Sunday, May 9, 2010

Adination Run in Permaisuri & Sun Long Run

I went to Cheras Leisure Mall on Friday to register myself for SP Setia Eco Half Marathon. Met up with Kelvin there and he invited me for Permaisuri Adination Run, which happens at Taman Tasik Permaisuri every Friday. So I went and it was great to meet up friends from Permaisuri. Their usual Fri run covers 7km. I went with them for a lap before going on my own to add in some mileage.

After run, had dinner with Han and Brandon (who just got back into running after a long lay off being a high flyer in the corporate world). During dinner, both Han and Brandon showed so much enthusiasm and nothing but good comments in their recent trips up north in Cambodia and Laos. Both even considered moving there to do some goodwill work. We then met John and Wai Mun who were there to eat as well.

Today, went out for a 20km run which I have done for a while. Had pretty positive first half but tire the 2nd half of the run. Need some more mileage to get myself back into competitive fitness. I wouldn't dare to follow Don or Cecil today as I know I was just lose touch with them pretty quickly. It's also Don's 51st birthday today. And he just get faster the older he gets. So young men out there, don't keep using the excuses that you are too old to run! Look at Don, he is still running a sub-3:10 marathon time this year!

Next few scheduled races:
1. Ekiden Relay (16 May)
2. Sundown Half Marathon (29 May)
3. SP Setia Eco Half Marathon (5 Jun)
4. Standard Chartered KL Half Marathon (27 Jun)
5. Siemens Run 2010 - 10km (18 Jul)

Now I just realised I've got 3 Halfs in a month.....ciaklat!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Road Trip!

I took Joe to Batu Caves on Wednesday. After snapping some photos there, I drove him up to Genting Highland, a place, where I have not been for quite a number of years. The place hasn't changed much. The drive up was ok. We wanted to use the cable car at Gotong Jaya but the service was suspended as it was closed for maintenance. So we drove up and parked our car at First World Hotel. Roads were kind of confusing leading to the car park.

We did enjoy the cool air up in Genting, although it wasn't as cold as before, but it was a nice change of weather from KL. Then I remembered that Casey, the Running Chef, is working as a chef in one of the hotel, so contacted him. He invited us to Coffee Terrace in Maxim Genting Hotel.

Maxim Genting Hotel

Coffee Terrace

We chatted for a while and stayed for dinner. Casey then mentioned my team mate from Energizer Run, Wei Xiang (team leader of Kakithon), is working as an intern in Genting. He came over too. So now, the Running Chef has a new running companion. Both are fast runners with Casey clocking a sub-3 hours marathon time a number of races.

There were so many varieties of food at Coffee Terrace that we just couldn't possibly try all of it! But Joe really did enjoyed his meal as he was saying he was just thinking about having all the food in one roof just the night before. And it happened!

The Multi Coloured First World Hotel

Some of the desserts at Coffee Terrace

Local Delights

Chinese Food

Japanese Food

Western Food

Chinese Corner

Nyonya Food

Local Favourites

Me at the Japanese Corner

One of the many rounds.....

Is Casey giving points/tips in running or cooking??

Joe took a flight out from KL this morning heading to San Francisco where he will spent months there and hopefully to land a job in Canada. As for me, I got to get back to my training soon.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Larian Bersama Bomba 2010

I had a tough race in Larian Bersama Bomba held in Dataran Merdeka last Sunday. I wasn't expecting myself to perform well but yet I do feel disappointed with my current fitness. Especially when the timing is so far out form the Top 10 finish. This is mainly due to my inconsistent training patterns. Been lacking in motivation lately. Got to find ways to motivate myself quick!!

I started a few rows from the front as I came in the barricade slightly later. Anyway, met Moey and Wong who were standing two rows in front of me. In the same row, Kei Ming and Jeff joined me. They were worried of not getting medals but told them a sub-55 mins should do it. (Sorry for the "slightly" wrong info, Kei Ming. He did a sub-55 but the 100th guy came in at 54:10! Kei Ming finished with a time of 54:28. That's why the AMKAN!) Took me a while for me to break clear from the crowds, but I didnt want to push too much as I knew I'm in a pretty bad shape right now. Reaching the dreadful hill in Jalan Tunku, I saw Ronnie and Stanley in front of me. Passed both of them on the way up and soon Moey and Kenny were within sight. I saw Moey was struggling a little bit as he is losing touch with the group he was in. I overtook him and Kenny just before the Jalan Duta exit. However, Kenny caught up with me just before the slope up Jalan Duta and he was really in good form when he started to pull away from me at the downhill part. He left me for dust! Soon, two other young uni kids caught up with me. One of them was Wong from Kakithon. Both were increasing their pace so much till I almost gave up. Luckily, I had the "2nd kick" reserve in the tank and when I went off to chase after Kenny, both of them lost touch. Anyway, I didn't even get close to Kenny as I lost steam passing Lake Garden. Adam Loh was there cheering and calling out, "LCLY, go chase after Kenny." I just smiled at him and wave to him.

