Haile May U-Turn In His Decision To Quit

Days after announcing his retirement from racing, Haile Gebreselassie may change is mind after all. Read all about it:

Haile Gebrselassie could reverse shock decision to retire from competitive racing - Telegraph UK

Reconsidering Retirement - New York Times

Latest news: 
Haile Gebrselassie calls off retirement - BBC Sport

Farewell To The King Of Distance Running

A say day for fans of Haile Gebreselassie as he announces his retirement from competition after dropping out in the New York City Marathon yesterday. There was a great prospect that he was in top shape coming into this race after winning the Great North Run in September in Gastehead. He is racing New York City Marathon for the first time after years of competing in the Berlin Marathon, where he set the current world record of 2:03:59 in 2008. The first man to run a sub- 2:04. He has never hinted of retirement and even went on to say that he is looking to compete in the London Olympics just before the race in the Big Apple.

• London 2010 Olympics: Haile Gebreselassie looking for marathon world record - Telegraph UK
• No retirement talk for Gebreselassie - Universal Sports

"Why should I retire? Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words," Gebrselassie said. "I still think about doing more."

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the running legend in Berlin this year but he decided that he will not be competing in Berlin this year and opted for the New York Marathon. He only revealed that he had knee problem in the eve of the race. He ran with the leading pack before limping out at the 16-mile mark.

Leading runners crossing the Queensboro bridge - Gebreselassie drops out not long after this point
Photograph: Andrew Gombert/EPA

“I never thought about retiring but, for the first time, this is the day,” he told a stunned press conference after the race. “Let me stop and do other work after this. Let me give a chance for the youngsters.”

His retirement announcement shocked the world yesterday with his emotional press conference. Well, he has nothing much to prove really, but wish he could compete and win the London Olympics marathon in 2012.

• Haile Gebreselassie reitres from competition after failing to finish New York Marathon - Telegraph UK
• An emotional Haile Gebreselassie reitres - Telegraph UK (video)
• Wanjiru saddened by Gebreselassie's retirement - Universal Sports 
• Steve Cram on Gebreselassie - BBC UK

More on Haile Gebreselassie:

• Wikipedia
• IAAF biography

"Farewell to the King of Distance Running"
~ We will Haile miss you! ~

2 Great Workouts For Dutamas Runners!

Some complaint that they had blurred vision, some ran with slight injury and most of them complaint that I've tricked them! Well that was the response from the hill repeats that we did on Wed evening. To most, this is their first time experiencing what hill repeats are all about. Of course I feel bad about under declaring the distance and the responses I got were, "You sure this is 250m?" "Where got 250m?! I used my car meter and that was about 400m!" Haha! Well, in the end, all did well to endure the training and hopefully most of them will find the good out of the training. 

I added the last 150m part as it has some flat part and a little hill in the end which is good to train your mental of breaking the wall  in a race at times. Of course, it's tough for first timer to do a 400m hill repeats as usually a 100-150m is sufficient. Will choose a shorter one next time! (I hope they won't avoid me the next time!).  

Unfortunately, these are some of the trainings runners have to go through to gain some edge from the rest of the fields and that is just the tip of an iceberg in training. Even for a social runner, doing hill repeats will make runs on flat route seems a little easier next time.

Photo below of course is before the run...... : ))

Wei Li, Chin Ann and me (Aiya..didn't take camerawoman's photo..Thanks Yvonne)

On a Deepavali Day morning, 10 of us turned up for the Malakoff 12km trial run. Thanks to Yvonne for the "recruitment" she did. Instead of starting at Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club, we started at Plaza Damansara in front of 7-11 car park. Took them for a brief warm-up, stretching and a few short stride-outs. Told them it was important for them to warm up properly beforehand, especially the distance of 15km and below races. We then proceed to do 2 loops of the Jalan Beringin course and added the downhill/uphill part towards Securities Commission (SC) - which is the starting and the ending part of the race. Found out most runners had a tough time tackling the hills at Jalan Beringin loop and they avoided the hill section towards the SC. Anyway, it was a tough course and that was my first time running it too. Took it easy for the first 10 mins of the run before taking off to see if I can maintain a fast pace for the 2 loops. It wasn't easy as I needed to adjust my pace quite often due to the rolling hills. I ran the SC hill as my final part of the run but can't imagine doing it at the start of the race!

Anyway, it was a great turnout for today...YLoon, Melvin, Wei Li, Zul, Wong, Yvonne, Stephanie, Tee Yau and Amy. Great to see some new faces too. Hope I didnt scare them too much with all the hill routes! No choice mah....hard to find flat route to run. Speaking of which, might find a day for us to run in Desa Park City, that should be nice & flat! Then we can get a special invited guest runner, Mr. Jean Pierre (Peter), to give us some useful tips. How about that guys/gals? But I got to check with him first if he is available!

You can see 5 of them wearing Standard Chartered Marathon vest! What a coincidence! Friday today....no 4D draw today! Maybe buy tomorrow.

