It’s few days to go for the fun in the Mudville.
Lets prepare the checklist!
1. Team mate (check!)
2. Official Team Jersey (check!)
3. Trail Shoes (check!)
4. Gloves (check!)
5. Rocktape (check!)
6. Sumpit (double check!)
7. Potential victims candidates (Triple check!) – Ijam remind me if we left anyone out…he he
My eldest son celebrated his 3rd birthday today (20.10.2010).
Kid grow up so fast in front of our eyes, sometimes we did not realised it.
Happy Birthday Ameer, don’t be afraid to dream big and chase your dreams wherever it may takes you.
LATEST:
TIME: 1.01.46
PLACING:
298/1580 (Category Men Open)
444/2123 (Gender)
482/2906 (Overall)
This is the run that i almost DNS (Did Not Start) due to my PF injury, i was carrying this injury from Nike + Hooha run last week and it getting worst after my 9km recovery run, and that was my only training for this event.
I left some sort of message at Yim’s blog to give away the bib, and the next morning i received text message from Ijam and Deo inquiring about my injury, thanks for your concern guys, friends like you makes running fraternity special. So i rested my feet the whole week and almost gave away my bib to Che, but on Friday my feet felt better and i made a calculated risk to run the race with careful non-Gung Ho pace. Sorry Che, hoped you get KA’s bib.
Arrived at the race site few minutes before 6 am and parked my car in front of the UPM gate/guard house, many runners already arriving at UPM those wee hours in the morning. Made my way to the surau for subuh prayer and then i met Fazli, a runner from the last Newton run. Talk a bit with him and made a warm up run at the rubber track, then Shanaz appeared from nowhere and said hi. She was surprised that i’m running this event and had this looked of concern i her face, she told me that she DNSed this run and gave her bib to her sister. I guess she read our blogs after all, more of a reader than commentator, Shaz you should comments our blog entries soon, just we know you were there.
Met more more familiar faces during warm ups, Diket with Det, KR and Azhar from Daily Mile. Didn’t see Yim, Deo or other RBUs anywhere at the starting line. The women category was flagged off at 7:15 am and the men had 10 minutes to catch up, this way i always have runners to overtake all the way to the finish line.
With Azhar from Daily Mile
I had Rocktape at my right feet and it helps putting the pains at bay during and after the race. I started the race with KR, Diket and Det, i was thinking of following Diket pace but he pushed his turbo right from the start, leaving me to follow Det’s pace. About 2km into the race, i overtook Ryzal/Hancik and tried to lambong him to open his turbo engine, he was content with his current pace. Half way during during the run, he overtook me blasting his turbo engine without mercy..he he. I didn’t saw Yim or Deo, these guys must at front of the pack running in cheetah pace!
I was running according to my feel and with the pace that i’m comfortable with, surprisingly i felt good despite of the injury, so pushed up the pace a bit and see how will the feet react. I was out of breath easily due to lack of training, so i just maintained 80 percent effort but the hills took a lot from me.
Note to myself, need to train hills and learn the correct running technique from RBUs king of the hill.
Entering the stadium and completing the race (Photos: shanaz)
Darn i had to walk few metres during hills climb to catch my breath, entering 9th km i felt good and maintained a good pace to finish within an hour time, then i came to the final hill and all bets are off, this syaitoon hill took my last breath and i lost to the hill and had to walk a few meters up…coming down and trying to gain the lost momentum, i realised that sub 1 hour will be distance sombre memory. I pushed for a power finish at the track and completed the run with the timing of 1:01:42 (unofficial), overall i am happy to finish the race with limited finisher medal and looking forward to few days of rest and recovery before Genting Trailblazer.
With TNF legend – Yim (and soon to be – Deo the Cheetah TNF runner). Photo: Yim
Post race met RBUs peeps and runners friends, met Yim and Deo at Milo queue, a bit disappointed that the other TNF legends was not around, i was looking for autograph from the Avatar King..he he. We gathered and gossiped about the recent TNF stories, i guess next year they’ll be an increased numbers in TNF participants from the RBUs. Zaki, Deo and the others RBUs peeps (including me) was truly excited reading current TNF runners blogs experiences. Many have already making plans in their heads about TNF 2011, training plans etc (please lambong Zaki and Deo here!).
