Back-to-Back Run (Nike+Hooha)

It was a fine day to remember, it was 10th October 2010 or 10.10.10. I started the day with Nike City 10K run and prior to that met Deo and Shuk at Asy’ Syakirin Mosque (KLCC Mosque) for morning prayer around 6.00 am. Immediately at the race site, i noticed a lots of youngsters for this run, must be college kids.

Decided to use my lighter running shoes for this short run, Adidas Adizero Adios with 2XU compression racing sock. I had the Rocktape on my right feet with the specifications of Plantar Faciitis (left feet seems to recover from PF).

I was informed that there were about 8,000 runners on both categories 5km and 10km. Got warm up and stretch a bit before made my way to the starting at around 7.05 am, there was a lot of peeps around me wearing the official lime green Nike shirt, i then made my way towards the front the starting line (experience taught me that you’ll loose time and energy starting from behind) and stopped about 10 rows behind the front runners. Met Doc Puisan during my manoeuvre through the front and congratulated her on the recent TNF run, she looked tired but ready to plod on for the day.

Starting line (photo – Tey)

At 7:15 am, the race started; all hell broke loose, i assumed most of the 5km runners especially the young college kids was running everywhere and occupying the whole road. I could see runners bumped into one another like there’s no tomorrow, one incident i saw a young girl was accidently pushed and bumped to the side of the road and hit the zinc wall pretty loud, but she was okay though to continue running. At this time i guessed i was dragged into the running frenzy, i was running too fast for my usual pace, at one point a cute chubby girl decided to retires from running and stopped in the middle of the road, and i was behind her when she decided this! I had to used my emergency brake..damn lost the momentum, had to restart the pace again, i guess when they collected their race kit they threw away the guide book thus ignored the race etiquette promoted by the organiser – slow runner stay on the left! I really hated this zig zagging running strategy as it would eat up your energy level.

I was still running strong through Jln Kia Peng and Jalan Bukit Bintang, where the route took us through Lot 10 where the Hooha runners already assembled, we got a loud cheer from the Hooha runners and the MC - Orange man. I was still running too fast too soon at the time following the 5km runners’ pace, and i was thinking i’m gonna pay dearly for this later on.

Finally the crowd of runners dissipated upon arrival at Jalan Ampang’s junction, where 5km runners turn to the right going back to Jalan Binjai and the finish line, while the 10km runners turned to the left going towards AKLEH. After 4km, i started (had) to slow down coz i having problem breathing, oh NO! Now i’m gonna pay for that early frantic stupid fast pace. I recovered moments later, i felt more comfortable running and breathing now - this is my normal running pace. More runners started to overtake me by now, then out of the jungle nowhere, Deo arrived besides me smiling. He said hi and saw he had a bottle of water on his hand, i assumed at that time Deo the Avatar disciple had been drinking “ketum water”, coz he looked relax and SMILING! he he. I guessed he got this tip from Diket the Mountain King:)

Deo claimed in his blog that his pace is slow as sloth, but don’t be deceived by this guy, boy he could run! Deo is a fox in chicken feathers Cheetah in Sloth skin..really! As i could not maintained faster speed, i urged Deo to proceed and he smilingly gone after that, i could not find him anywhere in Cheetahland AKLEH. He did a PB on this run, congrats Deo you’re one fast cheetah runner.

What i like most about this race it’s well thought and organised, there were several bands playing in selected / strategic places along the route to cheer on the runners, at AKLEH U-turn (7km) there were also cheerleaders..woot woot, too bad Ijam isn’t around to run this event (i heard he had a “sumpit” practice at Shah Alam that morning – Nik you been warned! he he…. better wear anti-sumpit clothes at GT).

After the tunnel at 9km, i pushed on as my watch indicated almost an hour had gone, i upped my pace as i raced towards sub – 1 hour timing. Near the finishing line there were a lots of walkers (retired runners) all over the road, darn i need to do another zig zag towards the finish line. I completed the Nike City 10K Run with a timing of 57:50 (PB), i slashed about a minute off from the previous PB at Siemens 10K run.

While running i was thinking about Nike finisher award, it must be something special to commemorate today’s date 10 10 10, but i was gutted to received a Nike toy at the finish line (what kind of crappiola is this?). Maybe the organiser thought that the runners are 12 years old from Kid Dash category, most of the runners i met agreed that the finisher award is rubbish.

Nike finisher award 

My day isn’t over yet, the time was about 8:15 am and i got some time before Hooha Fun Run start at 8:20 am. After attacking two bananas and few sips of water, i went to my bike to get my Hooha shirt and put it on over my Nike shirt and started running towards Hooha route.

I made it to the Hooha Fun Run route on time and joint the runners, i was happy with the fun run coz i can run at slower pace (considered as recovery run after Nike race). Upon finishing the Hooha Run the organiser gave each runners a “bling bling Gold Medal”, i think this is the most beautiful Medal in my collection yet – it got colours painted on Gold! As i arrived early, I was the 2nd runners at the Milo queue when its opened for business, i had two cups only! Because Hooha served cold ice Milo and gave me Gold Medal i gave two thumbs up for this event! This is the run that you would hobbled to for fun :)

.: THE END :.

 Hooha’s bling bling

ROCKTAPE EXPERIENCES

I carried a Plantar Faciitis (PF) injury on my right feet, it’s painful when you run with this kind of injury. Sometimes it’s too painful that you had to slow down and thus ruined your running experiences and potential.

The guys at Rocktape’s Australia shipped me few samples of Rocktape to be experimented during my runs. I used it two times during my routine trainings before this Nike run, i must say it does have a positive effect on my run.

My pains are bearable now, sometimes during the run i forgot that i have this PF injury; especially with the Nike City 10k run it helped me to a 10km Personal Best (PB) / Personal Record (PR). Thank you Rocktape, i gonna continue using this product for the future runs.

If you peeps out there wanna try a sample of Rocktape, don’t be shy to ask samples from me. I gave a few samples to Diket before his King of the Mountain (KOM) adventure, we shall wait for his verdict on his experiences using Rocktape.

Finishing Nike at KLCC (photo – Tey), finishing Hooha at Lot 10 (photo – snap attack)