Energizer Night Race 2010 - Race Kit Collection

The adidas Response running vest, bib number, safety pins, and Energizer LED head light (only given to full marathon runners on collection day, I got this for my friends who will run in full).

The reverse side of the running vest, the disposable D-TAG timing chip (orange colour) glued to the reverse side of the bib. Instruction leaflet for the timing chip below.

I went to collect my race kit this morning in Melia Hotel for the next Saturday Energizer Night Race 2010.

I registered for Half-Marathon event and not the full. I figured I would not able to train enough to run a good Full Marathon race in the evening.

Anyway, in the race kit collection today I saw many runners queuing up already when I arrived there at around 11:20am. The counters with most number of people were the 10km and 21km. The 42km and the relay event seemed to draw less number of runners.

The race kit contains an adidas running vest, bib personalised with runner's name, D-TAG disposable timing chip with clip & instruction, safety pins. Also got two meal discount (20%) vouchers from Cyberview Lodge. The Energizer LED head light is only issued out to the full marathon runners due to early starting time (at 6:00pm). Other runners will receive their head light on race day.

My two runner friends who asked me to collect their race kits on the behalf, are still uncertain to be able to make it to the starting point due to injury to the knees. This type of injury is really a dreaded condition for the runners. I hope they will recover soon and be able to run freely again.

Can you spot PM1 and Eugene?

Also, I met many runner friends today. I saw Ronnie, Eugene, Christopher, Lawrence, Carrie & fiance, Lionel, Mr Yong etc. All seemed so kan cheong to collect their race kit on day one of the collection. Rightly so, because one of the sizes (M) of the men running vest was gone within the first hour!

I thought I saw Michael Pang also. I wanted to say hi but couldn't see him after I collected my race kit.

More details of the event can be found here. Information about the event programme, race routes, transportation, etc is available. Every runner should read it. Good luck!

Bareno Run 15km 2010

Photo courtesy of Tey.

I came into this race with no expectation as I have been a bit slacking in training lately. Lots of things happened including my mother went for operation last week. Running was not on top of my mind when my mother was in the hospital. I'm so glad and relieved that she was discharged on Thursday.

Anyway, what happened to my mother reminded me how fragile human being is. We should always be grateful and cherish those that are around us. Never take anything for granted.

The Bareno Run 15km was the first edition this year. I registered quite early for this as this race is just 2 minutes drive from my house. So, I felt the "home ground" advantage could do me good in this race.

I was joined by my wife for this race. It was her longest run thus far. She hasn't run further than 12km before. But I believed she could do this, within 2 hours.

Some other friends and colleagues also joined. BP, Devan, Janice, James, Zafir, Pang & family were there too. I registered and collected their bibs for them. Got more kakis this time. And I am becoming like an agent or ambassador for running, haha... Some more today, got a few people looked at me or cheered me on or talked to me like they knew me, but I didn't know most of them. Hello and thanks, my new runner friends!

For the run today, I completed the 15km in 1:13:36 (my personal best) for position 34th in Men Open Category. Average pace was 4'54" per km. I was surprised actually because I'd never expected to run below 5 minutes per km in this race because of lack of training. Also because of the pain I felt on my right foot near the heel area, made me worry early in the race. After about 3km, the pain subsided and I continued to push on.

After I had completed my run, I quickly got a drink and grabbed my camera bag. I ran back the running route in reverse direction to shoot photos and to find my wife. Along the way, I just tried to snap as many photos for the runners as possible. I met her around 1.5km from the finish line. Then I ran with her until the finish line. She completed her first 15km in about 1 hour 52 minutes for position 55th in Women Veteran Category.

Running towards the finishing line with my wife. Photo courtesy of Tey.

It was a good run organised by the Bukit Jalil Running Club. Some of the officials in organising committee are my running friends also. Mr Yong, Mr Tang, Mr Lim to name a few. I must congratulate them for a good job done.

Congratulations to Julia Lim too. She got champion position for Women Veteran Category. We shared the same training base, i.e. Taman Bukit Jalil (part of the 15km and 10km route today). She is a very hard-working runner and improved so much since last 2 years. She trains there almost every morning.

I will upload the photos that I took today to my Multiply site later. The quality is not so nice this time as I was running while I took some of the photos.

Until the next run, do train hard and stay healthy.

And the running continues...

I have been quiet lately. Too many things going on, and so I spent little or no time to write anything.

Back to running, currently I am running about 45-50km per week. Also I am more conscious about my running mechanics, i.e. the foot landing, the arm movement etc. It is like a re-learning to run all over again.