L-R: Ryzal, me, Deo, Diket. Hancik usha awek mana tu? ish ish (Photo: Yim)
Later, we found that most of the RBUs peeps was at HUKM children ward participating in Kash’s organised Runner Gives Back project, where they entertained the children and gave away their beloved medal to the the kids as a gift (Yim gave away his TNF medal). Even McIjam was there clowning around with the kids, i congratulates runners involved in this project for their effort and kindness towards the unfortunate kids.
Photo: Deo
Mizuno limited medal, a finisher medal is always 100 times betters than finisher toy.
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)
Published from Nokia E71
I collected my Mizuno race kit at around 11.30 a.m. today, just barely managed to queue and collected the race kit for 5 minutes before the lines got longer for the Men Open collection.
The location for this race kit pick up point is a bit peculiar, it’s located at Hotel Sri Petaling which is a crowded area with parking nightmares, thankfully i rode my bike for this errand, saved me lots of time. Pacesetters need to rethink their strategy for race kit pickup venue in the future, in order to enhance their faded management ability from the runners’ view.
The race kit consists of:-
Oh before collecting this race kit, i casually dropped by to Wisma OCM to do last minute registration of Hooha 10 10 10 run, at 10.30 a.m. it was quite smooth at the collection centre, especially if you manually registered (not online) like me, because the queue for online was long but Zero queue for manual registrar. Must be my lucky day :)
So tomorrow it’s gonna be back-to-back run for me, i just need to focus and remember which run start first. Early shut eyes for me then, see you tomorrow runners.
I came across Sofian’s blog about Rock Tape few weeks back, he gave such a good review on it, plus he slashed 39 minutes of his Australian marathon timing for a new PB. His recent performance in Newton run made me wonder about the RockTape, or maybe it was the Catwoman suit he recently acquired.
So few weeks back i emailed the guys at Rocktape and asked for a few samples to try. Today i received my package from Australia contained the Rocktape samples, i’m gonna try the Rocktape for the coming Nike 10km run and blog about it later.
Rocktape is basically an Endurance Tape to enhance performance and by using this special taping technique before a run/swim/cycle, it would promotes increased blood flows to the muscles and therefore reducing fatigue (claimed Rocktape).
There are different taping technique (according to the brochure) for different kind of injuries, such as; Plantar Fasciitis, IT Band, Shin Splints, Achilles Tendon etc. If you would like to try the Rocktape sample, please let me know. As i promised the guys at Rocktape that i would blog about my experience using their product, i would suggest you do the same in the name of common courtesy. Good luck runners on coming TNF, Nike Run and Hooha Run :)
The package and the Rocktape samples
Different taping technique for different injuries.
I collected my race kit this morning at 11.00 a.m., i was in and out of the collection centre in 5 minutes. There was few runners at the time and ZERO queue, they had 10 counters including 2 counters for bulk collection, all i can say is that the organization is brilliant and choosing Avenue-K as the venue for collection is another superb idea – it’s indoor, air-conditioned and near the starting point (runners may take the opportunity to recce the starting point).
The organizer should be applauded for this pre-race organising efforts, the starting / finishing point is another great idea. Located in the heart of KL, to be exact in KLCC outdoor parking lot in Jalan Binjai, which is near to the Asy’ Syakirin Mosque and will benefits Muslim runners to perform their morning prayers comfortably. I expect nothing but the best from the organiser comes race day, which i have little doubt that they will deliver. Parking wise, it’s beneficial to be the early bird for this event, i’m gonna take my bike for this run and park near the mosque as i don’t want a parking headache with the MPV.
The race-kit consist of:-
I’m not sure if there’s a medal finisher for this run, but Nike allocated a “finisher award” to every runners with the conditions that they completed the run and wearing the official Nike T.shirt with bib number (unfortunately you can’t wear your favourite/lucky vest). If i’m not mistaken, previous year Nike running event in Singapore, all the runners were given finishers bracelet instead of medals.
Talking about the significant of this run is to celebrates the date of 10.10.10(2010), my lucky star smiles on me as i am allocated the number 10 on the D-tag as the 10th person to register (i assume). Good luck peeps, see you on the race day.
