Melawati 10k 2009

I had registered earlier for this run. This was planned to coincide nicely with the trip to KL together with Anisa & Faiz. It was the trip for everyone. My wife was attending the course, Faiz went to see the speech therapist, Anisa went for shopping and I went running of course.

I had surveyed the starting area the day earlier when I collected the race number. The starting area is quite packed with shophouses and cars parked along the road. I had been pre-warned by Adam earlier that the route around this area can be hilly.

I arrived 6:40am on race day, had a bit of bowel discomfort but managed to deal with the urge, thanks to a nearby mamak restaurant. Since there are many shophouses around, parking lots were plenty. I was probably the only runner coming for this event alone. Everyone else were seen busy warming up with their buddies. After a short warm-up aerobic session, the runners swarmed the starting line only to find out that they all have to sing the national anthem. It reminded me of the experience of watching movie in Bangkok.

I started in midpack and maintain the pace for the first half. The route brought us along the housing estate, up the hill to the back alley, to the small waterfall, to many roundabouts. Adam was right about the route, there were quite a number of long hills but I was not surprised after my experience in the recent GE20k. I was very sure that the organiser would provide water station some where along the route. After running for about 45 mins I realised that there was no single water station. And the distance markings were rather confusing. I had not reached 5km after 45 mins of hard pace. Biar benar depa nih.

I had my walk breaks and during this period lots of runners of different age, shapes and sizes whizzed past me. At one moment a very chubby auntie went steadily overtaking me, followed by another whose running style can be described as sideway dancing. Their form may be off, but they were way in front of me.

I was for a while thinking of buying packed drinks at the road stalls, well I have brought my tenner and I saw someone running with the plastic pack on their return leg. However I had to cancel the plan as most of the kuih selling stalls were packed with long queues when I arrived there. After a couple of wak breaks I managed to finish the run in 1:11:57, still could not breach below 70 mins. I collected the finisher medal and the completion certificate.

Hydrated myself with lots of isotonic and Vicos. Met Azad and the gang at the finish line. Also had the opportunity to chat with Wong Kei Ming and runner-up Nicholas Merica after the race. I guessed everyone was talking about the lack of traffic control at the finishing point and the missing water station, despite the fact that it was carved on the finisher medal.

I was not sure whether the road markings were reliable, but my split timings were recorded as follows: 1k - 05:41, 2k - 12:52, 4k - 26:48, 6k - 45:58.

It was a good opportunity to learn about this run to couple with my timely trip, however I may not join this one in the future. I think the small fun run at Piasau Boat Club two weeks back was more runner friendly - they may not have medals but at least they had 3 water stations.

Winners in international category - that's me at the back (taken by RunWitMe)

With Azad

Runner-up Nicholas Merica

Piasau Boat Club Borneo 10 Mile Run

This is the annual fun run organised by Piasau Boat Club, located at the Piasau Beach in Miri. Three categories are available – 16km, 11km and 5km. Five of us decided to join this run, Adam, Rebecca & Azri in the 5km category, myself in the 11km and Pascal in the 16km (10 miles) category. We left in convoy after work from Bintulu in four cars and reached Miri at 7:30pm on Friday.

We didn’t have any problem finding the club and the running route during our reckee the night before. This was certainly a nice fun run, everything from the communications, the registration, briefing, water station and time-keeping were runners-friendly. It turned out to be a small run af about 35 runners for the three categories. The 16km group consisting of 15 runners were flagged of at 7:00 am and quickly disappeared into the Piasau Camp housing. I could not locate my bib number (22) so I chose number 56 instead. I later found out there were only three participants in my category, the other two being the ang moh expatriates.

I was already trailing behind about 300m at the 3km turn near Kelab Golf Miri. From here we would combine with the 16km runners and run back to PBC on the beach. I shouted to the marshall saying that my number was 22 instead of the 56 on the bib. It was quite an experience to do beach running, the hard sand was perfect for cushioning. I was gradually overtaken by three runners from the 16km category and reached PBC (6km) in 38:27. Stopped for water at the club steps and continued into the second 5km leg. It was a shady cycling path along the housing and soon I exited into the main road. It was already blazing hot as this time and I started to take my intermittent walk breaks along Taman Bayshore.

I was glad when I saw the marshalls near the fish stalls. Had to inform them again about my number, gulped two cups of water and continued again onto the beach. At one point I had to cross a small stream and wet my right shoes. No regret for this nice run. I had a couple of walk breaks here as well until about the last 1km where I could clearly see the half submerged finish line due to the rising tide.

