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!!

Olympic Day Run 2010

26th September, 2010

 

This was our 1st Olympic Day run and looking around, I gathered this event is most popular among school children. Happily, we joined in the fun and might be lucky to get a medal if we try or run hard enough. With a cheap fee of RM10.00, we had nothing to lose except lose some fat and burned off some calories on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Most runners were seen wearing the McD tee shirt which comes in red, yellow, green and blue. I felt giddy looking at it. While at the waiting area, I was momentarily transported back to my school days when I represented green color  in sports. Hmm...not a time to daydream at that moment for I had a task to do, to finish at least in 50th position to secure a medal. Looks far-fetched but in the end it's the effort put in that matters the most.

Gun off at 7.30 a.m sharp. The distant was a short 7 km with  3 torturing hills  that I love to hate which were along Jalan Tunku right up to Jalan Parlimen. Water station at 3/4 km mark and  quite  disappointed  because  only plain water was served. With the sun already out and blazing hot,  100 plus would be a nice. About 1km  to the finish line along Padang Merbok, I saw Azza (bib no. E5244) hehehe...I tried to give chase, to say 'Hi' and surprise her but my tired legs had me walking instead :(   I should have whip out my camera and snap her rear view hahaha ...(just kidding). Maybe, next time...

At the end of the run, we had a cup of coke and immediately left the venue.

Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad. What a beautiful lighting!

 Warming up session with celebrity Ronald McDonald on the far left.

The  Mc Attack smile!!!

See what happen when you get  Mc Attack!! So, that was our lunch that afternoon and putting back the calories and adding a couple more back to our system!! :) Ha ha.

I like this advertising board. It's so colorful.

A Certificate of Participation. Only 50 medals were allotted under my category and there are many good runners out there.

Till the next running event, Cheers for now.

Admiral Methodist Charity Run 2010

16th September, 2010 (Hari Malaysia)

 

As the name suggests, this is a charity run and a good turnout of participants despite it being held on a public holiday . The route is all flat and straight around Bandar Botanic east and west walk.  The water station was at half way mark at 3km. Everyone seems to have a jolly good time, with a dose of morning exercise and earning each a finisher medal to cherish at the end....me included :) I was feeling a bit under the weather and could have stayed at home instead but that did not deter me to join in the fun. 

Before the run, after much observation, I noticed  some  runners enjoying their breakfast of nasi lemak 20 mins before start. A last minute  pre carbo loading, I presume or probably a free meal  provided by the organizer. Although it was a small scale run but it was quite well organized and certainly have that kind of  atmosphere where everyone were doing their part in the name of charity.

 

The finisher medal for the effort put in and doing my bit for charity at the same time.

Try to spot me if you can.

"Chase me if you can." Looks like REAL!!!

We decided to skip the lucky draw.

I felt something was missing though and much to my amusement as we were about to leave the venue, the gardenia bread van just arrived in time. We turned back and make a beeline for it. And that sort of makes a fun run a complete fun run event!

Happy Malaysia Day!

Larian Patriotik 2010

3Oth August, 2010

I was clueless about  the route from the beginning and it seems  no one knows about it at all  :(

After the run, as I can recall, this was the 5km route...

Start from Stadium Kota Raja to the main road and turn left towards Istana Klang. After the Istana, turn left again and pass by Sekolah Menengah Sri Lethil (* this stretch is quite dark, quiet and lonely*) (Any invisible friends? I hope not! Not during the hungry ghost festival, not over yet anyway, still another week to go.) 

Run towards Jln Kg Jawa and exit the masjid, turn left and run behind Stadium Kota Raja until  to the traffic light. Turn left again and run towards Klang Magistrate. At the traffic light, turn right towards Klang KTM station and pass by Klang Post Office and OCBC bank. Once reach the KTM junction, turn left and run towards Klang Police Station (HQ) and Bomba station.

(*Water station beneath the bridge in front of police station.) From bomba station, turn right and run along Little India towards roundabout and pass by Klang library and convent school. Once reach the roundabout, turn left and run towards Istana again until to Menara A&M (AIA), turn right and  run all the way to the finish line inside the Stadium Kota Raja. That was it! Many left turning and a good way to know Klang by Bus No. 11 (by foot, I mean!). Happy Merdeka!!

My home town is in Cheras, KL but having stayed in Klang for 12 years now, I kinda love it here now than I did back then when I 1st moved here. One simple reason is the above 5km route, we can find the amenities  within that radius and it is convenient, and close by. Save time and petrol  as well . No worries about traffic jam either, many side roads, short cuts  and back lanes behind shops and houses we can exit in and out to avoid traffic. Herman knows best in this department ha ha!!

Me with June-anakmami.blogspot.com

June, Me with Azza

Got my medal in 13th position. Reminds me of anakmami's birthday!! How cool is that!? Maybe next time I'll get a medal with my birthday on it, with a bit of  luck.

Herman in 46th position. He did the 7km route. By the way, where were all the fast and furious runners? My guess is they were taking advantage of the long weekend break and going on holiday somewhere, somewhere.