Standard Charted KL Marathon 2010

Yes its the inaugural Standard Charted Marathon 2010 ! Second year participating and geared on setting a new PR for my half marathon and I did, yippeee ! :) I had a strong run and it felt great a steady pace all the way, I was amazed, just that I missed my target of breaking sub 2:30, was so close :p I am sure there will be a next time ! :) 

I was up early about 3:00 am getting ready to go to race site to cheer on some friends whom were doing their first full marathon ! The place was buzzing with activities when I reached, its seems the no. of full marathon participants have increased significantly. Wished my friends the best of luck and they were off ! :) 

Made my way to the baggage counter to dump everything and just pack the essentials then stretched and warmed at the starting line. Decided to position myself in the back as the no. of half marathoners had significantly grown as well and I did not want to be part of the startup stampede, hahahahaha :) The race was underway at 6:15am sharp and we were off ! 

Didn't realize that the route had changed this year as I was running was think am going the right route, hahahaha its was nice and challenging route :) I reached the finish line 2:33:04 hours later ! :) Yay its my best time recorded for a half marathon thus far ! :) Made my way quickly to the baggage retrieval and had to stand there for another 1.5 hours just to get my baggage, almost had a heat stroke !!! The sun was blazing down ! :) 

Got my bag finally and made my way to the start line to wait for the arrival of my full marathon friends ! Kudos  to June, whom made to finish line with her swallon knees in  6:30:00, very proud of you and sheer grit to complete the race under the circumstances your were in ! Well done June on your maiden marathon ! :)

Finally headed back to my brothers place for much needed R&R before heading home. Will be resting for the week and start planning for my first maiden full marathon preparation , yay ! :) 

Till then the adventure continues ! :)

Malakoff 26K Race

It's Race Day ! :) The day begun at 4:00am, got ready and ran through my usual pre-run checklist and I was off to the site I was running late, arrrghhhh. Reached the start point the place was already buzzing with runners come in.

Had to navigate a bit to find parking, the parking locations we full !! Finally found a place and made my way to the starting point. Everyone was busy warming up and getting ready for the gun to go ! Made my way to a corner to compose my self and do last minute check on my gear and well as my laces.(i.e. not much on issue since its Lock Laces)

Soon after it time to start and we were are husled to the starting line, soon after the gun went off and we were on our way ! Along the met my sifu (i.e. HHFoong)  , wished him the very and a good race and I was off ! 

I spent the night before running through the data I collected from my previous runs on the course to find areas that I could speed up. I identified a few key areas and made sure I sped up when it came to those key points. I think  I came on to hard on one of the downhills and I there where I pulled my hamstring, ouch ! 

I kept to this strategy for the next few legs of the run but unknown to me  my heart was racing quite high which I found out when I analyzed the data after the run. I really hit the wall during the last 1 hour of the race as my pace dropped drastically. Some how I managed to push till I reached the finish line at 3:12:54.  I found a picture of your trully, thanks to Chuah (http://run2chuah.multiply.com/) for snapping this shot which is like meters aways to the finish line, hehehe :)

At the finish line, I quickly made way, returned the timing chip and got my shinny shinny ! :) Meet up with some runner friends (i.e. Mee Lan and her hubby). I was walking back to my car when I bumped in Tiger and Justin, so nice to see the two. The were looking out for as well, we chatted a while and they were on their way for a morning hike.

I headed of to my gym to hit the shower and stretch out a little, my hamstrings were hurting. The shower did a whole of good, felt great ! Time to head home for much needed R&R, next its SCKLM !!! :)

Till then the adventure continues !!

Bidor Half Marathon 2010

Oraity, here's the scoop, great event all around and it was great to be back to Bidor again for the second time round ! :) Great run, stats from my Garmin bellow as well as the story behind the story folks ..

Had great company during this trip that is John Simpson whom wanted a feel of Bidor and what challenges it had  offer. John is was aiming for a great time at this event. We started our journey late Saturday afternoon and arrive at Bidor that evening to pick up the race pack.

