Terry Fox Run KL 2012 - T-shirt sale locations

 

Please click on the image above to see the details.

T-shirt sale also available on event day, but availability of sizes may vary. Don't wait! Get yours quick!

Thank you for supporting.

Ipoh KRI Annual Road Race 2012 - Race Report

 

My first trophy received on stage in KRI 21km. (Photo by Chung Meing Ling)

This is the first time I got a trophy for my effort in a road race after running for 4 years. It was also my first time running an road race event in Ipoh. It was an enjoyable outing for me because I got to spend some good time with fellow barefoot runners, Master Tan Wah Sing, Rich Chai and sons, Lee Chung Wah and KF Chong.

I went to Ipoh with Rich Chai and sons. We met up with Master Tan, Lee Chung Wah and KF Chong in Ipoh. We spent the night before in a famous hawker centre near Ipoh Garden, having simple meal for dinner while chit-chatting.

The morning of the race was rainy. Luckily the rain drizzled out as the race began. I joined the 21km which started earlier. This was the first time the half marathon was held by KRI (Kelab Roadrunner Ipoh) and also the first time timing chip was used.

Having chalked up good time in PJ Half Marathon a week ago, I was also feeling quite good in this race and ran at a reasonable fast pace at the beginning. at about 4km mark, Master Tan overtook me. He starts slow normally in race but can get to fast pace after a few kms. I see him as my role model both in running and as a person.

The route was a flat one, but it was rough in a few sections. Being a barefooter, the disadvantage is that I cannot really speed at these sections. In some sections along Jalan Kuala Kangsar, it was quite dangerous as no traffic cones nor marshal.

Approaching the finishing line (Photo by Shirley Sohg)

But I was about to maintain good pace on average throughput my run and finished in 1:36:35 (official gun time) for 11th place, just 5 seconds from 10th place. It was enough to get a trophy as I managed to get top15 placing.

It was a well-organised event. The comments I can say was the water stations for 21km runners could have at least one more and some sections (Jalan Kuala Kangsar) do need more road marshals.

But what was more memorable was the good time spent with fellow runners at this event. Special thanks to Rich for the carpool and to Lee and wife for their hospitality and bring us around for good food in Ipoh. Maybe next year, I will join this event again.

PJ Half Marathon 2012 - Race Report

Photo courtesy of Penonton

I never really focused on training for half marathon races. All my training so far is targeted for running a full marathon. My next full marathon will be PBIM 2012 in November. This PJ Half Marathon 2012 was more of a warm-up race for me.

PJ Half Marathon 2012 was a well-organised event. This year the starting time was at 5:30am. This was a good move as last year the event started about 6:30am that caused most runners ran under the hot sun shinning into their eyes for the 2nd half of the race.

I started the race pacing with Tang Chee Choon. He also trains in Bukit Jalil. I was feeling quite strong but restrain myself so not to over commit myself too early in the race.

Then at around 4-6km, I overtook a few runners. At about 8km mark, iron woman Julie Foreman overtook me after pacing couple of kms alongside Tang and I. She also overtook me around the same area last year.

I think I surged a little forward from Tang then. However, Hong Zi-Shen who started just besides me overtook me shortly after. At about maybe 11km, ironman Richard Tang also zoomed past me and I couldn't follow. If there was any bad patches, this was it. My pace slowed at this stretch on the way to the U-turn near Terminal 2. The race become quite a lonely one for me.

After the U-turn, I increased my pace again and able to overtook a couple of runners. At the last 1 km, I catched up with Richard and was within 50m of him. I thought I should wait until near the finish before I tried to make a move. But I left it too late. I finished just a few seconds behind him.

My official result:

Gun Time: 1:34:32 (My Personal Best)
Rank: 8th (Men Jr Veteran), unfortunately no trophy nor cash prize. I'm still waiting for my first trophy or cash prize.

Overall good organisation of the event. The traffic control was a lot better than last year. Runners was diverted to run on the rightmost lane on the way to Terminal 2 on airport road and on the leftmost lane on the way back. Thus avoided cars that needs to turn to the left exit of junctions to Glenmarie, Ara Damansara, Plus highway.


