CICM Resposible Care Run 2010 and a break....

28th November, 2010

This was my final run for the year. I had no particular target except to finish in time and to snap some pictures so that the  memories are not  lost or forgotten. I did finished on time in 1hr 29min and in a nice  position of 123  for my category.

The running tee. 

Picture taken from  the above Stadium National Bukit Jalil. Warming up session in progress at the   middle of the giant keris.

 

2 thumbs up for a good run and a good weather.

Before a run, must always rub shoulder with Azza. Hope to rub off some running speed of hers and pass on to me...hehehheh... Shhhh...she doesn't know it yet. 

 

What a colorful finishing line!

Position card collection area. I like the 1 Malaysia structure.

 Along Kesas Highway near Sri Petaling.

Left turn towards the National Hockey Stadium.

 

One of the many stadium.

 

 Along the route, near the bus station and I stumbled upon this river. Sooo enticing and wanna dip, dip in it. Perhaps, I should switch to water rafting instead. Switch to using my arms instead of my legs and to give my tired legs a break from running. Anyone??

 Another stadium.

Halfway mark.

International Medical University

 Turning towards Taman Esplanad.

 Markers that are near to one another. I appreciate that.

Ahh...1 km to go but lo and behold, the ascending hill were not far off.

The hills. Long and steep.

hills.....I like it.

 

Revive Isotonic drinks, water melon, gradenia bread, packets of nasi lemak and vico drinks for all.

 The finisher medal that come in a pretty gift box. Nice.

My bib.

The goody bag comes with the measuring tape, vico 3 in 1, and the marathon shop discount voucher.

run, run, run

A friend of mine asked me, has the novelty (of running) wore off because my blog seem to be getting shorter and shorter. I said 'no lah'. The reason is I am not good at it and I try my best  to write and besides I like reading books than writing. It was all for the fun of it - the running, the writing and the pictures, it was an activities by itself. As this is  my last run for the year 2010 and having done it mostly on local ground, my actual plan is to  try each different run for at least once. There are some events and routes that I like and some may not, as it all depends on the organizers and I do not mind hills.

Next year I will select and choose events that I like and  include  events that I missed out this year. As for the distance, it depends on my capabilities at that time. Getting a new PB is not impossible, if I put my mind and heart to it .  I am thankful, I did not sustain any injury thus far except for a few black toes and drop off toe nails in exchange for better health and fitness.

My resolution for next year is to  join  outstation events as many as possible,  sort of like holidays cum running. That would be nice if I have the time and the money to stretch and instead of burning a hole in the pocket. From race kit collection and race day itself,  it is not cheap considering the joining fee, petrol, toll charges and other running cost. Nothing is free!!! 

But then again, if the medal is nice and appealing, please forgive me for stating the above cos I will just go and run, run, run :)

So, a month break sounds damn good. Going to the gym for aerobic, yoga and  strength workout  will help me maintain my current fitness and no issues when switching back to running later on.

My other resolution for next year is to  attempt  42.195km. Yikes or Yeayy!??

PBIM 2010

21st November, 2010

 

 Thanks June for the invitation to join you on this trip.   On my own I wouldn't have done it. Really had fun with you girls and it was nice meeting some  of your friends as well.

 Thanks Azza for the encouragement and support you had given me. Err...you are the true anak orang  Penang hehehe...had a good laugh in the car on the way to and fro Gurney Drive. I find it humorous the drama between you and June ..hahaha...jom, kita jalan-jalan Penang one day!!

Me - in the blue tee

PBIM kit that was couriered to my house.

 My 3rd  and final half marathon  for the year 2010. Personally, it was one of the toughest and hardest to earn  a finisher medal.

At 3.15am, we were flagged off and headed towards a good start and was looking forward to reach the bridge. At 6km, caught up with Azza and  Fara, had a short chat and overtook them. Was planning to enjoy the rest of the run but frustration started to set in when  heavy rain started to pour down at 6.5km at the Penang bridge. Had to quickly deposit my ipod, nike bracelet, phone and gel  into a plastic bag. With all my worldly possessions in my pocket, it was a battle against nature and one cold, shivering boring walk with soggy socks and shoes. Being bespectacled, my vision was blurred from that point onwards.

