Mens Health and Shape Run 2009

The well earned medal for finishing 43rd in the Jr veteran category


















A condom found in my goodie bag. Hmmmmm.....do I need it?? Maybe for emergency purposes, hehehe. And its electronically stress tested, so its proven to be darn solid. Guarantee No Bocor !!! Wonder what the ladies got in replacement of this....


















The race goodie bag.....Mens Health & Shape run had always been consistent for the 2 series (inclusive of last nite race) to give out real value for $$$ goddies bag.


Lunch was at around 2.30pm as this was done on purpose so that my stomach will still be full before the race at 8pm. And between now till 8pm, it will be liquid food. Eating too heavy before a nite race will have many side effects. One of them is always having stitches.

I was at race site pretty early at around 6pm and got a parking slot at the carpark next to the Palace Of Justice building. Was there to meet with some KRI runners and show them some of the Saucony models and also a few of them are interested to purchase immediately after trying them out.

The nite is hot and humid and i will anticipate a hard race for tonite. While waiting for my bib to be delivered, I continue having a chat with the KRI team. As the race drew nearer, the place is now full of activities, with runners doing their warmup, the organise blasting out the loud speaker with fast moving songs to motivate runners and cheer up the atmosphere.

I met up with THG gang (likes of Shih Ming, Raymond, Michele, Siow Bee, Keat Seong, Jenn, San, etc) and do some warmups. By 745pm, I masuk kandang and there were lotsa of ppl already in there. Try to squeeze my way to the front and only manage to reach like about 2m from the starting line. I thot this is good enuf so a fast start as I would not want to huge crowd to block the way.

The race started at 8pm sharp and we had to run about 2k to 3k along the straight and flat route that lead us to PICC. As we reached the Seri Gemilang Bridge before running around PICC, the route started to have some hilly terrain. Took it slowly as the start was a tad too fast I reckon. Slow down on th ehilly stretch to conserve some energy as the humid condition is taking a toll on me and most of the runners as well. Ran around PICC, a bit of a downhill now and back onto Seri Gemilang Bridge.

At this moment, I am still running fine under a sub5 min pace although I know I am sapping up lotsa energy. Then another climb along the bridge before we head towards Precint 4 along the highway. At this moment most of the runners are quite spread out. The faster ones will be all in front while the slower ones are slowly tagging along. I keep my pace momentum but I reckon that I wont be able to sustain this pace for too long. Energy level is going down and I am feeling the strain now. Recovery rate is slow due to 2 consecutive races in the last 2 weekends. Then the Seri Saujana Bridge appears as I ran past it. Thee nite view here is refreshing giving all runners something to enjoy while running (although I didnt pay too much attention to it, just a few glimpse of the scenery and concentrate on the run)

After this the route take the runners into Precint 7 on a long straight stretch of highway and the 3rd bridge appear. This time is the Seri Wawasan Bridge, a very unique bridge with lotsa of physical steel cables being used as infrastructure support as part of the decorations. At this moment my pace had gone down a bit to just around 5min pace. The humid condition is taking a toll on me but I just gallop on, just trying to maintain and sustain a comfortable pace to give me a sub1 hour finsihing.

As I reached the last 1km mark I increased the pace a bit, although its not fast enuf as there are one or two runner under the same category potong sayur me. I reckon I shud be in a position to finsih within 1hr and get a Finisher Medal as well. So I didnt bother much abt chasing after them, moreover I am feeling a bit tired now. The body and legs are not moving efficiently anymore, just carrying along the momentum.

A left turn into the straight road , and there I saw the finishing point. It was abt 200m away and I just slightly increased my speed to gain some finishing momentum. Crossed the line in 58mins 01secs, and in a position of 43rd under the Junior Veteran category. Well.... another medal in hand but definitely a slower race as compare to the two previous runs. Overall I am happy with my performance as I know I am not able to sustain a constant performance throughout especially when I was racing for the past 2 weekends.

Mingled around with all the running friends before making a trip back to Ampang as the drive will that at least 45mins. Much rest needed as there will be another race, this time the Adidas King Of The Road which the runners have to do an over distance half marathon of 22k.

Seeya this Sunday at Stadium Shah Alam.