I didn't participate in recent runs because of clash of priorities. It is always family comes first for me. Even for my training, I need to ensure that I don't spend too much time until my spouse and children feel and complain about it.

I thought of increasing my weekly minimum mileage to about 60-70km (to improve my fitness/pace), but I think I will sacrifice too much time from sleep and family, not a good idea. I received not from one, but at least three people, a same email about a corporate CEO who ran marathons died young. It was allegedly due to lack of sleep.

Anyway, I am putting different things in my trainings, e.g. short interval training and strength training. Interval training is really a struggle for me. It is very tough for me for go through my short interval session. Sometimes, I feel the cramp and nausea after the interval training.

I am also having a slight intermittent heel pain on my right foot for 2-3 weeks now. Reason is still unknown, that makes it a bit frustrating. I just have to figure it out and see if it will heal soon.

My next run is on 14 Mar, the Bareno Run 15km. I hope I can be 100% by then.

Where is the hunting?

Since our team last win in the Open hunt, we have not had the opportunity to hunt again. Not that there were no hunts out there, but rather it was our own separate priorities that kept us occupied. Even for a simple lunch or coffee is also a challenge. I'm still conscious that we haven't celebrate our last success yet.

One of our team members is getting marry soon. And the company treasure hunt is coming up. He said he won't be able to make it. I guess it will be a scratch team this time. So I'm not setting any expectation for the coming closed hunt.

I mentioned earlier somewhere in my old posting that I wanted to write more about the last Open hunt. I did write something about it, but I just deleted the post somewhere somehow. I guessed I just didn't feel like it (to share). I didn't want to invoke an old topic/event and trigger more debate. One thing that I can express, is that we felt the booing (by certain people) that night when our team was on stage was inappropriate, even though we were not bothered by it.

Due to various reasons, I thought about quitting treasure hunt, just walk away, just that. In fact, this thought resurfaces every now and then. But the love for the sports still keep my interest going. I just hope I can still enjoy treasure hunt the way I want to. Just enjoy it, it is that simple.

New Balance Pacesetters 30KM 2010

BP, Cornelius and I after the grueling NB Pacesetters 30km race.

The run in 2010 is getting tougher and tougher. With all the steep hills along the race course of New Balance Pacesetters 30KM 2010, I think most runners will find satisfaction just to complete it.

As for me, I found great satisfaction in conquering the super-hilly route and exceeded my target (2 hrs 45 mins) for this race.

The day started at 3:40am when my alarm sounded and woke me up to prepare myself. This time I need to pick up the master from KK, Cornelius from his hotel to the run venue. He is a friend, a keen runner cum master treasure hunter and a blogger too. See his site here.

After I fetched Cornelius, I parked in Bukit Aman car park and met BP there. We walked to Padang Merbok, the race Start/Finish place, together.

We did some light warm-ups after we deposited our bags. The 30km race started on time and we were on our way to the "super-hilly" course.

I was running at about 5 mins per km pace at the beginning and met Julia Lim around the 1km mark. She is a strong and fast runner and has improved so much over two years. Now she is consistently among Malaysia top 10 half-marathon runner in her age category. She finished on the podium in some races too. I decided to pace with her as I roughly knew her pace. I needed someone to pace with so that I would not push too hard at the beginning.

It turned out to be a good move as we paced each other, often exchanged lead and it was a motivation especially when we climbed the long steep hills.

Only at about 25km, I eased up a bit and let Julia to lead the way. From then on, I just ran at around a pace of 5'30" per km.

At the finish line, I timed myself at 2:35:49. Average pace was 5'12" per km. I exceeded my initial target for this race. I felt good after the race as I knew I could have push harder. I guessed I was a bit reserved and didn't want to risk injury on this super-hilly course.

I saw Julia right after the finish line and congratulated her. It was her first 30km race too.

Then I quickly grabbed something to drink and eat before proceeded to take my medal and goody bag. Then I collected my camera bag and started shooting the runners' finishing photos at around 8:43am.

I saw Cornelius coming back around 3 hrs 10 mins (gun time). He was quite happy to finish with that time as it was way inside his target (3 hrs 45 mins). I snapped his finishing photo and continued my unofficial duty to snap photos for other runners.

I snapped quite a lot of photos for my other runner friends. It was a good feeling for me knowing I can share those photos with them later.

BP came back after 3 hrs 29 mins. It was a punishing run for him too especially he hasn't done any long run (20km or more) since PBIM09 due to injury of his knee. He said later he almost cramped from 25km onwards.

I also met my primary school classmate, Sharon. She finished her maiden 20km in 2 hrs 20 mins (I think) and she was happy about it. On Friday, she trained until her leg muscles were sore and luckily she recovered in time.

