Dutamas Runners Conquered The Hills Of FRIM!

On a Sunday morning where most runners will be running through the roads and bridge in Penang, Dutamas Runners ((DRs) turn up for the Charity Nature Run organised by the students of ALC College. Yin, her mum, Yvonne, Bin and me left for FRIM at about 7.30am. Run only starts at 8.45am. We found a car park near the starting line and registered ourselves by dropping one of our bib in the lucky draw box. Most of us only registered the last minute. Since this is a charity run, we thought it will be good to run for a cause and also a change of running scene. FRIM is quite popular place for hikers, joggers and also mountain biking. There, we met up with the rest of the DRs: Wei Li, David, Shaun and Melvin. Wei Li is preparing himself for another charity run in Macau, a half marathon in the coming few weeks time. We also met, Chen, Daniel and YS Lee. Daniel and YS Lee already did a warm up earlier around the course and told us it was short of the stated 8km. They mentioned it was only 6km. (And I took their word! Story later....). Also met up with Peck Yah and her daughter who just flew back from Melbourne. Jack Toh was there too.

I wasn't sure how I was going to tackle this race as I knew my training wasn't ideal at the moment. But I knew I want to run it fast, taking this like a tempo run. It didn't really matter whether I'll finish in a good position or not, but then again, there weren't that many strong runners in the field. Most runners are either in Penang or because this event do not offer cash prize, most 'elite' runners will shy away from such events. The rest of the Dutamas Runners had a good chance of get the Top 40 finishing medals and even a podium finish.

The Route

It takes us through the trails and also some of the asphalt road in FRIM. A good change of running environment once a while and the greens in FRIM give you a much cleaner air. Of course, would have love it even more if the ALC College students organised it very much earlier than the stated time of 8.45am. We were informed that it will be brought forward but the California Fitness trainer probably did a little too much for warm up with the runners and it started slightly after 8.45am.

The Race
YS Lee reserved a place for me in the front and when the air horn went off, a few young guys started real quick heading into the trails which incidentally is a steep climb. I took my time to overtake the guys since I was expecting the hill. Once we hit the hill, I took over the lead. As Jack was following me closely, I thought it would be good to press on the pace in the hills and hopefully I can lose him. The downside is that I may risk getting tired myself and he'll be able to take over if he can keep up with me. Luckily, the sound of his footsteps start to fade and soon I was able to put in a gap. 

Back to the distance. As I took Daniel and YS Lee's words that the route was short at 6km, I estimated that if I run 5:00/km pace (add in the hills), I'll finish around 30mins. But after 30mins, the finish line was nowhere on sight! The time went on and still no finish line. I was a little worried that Jack's going to overtake me, so I looked back to check on the gap, but I couldn't see him. I ran out of steam as I didn't expect that there were more slopes near the end of the race. I slowed down my pace to catch some breath and on the way back saw some of the Dutamas Runners running passed me on the opposite direction. When I saw there were more cars on the road, I knew the finish line was near, so I hung on the pace till the finish line. Soon, one by one the Dutamas Runners came through to the finish line. And they did well. I am hoping all of them can improve on their PBs in bigger events!


It was nice to know that I had a personal escort throughout the race. A guy on the bike guiding me through the route. Peet! Peet! Peet!

We stayed back for the lucky draw but we weren't so lucky. Had to go back empty handed except for the medals. 

Some results today:
Distance: 9.09km (according to Daniel Tan's GPS)

Mens Open
39:07 - Me (1st) - Clap! Clap! Clap! Self praised is no praise!
00:00 - Jack Toh (2nd)
00:00 - (3rd)
00:00 - Chen KH (4th)

Medallist:
00:00 - Melvin Lim (13th)
00:00 - Wong Yi Bin (23rd)
00:00 - Wei Li (xx)

Shaun and David missed out on the medals since they have not been running for quite a while.


Womens Open
00:00 - Katie (Canada) (1st)
57:57 - Yvonne Teo (3rd)


Womens Veteran
00:00 - Yin Boey (1st) - Yin's first win! Congrats!
00:00 - Auntie Boey (SH/Yin's mum) (3rd) - she did well to beat the younger women runners!


Mens Veteran
44:56 - Daniel Tan (1st)
52:00 - YS Lee (5th)

From left (standing): Wei Li, Yi Bin, Shaun, Yin, SH  (Kneeling): Yvonne, Melvin and me

From left: Yi Bin, Shaun Lee, David Ong, Me and Wei Li

More photos later......


Thanks to Yvonne for the photos!

Races

23rd Seremban Half Marathon 2010

Date: 11 July 2010
Time: 6.45am
Venue: N.S. Padang, Seremban
Distance: 10km & Half Marathon

To print form, pls click on this link


Shape & Mens Health Run 2010
Date: 31 July 2010
Time: 8:00pm
Venue: Kompleks Perbadanan Putrajaya, Presint 3
Distances: 5km (Fun Run) & 12.3km (All categories)

To print form, pls click on this link

Jog For Hope Is Back

Where: Entrance of Taylor's College, Sri Hartamas

When: 18 July 2010

Flag-off: 8.00am

Distance: 6km or 9km, depending on category.