I completed the run in 1:16:06 and congratulated by the markers. Hydrated with chilled 100 Plus and bottled drinking water. Azri, Adam & Rebecca were already there after completing their 5km run and chatting with Airtone & friends. We had a laughter after finding out that I got the third place, a podium finish, yet I finished last as there were only three runners in the category. Being a Pacetrailer, I am openly declaring that I finished last in this race. I soon found out that Pascal was nomor onchet as well in his category, hahaha.

It was definitely a nice run and a good outing or the kids in Miri. I will surely join this run again in the future. Well done to the organiser.

Me & Pascal were considered shorties

PBC Borneo 10 Mile Run - Me, Azri, Adam, Rebecca, Pascal

Great Eastern Pacesetters 20km 2009

I arrived in KL on Saturday afternoon, 17 Jan 09 without much training, this week’s mileage before the race was zero. After checking in at a hotel near Dataran Merdeka, my sister and I drove to Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Perdana) and managed to find Tapak A near the boathouse, thanks to the clear instructions on the entry form and a MapMyRun guide. Without this information we would definitely be lost. We went around to familiarise with the area. There were only dozens of parking space, we realised that we need to arrive early tomorrow otherwise there won’t be any place to park.

I obtained my collection pack consisting of a running vest, a bib number A368 (category A is mens open 30km), a timing chip and the event instructions. I met Khoo Yit Kiat shortly after, it was nice to see a familiar face. After finding out the starting point and the toilets (you wouldn’t want to find these out on race day). Next we headed to Pavilion to buy my wife’s running pants and munched a late afternoon lunch at Carls’ Junior at 5pm. We headed straight after that to Giant Kinrara to meet Shuk Lazim. Although we have never met before but he was able to recognise me at the Secret Recipe table – I guessed I looked like someone really desperate for bib number. Haha.

Chatted with Shuk and found out that he has been living in Bintulu for a brief period during MLNG Dua construction, so he was no stranger when I tried to describe how small Bintulu is. I thanked Shuk for his willingness to turn up this evening, in fact he was happy to put his friend’s bib to good use. Thanks to the kindness of Shuk and Zamzuri, I was able to be spared from the unforgiving 30km category.

After that we drove back to the hotel and slept early, early in this case was 11:00pm. There was a loud noise from the neighbouring music lounge but I was able to doze off, thanks to my very late sleep the night before. I was still full from the late afternoon lunch that I didn’t carbo load for dinner – there was no dinner whatsoever.


RACE DAY
I woke up as early as 3:30am, trying to continue sleeping until 4:30am but was unsuccessful. Only managed to get tidur ayam before the handphone alarm buzzing off. After the shower and applying deep heat cream, we headed to Lake Gardens about 10 mins drive away. Along Jalan Parlimen I could see the aspiring runners jogging their way to the reporting station. We drove into the area that we have parked yesterday and managed to get an illegal parking slot, the rest of the illegal parking slots were snapped up within seconds.

I reached the starting block, it was still very dark, took off the outer shirt and pants, this will be the first time that I would run in baggy shorts – running in pants under scorching sun may potentially retire me early. Before the start I queued for the loo, it took a long 30 mins before I was able to carry on with my business. The last thing that you want to is to run with a misbehaving tummy – I mean where can you pangsai when there is no toilet provided along the course, I mean you wouldn’t want to knock on any of the Bukit Tunku mansions to pangsai, right? “Strangers’ shit is not welcome”, I could sense the potential reply.

Soon the kandang was already full with the 30km runners. The music was dimmed and suddenly the loud horn marked the start of the race. I did a couple of strides and stretches to warm up – handed over my backpack to my sister and made appointment with her to meet me at the finishing line between 9:00 – 9:30 am. I checked the 2 gel supplements and carefully ensure that I slide the RM50 note into the small pocket – that will be my taxi ride if I couldn’t finish the rest. So into the kandang I went, waiting along with the rest of the herd. I always want to be part of the herd.

Soon the horn was blown and off we went. The start was a winding uphill climb towards Orchid Garden, I started slowly and followed the pack. It was a comfortable pace for me, some back pack runners were sprinting past on the roadside to pass. “Must have been eyeing the top spot”, I thought. After about a minute I realised that once again I have forgotten to start my stopwatch, the second time after the Sun Park Run. But if all worked well the timing chip would record my timing. As the path drew narrower, it was getting more difficult to maintain the pace as I had to carefully watch my steps in order not to trip into someone. We exited Orchid Garden into Bukit Aman entrance and I realised that the throngs of cars were actually parking in this area, I imagined the cops of Bukit Aman would make a fortune if they checked out the yellow lines today.
Soon we turned into Jalan Parlimen and turned left just behind Bank Negara. It was very dark as there was mo street light, I felt awkward running in the dark – you tend to get the illusion of the vests and shoes were running by themselves without the human flesh. This could be a major setback if I decided to join Sundown Marathon.

