Monday, November 10, 2008

IOI Community Run 2008

Date : 9th November 2008, Sunday
Time : 7:30 am
Venue : Bandar Puteri Puchong

Since I am staying in Puchong, this event should be top in my list but I have not taking part in this event since its launch in 2005. In the 1st year, I did not bother to register because it clashed with my favourite Mountain Bike Hash and there was no Senior Veteran Category to stimulate me to change my mind. In 2006, I registered for this event and seriously thinking not to miss it, however, I was too tired after the Lumut Powerman on Saturday. I stayed one more night in Lumut and missed the run. This year I decided to skip the Powerman Race so I did a last minute registration for Lit Jin, Kit Mun and me.

On the race day, Lit Jin, Kit Mun & I arrived at Bandar Puteri 10 min to seven, I parked my car quite a distant and checked to ensure I will not be blocked by the runners coming back since I have to leave immediately after the race. Jogged towards the starting line and saw many runners queueing up for reporting, continued with some warm-up stretching after handing over the reporting card. I became a bit nervous because there was no sign that the organiser intent to start the race at 7:30 am as stated in their agenda.

This was the first time I took part in this event and I was almost became a non-starter 3rd time! If the organiser further delayed the starting time, I would not be running since I promised Kit Mun that she will be at USJ Taipan by 8:45 am. It was fortunate that the organiser decided to flag off the "Open" categories slight passed 7:45 am. then followed by the veterans a few minutes later. I don't know what time they flagged of the school boys and girls but I believed that it was just before 8:00 am , otherwise, Kit Mun will not be running because she would not have enough time for the appointment in USJ Taipan.
Since I am staying in Puchong and very familiar with this area, I know what to expect and have an vivid image of the route in my mind. Starting quite slowly because I knew that I will not have any chance to get a medal, but slowly I started to accelerate (perhaps the atmosphere would not allow me to take it easy for the run). As usual, Tan Wah Seng came from behind and overtook me. I followed very closely and around 1 KM, I saw my running mate, Papaya Lee, just a few meters in front of me. Continued to push myself and I overtook him and he did not give a fight (otherwise I would have been looking for trouble). Not too far away, I also overtook my mentor, Tee EK (he is now much slower, maybe because of his lack of training).
After the junction that split between the 5.5 Km & 7.3 KM, only the veterans were along the way. I could clearly see the runners in-front of me, Tan Wah Seng, Tee (FTAAA) and Wong Soo Pin were not far away. At the far end, I could see Nachapan, followed by Ah San, Daneil Tan and two or three others. Every runners sped and did not want to slow down since this was a downhill slope. Soon we were reaching the finishing line and I found out that I just missed a position to get a medal. What luck did I have for this IOI Community Run!
P/S, it was not luck, I lost to much better runners.
I left the site at around 8:30 am with Kit Mun so I have no time to take any picture or lompak around!

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