1 Taylor’s Community Project, Charities:

a. Development Program of Bario, Sarawak 

b. Malaysia Paws Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

Jog For Hope is back again this year, and yet again, same day as Siemens Run. Why lah?! Seems like all the organisers are doing the last minute thing in cramping all events in July! Now I wonder whether I should go back and defend my title. : ) Highly unlikely as I've already signed up for Siemens, but never know, as I did the same too last year. It was a close finish last year. I was juct lucky the young guy gave up in the final 2km, whereas, I almost gave up earlier. Besides, this is so near my apartment.

Anyway, those interested in signing up, please go to this link or Facebook for more info.

Coach, Training Partners and Friends!

I can't say I'm the fastest distance runner but I think I'm just above the average. I don't really have much talent in running. It's purely from training. Without training, I'm going to do badly, just like everyone else but I can still do a little better than the average. I think it's mainly due to the training I had when I was in schooldays and also because it's hard for me to put on weight, it's easier for me to get back into some kind of fitness (not full fitness) with a just a few training runs.

Back in the schooldays, I was training with the then no. 1 Sarawak distance runner, Kaliani. I've already started running since Form 2 but without much success. It's only when I entered Form 6 that I started training with him and improved. 

My friend cum rival from another school, Kok Jin (pic) decided to start training with Kaliani. Since then, me and Kok Jin basically dominated the school scene, both in Kuching and Sarawak. Well, unfortunately, I'd always come up short by ending up with a lot of silver medals around my neck (A choker maybe!). Kok Jin has since left the sport after high school and is now climbing the corporate ladder (or the specifically the engineering field) in the US. He is one determined friend I have both in and out of the athletics field. In state level school competition, although finishing second in 1500m & 3000m SC and also winning the 5000m event, which he did not compete, I didn't get to compete in MSSM and SUKMA. Kind of missed the mark (target time). Until now, i still don't agree with the way Sarawak Amateur Atheltics Association chooses who to compete in the national school level meet (Sore loser!). Kok Jin went on to compete in both MSSM and Sukma games and did well. Although not winning any medals in both meets, he lowered his 1500m PB to 4:13 (I think). I'd barely broke 4:20 (4:19) for 1500m just after I left school. Nothing concrete on the timing, cos I heard it only over the PA system when they were announcing the results. I may have heard it wrongly and also I was too out of breath to even look at my stopwatch while running!

Anyways, Kaliani was here for a holiday trip with his family. Have not seen his family for years and only got to know that his eldest daughter has already finished Form 5. Usually when I go back Kuching for a trip, I will only see him at our usual training ground in Resevoir Park and sometimes I join him in training. He is still training hard as he was when I trained with him about 16 years ago and he's fit as ever at age 48 (I think). Time really flies!

Me and Kaliani

Kaliani and family

When we were training with him, he was on his way to break a few state records, i.e. 5000m (16m20s++), 3000m SC (9:54) and 10000m (34m++). I think the records have already fallen to the hands of Mohd Jironi Riduan who is the current national 800m runner. I think only the 10000m record, still stands. I may be wrong. Problem is that all these records are not accessible though the internet, so can't really confirm. I've always told him that I will be the one breaking his 3000m steeplechase record being my pet event, but I never gotten near that.

My training now are a lot less intensive when I was training with him. Altough my mileage has gone up but speed is no longer there. Getting old! Haha! Can still remember the days that we were grinding out on the track almost daily with some days reserved for road running. I never even hit a mileage of more than 15km in a single run when I was in school. That explains why I had to take the ambulance back when I did my first marathon in 1995 (or 96). I had phobia running the full ever since and only made my second appearance in full marathon in 2003. My 3rd and 4th appearance was at last year's KL Marathon (June) and Melbourne Marathon (October).

Anyway, training with Kaliani has given me such a strong base in running that I can still run well today. Fairly well. Ok, maybe my skinny figure helps too but I don't really follow how he trains before as I dont think I can last. Sometimes I do wonder how I can run those times when I was in school without a strong mileage. Guess we did the speedworkouts in such a high intensity and volume, that it substitutes the long runs I lacked. Now I've got a higher mileage but have slowed down a lot. That's why I think I need to go back to basic and brush up my speedwork in addition to increasing mileage. Got to balance it, right?

I took him out for a run on Sunday to the usual Hartamas and Bukit Tunku route. He enjoyed the run. Also took him and his family to Batu Caves and also Putrajaya. I always like to take friends from outstation to Putrajaya, not only for its beauty but also to let them know, "Hey, this is where your tax payments go to!" LoL!

As of now, still can't find the motivation to train. Been resting far too long since Pacesetters NB 20km run.

Next race(s): I've got 2 races coming up this month, Bareno 15km and Energizer Night Run 4 x 10km.