A Not-So-Satisfied Personal Best

Race: Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010
Date: 22nd November 2009 (Sunday)
Venue: Queensbay Mall, Penang
Distance: 21km
Website: http://www.penangmarathon.gov.my/portal/
Why this race: Well, they have improved a lot, but...

I decided to take a rest after Borneo Marathon, so I only signed up the Half Marathon category. Another reason was the bad water supply experience last year didn't give me enough confidence to go full distance in this event too. Another not so convincing reason was, I would be driving to Penang with my family, I wanted to conserve energy in order to do sight-seeings and have a food feast in Penang until next Tuesday...

Last year I ran the whole bridge in the "Ultra 25K Half Marathon" category. This year, they decided to follow the actual distance of half marathon, so the U-turn was made some where after half of the bridge. Probably because of Penang Bridge could not be closed for too long, I had started the earliest half marathon ever at 3.45am! The full marathon even started at 2.30am! Why not they changed the name to Penang Bridge Mid-Night International Marathon? LOL

I didn't have much to describe about the run, it was still the same bridge and the same breeze that I enjoyed. This year I didn't have the "lausai" (stomach) problem, but the two cold cup of 100plus at around 16KM nearly got me developed the side stitch. The finishing line was so far away, it was the other end of Queensbay Mall, really a mind torture to finally see the finishing line and cross it...

Last year the Organizer got bombarded due to lack of water supply. This year they decided to show us the "color" by giving everyone a bottle of 500ml mineral water at each water station. I know a bottle of water won't cost too much these days, but it was a huge waste of disposing so many plastic bottles, and most of the bottles were only taken a few sips because we runners did not like to carry bottles while running (especially racing) and obviously we couldn't drink the whole bottle too. I thought the State Government would like to build Penang city to become more environmental friendly by banning plastic bags on every Monday, but look how much waste they have generated in this event! In addtion, some participants didn't throw the bottles properly, the runners from the back might got tripped by the bottles, or wet the shoes if the bottles were not closed tightly.

By the way, why I titled this post as "not-so-satisfied" PB? Although I had done 3 full marathons, I actually didn't run many half marathons, especially in the exact distance of 21K.
My half marathon records:

1. 10/8/2008, Adidas King of the Road
22.7km, 2:48:10
"Ultra" distance

2. 19/10/2008, Denver Marathon (Half)
21.1km, 2:27:18
A PB as the result of very flat route and perfect weather

3. 16/11/2008, Penang Bridge International Marathon (Half)
25km, 3:08:10
Another "ultra" again

4. 26/4/2009, Bidor Half Marathon
21.1km, 2:33:51
Although 6.5 min longer than previous PB, felt satisfied as I really put effort to run after getting back on track from the "down" moment

At first I didn't have a real target in this race. If I didn't feel good, I would take it as a fun run, after all, I was more interested in the food marathon instead LOL. I did feel quite OK when the race was started, so I decided to try my best and let see whether I could make it below 2:20 after considering my performance in Borneo Marathon.

It was about 1:03+ when I made the U-turn at about 10K mark (1:03:55 according to offical result which was taken after I slowed down to grab a bottle of water). I did some math...
1:04 - First 10K
1:04 - Second 10K
0:07 - 21st K
0:05 - Slow down in second 10K
------
2:20 ==> should be achievable!

Unfortunately, the actual outcome is always different from the ideal calculation. I probably slowed down tremendously in the second half, even though I was trying very hard to keep up. I took more time passing the water stations. I felt the last few kms had no end. I guessed I could push a little more but I didn't, or couldn't. At the end I only made 2:24:16. A personal best, but not the truly satisfied one.

