Otto Hutt Dragon Back Run

1st January, 2012

Venue : Kelab Penembak Bandar Di Raja Klang

Distant : 15KM

One of the toughest route with 8 big hills and not counting the slopes but I managed to conquer it all and survived to write it hahah... Tough and yet challenging at the same time...my strategy was to walk uphill and run downhill. Envied those who can run up hill effortlessly. Taking one hill at a time, with rubbery legs, after each hill it left me breathless and counting on my knees to steady me...and taking a deep breath before climbing the next one.  The road is long and straight and after one hill the next one is in sight. One hill at a time, I can do it, the end is near...that was my mantra...phewww!!!

It was quite lonely at first, not until a familiar rear sight caught my eyes...You guessed it right...caught up with Herman at 6km. Asked him as always..."What happen to you?". Actually, he was having an energy bar and had some near cramp episode and thus had to walk...The qualifying time given was 3 hrs. Plenty of time and no pressure to finish fast...So the rest of the km was done running, walking and chatting, huffing and puffing. 

At the finish line, Azza was there waiting for me and gave me a "high 5". Appreciated the   moral support. You did swell!

Every time I see a hill, I changed to walking mode. Lacking of leg power, stamina are some of the reasons. So, my resolution for this year 2012 is to run uphill instead of walking. This is my personal challenge. Can I do it?

 

 The NB shoe and the lucky no. that won him the grand prize. The price tag is RM299.00

Two weeks ago Herman fell down at Malakoff and got an early Christmas and New Year ang pow. This time  the fate changed and was so lucky to have won the grand prize for the lucky draw. Definitely a good way to start the new year and I hope all things good will follow thru out 2012. Unfortunately, the shoe doesn't fit and the sponsored items are not exchangeable. Looks like we have to look for a buyer who wears size US 6 1/2.  Wonder why don't they give NB vouchers instead?

First finisher medal and certificate for the year. Nice and I loved it!

Happy New Year. Hope 2012 will be a good year for my family, friends and everyone. Peace on earth and hope no natural disaster :)

    

A Fabulous Christmas

26th December, 2011

 

Had a fabulous Christmas with The Mersey Beatles. They gave us an awesome performance and brought back great memories of The Beatles, one of the famous  band from Liverpool. Loved all their songs and grew up with it. Great crowd - clapping and dancing along, great energy.

Among some of the songs are Help!, Yellow Submarine, Sergent Pepper Lonely Heartclub Band, Hey Jude, Eight Days A Week, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Twist and Shout, Please Please Me, All My Loving, Love Love Me Do, Yesterday and many more...

Enjoyed every moment and sang my heart out till my voice gone hoarse.

It was indeed FANTASTIC!

 

Malakoff 12km

18th December, 2011

Venue : Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Resort, K.L

This was  our 1st Malakoff run and we managed to squeeze in one last run before the year exit 2011. We expected it to be hilly but  I always reminded myself that surely there is nothing more brutal than the meru hill and besides will take this challenge as part of our training for the upcoming dragon back run on 1.1.12...the rolling killer hills of meru aha!

It was 5.15 a.m when we reached the venue and having found a parking spot at the roadside, we could now relaxed and took a short nap, put our running gears on and I even had my breakfast of bread in the car which was quite hard to swallow so early with plain water...(had milo earlier at home)...

Next we walked down towards the clubhouse and looked for the international sign which was the toilet...and a long queue awaited us...and we thought we were early...Anyway, walked further down to the start/finish line and around the vicinity. Had sampling of nestle finesse cornflakes and powerbar...again I find it difficult to swallow it this early...

Didn't had a good night sleep last night probably because of an overloading of dim sum which was very salty and then later for dinner a plate of fried kuey teow ... salty also...what happen I don't know...could be the cook not in a good mood! Anyway, told Herman its our substitute for ORS to avoid cramp for tomorrow run hehehee...

Then waited for the start off time and there were no one to warm us up and apparently we have to do our own warm up session...somehow I felt the atmosphere was lacking of excitement...or was it me?

The run began at 7a.m for women and 7.10a.m for men. I paced myself but only for about 300m, then its was uphill right up to the main road in which I walked. The  loop began from the main road. There were 2 big uphill task along Jalan Beringin, Bukit Damansara and  we have to do a  2nd loop and face both hills again. Running downhill was a breeze with no brakes. Uphill was torturous even just by walking and still managed somehow.

Collected the goodie bag and after which I had fried mee and tau foo fah for breakfast while waited for my partner. Wonder what was taking him so long???

Finally he called and said he had a fall. I hope it was nothing serious. Only about a month ago, he tripped while jogging...OMG...not again. I now know why I had a bad feeling on the way here and wanted to tell him to cancel it.

Anyhoo...this was his story and created history at Malakoff..."I slipped on the sandy bump and knew I was going to fall and tried to steady myself but still lost my balance and fall hard to the ground. Luckily a chinese couple who were near behind helped me up and asked me if I was ok or not. Said I am ok and continued running to the finish line with the couple behind me...and immediately went for medical aid. Malu only they were video taping me at the same time. I am going to claim my PA insurance"

Injuries sustained on the right palm and right knee after the nasty fall. Except for the palm, the knee was injured again at the same spot while jogging a month ago...

He skipped the breakfast. Left the place and drove straight to a clinic in Klang. The doc gave him a jab and 2 weeks of medical leave. Herman said "This is an early Christmas gift and New Year angpow. Everything happen for a reason, I know myself...think positive" Well...good thing he had PA insurance.

