Nike We Run KL 10k

I'm bored...when is this going to end, Mummy?

Yeah, the finishing is in view!!

In the beginning, it felt like a daunting thing to bring two AIRs with me along to this 10km run. I have ran with only either one before, and the most recent, probly a month back, with AIR2, 9+km. So the thought of 2, and 10km?? Kinda scarry.

I asked Fong to join us. And she gladly came. Looking forward to this. And of course, time was immaterial, but up to 6+km, we were doing good. Then the hiccups started to set in. However, it was not important. It was 6 of us finishing the run and enjoying every bit of it that counted. :)

Let's walk to the finish together

Thanks to Kam, Jason & Victor for the photos.

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011

Alright, this is one run I've taken a break from since I did the 42km. That was in 2006. And finally this year I decided to sign up due to the arrangement of events which somehow I ended up in Penang. Plus I ran with my god-sis, her bestie and well, it's one run which I think I've taken alot of photos before start. Ok, 3 only lah, but then again I usually don't take any ;p

Anyway, starting at 3.15am, I think it is the most absurb time it could be. But anyway, for the heck of it, I took the challenge. Quite optimistic after a good outing at the PJHalf (ok, pirate pun pirate lah ;p), I was aiming to just finish, and perhaps clock a decent time. No targets, knowing I'd not be able to do anything less that 2:30. I wasn't prepared.

As I ran, I looked out for people whom I know who would be taking part. Met a childhood friend and she was surprised to see me. Started the run pacing two white chicks as they seemed to be or reasonable pace. Somehow, at the 1st toilet stop, they stopped so I had no pacer. I ran keeping to the earlier pace until one fit-looking girl came up next to me. So I ran alongside her, until we reached the mid-span, and she started to breathe so hard and fast, it was distracting. Seriously. I was surprised and how calm and consistent my breathing was compared to hers, that at one point, her breathing was so distracting that I had to push myself to run ahead of her. I was running out of breath just listening to her breathe.

Crap. And I thought I was the un-fit one. OK OK, cannot compare this way.

BUt anyhow, we were somewhat the same pace, but surprisingly I was faster on the hill/slopes. hahahaha I am amazed. I'm always the slower one compared to anyone when it comes to hills. So I have Fong and Alvina to thank for this improvement.

Anyway, I was glad when we U-turned at 9.8km and approached a water station. BUt WHAT?? NO WATER? I was dying of thirst. I wanted to down my gel and finish with water, but no water? I was already regretting not running with my pals cos they had water in their fuel belt. One man actually begged the volunteers for whatever leftover they may have as he is dying of thirst. Decided to leave that drama, I ran. then I saw those small mineral water bottles on the siderails of the bridge. I scouted as I ran and there were a few almost full bottles. I just grabbed it and down some of the water while running. AAaaaaah life saver!

All that happened when I was also experiencing an onset of calf cramps. WHAT?? I've never experienced cramps ever while running!! This is not good! Change my stride but then my toes hurt. Changed it back, stopped to stretch then continued. 1-2km down the road I had to stop again. I was cursing just before the 17km U-turn. But when I reached, the isotonic water station was DA BEST!! Iced cold 100-Plus to clear my mind off the pain. Then the checkpoint and maybe bout 100m away was an icing-station. It was quite a relief when my calfs were iced. Then I took a slow 5km run back. The thoughts of stopping and icing them legs were very very strong. BUt I kept running till the end.

The sight of the finishing line seemed to take forever. I was glad I finished despite clocking a slower time. Truthfully? Kinda dissapointed that I had to experience cramps. BUt oh, did I mention that from KM6 or so onwards, I had indigestion. It was not pleasant. This translated into stomach cramps bout KM12 onwards.

Oh well, now I've experienced all the pain! But I will still come back again!!

PJ Half Marathon 2011

Finally another run event but this time, Fong & I 'pirated' it.

I was fed up of signing up and then later something crops up and I can't make it. Yes, the timing can be freaking bad, and it HAS to be when there's a run I really want to go for, hub's time will be taken for some work. Oh well, so there goes the run. NB15km and Shape Night Run are few to mention.

