KL International Marathon 2008

The lead-in to race day was a short 3hrs nap. I slept at around 11.30pm the nite before and woke up at exactly 2.30am the next morning. Wash myself up and had my usual breakfast of 6 teaspoon of oats mixed with soya milk. Then I headed out of the house towards Bukit Aman where I will park the car and meet up with Frank. When I reached the destination, Frank was oredi there waiting. Put on my running gears and we headed towards the race site at Dataran Merdeka together with Jason Lim. It was about 1km walk down the road.

Met all the regular frenz and greeted each other with encouragement. Met up with Pelle who flew in from Korea to run the race. It was good to see him again after he left Malaysia since August 2007. As this is a charity race for myself to raise funds for an orphanage home, I am motivated to run the race with my mind focusing on all the orphans who are in need of all the monies. To them every cents count on what I can raise.

The race was gun off at 4.30am sharp and runners was clapping to acknowledge the beginning of a long race to go. Was running closely together with Frank and Jamie for almost 15k and after that Frank drop back slightly. Both Jamie and myself continue to maintain the pace and as we approaches the 20k mark, he decided to move ahead with a faster pace. I fall back and was running alone from the 20k mark onwards.

Met Zul at the AmBank building and greeted him. Went past him and continue my solo run all the way to the 25k mark. My legs felt a bit tire as I approached 25k and decided to slow down my pace just as not to trigger any muscle pull or cramp. Ran all the way down Jalan TAR towards the U-turn (near Dataran Merdeka) into Jalan Raja Laut. Experiencing a slight muscle pull as I was running along Jalan Raja Laut but eases off as I turn into Jalan Raja Muda heading towards the 30k mark. Some where at the 29k mark, I heard a voice greeting me and it was Shine. He was running past me so gracefully with very little effort.

As I turn into Jalan Tun Razak after the 30k mark, I felt the tightness on both my legs and that slow me down tremendously. I am anticipating the muscle pull and cramps will hit me anytime from now onwards. True enuf at the 32k mark, my legs are like applying emergency brakes where it hardly wanted to move. Cramps are over my thighs and calf. At this point I have to actually slow down my pace to ease off the pain. This helps as the pull comes and goes, allowing me to continue running. Never thinking of giving up and start walking. An Indian gentleman went alongside me and asking who am I running for. Told him about my mission to raise funds and he said he will pledge RM100 and meet me at the finishing line. I thank him for his generosity and we exchanged names and he move on. His name is Mohan. This really motivates me to continue no matter whats going to happen.

As I was climbing up the hilly course along Jalan Mahameru, Phyllis and Yee Hua went past me. These two ladies were running very strongly side by side. I just continued running at almost turtle pace by now. Bumped into Yaziz and he was about to resume running after a short rest. Continue with my slow pace all the way down Jalan Duta before making the U-turn. This point turn disastrous for me as the muscle pull became more severe. I had no choice but to revert to walking and eases off the muscle tension. As the cramp eases off, I started adopting the run and walk option, and this continues all the way till I reached the 40k mark.

2k to go and at the 40k mark. I stretched both my legs and told myself I will run all the way from here no matter what's going to happen. This last 2k is dedicated to all the orphans whom I had collected the donations and will be sending to them. Immediately my imagination kicks in and all these orphans are greeting me with big smiles and wide open arms.

As I was trooping down hill after the climb, I saw a man in a Pacesetter T-shirt greeting every runners. As I get closer to him, its was Capt Lim from the Klang Group. It was so nice of him to offer me some water and wishes me all the best to finishing. Ran past Bank Negara and onto the traffic light that leads me to the right towards Dataran Merdeka for the finishing. As I approaches the final destination, the group of Pacemakers were there cheering me up. Now the cramp is getting more severe but I hang on to it and crossed the finishing line in 4h37min20sec (Gun off time) and champion chip time of 4h36min19sec.

Well....I could have done better if not for the cramp that slow down my pace. But anyway I have done my very best and ran the race with my fullest capability. The timing was secondary for me, cos if it was faster then it was a real bonus to me. What is more important are those orphans that kept me running and running and running. The donations that I raised will definitely meant a lot to them in terms of meeting their needs in buying food, clothing, supplements and others. I shall be meeting them in a week or so to pass on the donations to them.

Hopefully with this small amount of donations it will continue to inspire them and make them a better person in the near future. To all that have pledge a donation to me whether in large or small amount, I on behalf of the orphans from Home For The Angels would like to say a big Thank You to you.

You made it HAPPEN !!!!!