The finisher medal

I wish him speedy recovery as the dragon back run is around the corner soon.

We Run KL 10K

27th November, 2011

Venue : Padang Merbok, K.L

This year the route was much more interesting as we ran through historical places of Kuala Lumpur. Along the routes, we passed by Parliment Negara, Muzium Negara, Little India, KL Sentral, Masjid Negara,  Tugu Negara and back to the finish line at Padang Merbok. It's a great and fun way to know KL thru this kind of event.

    

The finisher item. Cool, Cute & Chic Pen drive

At first I was not keen on signing up for this event but changed my mind after seeing the nice tee shirt..I liked it.

Then I was not keen on running on that day cos no doubt I will get  a finisher toy like last year...I disliked it.

But not bad at all this time to have a pen drive after we crossed the finish line...I loved it.

Now I will join this event every year! Just do it.

Gonna store all my running medal, running photos and all things running in this cutest pen drive.

CICM Responsible Care Run 2011

13th November, 2011

Venue : Setia Alam Welcome Centre

Distant : 10km

Another running event at Setia Alam, this time was organised by CICM.

It was really great to come back here again this year to participate it. Loved the route..clean, quiet environment, flat road and not so much traffic gave me a peace of mind to really enjoy and finished the run as fast as my legs can go.  And though I didn't finished in record breaking, podium standing time...I thoroughly enjoyed it all from the beginning till the end of the lucky draw. Haha..still no luck in getting a prize but what the heck...the actual prize is the feeling of contentment and happiness in participating it!!

Food, drinks, fruits were aplenty to pamper us...What else should I ask for??

Am proud to say I finished in position 123...there you go ... I conquered the 1st, 2nd and 3rd position at one go..heheheh...

Cheers!

Ship Book Fair

6th October, 2011

During my early twenties, the very 1st time I visited a floating book fair. Back then I was staying in  K.L which was actually quite far and further more I do not know my way around. No choice, I had to coax a friend to drive me all the way to Port Klang  just to get a glimpse and then get aboard the Doulos ship for the sake of seeing books in the ship. Its sort of killing 2 birds with one stone. See ship and see books at one time; an adventure I can't miss at that time hehehe...

A very long queue to go on board.

Enjoyed the scenery and breeze aboard Doulos ship.

Now 2 decades later and living not far from Port Klang, there's no reason not to visit the floating book fair again although its a different and a smaller ship...I like the idea  to shop for books in a ship ...and perhaps sail away? How is it that I have missed them in between now and then? But I'm sure it won't happen again cos I  can check their schedules at the website. My own fault for not reading newspaper more often for updates and current affairs. I should not always be behind a book and be oblivious of my surroundings but it a habit hard to break lol.

 

The floating Logos Hope from afar. On the background is the bigger cruise ship Virgo.

 One for the album

 

Two decades version of me :)

 

 A series of murals on the wall depicting the story of a prodigal son.

The books I bought. 4 in all. RM52 in total - cheap.

The entrance fee is RM1 per adult. Once enter there is a mini theater in which we sat for a while for a short introduction and was briefed on  the flow of direction from the entrance to the exit. Then we proceeded to the book fair and I could have finished the tour in 10 minutes. I bought some books as part of donation cos out of  their 3 generators, 2 was down and they need some donation to purchase new generator for replacement. Herman donated RM10...how sweet...

The books were priced at units. 100 units is RM8. For easy reference there are charts at the side of the bookshelves. All sorts of books are available just like  a book shop should have. Cooking, fiction, motivation, spiritual, kids section etc...cds, ship mementos, souvenirs and such. It is not a very big ship, so the books are quite limited in varieties.

The story of the prodigal son is depicted in pictures on the wall. Good Story. There's also a cafe that cater for  snacks and soft drinks and lastly before exit they also have  a RM1 section selling magazine, pencils, small books etc...I liked the interior of the ship, it's kept neat, tidy and clean and only 1 deck is open to public. The sea was so calm, I don't feel any swaying at all. Loved every minute of it there.

Their world map.

A book lover I am. The End.

NB Run For It 5

11th September, 2011

Time flies...seems like a very long time since  the last time I joined a running event and this is my 1st finisher medal for the year...'wa lau eh'. With no prior running at all for so so... very long (just walkabout at the jogging area) and with a few extra kilos on board (sigh), I am glad that I did  sign up for this 'run for it 5' event. Today weather is nice and cooling, perfect for outdoors activities. Except for blisters on the sole of my foot,  it kinda  keep the flame and passion of running on going again. Yay, after crossing the finishing line in slow mo, I know in me, all is not lost yet and am optimistic all will turn out well. I will be joining more events in time to come until I cant run no more hehehe...

Miss the crowd, miss the goodies bag, miss the fun atmosphere, miss my sweaty smell and miss the good use of my two legs :) Gonna keep on moving...

Thanks to KPAC for making this an annual event and am looking forward for 2012 run for it 6. I especially like the lucky draw cos everyone looked so hopeful to win a prize, holding on to the precious bib no. and getting ready to make a dash to the podium to claim it. Me included. I nearly win one but missed by a single digit....hehehe...so near yet so far.

Unlike the 2 previous years, we run a different route this time which is very near around my housing area, passes by a few nasi lemak stalls and am tempted to  drop in the house for a quick stop but on second thoughts forget it because once in the house I might just take a shower, change and continue with my sleep or have a cup of coffee with nasi lemak. I like this route better though and Herman do agreed with me.