Joe Jagusch, a New Zealander, who is travelling in Malaysia, also joined me for the run. He's a friend of a friend, Andrew. Both of them are quite passionate about orienteering races in New Zealand. He wasn't registered, so he started slightly later after the gun went off.

Me & Joe

Results coutersy of PM1

Men Open 10.85km :40.11 - Jasni Khairil (10th) - PB!
43.58 - Naresh Kumar, Pm37 (24th) - PB!
44.16 - Gunaselan Rajagopal, Pm39 (26th) - PB!
45.36 - Kenny Tan, Pm27 (32nd) - PB!
45.55 - Khoo Yit Kiat, Pm28 (33rd)
46.36 - Ronnie See, Pm1 (37th)
47.40 - Stanley Cheong, Pm53 (41st)
48.00 - Fauzan Ismail, Pm24 (44th)
48.38 - Rozmi Yunus (49th)
49.33 - Meyappan Manickam, Pm58 (52nd)
49.49 - Kenny Choo (53rd)
00.00 - Chen Keat Hoong, Pm8 (61st)
53.26 - Suresh, Pm47 (86th)
54.10 - Gaby Chau (100th)
54.28 - Wong Kei Ming, Pm55 (102nd) - Amkan!
54.36 - Wong Cheong Keong (104th) - Also Amkan!
56.26 - Jeff Ooi
57.15 - Ryan Teoh, Pm17
Men Junior Veteran 10.85km :
36.xx - Jean Pierre Lautredoux (1st)
41.33 - Ong Chin (2nd)
4x.xx - Moey WS
56.25 - Lee Yee Sum, Pm12 (46th)
61.41 - Tee Kuan Meng (77th)
62.20 - Yap Chee Ching (83rd)
65.00 - Kee Guan Chye (93rd)
Women Open 10.85km :
69.59 - Fiona Lee (44th)
75.32 - Carrie Teong, Pm61 (75th)

Women Open 10km :
58.31 - Nik Raiha (26th)
Women Veteran 7km:
43.00 - Karen Loh (20th)

Men Senior Veteran 7km :
27.xx - Don Khor (1st)
30.32 - Vincent Wong, Pm10 (5th)

Also had the chance to speak to our Great French Runner, Peter after the run. He has been domitating the local running scene for the past few years. Although competing in the veteran category, even our local national runners have a hard time beating him. Peter is a former French national runner with a Marathon personal best time of 2:15:18 (1999) and Half Marathon PB of 1:01:43 (1997). That is super quick!!

Peter and his son

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Eco X Series 2010

For those who are interested in eco-challenge races. Please visit their website for more details: www.nomadadventure.com

Friday, April 23, 2010

Taman Bukit Jalil & A Few Good News

I had my first run in Taman Bukit Jalil on Tuesday. I was supposed to meet up Keat Seong for run in Puchong. Also invited the great French runner, Peter out for a run (too bad he wasn't free). Anyway, KS had to work late that night and couldn't make it to the run. I wasn't too sure where to run in Puchong, so decided to head over to Tmn Bukit Jalil. When I reached the place, it started drizzling, so I stayed in the car and waited. Thankfully, it stopped. Since it was my first time running there, I didn't know which route to take. Ended up doing small laps around it, couldn't take it in the last lap, so I turned off to another junction to make it a longer run. Ran for about 40 mins and went to look for a slight slope to do my hill repeats. Fortunately, short hills are pretty easy to find it there. So I did about 10 reptitions, but I wish it was a straight line and I didn't have to run in a curve.

The place was pretty dark at night, so I went to check on my car after the hill repeats and I only saw one or two cars there. Scary! I knew there were still a lot of runners running around, so they must be parking somewhere else. I decided to move my car nearer to another entrance to the park.There, I saw a whole group of Tmn Bukit Jalil runners (with chairs somemore), probably gossiping about coming by-elections? Haha. It was nice to see some familiar faces such as Sally, Tan and Farid. Also, some are familiar faces in the road running scene but I didn't know their names. I got bitten by some insects on my arms and neck during the run, and it swelled the next day. Must put on insect repellent next time!

