Got an sms from Ronnie to buy over a Junior Veteran bib from a fellow runner. I took up the offer with the anticipation of doing a discovery 10km route at Pandan Indah. I went back to my NB 15km notes to follow the same pre-race nutrient loading formula: cordyceps + multi-vitamin tablets + banana + coffee but this time minus the Powerbar.
Woke up before the alarm clock rang at 4:50 a.m. from a work-related audit preparation nightmare. The MRR2, which is just in the vicinity, leads all the way to Pandan Indah. Parked in the single-storey housing road junction next to the Bomba station.
The Padang Perbandaran Ampang Jaya was well lit with floodlights. Ronnie has informed me that this is the same organizer from the Klang run. It is no surprise there is no barricade and ribbons. Anybody can cheat if they want to.
7:20 a.m.
The program says the race starts at 7a.m. but it was already past 7:20 and we were still waiting inside the starting area. One runner became very pissed and shouted “Kalau tak boleh bangun jangan datang !!! “ I am not sure if he meant to swear at the VIP flagoff person or the officials who delayed the start. Soon many restless runners began to jeer, boo and woo.
Finally a grinning official stood on the high platform and sounded the air horn. It was a very gradual uphill, not steep at all. After 1km I notice the tall and burly runner who cheated in the Klang race was in front, wheezing loudly, his trademark. Shortly after 1.5km I caught up and overtook him. The route took us to the MRR2 highway.
Darth Vader
Coming down from the left turnoff flyover to the MRR2, I could hear Mr.Vader’s super heavy breathing shadowing my footsteps. He sounded like he had asthma. That drove me to run harder. After a few minutes, the dark side fizzled away. From MRR2, another left turn took us to Jln Bunga Raya. The area here was much greener and less traffic. 7kmers took the left turn and 10kmers took the right turn. A senior veteran runner had to back track after mistakenly took the wrong 10km turn.
4 Pacers & a bus
Somewhere at km-7, after the Petronas Station, I began to chant, “hammer! hammer! hammer!” There were 4 runners who seem to share the same pace. 3 female runners: D188, D160 and D130 were similarly attired. Earlier I had overtaken them but D188 seems to have reserved her best for last. She overtook me back with a pace that I could not match. D160 and I were running neck to neck on a single narrow lane under reconstruction. An air-cond bus came along side, almost brushing our shoulders moved at a walking speed. I could feel the bus air-cond (I don’t know why he opened the doors, perhaps to get a better view of the chicks?). To my amusement the driver jested “Ah, mari-mari naik bus! Hahaha! ”.
D160 was really pushing hard. It is the first time in my 2.5 years of running I hear a lady runner screaming “Arghhhhhhh!” at the top of her voice during a race. Eventually she regained her lead. She deserves it.
The 4th runner, C172 was doing his walk-run strategy. We exchanged leads a few times. Although I never walk or stop at the drink station, C172 adopted an alternating rest and sprint technique. Whenever he attacked he would overtake me conclusively. Whenever he walked, I would in turn overtake him back.
Less than 500 meters from the finishing line, C172 walked again. I maintained my pace and overtook him. As I ran past an official, he told me C-category finish already, which meant no more medals. Only the top 75 are awarded medals. I wanted to find out my position but the official was simply too slow in updating the spreadsheet until I lost my patience and left.
Mee Peng came to me and asked if I got anything. I was surprised myself as there was no finisher certificate presented at the finishing line. Later an official told me the finisher certificate is located at the far end table. Mee Peng told me she heard runners complaining why there were no certificates presented. I believe many runners left the ground without knowing there were certificates.
This is my fastest 10km race. I finished in 62:01. According to Ronnie’s website the actual distance was 10.5km. If that is true, then it is the first time I ran below 6mins/km for 10kms. The rather flat route had contributed to the better than expected timing.
The highly acclaimed Steven’s Corner mamak shop located just next to the MPAJ padang was a disappointment. We don’t find the food great.