Home For The Angels

http://www.homefortheangels.com/

This Sunday I will be raising funds for this orphanage when running the 42k race in KLIM08. So far I have collected around RM1000 and more are coming in for a good cause. If you are interested to make a small donation which can mean a lot to this group of orphans, do let me know within this week before the race.


"Don't always ask what I deserve from others, always think what I can contribute for others"

Just when I thot......

Just when I thot I am all ready for the big day on March 30, 2008. I was hit with stomach virus for about 1.5 weeks and yet to fully recover from it. My stomach still have the gassy feeling and bloated up. The medication I am having is weakening my body system. Then when I was thinking of doing my last LSD on Saturday, I was hit with a throat infection on Friday itself. I have to put off the run on Saturday morning and was on another course of medication, while needing more rest.

Hopefully I will be able to recover in time for the race else this will definitely impact my capability to run at a desire pace that I am use to. Anyway lets hope for the best and see how it goes. No point crying over spilled milk and all I need is rest.

490.64 Kilometers

Thats the mileage I have clocked during training for this year KL International Marathon 2008. Started off on 1 Jan (1st day of 2008) till 15 March (last Saturday) before a 2 weeks tapering period. Is that high mileage, I dont think so. Its probably just average where I believed there are runners who covered more than that in a training regime for a marathon race. Well, for me I think thats only so much time and effort that I can put in for der training. I cannot afford anything more than that given the kind of job I am in plus allocating a fair share of my time for family outings on weekends.

Now I am going out there to enjoy der race, and as usual no pressure or target on my finishing time for myself. A lot with depend on der form on race day on how well I run for the race. So feeling good and having numerous second wind during the race is indeed something I am praying hard for. On top of that, no injuries as a passenger and a clean bill of health is important. Carbo loading, well I dont really believe in it as its not my normal practise. Doesnt seems to have any impact on me, so I will just eat as normal.

Seeya all in 2 weeks time at the starting line.

Calcaneus ~ Heel Spurs ~ Heel bone pain

After all the election fever, now its back to running.

After my 30k LSD on a day which was hit by torrential rain on 1st March 2008, and the next day I experienced pain on the heel bone on my right leg. After surfing the web for some information on heel bone pain, I found out that I am suffering from inflammation of the calcaneus or some called it heel spurs.















I believed that too much pressure was applied on my foot that causes it. The intense training which I ran 3 consecutive 30k in 3 weeks is the key contributing factor. Maybe I am landing too hard or maybe is also the faster pace that I am running throughout the 30k distance that is putting too much pressure on my right foot.

And with 3 weeks to go before race day, I will need to have more rest and take things easier rather than continue pushing myself. So I took it very easy last week with very low mileage in the weekdays and only a 20k run on Saturday. On top of that, I am treating it with the old faithful Chinese Analegesic Liniment " Zheng Gu Shui". I have been using it eversince I started running to treat pain in muscle and bone, assists healing by promoting blood circulation and regenerating bone tissue.

On top of that I am also wearing my Nefful negative ions bandage during the night to accelerate the healing of the pain. Things are progressing well with all these self treatment without going to see a sports doctor. The pain on the heel had kind of subside and not as painful as before. I will monitor the progress of the healing and will see if I can run my last 30k LSD this coming Sat before the 2 weeks tapering period start. Else I wont be too concern about not doing it but to maintain a consistent mileage throughout the next two weeks. The strategy now is to rest well, get myself out of the woods, no pain and not carry an injury on race day.

Der 14th State

Der 14th State of Malaysia ie Federal Territories which only have 13 parliamentary seats was won outright by the Opposition last nite.

Opposition won 10 seats (DAP - 5; PKR - 4 ;PAS - 1) vs BN - 3

Who will run the Dewan Bandaraya now as KL is part of Wilayah Persekutuan. I hope Tian Chua, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Fong Kui Lan, Tan kok Wai and der rest will bring this up in Parlimen. No reasons for BN to appoint Major of KL and Mentri WP when they lost it big time.

It ROCKS

Der ROCKET......ROCKS!!!!














Der ROCKER......ROCKS!!!!

Thats all I can said for this 12th General Election of Malaysia. The rest I believed you can read from the newspapers and various blogs. The power of Internet and the support of bloggers had transform the way how campaigning should be done in an election. The banners, radios, TV adverts and your paper manifesto is not effective anymore. This is the new world of campaigning and you just cannot ignore it. The BN learned it the hard way underestimating blogs and the POWER OF INTERNET.

CONGRATULATIONS to both of you on your VICTORY and dont get complacent over it. Now its the time we wanna see all the promises put into actions, cinya.

