Podium Finish?!

Race: KRI-Bukit Kinding Trail Run 2009
Date: 15th November 2009 (Sunday), 7.30am
Venue: Bukit Kinding, Tanjung Rambutan, Ipoh
Distance: 11+km
Website: http://ipohroadrunners.org/2009trailrun/rules.html
Why this race:
1. Good air, nice scenery!
2. The best Organizer in Malaysian races!
3. The largest medal so far!

My weakness is I often do not think deep enough when making decision. When I got to know about this event and it was described as "nice scenery", I was so tempted to sign up. When I asked around and someone offered me a ride to Ipoh, I signed up immediately without hesitation.

After some time, I revisited the site and "discovered" the trail route consisted of few km of stone and dirt road. Something was not very right. Then I found the following description:
This event promises to be a tough and thrilling trail run from start to finish. On steep and rugged terrain more challenging than the Sunway Cross-country run, it will surely give you a run for your money.

Ohh... no... it was too late to regret! However, thanks to this "mistake", I am now exposed to the excitement of trail running! (See this post). I have the trail running shoes now, there is nothing to fear for!

The group didn't stay overnight in Ipoh, the plan was to depart in early morning and reach the starting place before the event started. Terrence was so nice to drive up to Ipoh the day before to collect the bib first, so that we could get a little more sleep in Sunday morning. There were 2 cars with total of 9 people including myself.

This was a small event with about 400+ runners. Not many KL runners turned up, I guessed they opted the nearer Klang Pacer Run4it 12K race. Another reason could be the fee of RM45 for public could be a bit pricey for a shorter distance event in Malaysia standard, but you would soon find that it was worth every cent of it.

Because half of the route would be trail road, I decided to wear my Salomon shoes for better grip and also to get used to them for the upcoming Salomon X-Trail Run. However, trail shoes are usually heavier than running shoes, and also because of the soreness of yesterday's trail run in Kiara started to kick in, I was running like a heavy metallic robot on the first 2.3km of asphalt road. Everyone I knew just passed me, I was so lonely... LOL

The fun started when hitting the trail. According to the route analysis reported posted in the Organizer's website, it would be 1.5km of stone road, followed by 3.5km of dirt road The current rainy season would add more difficulties as the dirt road would become more muddy. At here, I started to pick up a little bit and show the power of my trail running shoes.

We were warned by the Organizer beforehand that there would be some very very steep stretches. Hey, the KL runners train regularly in double hill and Hartamas! I thought the Organizer were telling this to non-KL runners only. Oh no, I got the lesson again, this was not ordinarily steep. At first, I was still trying hard to maintain "running posture" even though the speed was no better than walking. But the hills were so steep, I really gotta gave up and settled to walking. In fact, almost no one around me was actually running, mostly were walking.

Anyway, I tried my best to "run" when encountering flatter road. I was so focus on my feet to avoid tripping, I had no time to admire the beautiful scenery (so next time I should NOT get myself "conned" into beautiful scenery again). The trail running shoes showed the power to their fullness when going down the muddy trails, I even managed to overtake some men at some steeper stretches when they were still in their hesitation!

After coming out from Bukit Kinding, we hit the asphalt again, I thought the nightmare would end here. I was wrong again. The road was like double hill, opps... not double, there were tripple, quadruple or maybe even more! Anyway, I just kept running, even though I was slow. A guy who ran/walked at that time spoke to me in Chinese "you not bad, can run without stopping huhh". I felt all the hardwork I put so far was not wasted!

This event was really targetting to give lots of fun and satisfaction to runners. Unlike typical races which only offer two or three age group for female, this event offers five. For the age group of 30 to 39, there would be 10 trophies. Guess what? I got position no. 8, a podium finish! The real fact was there were only 22 signed up for this category, and 19 turned up...LOL

Nevertheless, this is my first podium finish (and hopefully not the last one). Even though it was earned in a less meritorious way, I did try my best in this run, and I did put lots of effort in trainings recently. I treasure this victory as it gives me some confidence to continue my "running career"... LOL. Forgot to mention that my timing was 1:25:10, I hope to better the time if the Organizer keeps the same route next year.

Why it was a value of $$$?
- Very well organized, everything was smooth, friendly and supportive volunteers
- A goodie bag with quite some goodies during bib collection, another goodie bag from U-Mobile after the race! I was also amazed of the sponsorships the Organizer could find for a smaller event
- Dri-fit t-shirt, good design
- Lots of food and drinks: Fried noodle, breakfast box with hamburger (tasted better than the one sold in Carrefour), swiss cake roll and ang-gor-kuih, vico drinks, unlimited mineral water and fruit flavored isotonic drink, Spritzer Go! isotonic drink, Old Town White Coffee...
- 3.5" inch medal, biggest ever! (I heard this medal alone already costs RM30!)
- Very attractive lucky draw prices, the grand prize was Toshiba laptop!


If I knew I could get on to the stage, I would bring a nicer t-shirt :P


Everyone was happy! The ladies were happier because we all got the trophy!


The medal is no joke!

Aftermath: Terrible soreness for two days!
Lesson: No two consecutive trail runs anymore!