I reach Den's place and took my bike and rode home. It was a little dark already, so had to put on my headlight and tail lights. It was only about 5km away, so didn't take long for me to reach Kheng's place riding. Took a long time for me to walk though!! Here's a video showing my ride home. Am actually on a special lane for bikes on road.
Woke up early today to join the Victorian Road Runners Tan Time Trial. No charges in entering this event and if not mistaken it's a monthly event that they organised for members or non-members. No medal are offered here, but not that the runners mind. I guess runners here have different mindset, not so medal gila. Even some of the events that are fee charging, availability of medals are not a guarantee. Not that I mind, cos I'm also not too sure what I do with my medals. Mine are all inside the plastic bag back home, hidden in one of my cabinets. I ran to the starting line as it's not that far from where I stay. Today, it's a handicapped event. I ran a few handicapped events in NZ. What it means is that the faster runners will start last, either through your estimated time or the previous trial you had with them. So if you start later, you go chase down the guys in front of you. In the end, most people will have pretty much the same timing but that is never the case lah. I went to see the handicapper and this is the short conversation I had with him (not exact conversation)
Handicapper: You doing a 8km? (they had 2 time trials each time, 4km-1 lap and 8km-2 lap)
Me: Yeah, the 8km.
Handicapper: So what is your estimated time for 8km?
Me: I say about 34 - 35 mins (well I had a few runs around the park and my average time was around 17'20)
Handicapper: So, I'll say it's about 36 mins?
Quiet momentarily. (I was like, "Wah, kua beh ki wa meh?") Then I think he caught the message and say, "So you think can do 35 mins?"
Me: Yeah, that's ok.
Handicapper: You'll start at 10 (that means you start 10 mins later from the first batch of runners)
Hehe. I didn't really mind where he started me, coz I just there to do a tempo run since I'm too lazy to do it on my own. They had a digital clock for this event, not bad. We had a briefing/anouncement before the time trial started. Anyway, think they were just annoucing some results/news and even the number of times some of the members had done the Tan Time Trial. I think one of them had done more than 200!
After that, the clock started and off they went, a big group of runners. Then every 1 min, another group went. I waited there freezing cold, made a big mistake not to wear my gloves as I saw the sun was coming up. Then I was talking to this petite lady and she was asking me what was I starting on and told her at 10. She looked a little startled and say how could she get 11 mins when she thinks she runs slower than a lot of people? I just smiled. From then on, I just thought the 1. handicapped are not really accurate or 2. she's going to chased me down!! I asked her whether we are just running the loop. She then told me that since it's a slightly less than 4km per loop (3.827km), we need to make a turn to make it 4km. I waited freezingly till the 10th min and off I went. I went with 3-4 guys, surprisingly all of them are quite old, maybe 50s. Then I thought, "Alamak, are they that fast? Kalah malu man". Anyway, they just went slowly, so I followed one of the "younger" runner, maybe 40s. He was going at quite a good pace, I wanted to pass him but wasn't sure about the route, so I just stuck with him. Then as I saw the turn we needed to make, I just went ahead. 1st lap, 17'01. I went faster in the 2nd lap, but was actually a little out of breath, but not as tired if I had run in Malaysian weather. Stopped my watch, 33'17. My 2nd lap was 16'16. I was trying to do a 4'00/km but I was pretty happy with my time nevertheless.
The digital clock at the starting line
Runners reporting their time after the run.
A lucky draw, small prizes, e.g. chocoloates, fruit juice during the breakfast.
A BBQ and drinks (juice and hot drinks) greet the runners after the run. You got to pay AUD3 to enjoy that.
Met quite a few people there. A guy name Graeme, passed me a VRR magazine. Very nice of him since the magazine is usually for members only. Then he told me that, I can still enjoy the hot drinks/juices without paying. Also, chatted with a guy named Steve, who has done 10 marathons so far but have broke 4 hours yet and also Tim. Right after, I went for a coffee nearby with Tim and Graeme. On the way to the cafe, met up with 2 of their friends. Can't remember their names though. The lady was actually from Johor but she's been here for 5 years already. After the coffee, I bid farewell and walked back home. Suddenly, I realised that I have dropped the house key. F$%@! I went around the Tan track again in search of the key. I wasn't putting up much hope of finding it as I got too much trails to look for one small key. In the end, I gave up and I was already shivering a little as the weather is really chilling today. I still had the access card. Lucky most aprtments here has entrance phone for each unit. Otherwise, I wasnt sure how am I going to call my cousin. Lucky he hasn't gone out yet. I feel so bad of losing the key. Damm, why am I so careless?!!
VRR "Stride Out" magazine
I had a quick hot shower and had toast. Went to take a nap for a while but keep thinking about how I lost the key! Woke up, had my meat pie again and not much to see but Footie (Aussie Rule Football to watch) on TV! No US Open, No EPL....
4 comments:
I think running in Australia should be more comfortable, not so hot like Malaysia hoh.
Oh yeah, the adsense you can find out more on your blogspot. I had seen bloggers get paid. They pay you by check once it reach US$100. go to your blog setting / dash board one of these screen will ask you to sign up for adsense, click and read the terms & condition.
You so bz chatting up Aussie chicks that you lost your keys ah bro? Hehhehehe..
Ya, running better here during cooler months...but right now I still feel it's too cold. Hoping the temp wil be around 18-22 C, that will be just right.
Post a Comment