The course is relatively flat and you can set fast time here. As for me, I didn't really think too much about doing well actually before the race. It was a pleasant surprise that I managed to improve my time by about 5 minutes compared to last year.

Maybe, just maybe, next year I can match Julie Foreman or Richard's pace. I will try-lah.

Terry Fox Run Kuala Lumpur 2012 - T-shirt design

Please see the T-shirt design for TFR KL 2012 here.

Courtesy of CARIF

Sizes available: Size 2 (child), Size 4 (child), 3XS, 2XS, XS, S, M , L, XL, 2XL, 3XL.

Price is RM30 each. For each T-shirt with company/school name embroidery TEAM XXXX (left sleeve) is RM35 (minimum quantity is 30pcs). No pictorial logo is allowed.

Kindly note that the final order date for company name embroidery is 15 October 2012. 

Kindly email organizer@terrryfoxrunkl.org.

I will provide more details later. 

Taking the next step - ultramarathon

I have been thinking about this decision for some time. I shouldn't. It is a matter of the heart, not the mind. Ask those already took the plunge to ultramarathon. They would know.

For those who ask what is "ultramarathon", simply put it, an ultramarathon is any run/walk event involving running and walking longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 kilometres.

I started running seriously in Sep 2008. I joined my first 10km road race in Nov 2008. I completed that and for the next one week, I walked like a penguin.

Since then, I have ran 11 Full Marathons, many other shorter races. To many new runners, this seems like a good achievement. However, I have not participated in any event with distance longer than 42.195km.

I did say when I started running back in 2008 that 42.195km would probably be the furthest distance I would ever run.The Full Marathon was that daunting to me.

I did ran more that 42km in one crazy training run last Christmas. Something that I had planned much earlier to motivate myself to try the ultradistance run.

Recently, I registered for my first ultramarathon. My close friends would say I must be having another round of MLC (Mid-Life Crisis). Some of my runner friends would probably say what took me so long.

I remember when I started running, how much I had improved since then, physically and mentally. How running has helped me to improve my health and increase my confidence. After some time, I find myself stagnating, and in a way, comfortable. In my heart, I know I could probably do more, maybe run a little faster or longer, but I just like the state where I am now. That's nothing wrong with that, mind you. Juggling between family, work, training and other priorities is already a challenge. But something just keep my heart asking for more. I believe I was looking for the new experiences. Travel to new places, getting to know new people while also doing one of the thing I love doing, running. You see, I also want to have more interesting stories about myself to tell my future grandchildren, not just fables and fairy tales.


It is not that I want to prove something or to someone, or that I am as capable as anyone else running the ultramarathon. It is not that I was planing to break any record like running the most marathon/ultramarathon, nor I want to be famous running some ultramarathons barefooted. Not that I want to be called "ultramarathoner". No, it's never about me proving something. It's just as simple as: me, running.

I have registered for Comrades Marathon 2013, dubbed "The Ultimate Human Race", it is one of the oldest ultramarathon event in the world. There, no turning back. I will train for this and complete it.

This, will be a beginning to a new chapter of my stories.

Terry Fox Run Kuala Lumpur 2012

Date: 11 Nov 2012
Time:9:00am
Venue: Padang Merbok

I will update with more details later. Please block your calendar in support of cancer research. Thank you.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2012 - My 4th KL Marathon

Photo credit to Boon Yeong at 36km mark.

Some people run a marathon to realise a feat that was accomplished by less than 1% of world population. Some people run it to achieve a personal best. Some people run it for fun. Some people run it to be with the crowd. Some people run it for charity. Some people run it to win. While some people run it just to complete it. Whatever the reason that brought the ~3,100 full marathon runners to the starting line of Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2012 on 24 June, they came with a sense of purpose and belief. For these runners, they were already winners at their own ways. Coming into the race with weeks and months of trainings, they would brace themselves for 42.195km challenge to put their purpose to test.

This was my fourth KL Marathon. This was the event that I ran for my maiden marathon. It's always special to run this again. This year I came into the race without much expectation of myself to do well in terms of timing or ranking. I know that I didn't train enough with the busiest year of my working life. That's life. There are priorities. So I wanted to make this marathon more meaningful, and the way that I thought it would be good was to help others. For example, although I was not registered as the charity runners, but I donated to the cause that I believed it through other charity runners. Other ways I could think of was to support or cheer the runners after my run.

