodbye to old Schwimmer. I'll be putting the new girl up for a test. First thing I noticed was the short stem. It gives a closer angle between the handle and the seat post. Sweet!

Pak Mat and Arif ride short. I managed to persuade Amir to ride long. Kept on telling him it'll be fast and flat. Practically no climbs or if there's any he won't even notice it. All of this information I got from the bash trail preamble. Well, again I underestimated the trail and the hares. The first hour, all riders were riding in a group, where everyone just started to get their legs warmed up. By that time, Amir was behind and Uncle Jo was upfront. The second hour, was where I started to ride in small groups of two or three. At times I was riding alone. The atmosphere suddenly changed when you're riding alone in the dark. You looked back and see no incoming lights from other riders. All I do was concentrating on the paper trails. 

Night bash is different. I didn't see anybody took a breather on the side unless they suffer a puncture. Everyone quickly kept going. I'd rode the area once before during the SIC jamboree last year, and was quite familiar with some of the trails. The recent dry weather makes the trails very dusty especially if you got bundled up behind other riders.

Reached back at the rv point after 2.5 hour of hard riding. The battery pack for the light was really killing my back. My back was crying for a lithium-ion batts. Amir arrived almost an hour later along with the sweepers. Arif who was super hyper in beginning fell asleep as we had our dinner at the nearest Mcd. Great bash and many thanks to the hares and organizer! 

SCKLM Honda Half Marathon

Let's go straight to the good news! I set a new PB! I didn't realize until I'd reached home and check my PJ Dawn finished time. I'd finished in 2:22'32" a whopping 5 minutes off my previous PB. Initially my goal was to finish within 2.5 hour, but setting a PB in the process was an awesome added bonus =) 

This would be my 3rd half marathon for the year. Super pumped up as I ran the 10k category last year. Lots of good memories here. It was at SCKLM where I got my first taste of a major running event. I was glad that I could step up a notch this year and run in the half marathon. Full marathon for next year?! Well that's the plan. We'll see =)

It was really hard to get to Dataran Merdeka with many main roads closed. The detour cost me some time. Twist and turned my way into KL and luckily I arrived near Masjid Jamek. Stopped by for Subuh prayer then head straight to Dataran Merdeka where the half marathon category had already started. Thankfully being the category with the most participation with 5500+ runners, there were still a good 2000+ runners slowly making their way to cross the starting line. 

Here's the bad news. I thought I could avoid cramps and muscle stiffness during the run by rubbing on a hot cream/analgesic on my legs and thighs before I left the house. It turned out to be the biggest mistake ever! At first, I felt fine. Then all of a sudden, after the 10km mark, my legs started to feel the heat. Such unbearable discomfort was really distracting me. I tried spraying cool muscle reliever offered by volunteers at the water stations to put down the heat. Well, it didn't work and now my legs felt hot and cold at the same time. To make matter worst, the knee pains and heavy legs starting to kick in. It was surely by far the worst ever feeling to have while running that I've experienced. That was my lowest point in the run =(

The sun was about to make its mark on the run, but I was already heading back towards the city center. So the KL skyscrapers provided much shade from the sun. I kept myself cool with soaked sponges handed out by the volunteers. I was relieved to see the 20km sign and never thought I could bear through the pain all this way. The last km was the most fun as the crowd grow larger cheering runners on heading towards Dataran Merdeka. Funny thing was, at this point I'd enjoyed the atmosphere so much that I wanted the run to go for another km. Hence, the next photo.

A clear reflection of how my run went 
(photos by Tey Eng Tiong)

I can still feel the heat on my legs after I collected my medal. Waited agonizingly for Faiz to finish his 10k run. NEVER EVER try something different or new on race day if you never try it before. Lesson learned -_-"

pause pain, SMILE, pain resume

    

Standard Chartered *Free* Run

Standard Chartered Fun Run was held in conjunction with National Youth Day. So there were plenty of other events happening around the area. Prior to the run, I managed to persuade quite a number of my friends to join the run with the biggest reason that the registration is FREE! Good news, I did get some positive feed backs, but mostly ignored me. My effort to promote future runs to friends and family will continue no matter how many times they shook their heads and coming up with excuses. I will persist until I succeed!

Looking forward for this run in particular because Dz, Hafriz and Diana will join the run too! Always excited to see new faces in the running scene. Unfortunately, SARC were only me and Paan. Aina and Farah bailed out on us. 