Anyway, one lacks training and the other mid-way through pregnancy, so we decided to take it slow and easy.

Surprised that we managed to get parking easily (kind of) and we car-pooled. At 6.30am sharp (almost) we were flagged off. SO we started slowly. Starting from really at the end of the pack, it was the first for us. Usually we're stuck in the middle or near the front.

Caught up with Stupe and Aileen, took a snapshot and we trotted along. That was before the turn off to Federal Highway. As we entered Fed Highway, I was surprised that this time we ran in the motorcycle lane. Easy job for the police and marshalls. After a few minutes into it and it was no longer dark, I thought the guy next to us was Boone. Took a while to look and re-look before calling out to him. Looking great out there.

I was on a high. I felt good, but that was only 5km into the run. 16 more awaits and I didn't want to spoil it. So I stuck to our current pace. After the u-turn and alot more gossips, Fong was more quiet now. I took it as a sign and checked if she was ok. She said she was breathing heavily but still fine. Slowed down a little. Up the ramp towards Subang Airport and we slowed down a bit. Fong told me to go ahead. I went. Then came back to check on her before the flyover at Ara, just before the 12km mark, and Fong wanted to pit stop. Nearest pit stop would be BHP some 1.2km away. We initially wanted to u-turn at the Ara Damansara turn but since BHP is after that, we went ahead. I went on and came back to check again. Then another round. After that pit stop she had, she's now more energetic and ready to go!

So off we went again. She told me to go ahead so I agreed only after the u-turn we did. We turned at the roundabout and not at the designated u-turn, which was perhaps in total 1km less than the actual distance. Then off I went. The return had us run facing the bright sun. Not ideal. Glaring. Where there was motorcycle lane, we were running using it. Finally, like all runs, the last 1km seems toughest. But I enjoyed it this time because there were a few other ladies pacing me and wanting to run ahead of me. I guess they didn't notice I didn't have a timing chip on my shoe nor a number on my shirt. I was amused. :)

Finally arrived just before KJ stadium, where I stopped and backtracked to look for Fong. She was doing great!

The best part of it all - I felt great after the run. Knees were weird but they were not swollen and that weird feeling went off the next day. Only sore muscles.

I guess I'm pretty much ready for PBIM now. I thought I'd not make this 21km but now I'm more sure of myself. BUt then again, there are those good days and the bad days. Now let's hope 20th Nov will be as good as 30th Oct. :)

Salute to the preggy mummy!! She was fantastic! But I forgot to take photos of us again! ;p

Don't ask me who that ang moh is....;p

Training

Post Raya training has been tough.

Immediately after Raya break, I was looking forward to a long run. I know I will suffer as the weekdays which were prior to this was filled with hopeless milleage and speed. So when Sun came (Sat had to abandon plans 10mins before leaving the house as all of a sudden AIR1 called out for me....and I spent the whole morning resting with him at home instead ;p), I left as early as I could.

Target - 3 loops
Loop #1 - slow, but felt good
Loop #2 - still slow and felt like dying at the steep slope
Loop #3 - half walked up that same steep slope

And I realise I need to put in more if I wanted to complete PBIM close to my PB or even my 1st half mara time in 2001 and 2000 respectively. Ouch...that's 10 years ago!!

Mon morning - the ache in my legs felt as though I ran a marathon...yes, literally.

And last week, long weekend, and I planned to run on all 3 days.
Fri - 3 loops, but this time I believe I was slower than the previous week. Seriously suffered. Short of breath after 1 loop.
Sat - 3 loops, though I wanted 4 but at the end of 3, felt like I was going to just die of shortness of breath
Sun - slow and easy with a friend. Felt good because I was not pressuring or pushing myself.

Need to rest and recover. Perhaps lack of sleep caused the breathing problems. Body was tired, I guess.

If I consistently do that 3 loops or 4 soon, every weekend, then I think I will be ok for PBIM. Otherwise I am having 2nd thoughts.