Alright, never mind. I had enough food feast in Penang. and binge at home last couple of days. Will focus on running and losing weight again, hopefully to beat 2:20, or even 2:15 soon...

p.s. I saw a very old grandpa, probably 70+ or even 80 years old running half marathon. I passed him not long after entering the bridge. When I was waiting for CW at the finishing line to complete the full marathon, I saw the grandpa finally finished the run for about 4:15. Unlike some youngsters who signed up half marathon just for the sake of hanging around at Penang Bridge or got conned by the schools, I could feel that he put the efforts to complete the distance. Unfortunately the official cut-off time for half marathon is 3.5 hrs, so he didn't get the medal (why the Organizer so rigid one?!). I tried to look for him after meeting CW, I wanna give him my medal, I believed it would be more meaningful to him. I couldn't find him and I felt so regret of not doing this right after he crossed the finishing line. May he be blessed and hopefully to see him next year.

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!

Kiara Trail Run

Event: Trail run at Bukit Kiara
Date: 14th November 2009 (Saturday), 7.15am

I forced sohkeong to sign up the Salomon X-Trail Run with me. Some more we sign up the 10K category because both 4K and 10K categories cost the same price of RM60. I can't tolerate running a race in Malaysia with the rate of RM15/km (what a nonsense formula... LOL), you know I am a kiasu fella...

The Salomon X-Trail Run would be held at Taman Lembah Kiara. I knew there were trails in Bukit Kiara, as I saw mountain bikers went into the woods when I was walking around Taman Arboretum many years ago, but I never went to see it myself, so I did not know what the condition would be. I asked sohkeong to explore the trails together prior to the event after PBIM, I thought it should be fairly easy by following the race map. Fortunately, Kash and Syah saved us from getting lost! sohkeong and I, the direction idiots, would surely get trapped in the jungle if we do that ourselves!

Kash and Syah invited me to join them for a trail run. They wanted to explore the X-Trail route because they would be doing SCSM on the same day, so they would miss the event. The run was actually organized by Che, who has lots of experience in mountain climbing. He knows the Kiara area quite well, but he still said that he would try to follow the map together with his instinct! You know, sohkeong's and my instinct could never be trusted... LOL

12 people turned up at Lembah Kiara Park, I was quite surprised of the big group. Hey, now I realize there are actually quite some people like trail running! We had a 15 min stretching lesson courtesy of Ian, the professional personal trainer. I must say, the session was really professional! It was also my first experience of stretching with such "high end" postures in front of public... LOL

I saw most folks were equipped with hydration backpack, even sohkeong also had one. Suddenly I felt very regret that I only carried a small 300ml mineral water bottle with bare hand. We headed into the trail, woalala..., it was like the Mesilau hiking trail in Mount KK, even narrower!

I tried to "run" whenever I could, but very quickly I would become winded. It was more of walking and hiking when going uphill. I admired Che who was able to back and forth to check the route for us, he seemed like having boundless energies. Nik was the same too, he could turbo whenever he liked to take photos for us. The group was very supportive, they would wait at certain points especially at the junctions. I remembered there was one junction with lots of branches, each branch was labeled an arrow... so which one should we follow?

According to Kash, this trail is very "technical", the one at TNF 100 is actually much better and easier. Two decided to turn back as it seemed like it would be much more challenging ahead. I, being clueless of the direction, just tried to follow the group as closed as possible. With Shaq as the sweeper, I felt safe and able to put 100% focus on my feet. Since there were quite a number of rests in between, I didn't feel too bad.

After numerous torturous uphill climbs, finally we had reached the most exciting part, running down from the highest point (but not too steep) all the way towards the flat ground area on top of Arboretum Park. Here, I pictured myself as the runner on the Rave Run photo of the monthly Runner's World magazine, together with the confidence given by the Salomon shoes, I ran in full concentration and as fast as I could. I felt this was the most enjoyable moment, it swept away all the doubts whether I should pick up trail running especially in the beginning of stepping into the Kiara trail... LOL

We did not end here yet, we went on to explore another two shorter trails before reaching the car park. According to Che, we did not follow entirely the X-Trail route because of he made some adjustments after seeing some flooded areas, and also followed his instinct. I am not sure how much we had run, but the entire thing took us almost 2.5 hour and we had real great fun! The group was actually having a feast after the run, but unfortunately I couldn't join them, what a shame.