John had booked us in a hotel in Kampar and we drove over which took like 45 min to reach since we used the trunk roads instead of the highway. Finally got there, nice comfy place to stay before the race the next day. Made sure all my gear was setup for the morning since we need to leave at about 5:00am to Bidor again where the race starts.

Not much sleep that night, pre-race thingy as always, was up at 4:30am. Got ready got packed and headed over to race area.  We reached around 6:00 am and place was already buzzing with runners getting ready. Warmed up and reported in and we were officially sent of at 7:00am. It was a great start I must say, perhaps a too strong of start.

Into 6th KM, my inner right knee started bugging me again, I kept pushing on and had a stead run till 17th KM. I think my best 10K time (i.e. it was somewhere 1:10:00, I think). It was a scenic green run definately. The air was cool and nice till 8pm when it the heat started hammering. There were quite a no of hills to navigate thru that made it quite the challenge.

I saw Seah(definately) and Robi (I think) during the run. Seah the experience veteran was definitely was ahead and already pushing back as we were in opposite direction at a point of time as well as John. The heat was starting to get on to me as well as the pain. I continued and managed to get to the finish line by 2:44:12.

John was already there at the finish line cheering me on as I came in. My tank was clean out, man was I beat. Quickly rehydrated and got some pics and head home. It was great race, need to work on some things again, back to the drawing board before the next big race > Malakoff 26K ! :)

Till then the adventure continues !

Putrajaya Marathon (Long Overdue)

Finally, I got some downtime to write this ,waaahhhh ! Let me see the Putrajaya Night Marathon, first marathon of the year. I was going into the race with an injured right leg to say the least plus the last minute request from my dear partner whom need to me to fly the next day after the race for meetings. Things could not have been stacked much better. Had to make a run for it from KL to Penang as I needed my passport. 

Reached back in Penang, started packing and flew back to KL again somewhere midnight. Crashed straight in and did not wake up till 11ish. Got up and as always pre-race jitters started settling in again, goshhh. U think after running quite a few races this would go away but nooooo.... its always there ! :) Off I went to get my last meal @ PapaReach some lovely noodles to be exact so after headed off to Putrajaya around, me always need to be early got there quite early.... they were still setting up the tents and stuffs !

Found a bench to rest and start changing into my running outfit so after June buzzed me and we caught up at the baggage tents. June introduced me to her friend Serena and we were all off walking about and checking out all the other tents and goodies being given away. Soon it was time for the race and good herded into the holding area where everyone anxiously waited for the gun to go ! :) Here a pic of the there of us in the holding area.

Soon thereafter the gun went ! And we were off, Serena literally zoomed away and I was running side by side with June. The first 10K were great, was steadily keeping my pace and my energy level, the environment was quite humid nevertheless. The route was filled with ups and downs, its was at the 15th KM where its struck again, the pain on my right leg made its entry, by the 18th KM I was in a lot of pain....ouuuchhhh ! 

It was a series of run/walk thereafter till the finish line, quite the bummer ! :( But nevetheless I finished what I started ;) Live to race another day ! June and Serena finished ahead of me, kudos to them both, outstanding job indeed ! We caught up changed, all were barely able to walk properly its like a bunch of ducks walking ! Hehehe :)

Its a great race and good to meet up with June and Serena, looking forward to the next race ! :) 

Till then the adventure continues ! :)

Barefoot Running !

Natural Running (Extracted from NEWTON Running Site)

2010 Adventure Begins !

Alrighty, its time to get to work and set the stage for 2010 ! One of the major goals this year is get ready to run a full marathon at the Singapore SC Marathon. Had a nice run on the 1st day of the year but may have been wee bit over ... had a bit of shinsplits thereafter but all is good ! :)

Running Goals
1) Run My First Marathon
2) Improve my Half Marathon Times
3) Improve my Nutrition Strategy
4) Include more Cross-Training Activities
5) Have a blast doing 1-4 ! :)

The first race is going to be PUTRAJAYA Night Marathon on the 6th Feb.(*Winks)  The first  second race in Bidor in April, time to transform and roll out ! ;)

The adventures begins for 2010 !