Anyway, the park is actually a nice area to run in but wish I had taken a longer route, so that I won't be running so many small loops. I heard from Sally that even one of the Bukit Jalil runners commented, "Why you never show your friend to a longer route?" She told me there's another route which is about 4km in distance. Next time lah.

One fine day, Kelvin brought me to try out  the spa and jacuzzi in Mines Resort. I can't believe the water in the jacuzzi is so so hot. Took me a while before I was able to dip myself in the pool. Then I tried to cold water pool and that is icy cold. You put your legs in, won't last 5 mins! Anyway, now I know where to go after a hard run next time. Anyway, ice is always used to reduce your inflammation to your injuries.

Quote of the day:-
"I tell you ah, you know how they make chicken rice or not? First they dip the chicken in hot water, then they dip it in cold water. That's how you get the chicken skin so smooth when they serve you. So, you must dip yourself in hot pool, then the cold pool to make your skin smooth smooth!" - The wiseman, Ng Ching Her.

So ladies, you can throw away your beauty products and listen to this guy!

I learnt from Moey on Wed that Energizer (after our appeal) have decided to give us an exclusive adidas cash voucher. What a great news!

"This cash voucher is different from the discount voucher you received in the goodies bag during the race. For one, there’s no minimum purchase required and the validity is up to 6 months. In addition they are also valid for a wider range of adidas merchandise. The cash vouchers will be in RM50 denomination and the amount for each winner is listed in the table below."

Marathon winners will get RM700, RM600, RM450, RM300 and RM150 respectively
Relay and 21km winners will get RM600, RM450, RM300, RM250 and RM150 respectively
10km winners will get RMRM450, RM300 and RM150 respectively

Glad that Energizer took our feedbacks seriously and we are grateful to that. Hoping that organisers of other runs will do the same, accepting feedbacks from runners, act on it and improve themselves.

Eventhough I was the one sending out the appeal letter, I didn't get the news in email. The rest of the winners did. Haha. I think for relays, they sent out the emails to the respective team captains regarding the matter. Our team will be getting a RM450 cash voucher. Man....RM450 divided by 4 person, I'll be getting only RM112.50?? Aiyo, how to divide leh. I hope each will get RM450! Anyway, this will be confirmed once Ronnie receives the cash voucher! Good timing for a new running shoe. Hopefully, that will help in my left foot arch problem.

I went to register for Bomba Run 10km run today and you are given a choice to choose the colour of your T-shirt. At least still got a lot of sizes to choose from. Bomba Run is on May 2. Clcik here to download the entry form. Since Subang 10km has been postponed, I thought it will be a good tune up race.

Today I received yet another great news from Nuffnang, saying that the cheque I've been waiting for so long for my Tiger Run win is finally ready to be collected. I didn't know they were going to issue the cheque under individual's name as I thought they will reimburse whatever we have spent. Anyway, thanks to Nuffnang an Tiger Beer for this! Thanks to June Yew too for his effort in following up with the status of the cheque payment. He is the grand prize winner for the Tiger Run.

I went straight to the office to collectthe cheque once I've found out it's ready. Upon reaching the office, I registered myself at the security counter. Then the security guard asked me, "Itu Nuffnang buat apa punya? Semalam, fuyoh, ramai ah moi macam model datang office. Dari China ada, macam-macam lah." Haha. I told him I go check it out. Their office is pretty cool, no partition kind of office, kind of like Digi's office. Everyone seems to be on their computers (some I saw facebooking)! I met up with one of the staff there to get my cheque. When I got back down, the guard asked me again, "Adakah?" I said, "Tak ada lah boss." "Aiyah, sayang you tak datang semalam."

My biggest winner's cheque ever!!!

Anyway, Im glad it came in a good timing as I was stressing myself so much on how to pay the credit card bill. I've already charged my air ticket and registration fee for Berlin Marathon to my credit card! Then Euro and Sterling Pound has dropped so much in the last few weeks, that it's also a good time to buy the currency.