After that I continued to shoot until around 9:20am and then I met up with BP and Cornelius to snap more photos. I didn't have much time to stay longer to catch up with my other runner friends and my wife was waiting for me at home. So we went back to our cars and I sent Cornelius back to his hotel.

I am processing the photos that I took and will upload to my Multiply site soon. Please visit my album later.

It was another good run and a very tough one also. I hope to improve on my speed and I know I must work harder to do that.

I heard some elite runners ran the wrong way in some turns where no road marshal was there to direct them. This incident caused some elite runners to lose their positions (they were heading for podium finish). Also there were no medal and finisher T-shirt for slow runners that finished late. These shortcomings were really unfortunate and I believe Pacesetters will look into this to ensure it will not happen again.

I wore this on that Sunday (race day) morning after I came home & took my shower. Then I went CNY shopping in downtown KL (show-off?).

Until next run, do train hard and stay healthy.

Spies on the run and route map of 2010 NB 30KM

I collected the running bibs for the New Balance 30km 2010 on Saturday. This time BP and I got interesting running numbers. I got the James Bond's number and BP is Agent 008. It is an ong number also since it is number 8.

We registered quite early when the race was scheduled in Putrajaya. Then it was moved to Padanag Merbok. Bad news for most runners as the running routes around that area are mostly hilly. See the elevation view of the NB 30km route below from MapMyRun.com.

Elevation view of the 2010 NB 30KM route. (click for better view)

See the route map here.

2010 NB 30km route map (click for larger view).

I did a long run today. This was to train for the race on 17 Jan. I ran from Bukit Aman to Solaris Mont Kiara and then to Petronas Sri Hartamas and then return the same way. Mostly overlap with the race course. The total distance was about 26km (according to my Suunto GPS). I did it with the time about 2:27:58. Hopefully this is good enough training to prepare for the hilly course (so that I will suffer less).

This morning I saw so many runners running the usual Bukit Aman - Petronas Sri Hartamas route. I met so many runner friends during my run. I think everyone was preparing for the race next Sunday or for the Putrajaya Night Marathon (that I confirmed not running because of a wedding dinner and lack of training). The morning sun was already shining brightly and hot at about 8:00am. This will be another challenge come race day. So, fellow runners please be prepared.

Saucony Pacemakers New Year Run 2010

Celebrating New Year Day and my wife's birthday in Pacemakers New Year Run 2010.
(Thanks Tey for the photo.)

Climbing the staircase. (Thanks Eugene Chan for the photo)

My first road race of the year, and it was on the first day of 2010. What made it even special, it was also my wife's birthday and she ran with me in the Saucony Pacemakers New Year Run 2010 at the Lake Garden.

I was still recovering from sickness. I got a terrible flu since Christmas and it developed into a nagging cough. I cough until I feel my lungs about to fly out and breathing also becomes difficult. At the peak of it, I coughed while I was sleeping, thus making my sleep effectively no sleep. When I tried to train or run while still recovering, breathing was not as smooth as I wanted it to be. So my weekly mileage for the period leading to the race was pathetic.

We arrived early at about 6:35am. We collected our timing chip (Championchip) and did some light warm up. The race started a bit late as the organiser was still not ready as some volunteers were missing in action. My wife and I waited near the starting line and I met Kwang Leng and Chuah Seih Seng, both fellow runners.

When the race did start, I thought I ran too fast at the beginning and I was huffing and puffing before the end of lap one. I noticed my heart rate was also quite high. First Kwang Leng overtook me and then Chuah. I couldn't pace with them then. As it was a 4-lap (total about 12km) race around the lake with >100+ steps of staircase to climb on each lap, I decided to pace slower in the second and third lap. Indeed, the staircase was a nightmare for me and most (if not all) runners. Your heart rate can skyrocket at the top of the climb, effectively making you very chuan (short of breath).

On the final lap, I decided to pick up the pace a little bit. That was after I was lapped by the eventual champion just before the end of my third lap. In the end of the final lap, I sprinted as fast that I could and overtook a few runners before the finish line. I finished in 12th position in my age category (35-40) in the time of 1:10:16, not a good result I think. I probably need to train harder on my speed training.

Then I met my wife at the finish line. She finished 7th in her category, earlier than me because the lady runners ran a 3-lap race for a total distance of 9km only.

My wife and I then grabbed some light breakfast. I chatted with Chuah and Kwang Leng and went back soon with my wife. It was a good start to another running season. Hopefully, I can improve from here. Until the next run, do train hard and stay healthy.