These are the "Before" photos....

Wong, Zul, Me, YLoon, Melvin, Wei Li, Tee Yau, Stephanie & Amy

Must include our Chief Recruiter Officer, Yvonne (2nd from right)

The "After" photo.....oklah, most of them still smiling! That shows how easy it was to run the Malakoff 12km loop course! : ))

Amy, Yvonne, Me, Wong, Zul, Wei Li, Melvin & YLoon

I think everyone just couldn't wait to get to the next session of the day....BREAKFAST! And our in-house doctor, Mr. OKT, joined us for our breakfast skipping the run in the morning! Only Zul, a professional Muay Thai exponent, maintained a healthy diet here. He didnt order any food. During breakfast, he shared some of the diet that he goes through before fights. Must get him to become out Chief Nutritionist Officer!

Habis lah ini macam, "Lari 11km, mau makan 21km!"

Photos courtesy of Yvonne. Thanks! For more updates on Dutamas Runners, please add us in Facebook.

Dutamas Runners Training: Malakoff 12km Route Trial Run

There will be a trial run over the Malakoff 12km course this Friday morning (Deepavali Day). However, we will be starting from 7-11, Plaza Damansara in Damansara Heights. We will be running the similar route, but without crossing the Sprint Highway towards Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club. Everyone is welcome to join in!!

 

Anyone who is interested, please meet us at :

Venue: 7-11, Plaza Damansara (Damansara Heights, map below, Point A)

Time: 6.15am  (Start time - 6.30am)
 

View Larger Map

Note:

• Water station - Water will not be provided, so please bring along your own hydration bottles. Since this is a looped course, you can leave your hydration at your own designated points.
• Pace - Run at your own pace. You can use this as a time trial or you could do this as your normal weekend long run. Up to you.

Contact me if you want more details or visit this facebook link.

Berlin Marathon 2011

BMW Berlin Marathon 2011 is open for registration since Oct 18, 2010. Check out the news from their official website. Any takers?

38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on September 25, 2011

As the saying goes, the exception proves the rule. Without a doubt, the 38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on September 25, 2011, will undoubtedly take place under better conditions for the runners and spectators than those at the 2010 Rain Marathon, the first one in 22 years. 40,945 participants from 122 countries registered for the event. The rain brought fewer spectators out along the course than usual, but still an impressive 700,000 came out in the rain to support the participants even more enthusiastically.

Notice: The online registration for the 38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON will begin at noon on October 18, 2010. New: registration for the first 10,000 participants will be 60 Euros. For the next wave, the registration fee will be 80 Euros (up to 25,000), and thereafter it will be 100 Euros. The limit of participants is set at 40,000.

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NEWS - 20.10.2010 After 48 hours: More than 5.000 applications for the BMW BERLIN MARATHON 2011
48 hours after starting online registration for the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2011 already 5.145 runners have signed in. Online registration for the 38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2011 started on October 18 at noon time. New: registration for the first 10,000 participants is 60 Euros. For the next wave, the registration fee is 80 Euros (up to 25,000), and thereafter it is 100 Euros. The limit of participants is set at 40,000. The 38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON will take place on September 25th, 2011.


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NEWS - 19.10.2010 BMW New Title Sponsor of BERLIN-MARATHON

Presenting BMW as the new title sponsor of the BERLIN MARATHON and starting online registration ahead of Brandenburg Gate. From left: Rüdiger Otto (BERLIN MARATHON), Klaus Wowereit (Governing Major), Manfred Bräunl (BMW) and Jürgen Lock (BERLIN MARATHON)
© Camera4




Starting 2011 German based motor company BMW will be the new title sponsor of the BERLIN-MARATHON. The contract is running for three years. In a press conference Martin Bräunl, head of marketing of BMW Germany, Klaus Wowereit, Governing Major of Berlin, and Rüdiger Otto, managing director of SCC EVENTS also opened online registration for the 38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON in 2011. Registration fee for the first 10.000 participants is 60 euro, the next step (until 25.000 participants) is 80 euros, and from then on it is 100 euros until the limit of 40.000 is reached. After 24 hours more than 3.000 runners had registered.

The BERLIN-MARATHON was the stage of seven world marathon records since 1977 (three on the women's side, four on the men's side), the last one being the current world marathon record by Haile Gebrselassie which he clocked in 2008 (2:03:59 hrs). The 38th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON will take place on September 25th, 2011.

Tour Of Europe

Im finally back from Europe after a month 'short' trip specifically in Germany, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and London. It's a nice feeling to be able to step into Europe for the first time. A little too lazy to post anything during the trip and as of now still having trouble sleeping, as I keep waking up at around 5am no matter how late I slept.