As for my training today, I had to abandon my plan to do a 10 x 400m, and managed only 8 sets. I was getting a little tired and my timing was getting slower and slower. Started off with a good timing of 77secs but end up in 83secs after the 4th set. I wish there was someone pacing me so I don't give up that easily. My average HR was at around 164 bpm. Still not that high as I wasn't doing that long distance. Some of the Uncle Chan's disciples, such as Jack, Phua and Wei Khong. They were there but Uncle Chan didn't come today. In spite of this, they went on with their training of 1km repeats. Pretty good bunch. Too bad they weren't doing the same thing, otherwise I can have pacers.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

A Long Run? Maybe Not..

I was awaken around 3am, by the sound of the rain and had to close the window before my curtains get wet. At that moment, I was thinking, "Mmmh, maybe there's a reason for me to sleep in today." I went back to sleep after that, and got waken up by my alarm this time at 5.55am. I thought I could start earlier so I can catch up with Uncle Don and whoever he is running with nearer to their starting line. Well, I went to have a look outside the window, wishing it was raining, but it doesn't seem like it. So I went to do my "usual business", brush my teeth and put on my running gears. I was still hoping for rain but it didnt happen. Got out from the guardhouse (cool morning), then suddenly my stomachache hit me again. I wanted to use the toilet next to the swimming pool but I thought it was just mentally telling me not to run, so I went on with my run. But after 5 mins of run, nature really make a call to me! I had to stop, didnt want to aggrevate it. I walked a little, ran a little, it crossed my mind to go behind the bushes. Instead, I hanged on to it till I reached one of the food court in front of the income tax department, but it was closed! So I had to walk/run till I reached the Duta Tennis Court. What a relief! Next time I better make sure my stomach is "cleaned" before I run!

I went on with my run after that. I've probably missed Don passing by due to the toilet break. It wasn't long till I saw 3 fast runners coming, and Don was in there. I made a U-Turn to follow them (Don, Barry and Cecil). Cecil was leading the pace and they were probably going at around 4:10-4:15/km pace. I tried to hang on, but lost touch a little bit, until the road crossing the overhead highway at Duta. Lucky for that, I managed to catch up with them again. Cecil had to u-turn back, probably has an appointment. Don and Barry continued to set the pace but fortunately for me, it wasn't as fast as Cecil's. Ran around Petronas before stopping for water break. Barry left after a short break as he was going for a 30km run. He said he was going slow till Don catches up later. Me and Don ran together (with a slower pace than the first half) until we caught up with Barry at the Income Tax Office. He told Barry to go ahead as he was too tired to do a 30km. Hasn't recovered to 2 speed sessions he did over the weekday. I bid Don goodbye and turn back to run slowly back to my apartment. My total time was 1h48mins but taking in into consideration of toilet/water breaks and also the amount of time walking, I probably did only about 1h20m of run. Still not too bad for a day's long run. Not too sure how far I've covered today though. Probably estimated distance of 17-18km.

Later, I had Kolo Mee at Alex's (Restoran Good Luck, Tmn Megah) for my recovery!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Feeling Very Unfit At The Moment!

After two days of running in my "once upon a time" training ground, I feel that I have a long way to catch up with my fitness. Being left behind by two veterans and 1 young "super fast" chap wasn't a good feeling, but it was good to access where my fitness stands. On Thursday, they ran for 1 hr 10mins, probably covered about 15-16km in 1:02-1:05. Of course I was nowhere near that as I stopped after 30mins into the run.

We did about 4-mile run (4 laps) today and again I was left behind. After the first lap, the young chap, Alex, asked Kaliani, "Is it 4 laps?". When Kaliani said, "Yes", Alex just took off by himself and left everyone else behind. Soon, I started to lose sight of Kaliani. While I was ahead of Boon, it didnt take long for him to overtake me after 2.5 laps. I couldn't last the pace and had to slow down a lot and just cruise to the finish line.

Timing:-
1. 26:14 - Alexander
2. 26:29 - Kaliani
3. 27:29 - Bee Boon
4. 28:10 - Me (Splits: 6:50, 6:49, 7:21, 7:10) -Last lap is estimation as I didnt stop my watch
5. 30:00 - Wilson

From left: Bee Boon, Alex, Kaliani, Wilson, Me

P/S: Sorry ya Wilson. Didnt catch your name earlier!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Back In Hometown!

I'll only be back for a few days this time around. It's always about the authentic kuching food, even though I'm coming back for some other reason. Well, I've downed kueh chap and kolo kueh tiaw, so that just leave a few more, Gu Bak Mee, Kolo Mee, Tomato Kueh Tiaw, Sarawak Laksa, Belacan Bee Hoon, Tu Kah Pen. Man, did I missed out anything? Speaking of this, I better start my engine!