I do feel a bit regret of signing up the 10K race in X-Trail. The route is really tough, at least for me. Anyway, I just follow sohkeong's advice, just do it since I have signed up. I just aim to complete the route, hopefully before the Organizer cleans up everything and leaves no one...LOL. I really want to thank the group for guiding me and patiently waiting for me. I am looking forward to the next trail run!

Other Kiara trail run reports from the group:
http://run-kooky-run.blogspot.com/2009/11/kiara-trail-run-report.html
http://iamsyah.blogspot.com/2009/11/salomons-x-trail-and-janda-baik-weekend.html
http://lifeashaq.blogspot.com/2009/11/gbss-kiara-trail-run.html
http://cheramiche.blogspot.com/2009/11/kiara-trail-run-14-nov-09.html
http://enaikay.blogspot.com/2009/11/sneak-preview-kiara-trail-run.html
http://enaikay.blogspot.com/2009/11/kiara-x-trail-run.html
http://www.corporateathletes.com.my/?p=4568
http://runningandsome.blogspot.com/2009/11/thingsof-trail-and-klang.html
http://wcr1414.blogspot.com/2009/11/trails-trails-trails.html



Photo taken from Kash's site


See the muddy fat legs!

还没学乖

很多时候我并不饿。
相信只是累了。
但是却选择了食物来“提神”，屡试不爽。
功效并不显著，所以又再添加。
既然胃口开了，就继续吃吧。
其实解决方案很简单，去休息，睡一下就好了。
老早就知道秘诀，干嘛还不学乖呢？

First Experience of Trail Running

My ultimate running goal is to run in as many places as possible. Without hesitation, I signed up the KRI-Bukit Kinding Trail Run at Tanjung Rambutan in Ipoh without much idea of what is actually trail running. Not long after this, sohkeong showed me the Salomon X-Trail Run which would be held on the same day as Singapore Marathon (SCSM). Since I am not going to SCSM, I am very interested in participating this event to fulfill my goal - run, run in as many places as possible...

Later, I searched the web for more information about trail running. Ohhh... it is not as easy as what I have thought! My weakest point is balancing, but trail run would require me running down some slippery hills... and my "kiasi" character (scare to die) will hinder me from "running " efficiently (don't talk about running, walking down is already a problem!)

However, after reading some The NorthFace 100 (TNF) reports including this one and this one, suddenly I feel the urge of doing trail run... and hope that I could participate TNF 50K Duo category in the future!

So I decided to invest on a good pair of trail running shoe even though it would cost me a fortune. I checked with the Organizer of Salomon X-Trail Run whether they would give any Salomon discount voucher upon signing up the event. They would, but during race kit collection which would be a day before the race. This is too late.

Thanks to the Organizer, they took the extra effort to make arrangement with the shoe vendor so that I could get the 30% discount voucher now! Anyway, it still costs me a fortune even with the discount! I promise myself, I will make this pair of shoes into full use with lots of trailing running and light hiking next year! LOL


Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX

Today, I tried the shoes for the first time in FRIM's Rover Track. The track is an easy one, but it still took me 44 min to complete it to and fro (not sure about the distance, and you know I am not fast runner lar). The shoes are fantastic! The Salomon's quicklace system is very cool! However, there are some reviews in Amazon that it may break easily, so I hope that this is not true.

I find that I have to be very focus when doing trail run to make sure I won't trip or fall, it is tiring but really fun! I do feel more pressure and little bit of soreness on the knee caps when running downhill. With my current weight, I have to be extra careful, I think I won't add too much distance yet in trail running until I lose more weight and able to run on the trails more efficiently.