The week leading up to the race was not a good week for me. Dad was sent to hospital on emergency and went for an unscheduled operation one day before his birthday. Luckily all went well and he was discharged one week before the race. Then I got sick as I was lack of sleep, because of running in and out of the hospital. I was on medication until a few days before the race. Also, I tried to squeeze in a run two days before the race and got calf and knee pain. It only got better one day before the race.

I had decided to try out my VFF for this race, to see if there is any difference with real barefoot running for full marathon. I knew pretty well before the race that my landing with VFF is harder than without any minimalist shoes. It was a risk that I would hit into some problem running the full marathon with VFF.

Anyway, fast forward to the race day. I met some friends before the race. I took some photos with them and wished them the best for the race.

 With Kah Wai and Karim. Photo credit to Karim.

 With Lionel Lee at the starting line. I remembered and reminded him of his target and I could sense that he would achieve it. He did it! Congrats. Photo credit to Mrs Moey WS.

With a barefoot runner, Lee Chung Wah. Photo credit to Lee.

The race started on time. My strategy was just to pace easy around 5:12/km evenly for the race. It rained for about 20 minutes when I reached around 8km mark. Ben Swee called me as he passed me around the same place he overtook me last year. I completed the first 10km for the split time of 50:36.

Then I saw Annie Yee in front of me. She was slowing down then and I moved along side her near 12km mark. I just said hi to her and paced her on. I thought I could help her a bit since she was slowing down. Then she started to pick her pace up and we paced together until just after the 20.5km check point. She had to pit-stop at a gas station. Little did I know then, she was having some stomach-ache problem. I continued my race and reach the 20.5km check point at around 1:45:07.

The second half of my race didn't turn out well as I felt the calf and knee pain slowly creeping back. So I had to slow down a bit and hopefully not to aggravate it. The split time at 30km mark was about 2:36:55.

Upon reaching 36km mark, I got an ice-cold water from June. I really appreciate her support for the runners. She set up a kedai runcit with water, isotonic drinks, and other snacks. Also there were cheering team there. Not forgetting Choi who was also at 36km mark to support the runners with Coke, Malta, and many other stuffs. Some people would not understand it, but they were providing support to the runners with their own time, money and effort (with some support from sponsors). My sincere appreciation to them.

I had to take off my VFF near 37km mark and ran the remaining race barefooted. There were more pain on my right ankle for reason that I was not sure. But it subsided when I ran with the VFF off.

At the last 1km, Annie passed me and I was not surprised at all. I urged her on and I was few seconds behind her until finish. I completed the race around 3:44:52 gun time.

After the race, I tried running back to support the FM runners, but was stopped by the crew/officials at the finish line. I only managed to congratulate Annie for her 6th placing.

Then I settled down and refueled myself. I was then looking for my running buddy Chuah BP. We started running FM back in 2009 in this event. But I couldn't locate him. So I decided to put my goodies bag back into my car and ran back to Bank Negara just after the 40km mark to see if I could catch him. It was at this point I spent my next 1.5-2 hours cheering for the FM runners.

Photo credit to Khoo Yit Kiat..

Photo credit to Leong Kwan Weng.

I met Cheryl and Steven Ng at this point and they were also joined me to cheer the runners. It was a different experience for me seeing the many faces of the FM runners just about 2km from the finish line. I had taken many photos before for FM runners. This was my first time, seeing the faces of these runners not through the lens. This was the first time I was focusing on cheering and encouraging the runners that I mostly didn't know. Some were really enjoying, while some were really suffering. Some were smiling, some weren't. Some said thanks, some hi-five to you, some just carried on. You could see the determination, you could see the excitement, you could sense the pain. But all of them, ran for a reason and they were less than 2km away from the finish. I knew deep in my heart, all the runners that went past me at Bank Negara made it through to the finish line. They may choose to run the FM again or they may not. It doesn't matter, I am sure they had one of the best experiences of their lives when they completed the 42.195km in SCKLM 2012.