My actual plan was to finish with Azza and Fara but with this kind of rain, I know I'll slack behind. Damnit! The rain lasted about an hour and was reduced to a  drizzle until finished. Thrice the ambulance passed by and thrice I was tempted to stop it and take the easy way out but chose not  to cos it'll be 'game over' if I do that. I was tempting fate and testing my own determination on how far I can go. Once I was tempted to take shelter in the plastic toilet but wouldn't want to take risk fainting  inside with the stench.  It did cross my mind  why I put myself in this freaking  situation in the 1st place.  As I looked around, I said to myself 'hey, I'm not the only one', there are many many runners way far behind me. 

Made small talk with a young guy and what do you know...found out he is also from Klang and staying near my house. Another lady was seen hugging herself and walking.  I saw many runners looking downwards and walking slowly, only if I could read their mind and know what they are thinking. Anyway, few still put  up some effort to run, kudos to them, probably it could be their 1st  marathon.A few runners cheated and crossed over the divider at the bridge.

 I grabbed 2 buns from the water station and had to eat it fast before it turned soggy in the rain. I have no complains about the water stations though as there were plenty of water coming from the above. To make matters worse, the marker was so far apart. By right the organizer should put up a marker at  every km, it does help in this kind of situation for us to set our target and  to pace oneself.  I asked two volunteers at that time  and  it irks me to hear them say 'I don't know' . What....?? I remember this matter was brought up by June during the PBIM meet runners session in PJ about 2 months earlier - that  volunteers should  know  where they are  in case runners asked them.  Must have fallen on deaf ears, I guess!  On a personal note, I hate  running in the rain.

The worst was not over yet. Making our  way towards the finishing line, nearly got stampeded by the 10km runners that started later that morning. It was absolute chaos!

Crossed the damn line, collected my medal and immediately went back to the hotel. Into the elevator with 2 other runners and I told them 'the rain  was terrible'. And one of them said to me 'It's a different kind of experience'. What he said does make sense! If I have a second encounter of the same kind, I will remember these words....    

'IT'S A DIFFERENT KIND OF EXPERIENCE'

NB Run For It 4

31st October, 2010

 The medal look gorgeous and I love it!

And I crossed the finish line with Azza, Fara (June's niece) and Jay  (gym  gang).

Last year, I did Run4it3 and certainly the route this year were exactly the same. The only changes was the location of the water station.

Off to a good start at 7.00 a.m. Am glad to bump into Jay at 2 km and from then onwards, I paced myself to running beside her and it was fun.  I needed some company beside having my I-pod shuffle plugged in - my 1st time running with it.

Under normal circumstances, Azza would have smoked me in the 1st km.

Into the last 1km, Azza and Fara caught up with us and we, the foursome made our entry into the  Stadium Sultan Sulaiman and crossed the finish line together. Yippee..June (ever so helpful and friendly) gave out the medals and certificate to us.

Happy :)

Herman was already waiting. Had breakfast - a bowl of porridge, chee cheong fun with vico drink and 100plus while waiting  for the lucky draw to start. There were also pak din nasi lemak, mee goreng, popiah, stuffed tauhu, gardenia bun and fruits.

Plenty of goodies for the lucky draw - 2 LCD TV, 3 mountain bikes, water filter, casio sports watches, vico goodies and hampers. Worth waiting for till the end. The event finally ended at 10.30 a.m.

No luck but still Happy :)

Mizuno Wave Run

17th October, 2010

9th October, 2010

Picked up the vest and bib at Hotel Sri Petaling on Saturday. With the help of the map, we could easily find  it and the place was pretty congested. What's more, just beside the hotel there was a sports warehouse big sales  going on. Had a bit of a parking woes but luckily collection was fast and was out of there within 10 minutes.

Initially, the plan was to shoot down to Sri Petaling after Nike run on Sunday but thought it would be best to settle it and get it over with on Saturday.