Decisions decisions.....should I or should I not sign up now??

Disastrous Energizer Night Race!

First it was a disastorous night race, then it was the most incompetent immigration officer...how bad can it get? Let's hope it won't 'follow me' to Sibu tomorrow! Yes, 5 years on, my 2nd visit to Sibu. Wait! I have digressed.... The most anticipated, 1st run in the F1 circuit was on 16th April. Yes, THE saturday night. HAving registered for 21km, and not ran for a month since the Bareno Run which I also did a 21km, I thought I'd just hit the road and do my best. Somehow, as I arrived, I was already pissed off even before the race started. Such a huge venue but no proper directions to get people to the starting line, or even to where we were supposed to collect our headlamps or to anything and anywhere!! Do you think everyone in this country has had the previlege of visiting he F1 circuit? Did they even think that 10,000 people will throng this place and abit more proper management is required? Yes, it's the crappiest race ever, and Energizer Night Race has just won hands down!! Took me 30minutes just to get to the headlamp collection area. It was so stuffy I think if I arrived any later, I'd have fainted. It took me another good 10 minutes to find the 'lane' to get to the start. With such a wide area, the organizers had to arrange the sensors for the timing chip to only about 10 feet wide!! And so it took me a good 2.5minutes just to get pass the start line. I was fine with the rest, for now. Until I came to the 2nd water station, with 2 miserable tables, ultra small paper cups and only 2 people maning the place, runners had to self-serve themselves. What on earth is this? No medic to be seen when I wanted one too! After the loop outside, which I was really happy with my timing, I went in and found more undesirable conditions. Everyone was scaterred everywhere running all over the place. A few officials were at the supposedly 5 & 11km finishing area but they were swamped with runners. RUnners are running on their own honesty. No one is around to ensure that they are doing 1 or 2 loops. What's the event again? And everyone was hovering everywhere leaving no space for even the 21km runners to run properly. Something in my foot told me to go abit more and then stop, literraly. I felt a blister coming and decided not to suffer. No point, no one benefits from it. And so I stopped, turned around and walked out. Did anyone care? NO! Took me another 30mins to find the way out and get to my car. Thank God I decided to just leave without the goodie bag as I already imagined few thousand people rushing to get out of the parking area. If only it had been organized better, I'd have enjoyed my race, I'd been able to get the tapes I required to temporarily relief the discomfort. Did I chicken out? I think partly I did, but Iguess it was somewhat a smart move. I bet my weekend 20km would be anytime better. LUckily I didn't get 'cheated' by the people at the carparks. What could be worse?? In the next post I shall elaborate!

2011

Time flies. Felt like I was pregnant with AIR2 only recently but she's already 6 months now. And AIR1? He'll be 2 in Jan!

Gosh!

So what have I planned for 2011?

1x21km, 1x tri and many 10kms. hopefully it wil materialise. Keeping the 42km for another time, perhaps or when my knee feels better. And for each 10km event, I will bring either AIR along in each 10km run of mine! :) (target lah, dunno how many percent will materialise yet)

1xholiday with family (yes, holiday, balik kg is no holiday and that is what we have been doing all this while and end up no more leave left for a REAL holiday ;p)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lahad Datu, here I come....

This is going to be my first ever outstation trip after having 2 kids, without them tagging along!

Planned for 3 days, but looks like it's gonna be 4 days. Work, work and work!

Keeping fingers crossed that AIR2 will be well by then (she sleeps through the night if she's well), and AIR1 will not be extra manja. But then again, AIR1 knows when to and not to be manja. He's extremely clingy to me these 2 weeks..

So 4 days away may mean I may get to slot in some workouts ;p but then Lahad Datu gets dark early. I'm not about to wake up too early when I have the chance to sleep in a bit longer ;p

And, after coming back, I'll be going for a race with none other than Fong! YAhoo!! It's going to be our first race together ever since erm...(ok, I shall leave the years out) we knew each other. Technically, we never partnered or teamed up with each other. Yalah, mix team always has us separated and we were always short of members to make a full women's team. Excited excited! (as though it's my first race ever!)