The route consists of hills after hills after hills. Hills at Lake Garden, Bank Negara, Jalan Sultan Salahuddin. We reached the first water station near the U-turn at Lebuhraya Mahameru, I downed two cups of Powerbar Endurance drink and continued. At the highway turn I spotted a KSKL running with a striking colour vest. Well he was too fast for me to say hi.

We continued on to Jalan Bukit Tunku, I walked for a short stretch at the 6km mark along the narrow and hilly route. The route passed through Pesiaran Tunku, Jalan Girdle and Pinggiran Tunku before reaching the Government Complex at Jalan Duta. As I walked up the slope along the area, I was glad that I took the time for the toilet queue this morning. Some of the mansions were even larger than my office block in Bintulu. I chatted with Foo who was taking part in the GE Pacesetters for the third time. He was surprised to know that I flew that far to torture myself in this run. Well not quite, it was partly work and partly social endeavour. It’s a way to get a good work-life balance whenever you need them. At around 8km, one of the fellow runners shouted to the policeman “I prefer that you can shoot me, sir.. these hills already make me dying”. For a moment I thought it was a brilliant idea too.. well you couldn’t think wisely as you endure the hills torture.

With much perseverence I reached the 8km mark in 58:59 and soon came out of the Bukit Tunku realm. To my surprise the Jalan Duta section was really crowded, thanks to the policemen on duty we were able to cross to the Govertment Complex loop. At this moment the leaders of the 20km and 30km have started their return jorney back to Lake Gardens. I recognised some familiar faces – Shahidan Alias, Zulazlan, Ronnie See, Stanley Cheong, Iwata san etc. I do not know them personally but to these are the real speed demon running kakis. I reached the 10km mark in 75:14. It was right after this marker that I sensed problem – both my calves starting to indicate the tingling sharp pain. I nearly cramped both my calves if not because of the roadside stop for a short muscle stretch. I was relieved to find out the 2nd water station nearby. Took my powergel and two cups of water.

As I continued I realised that the calves pain wouldn’t fade and I could potentially suffer from the muscle cramp anytime soon. I recalled Basir’s ordeal of having to limp the last 3km in his Borneo International Marathon, so I thought I’d better walk and avoid the consequence. From this point I could merely run 100-200m before the tingling pain would appear again. That was how I survived the run for the entire 2nd part, walking and running and stretching against the street light poles whenever I need them. It was quite frustrating not being able to run continuously, I decided to just go slowly and enjoy this morning walk in the park. I figured that with my normal walking pace I would cover the 2nd half in two & half hours, double the 1st half duration. At times I would run before I had to stop again, at times I imagined myself cramping helplessly in the middle of the lonely route. Better not and it’s better to play it safe. I found out that my watch has stopped after 100 mins. Perhaps I had inadvertently pressed the stop button during one of the stretches. Without the stopwatch I could only rely on the normal time to track the duration.

By this time so many runners sayured me, I thought I was already in the back pack. That include a Triathlete Chap Ayam runner, Abu Power with his sparkling bright yellow Adidas and a runner with the back of the shirt that read “I run to change diabetes”. As we approached Bank Negara again the accompanying runners asked the official “Where’s the water station?” The official said there was none and offered his own bottled drink instead. It was quite a sight to see a bunch of runners taking turn to sip liquid from the big bottle. On the other hand I was not thirsty from the alternate slow walk and run fartlek (not quite a fartlek) but again I could not tire myself like them, my legs wouldn’t allow me to.

We passed the Selangor Palace and a number of runners were stretching, one of them was lying down in the middle of the road, cramping. I was glad that I have been spared so far, so I won’t complain about my slow pace as long as I can finish this maiden 20km run. Soon I saw the elegant statues of the National Monument, it was at this point that disaster struck – heavy calves cramp hitting the left leg. It was not me of course, but the guy who donned the blue Coolmax T-shirt. He was suffering so dearly that when the St John Ambulance cadets stretched his foot inward, he would scream so loud that even the passerby motorists stopped to see what happened. There were already many people at the scene so I moved on to finish the last 800m. Other runners who have finished earlier cheered as I joined the group of runners to the finishing line. One of the officials asked me to chase and sayur the people in front, to which I said no and thanked him. I showed my slightly limping gait to indicate the leg muscle stiffness. The pain was still there that I even managed to walk about 100m from the finish. Then I run slowly to the finishing arch and waved to my sister who has been waiting thre for ages.