Samy Ular is voted OUT

Samy, you have do a self inflicted defeat on yourself.

People give you chance to bow out gracefully and accept the RAKYAT remarks especially from our Indian frenz that enuf is enuf. Yet you want to stay on and try to show your so call power and bulldozed your way through. Sometimes when things are not on your side, you just cannot do it.

Now like what the Chinese said "You have put a worm into your asshole" (sorry for the vocab used, but I think you deserved it) You had done a self inflicted defeat on your own self without realising it, cinya. You choose the hard way to retire from politics, maybe thats your retirement blueprint that you have written for yourself.

Anyway I show no empathy for you as you asked for it!!!!

For more write-ups, click HERE

Samy ULAR ~ Cursed in Kulim, Kedah

No indelible ink

Tuesday March 4, 8:19 PM

Malaysia scraps plan to use indelible ink in election

(Kyodo) _ Malaysia's Election Commission decided Tuesday to scrap the use of indelible ink that was supposed to make its debut in Saturday's general election, citing public order and security issues.

Election Commission Chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said that legally, the commission cannot bar a person whose fingernail has been marked with the ink or one who refuses to have his or her nail marked, from casting their vote.

"The Federal Constitution gives you the right to vote, and a black mark on your fingernail should not bar you from exercising this right," he was quoted as saying by the Star daily in its web edition.

Q: Why didn't the EC thot of this before making a decision and make a public announcement. How can the gomen ie BARISAN NASIONAL allowed all these mockeries of errors to happen, setting the wrong expectation, and creating another scam to make some money out of it and fund the election campaign.


And just 3 days before der RAKYAT of Malaysia go to vote, BN had once again showed us how they can overturn a decision made earlier. These truely proves that the whole gomen is basically exposing themselves of their weaknesses and making big blunders when making a decision in the way we vote. They can just turn it around and give you stupid excuses of this and that, blah blah blah....the making of AAB, C4 man, Sami Ular, those MCA YES man, etc.

For whatever WTF reasons is going to be, my vote is to PKR, DAP, PAS, and even an Independent party. BN go fly kites!!!

BN, lets see whats in it for you on March 8.

Read more here

I just luv the RAIN

No its not RAIN, the Korean hip-hop singer. Its this morning 30k workout that I ran under the rain, a torrential one too. It had been a long long time, if I ever remembered running under such condition.

The morning started off earlier than before ie 5am to be exact for the run. I am testing out all the things that I intended to wear, consume and carry along for KLIM08 in today's run. Will be consuming GU Gel instead of PowerGel (which I found have no effect on me). Am wearing my RBK tights for the second time and making sure I am use to it on race day, my dri-fast microfibre brief and lastly the NB coolmax socks. I am running with the Saucony Trigon5 Ride today and am still undecided whether to use it for KLIM08 or the newly Adidas Supernova Cushion 7 (from the Adidas Wear Test Program)

Our run will be Bkt Aman-Duta Junction-Bkt Aman for the first 10k and then the usual 20k Hartamas route. We have Jamie, Frank, Cheang, Loke, GL, DK , Lee and myself for this morning run. Jamie, GL and Loke will probably do the 20k while the rest will hit 30k. As we were into the 6k or 7k mark, it starts to drizzle. The rain gets heavier as we reached the carpark. GL said she is not continuing as she dos not wants to get soak under the rain, so is Cheang which is pulling out too. Jamie, Frank, DK, Lee and myself decided to continue.

Was joined by Kenny for the next 20k. I was running well under the rain, at least it was cooling and I don't mind it. Jamie and Frank will again turn back at the Duta junction to do a 20k. I continued will Kenny from here onwards while DK and Lee was slightly behind.

By now the rain had started to pour heavily as we continued to run. The road is filled with water like small streams flowing across. It can be hard to run especially with the waterlogged shoes and also for those who wear spectacles as their visibility will be affected . I was totally not affected by it as I am enjoying it. My pace was indeed increasing to become faster as I followed Kenny closely.

Reaches the Petronas kiosk and did the extra loop. Refueled and had my 2nd pack of GU Gel. Then DK and Lee arrived. After about 5mins stop we continued our way back. My body felt so cold as I started the return leg. Kenny shot off very quickily while I maintained a 6m15sec pace.

I was feeling stronger by the kilometre and I really enjoy running under the rain. Breathing and heartbeat is OK and was not feeling tired. After the 25k mark, I started to increase my pace to around 5m40sec throughout consistently until I reached the carpark. Was really surprise when my watch showed an average of 6m01sec pace for the entire run.

I JUST LUV THE RAIN !!!!