Later I went to Low Yat to purchase a 250Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm hard disk for RM290 while the other half feast on the Isetan sale at Lot 10. Ate lunch in the supposedly famous silky smooth Ipoh Hor-Fun soup in Imbi Road.
Woke up before the alarm clock rang at 4:50 a.m. from a work-related audit preparation nightmare. The MRR2, which is just in the vicinity, leads all the way to Pandan Indah. Parked in the single-storey housing road junction next to the Bomba station.
The Padang Perbandaran Ampang Jaya was well lit with floodlights. Ronnie has informed me that this is the same organizer from the Klang run. It is no surprise there is no barricade and ribbons. Anybody can cheat if they want to.
7:20 a.m.
The program says the race starts at 7a.m. but it was already past 7:20 and we were still waiting inside the starting area. One runner became very pissed and shouted “Kalau tak boleh bangun jangan datang !!! “ I am not sure if he meant to swear at the VIP flagoff person or the officials who delayed the start. Soon many restless runners began to jeer, boo and woo.
Finally a grinning official stood on the high platform and sounded the air horn. It was a very gradual uphill, not steep at all. After 1km I notice the tall and burly runner who cheated in the Klang race was in front, wheezing loudly, his trademark. Shortly after 1.5km I caught up and overtook him. The route took us to the MRR2 highway.
Darth Vader
Coming down from the left turnoff flyover to the MRR2, I could hear Mr.Vader’s super heavy breathing shadowing my footsteps. He sounded like he had asthma. That drove me to run harder. After a few minutes, the dark side fizzled away. From MRR2, another left turn took us to Jln Bunga Raya. The area here was much greener and less traffic. 7kmers took the left turn and 10kmers took the right turn. A senior veteran runner had to back track after mistakenly took the wrong 10km turn.
4 Pacers & a bus
Somewhere at km-7, after the Petronas Station, I began to chant, “hammer! hammer! hammer!” There were 4 runners who seem to share the same pace. 3 female runners: D188, D160 and D130 were similarly attired. Earlier I had overtaken them but D188 seems to have reserved her best for last. She overtook me back with a pace that I could not match. D160 and I were running neck to neck on a single narrow lane under reconstruction. An air-cond bus came along side, almost brushing our shoulders moved at a walking speed. I could feel the bus air-cond (I don’t know why he opened the doors, perhaps to get a better view of the chicks?). To my amusement the driver jested “Ah, mari-mari naik bus! Hahaha! ”.
D160 was really pushing hard. It is the first time in my 2.5 years of running I hear a lady runner screaming “Arghhhhhhh!” at the top of her voice during a race. Eventually she regained her lead. She deserves it.
The 4th runner, C172 was doing his walk-run strategy. We exchanged leads a few times. Although I never walk or stop at the drink station, C172 adopted an alternating rest and sprint technique. Whenever he attacked he would overtake me conclusively. Whenever he walked, I would in turn overtake him back.
Less than 500 meters from the finishing line, C172 walked again. I maintained my pace and overtook him. As I ran past an official, he told me C-category finish already, which meant no more medals. Only the top 75 are awarded medals. I wanted to find out my position but the official was simply too slow in updating the spreadsheet until I lost my patience and left.
Mee Peng came to me and asked if I got anything. I was surprised myself as there was no finisher certificate presented at the finishing line. Later an official told me the finisher certificate is located at the far end table. Mee Peng told me she heard runners complaining why there were no certificates presented. I believe many runners left the ground without knowing there were certificates.
This is my fastest 10km race. I finished in 62:01. According to Ronnie’s website the actual distance was 10.5km. If that is true, then it is the first time I ran below 6mins/km for 10kms. The rather flat route had contributed to the better than expected timing.
The highly acclaimed Steven’s Corner mamak shop located just next to the MPAJ padang was a disappointment. We don’t find the food great.
Later I went to Low Yat to purchase a 250Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm hard disk for RM290 while the other half feast on the Isetan sale at Lot 10. Ate lunch in the supposedly famous silky smooth Ipoh Hor-Fun soup in Imbi Road.
2 comments:
congrats cheong!
thanks pacer!
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