Ran the 8k route as it was the longest. Predicted it would be a sunny and hot morning and it was. The run started at 8 a.m so by the time we ran the sun was already right infront of our faces. Those runners who were sunphobia had towels covering their faces. Many were looking to take cover by running under the tree shades. Ran the first 4k alongside Paan and decided to speed ahead on the last 4k as I wanted to get a good workout. At the 5k mark, bumped into Dz and co but with one man short or should I say woman. Diana didn't run =( She didn't collect her running bib and the organizer didn't let her run. She should just go ahead run and screw the organizer!

Crossed the finish line in 58'20". Chilled out with Diana at the finish line while waiting for others to finish. Love when organizers provide isotonic drinks and even milos at the end of the run. We runners super appreciate it! Saw many familiar faces in the crowd. What a pleasant surprised to see Lydia and Dila! They ran in the 5k. Kudos to them and all the volunteers!

When the sun is shining, got to have your shades and flowered shirt on!

Farhan showing how its done

Dz crossing the finish line. Didn't even smile for the camera

With Lydia and Fadila

With Farhan, Diana, Hafriz and Dz at the finish line

PJ Dawn

Date: 13 May 2012

First and foremost Happy Mother's Day to all mums! I dedicate this run to my mum, Puziah Hashim. Showed her my customized bib before leaving the house and she was so so impressed with it. Well, it's the small things that matters right =P

What scared me the most was not the distance that I'll be running because this would be my second time running in a half marathon, so I knew what to expect and was full with confidence. However, it was the pre meal run that I had the day before the run that worries me. I attended a kenduri Aqiqah back in kampung and devoured nothing but lamb! I ate so much lamb after that the sight and smell of a lamb would just make me sick to my stomach. Guess what?! My mum brought home tulang kambing from the kenduri and made sup tulang for dinner that night! Plus, I'm pretty sure that lamb is not the ideal meal for carbo loading as I felt heavy, lazy and slightly dizzy afterwards.

The run starts at 3am. This would also be my first night run. I tried to catch a quick nap but was getting restless as the hours past by. So, I decided to head to the venue early this time. Furthermore, I was the sole representative of SARC, so couldn't share the race day jitters with anyone. This might just caused me to forget to bring a vaseline petroleum jelly to avoid chaffing. I knew I would pay the price later and I did!

The start was flagged off by the Minister of Youth and Sports Ahmad Shabery Cheek and off we go! At 2km along Jalan Lapangan Terbang, I ran into Ben! He was rocking his new 2XU compression pants. We did a little catching up on our hardships in running, and the previous and upcoming running events this year. Chatted non-stop up until 10km when the conversation started to wear down. I gave him the green light to proceed by any means if he wanted to clock a PB but he stuck with me all the way. At 14km, I was suffering stomach cramps possibly from consuming to much water and needed to walk it off. The last 4km was the hardest part of the run. It seems forever to reach the finish line! My legs were heavy and starting to stiffen.  My form was out of shape. Sleepiness and fatigue taking its toll. I wanted to walk but Ben pushed me to keep going.

PB babey!!!

My aim was to finish below 3 hours and I did it with a whopping 30 minutes differential. Big thanks to Ben who paced with me all the way. I know that he knows if I hadn't stopped him he would clock a better time. All the best in your first marathon at the SCKLM in June!

Shapadu 12k Run

This year Shapadu tried to go one up from last year, extending last year's 6k run to a 12k run and I think they've managed it VERY poorly. What the organizers failed to do were as follows:

1. The printed bib numbers ran out so instead mine was hand written.

2. The run did not start at 6.45 a.m as mentioned. Actually it started around 7.15 a.m.

3. They did not have sufficient traffic controllers along the route and especially at the roundabout intersection. (Good thing Shah Alam road users are patient and considerate compared to Bukit Jalil's during the Brooks HM)

4. There were no checkpoints to prove that runners have passed that section.

5. Insufficient water station. No water station up until the 8k mark.

6. Poor handling of refreshments for finishers. (I didn't get mine, not that I care though, they gave out mineral water and bread)

Regardless of the shortcomings, it still can not take away from the fact that it was a great day to run with my friends. Paan and I were joined by newcomers Farah and Aina. Thumbs up to them in completing the 6k run category. Good start guys!

With Paan, Aina and Farah after the run