Mizuno PaceSetters 10 km

This is one event I look forward to receive my favourite Mizuno T-shirt. With Mizuno’s generous sponsorship, I feel I should reciprocate their support by wearing their blue T-shirt and of course, my faithful Mizuno shoes.
A good product will promote by itself without the endorsement from famous sports personalities.

Despite arriving rather early at 6:40 a.m, the road shoulder was fast filled with cars. While Mee Peng went to help at the base water-station, I had ample time to do shopping! Bought a Mizuno running shorts for RM40 (usual RM68) and salivated the expensive Finnish SUUNTO outdoor watches that range from RM700 – RM4000!
I must get one of these GPS gadgets one day (hopefully it gets cheaper).

Met Jamie and Kenneth at the starting line. It’s been awhile since I last ran with them. With my measly weekly mileage of 5km per week there isn’t much the body can offer. The only time I exceed a double-digit mileage is when I join the Sunday races.

This year’s participation is a record, well over 2000+ entrants. I started off comfortably but when the hills came, my under trained legs faltered. Walking came naturally on at least 3 occasions. Coming to Kementarian Pertainian, a male runner collapsed and had to be assisted by 4 runners. Tey Eng Tiong was one of the helpers (Tey relayed to me later the runner regained conscious to finish the race).

100 meters from the finishing line, there was already an unusual line of 20+ runners queuing up. I stopped my stopwatch at 1:09:10. As we walk towards the official finishing line, an official stood up from his chair, franticly punching the laptop’s numeric keypad to record the runners’ bib number.

Perhaps, Pacesetters could do a post-mortem on how to cope with the increased participation of this magnitude. I am not sure if the photographer was able to capture the photo finishing of each runner.

I went to look for Mee Peng and she appeared to be struggling with the Endurance drink. Some runners thought the Raspberry PowerBar Endurance sports drink was Syrup water! I assisted her as much as I could.

Met Francis Cheng a 72-year-old Marathoner who will be going to the NYC Marathon in Nov 4. It was inspiring to see a man of his age with a physique of an athlete. Inspiring indeed.

After wrapping up at 10 a.m, we were off to a charity event at Taman Tasik Jaya.


Choi, Francis Cheng and Jamie.

The Powerbar drink that many thought was syrup water.

Subang Jaya Run

This is another race where I bought over the bib from another runner.
Collected the bib from Ronnie’s wife, Rachel at the MPSJ stadium.

I have heard the SJ route is rather flat and many runners have posted PRs in the past. True enough there weren’t many steep inclines and I was generally able to maintain pace.

Towards the last 1-2 km, I stretched my head to look for the stadium “floodlights” landmark. When I finally saw it, I was excited because I had a good chance of finishing a historic sub-60 mins. But alas, the road does not cut into the stadium entrance, instead we had to run past the stadium to make a U-turn at the traffic junction and finally back to the stadium.

Running on the stadium track, about 200 meters from the finishing line, I heard a familiar gun shot, reminiscence of the PJ Half 2004 (I suspect it is the same group of officials!) The 60-minute qualifying time was over.

I finished in 1:00:26. Missing the qualifying time by seconds. This would be my fastest 10 km race. However, a runner GPS recorded the distance to be approximately 9.8 kms which explains the timing. So close yet so far.




Lai and Adam

PaintBall

Post childhood fantasy relived in the reserved land of Ulu Gombak. I never thought I would fight in the jungles of Malaya.

On Friday night while de-stressing in my living room, Commander Lifemou called at 9:30 p.m. to report for duty next morning.

I never knew there were parks behind Zoo Negara. Isi Rimba was the Paintball service provider.

As debriefed by the organizer, the apparatus was called a “Marker” and not a “Gun” since it is meant to be a non-violent. Originated from cattle owners who used the device to mark their livestocks, it eventually became a game when they playfully start shooting at one another!


Wearing jeans and a collared T-Shirt, I was ready to be peppered and bruised by squashing balls. Newton suggested I be the team leader but honestly I have no idea how to strategize a platoon into combat.

We had a few rounds of combat, one in an enclosed netted arena and the other in the jungle. The arena was quite straightforward, capture the flag in the opposite direction or be shot by the enemy.

I was totally worked out and tensed after the first game. Hands trembling and voice quivering, I took the game far too seriously, as if it was a life and death situation. I settled down after that.
The jungle game play was a disaster as most of us could not see through the fogged goggles. Those who wore spectacles compounded the fogging. I could not see where I was going and end up hiding behind the bush like a helpless sheep.

I risked injury by raising my safety goggles just above my glasses exposing my chin. Used my palm to protect my nose and lips. In this way, I was able to at least see where I was shooting.

In the 6 hours, I was hit thrice: on the arm, direct splat on the front goggles and the most painful on my neck. This was nothing compared to some of the bruises sustained by my braver comrades.

This game is by no means a child’s play. The compressed air propels the spherical dye-filled pellet as far as 200 feet with enough velocity to bruise the skin. There was a case a finger bled. Another hit on the cheek, narrowly missing his eyeball by cms despite wearing the safety googles (?).

I personally felt better safety measures and marshalling should be employed. For instance, anti-fog goggles; gloves, body armour and usage of a loudhailer would have made the game a far more enjoyable and less painful experience.

Overall, it gave a perspective of how soldiers had to contend with fear, fatigue and trauma in a real battlefield.

Thanks to Lifemou for the invitation - to flashback my childhood thrill.