Germany

Flew into Hamburg and was picked up by Andreas. We met when he was in KL for a business trip and he was running at Bukit Aman a long time ago. We kept in touch through email since and offered me to stay over at his place in Reinbek. Reinbek is basically a small town in Germany. His house is so quiet that you can only hear the buzz in your ears. The only noise you'll hear will the neighbours going out. And you have a huge forest reserves just his house where we did some of our runs together. You can just smell the fresh air when you run in this forest as it's quite a distance from the city of Hamburg.

Some mushrooms picking we did just nearby his house and sample of our daily breakfast/lunch. Had three straight nights of mushroom meals leading up to Berlin marathon. On the right is a typical German meal. Brötchen, butter, cheese (lots of cheese!), wurst, salmon.......

Andreas was kind enough to show me around North Germany as he has taken leave and will be running the Berlin Marathon as well. He probably has done it more than 8 times but hasn't run it since 4-6 years back. 

Mien Yee joined me after Berlin Marathon and we started the journey to other parts of Germany, Amsterdam, Scotland before ending our trip in London.

Cities/Towns of Germany I've been:


1. Lübeck - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Holstentor

2. Bergedorf

3. Reinbek 

Schloss Reinbek





4. Berlin

Brandenburger Tor - near the finishing of Berlin Marathon









Schloss Charlottenburg

5. Barsbüttel- this is where Andreas running club is based.

6. Lüneburg

 Town hall

7. Travemünde - Baltic Sea

Beach chairs - no business during autumn



8. Mölln - home of the legendary clown, Till Eulenspiegel.

 

9. Hamburg 

Rathaus

Reeperbahn - Hamburg's famous red light district



10. Rothenburg ob der Tauber

11. München (Munich)

12. Füssen (Neuschwanstein Castle)

Schloss Neuschwanstein - inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle




13. Stuttgart

14. Heidelberg

15. Frankfurt

Things to note in Germany:

• In most places, menu will be in German although some restaurant do provide menu in English. So learn up some German language before you go, makes life easier.
• Best not to travel too many cities as the journey with trains can be quite hectic. Germany is not a small country.
• Trains are very punctual, even the bus. Only once or twice where we experience a delay. So make sure you arrange enough time to  catch the connecting trains.
• Eat plenty of wurst (sausages), pork, cheese, bread (black bread, brötchen)...

Amsterdam

It was a long journey that took us from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. We took the overnight train and reached Amsterdam early in the morning. Checked into our backpacker and started walking around the city. In the afternoon, had a chance to run around the Vondelpark.

 Vondelpark

Everyone cycles in Amsterdam

 One of the many cannels in Amsterdam





Things to note:

• If you are flying off from Schipol, make sure you allow enough time to get through the custom. It's a long, long, long queue! (Not sure we were the "lucky" ones that day)
• We find the price of meals in Amsterdam's restaurants slightly more expensive than those in Germany
• Most people in Amsterdam do speak English
• Visit Red Light District

Edinburgh - Fort Augustus (Loch Ness)

Took a flight from Amsterdam Schipol Airport to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a really beautiful city showcasing both the New and Old Town.

Royal Mile, Edinburgh

Scottish Highland

 Loch Ness




Things to note:

• Scottish people are quite friendly. Take lots of photos - Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands, the Lochs.
• Spend more days traveling to the Highlands and also other parts of Scotland as we think it has more to offer. We only had the chance to do a day tour to Fort Augustus (Loch Ness)

London - Stonehenge - City of Bath

Took an overnight coach from Edinburgh to London Victoria Station. It was a tiring coach trip as I was not able to sleep much in the bus. We met up with Mien Yee's sister, Mien Yaw and her partner. Mien Yaw took us to the Greenwich, where the name Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time rings the bell.

 

That evening, I went for a run with Alden and he actually took me to a Tour of London. Basically, London sightseeing in a night. It was hard to take night shots but it turn out ok.

Buckingham Palace

With Alden and Big Ben in the background

Big Ben

Tower Bridge - not London Bridge

London Marathon is so big that it has its own store & the Countdown

Mussel Pots Dinner at Belgo - Belgian Restaurant (That's 1kg of mussels!)

 

Stonehenge

City of Bath - World Heritage Site

Roman Baths - Bath


We spend the second night at my unimates' house, ShiYing and Meng Siew. Haven't met them since their wedding couple years back. We took the tube down to city centre on the final day of our trip to meet up Shi Ying and Alden for dinner before heading to Heathrow Airport. It was a long flight back from London - Dubai - Kuala Lumpur plus 1 hour KLIA coach ride to KL Sentral. 

I think I am still suffering from jet lag as I kept waking up quite early in the morning even if I slept late. Plus the hot and hazy weather back in KL, fell sick for quite a few days. Will definitely visit Europe again. Hey, I didn't get to visit Liverpool this time ok? Besides, there are so much to see in Europe, you can't possibly cover it in a month. Even in Germany itself.

New Bag For Sale

New Bag. Used only once.

Type : Karrimor 40.

Colour : Pink

Price : RM250!

Anyone interested, please email to abdazri@yahoo.com or contact Azri @ 016-2554416

First come first serve.