I welcome the idea of adding varieties by doing some off-road running. It is still a long way for me to build towards running in TNF and Genting Trailblazer, I believe I will catch up!

Target

Today a running buddy had departed to US for 1.5yr. Although she is relatively new in running but she is good and fast, always has to slow down to wait for us. She had a goal of achieving sub-1 in double hill route before leaving, unfortunately we were unable to catch up and pace with her.

Before she flew, we had asked help from a group of very fast runners to "pia" with her this morning and pace her to achieve the target. And yes, she did it! It was even below 59 min!

I have set a new target for myself. Same day next year, 6th Nov 2010, I would be able to run double hill in one hour too!

Mission: Impossible? Umm... this time I do have some confidence. Gotta train more and lose weight!

Current PB: 1:08:25

Re: 为何非减重不可呢？

刚刚开始设计部落格时，特地开了一个叫“为何非减重不可呢？”的帖。本来想记录101个要减重的理由，不过写了十多个后就不了了之了（就是懒惰嘛！）。

老套也要说：光阴似箭，一转眼就两年了。虽然离目标还很遥远，体重还上上下下的，不过目前为止也算减了超过25公斤，比起以前轻盈得多了。

今天一位跑友提起了这个帖，让我有机会重新“审阅”这个清单。除了把陪了我8年的Iswara换了现在很“型仔”的粉蓝色MyVi外，原来我已经完成了2个目标：
7. 想要爬Mount Kinabalu ==> 还攀爬了ferrata!
15. 我也想试试跑马拉松 ==> 还跑了3次！

也是时候整理一下这个清单啰！

1. 为了健康
2. 不用在飞机，巴士等缩成一团
3. 买衣物有更多的选择
4. 可以买到更便宜划算的衣物
5. 想要再跳伞一次，不过我不要因为体重的关系得给extra （除此之外，还有weight limit的，110kg 以下），并且穿得下跳伞的衣服
6. 想要玩water rafting，但不要把船给沉了
7. 想要爬Mount Kinabalu 想要去一趟Everest Base Camp
8. 想在美丽的小岛和海滩穿泳衣但而又不会破坏市容
9. 不要再让我七年的Iswara有更多的负担 不要把我的“型仔”MyVi给弄垮了
10. 不要再让德士司机认为载我是亏大本的事，虽然我很少坐德士 （他们认为比较耗油，而且我会把他们的德士弄垮）
11. 当我不是司机，须要跟别人共乘汽车时（尤其是后座），让别人可以坐得舒服一点
12. 我独自驾车时，不想别人看到我的汽车歪去一边
13. 我不要有一天我坐坏了马桶而登上报纸头条
14. 我也不要我百年归老的时候因为身材太大需要订特别的棺木，然后登上报纸头条 (中国报 - “棺木特製 墓穴加大 百公斤胖女去世”报导）
15. 我也想试试跑超级马拉松
16. 我要学潜水
17. 要学潜水，首先得学游泳，而学游泳就要穿泳衣
18. 物价越来越贵，吃少点可以省钱
19. 体重轻一点，不必花费那么多汽油，省钱又环保
20. 身体轻便一些，可以跑得更快
21. 跑步时膝盖的负担没那么重，避免运动伤害
22. 在排队拿奖牌时，或排在全马级别提取race kit时，避免别人怀疑的眼光，也避免尴尬的场面
23. 也想尝试铁人三项

。。。还是待续。。。

Discrimination

I could be overly sensitive, being an obese runner does experience some forms of discrimination.

1. Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009 made the launching in a cafe located in Pavilion. A guy was distributing the entry form to the people who walked into the cafe, except me.

2. Still SCKLM 2009, I queued up at the 42km line to collect the race kit. A personnel walked to me and seemed like "checking" whether I was at the correct line, but not other runners.

3. When lining up to collect the medal in Mizuno Wave Run 2009, again, a personnel approached me to "check" on me, but not the other runners.

I don't know I should be proud or ashamed.