Lets hope dear hubby will not be driven up the wall by AIR1. And he will be in good health throughout that week!

when we arrived

almost at the end....



That was what both of us were up to on 10.10.10....the fun run.
Fast asleep....after a 'tiring run' :)

What are you doing on 10.10.10?

October is my favourite month!

And its going to be 10.10.10 this Sunday! So, what have I planned? Join this run!

C'mon lets all go! It's just a fun run, 5.5km and I guess it's going to be my longest distance to date, running with AIR in his stroller. Keeping my fingers crossed that he WILL sit and enjoy the run! Let's run right through KL city (now, when else will you have the chance to do that?)

Everything about this event sums up to the number ten!
Distance - 5.5km (5+5=10)
Start time - 8.20am (8+2=10)
Start point - Lot 10

I'm excited. Though hubby won't be around, I guess it's ok. I'll drag him along for Terry Fox next!

Newton 12/25km Challenge Kuala Lumpur

post-race

Finally, my first ever race report.

Also my first race/event since Desaru 2006!! Or ok, if you consider Terry Fox 2009 also can lah! ;p

I was excited (1st race in almost 4 years and 3 months post-partum) and worried (1st race with really NO training, hilly route, not sure if body and knee can take it) but I was looking forward to the grueling route and see if I can make a sort-of-come back!

During races, I normally have a toilet routine, and yes, it is literally a routine. So this time, I didn’t think I would have a routine. Haha I dunno why but before every race, I have to visit the toilet 3 times, no matter what I eat or do. So this time, thinking I may not experience the same effect, I left the house after session no.2. Boy was I wrong! Thank God calling no. 3 came as I was in the car park and I managed to run up just in time!

Ok, that aside. I was also worried about parking as recent stories about break-ins were rampant. I managed to park right beside the mosque’s entrance. I was surprised that the first person I met was Jaja. At slightly pass 6am we bumped into each other but she was getting ready for her 25km run at 0630.

So it felt like many other previous events, at the start, sometimes I’m alone. Saw some familiar faces, i.e. faces or people I know but not very close to (but you get to know them thru FB), so I didn’t go up to them. Gutsy Patsy was there and managed to chat with her.

Ok, back to the race. Started slow, but I was surprised to see seasoned runner starting really slow. Anyway, minding my own business I started at a pace I Was comfortable with. 1st hill was in sight and conquered. 2nd hill also conquered. 3rd slope (well it was a slope when I first saw it) was never ending. At the corner, this slope became a hill, and oh boy I was defeated. Tried as hard as I could to run/trot or whatever, just to avoid stopping, but I was defeated. So I did a walk/run/jog/walk routine up to almost the U-turn, which was still on the uphill! And after the U-turn and water station, the urge to stop and walk got very much stronger.

Fighting it, I only walked uphill when I really couldn’t take it (I felt like puking) or downhill when I sensed my knees were not happy. And so my pacing with a few ladies on the same route began. And then came a seasoned runner/triathlete whom I recognized, and I was thinking to myself, how come she’s so slow? She’s usually faster. Oh well, anyway I paced her, keeping her at a certain distance from me. This went on till the last 2 km where I really couldn’t take it anymore. I walked a lot more this time, and my run durations were much shorter and she was about 50m ahead by now. At approx 500-750m to the finish, I started running again slowly.

Bumped into Bandit and kept on running to the finish, but I felt really really horrible when I reached the finishing line. Kept walking and went looking for a drink. I don’t really remember how long I took, but I believe it was about 1hr 40 mins (because when I remembered to stop my stopwatch, it was already 1hr 50mins or so). Oh yes, snail pace it was!

All in all, the heat was unbearable and the route, I think if I had been training/running it would have been bearable, but not when I didn’t train at all. Knowing that I am 3 months post-partum coupled with zilch training, and with that, I was proud of my own achievement. (every race is my race against myself). No pressure, only to finish. No medals nevermind! :) I was fine.