We had no idea where UPM was located but because of our  run at KLIUC on Aug this year, we sort of seen the UPM signboards in Sri Kembangan and  we followed it closely and thus brought us to the destination with great relief. Finding the place won't be a problem anymore if  we do a repeat run next year. Reached the venue at 6.30am. Parked at the side of the road and took the shuttle bus to the stadium.

Truth be told, I was feeling sleepy and was not up to it. Since this was our 1st Mizuno run, we have zero idea about the route and heard that the place is quite hilly. Even so, I believe it couldn't be worst than the Meru hills.

 

H with the orange head band

A very big crowd. The guys had to wait for 10min as ladies were gunned off  1st at 7.15am. As we ran out of the stadium, there were many late arrival walking towards the stadium. Pity them as they have to walk  about 1.5km  and climb the steep hill to reach the stadium. About 2km into the run I heard the ambulance sirens wailing in the distance. Oh no, someone must be in trouble and needed help. The 1st guy overtook me at about 2.5km...it was fast and more guys followed later on.

There were 2 water station at 4km and 8km. UPM is really huge, following the crowd we ran passed faculties, colleges, offices, hostel etc and finally making it back to the stadium. 

 Hills

 

 Hills

 With 1km left after the 10km marker this last hill was a real killer. Practically, everyone walked and both my legs  were stiff and weighed like a log.

Goodies bag collection. Didn't get any medal but we tried our best. A certificate will be posted to us via mail.

A quick interview with a Meru hills survivor :

Me : How was your run?

He : Okay lah. Quite tough.

Me : Which hill was tougher? The Meru hills or these hills?

He : The Meru hills was tougher. These are 2nd tough.

 The long walk back to the car park at 1.5km. (Shuttle bus was not provided. No choice but to treat it as our recovery walk!). On the left are the runners that have yet to complete the race. 

                   

Distance : 11km

My results : Women Junior Veteran              His Results : Men Junior Veteran

Category Position : 83                                         Category Position : 293

Gender Position : 354                                          Gender Position : 1583

Overall Position : 2087                                       Overall Position : 1873

Split Time : 46:47:29                                           Split Time : 44:32:96

Gun Time : 1:24:51                                                Gun Time : 1:21:20

Nike City 10k KL

10th October, 2010

Nike Tag line : Just Do It.          
My Tag line   : I Did It.

We came in peace not war.

 

Look who I bumped into at the starting line...tententen... non other than Azza busy sms-ing away.  I could easily spot her today without her fmv vest.

Start and End point at KLCC Jalan Binjai car park. The 5km runners on the left and 10km runners on the right, being divided by the row of plants. We were all gun off at the same time. It was really crowded at the start  until the split of the 2 groups at about 4km. It was much  easier to maneuver in between foot traffic from then onwards. Phew...

This was the 1st time I had seen so many people wearing the same tee shirt on the same day for the same purpose. I think it's pretty awesome. Not too thrill about the color though but with our bib no. printed on it,  all runners  must wear the event tee. With  each having a different bib no.  it makes it one of its kind in the world. As long as it is comfy, I don't mind even if I glow in the dark. That's the  whole idea I think to glow, be seen and be safe while running on the street.

Still waiting for the gun off at 7.15 am. Till now don't know what to expect. Suspense!!!

Hey dude, whats up??

I was so looking forward to this run and I came, I ran and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. Running through the streets of KL bypassing the shopping complexes and taking in the sights of KL's beautiful skyline at the highway. Oh, shoot!! Could have taken more pictures but too bad the memory card was full. Must rectify this problem...soon! There were deejays at 4 different locations along the route. It was very entertaining and kept  our  mood going and keeping us strong.  Also had pom-pom girls cheering us on. There were never a dull moment at all.

Along Akleh highway. Thankfully, the weather was good and not hot that morning, otherwise we could be half baked under the sun.

 

Had a quick snapshot before walking back to KLCC under ground car park.

Thanks to pmtey for this picture of Herman. Couldn't find mine. It is not possible to capture everyone.

 The finisher award. Aiya...Why can't Nike give us something better...Just do It lah....

Checked my Nike+ sports band. Finished  the 10km run in 1hr 17m. That's  my contribution for this challenge. We run KL...yeay!!