I crossed the finish line just before 9:30am, so I figured that my time would be around 3 hours as we were flagged off at 6:30am. I hydrated myself, picked up the finishers pack, returned the chips and watched the prize giving ceremony. Despite the second half walk, I was glad to be able to finish my maiden 20km in 3 hours. It was a clear lack of training but I happened to learned a lot from this race. It gave me the confidence that I could cover the half marathon (it’s 1km short) distance, so for now I could reward myself by registering for another run in the near future. Thanks to Running Mom, Shuk, and Zamzuri for making this run a reality

Learning points:
- More long runs and hillwork for upcoming months
- Bring own analgesic cream as St John Ambulance was not well equipped
- Expect the worst, do not trust the water station information, there were only 3 instead of 5 stations
- Enjoy the scenery during the run
- Strategy to avert cramp worked out to save the run

- This is hell of a long report, next races will definitely be shorter

At the finishing line

My faithful supporter

With Kenny Tan who helped with PACM membership

First ever running medal

Lake Gardens, Parlimen and Matrade

Larian Kesihatan Maal Hijrah 29 Dec 2008

Obtained the entry from from Ashari, another Kidurong running kaki who asked me to join in the event. I asked him the distance and he said only 5.6km. A later found out that was the Junior Veteran category while I will be running in the Mens Open (11km).

I have already planned to be in Kuching with my family during this period and I have also registered my uncle Hamdan to join in the Senior Veteran category (4.3km).

I collected my bib on 25 Dec 08, managed to do two 5km runs a few days before the race. Our category was flagged of at at 7:30am from Baitul Makmur. I followed the middle pack and was slowly falling behind. I reached the 3km mark at 17:15, that was when I realised that I started too fast. After collecting the first ribbon at Bulatan Stadium I tried maintaining the pace as we join the other categories into heading towards Jalan Pustaka.

At the 4km mark I was breathing heavily and started to walk with the rest. From this point onwards I would alternately walk and run. The route became congested at Jalan Samariang after collecting my 2nd ribbon. There was hardly room to run with the heavy vehicle traffic coming out from Santubong. I had to run on the grass to avoid the traffic. A group of young runners about 200m in front of me were also adopting walk/run. At the DBKU junction (8.5km) the medic van asked if I was OK to which I gave thumbs up. At 10km just outside Masjid Jamek I could see a few runners about 500m trailing behind me and the group in front of me were already out from reach. I walked a couple more metres before taking a stride to the finish with 1:19:10 (34th placing)

It was nice to join this run and meet fellow runners like Khoo Yit Kiat and crazytomatoman who were 4th and 7th respectively. It turned out to be a lucky day for my uncle Hamdan, winning a table fan in the lucky draw.

With Uncle Hamdan & Ashari

My faithful supporters

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2008

No.. I was not running in this event. I came early before my business travel to cheer up my fellow running colleague Pascal but unfortunately he was ill with dengue and still recovering. If only the running bib was transferable I would certainly explore the idea of running the full marathon on his behalf, well I was close to the starting point without a bib, albeit without proper training.



There were so many participants in all the 10k, 21k and 42k categories that the runners were still filling up the kandang even after half an hour after the category started. The atmosphere was brilliant, I admire the spirit of the Singaporeans, more than 10,000 of them finishing the full marathon alone. Need to promote more fellow Malaysians to participate.



I have pledged to run this marathon next year hopefully with my wife and a few kakis.

Runspiratographer?

The Sun Park Run 2008

This 4.2km running event is coming to it's 2nd edition this year. I have been running some 2.5km about a week leading to this run.

There are more individual participation this year, signalling the increase of interest in road racing in Bintulu. Road racing is so rare in this small town that we had to organise one ourselves.

The categories were flagged simultaneously and I was starting slow at the back pack together with the veteran category, trying to maintain my pace as long as possible. I knew from the previous few runs that I can expect to walk after 2.5km. Indeed I was stopping even before the expected mark to tie my shoe lace. The pair was a reuse from last year and I was hoping that the outsole would last to the finish line, the rear outsole were both dangerously clinging like a hungry croc. After this stop I was having problem to run steadily, so I alternate the run and walk. As I was approaching the entry back to Taman Matahari I saw Tamat holding his shoes - with both outsoles fully detached, mine could end up similarly any time.

I was catching up with Alvin with about 200m to go when suddenly he fired his turbo and sprinted to the finish line. Finished at 19th spot with the time of 25:41.