I survived. My body felt like it went through a 21km run instead of just 12km. Post-run effects were much more like a longer race.

The best part of it all? Going home and having lil’ AIR run to you for a BIG HUG! Smelly, sweaty and all : )

On another note, my 2plus years absence from the circuit was an eye-opener. There were many ladies who donned the full headscarf running too. 2 -3 years ago, I only knew of 1 person who runs with that.

Newton 12/25km Challenge Kuala Lumpur

Kinda ambitious but I've signed up for it. Only the 12km, though. First race of the 'season'.

It would be after Raya, and approximately 2 months after baby arrives. Dunno where and how to find time but will try. From previous experience, in 2 months, I've not even attempted further than 5km daily. So lets see how this would go. Two in tow and 12 to go! :)

Terry Fox Run 2009

My 'partner' throughout the run

1st Nov 2009 – wow, 2 more months to the new year! How time flies.

Went for the Terry Fox Run, supposed to meet some colleagues (my boss, actually) but didn’t have her contact number, so I didn’t meet her there so we wouldn’t know if either party went. However, I was there as promised. Gosh, from the parking area, it was a good 10-15mins walk to the start point, through the park too. Lake Gardens is huge and all the parking areas are full.

So, I reached the starting just in time as they were calling for those with ‘wheels’ to be grouped at one side. I think not many took heed but I went anyway and soon, as I reached that point, it started. Oh, I had lil’ AIR in his stroller with me. And the best part was, he slept from the house right to the start and all the shifting from carseat to stroller didn’t wake him up.

I walked and there were just too many people. Somehow I was walking pretty fast, with or without stroller, and soon I began walking past a lot of people, while I have to realize I have to make way for those who are running. Then suddenly, up this one slope/hill, I decided to run. And so I did for the rest of the 3.5km. I guess it was my first run, complete with stroller through an undulating route. I didn’t get to go really fast cos it was congested, yes human-traffic-jam. But good enough for a jog. Superb. Until certain points where the sun came in the way and was shinning at AIR, had to stop for some adjustments to his stroller.

The best part of the whole thing was – AIR slept right through, sun shinning on him or not, road bumpy, rickety or not. Oh boy, it was bliss…there were kids crying out to be carried, complained tired and hot and didn’t want to go any further….and here I was enjoying myself running with AIR.

At the finish point, one guys even commented that he was amazed that AIR slept, and I actually expected him to wake up maybe 30mins later. Cos from home to the start was already a good 45 mins and his morning naps don’t last longer than 1 hr.

On the walk back to the car, just exiting Lake Gardens, he suddenly awakens and cries out. He slept for a good 2 hrs! My oh my! Now he wants to be carried. Not good enough just having eye contact with me. Can u imagine, now I have to carry him in one hand and steer the stroller with the other and road was not flat. Yes, tired, arm aching after less than 200m. So I pujuk him to take a seat. Thank God he sat down quietly. And I kept imagining if this had happened during the event.

Somehow, I had fun....

King of The Road

I don’t believe it happened again!! I missed another run! This time it was the Adidas King of the Road (KOTR) race in Shah Alam. Aiyoooo….

In fact I was in two minds the day before, but nightfall, I was eager to go. Just that throughout the night, baby was abit restless and so I was awaken acouple of more times than usual, just to calm him down to sleep. And so when baby awoke again, it was 0620 and I guess it was abit too late for me to get dressed, get fueled and get to shah alam by 7am. Gosh, so I missed it again. Darn!! Abit disappointed. 3 races missed, out of which I think this was one I could just go and have fun….yeah, though abit of hills in the route, I’d love to try out running again in Shah Alam. Hmmmm looks like the races will restart only after Raya, i.e. probly earliest also in Oct.

So now I’m set for Pg Bridge Run in Nov, I hope…

Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya

Goodness me! I think it's a tad too expensive for a 70.3.
NO special rates for Malaysians?
Or did I overlook it?
USD200 for individual participant and USD450 for relay team.
Hmmmm.....tak jadilah considering the current situation....