Nite Runner

Brooks Half Marathon - Breakfast Run 2012

2012-01-29T21:57:00.003+08:00

Photo by : Mr. Leong Kwan Weng - After the Run.

Brooks Half Marathon Breakfast Run – 29th January 2012
The run is organized by TBJRC testing the revised half marathon route, however runners wanted to run the 5Km & 10Km routes are also welcome although the routes are the same as last year.
I arrived at the stadium 5:30 am sharp, almost everyone registered to come were there. Since this was a close invitation run, I knew roughly who will be there this morning. First person I saw from far is Julia Lim, the fastest endurance lady runner trained in the Taman. Later during the run, she told me that she will be moving to PJ and will not be training in the Taman any more. The others were Papaya Lee, Fat Keong, Dai Wei, Chan Sir, John Heng, etc. It seems like all fast runners from TBJRC were here. Runners from Desa Petaling and Chap Ayam made up the rest of the crowd. It was closed to 50 runners in total.
The run started just over 5:45am after our president gave a briefing and introduction of the TBJRC runners to our friends. CCP just drove in as we left the car park, not too surprise to see him because he had indicated that he may come.
John Heng led the way as he is the only one in the leading pack who knew exactly the new 21KM route. The rest of us only have some idea and knew that the 1st 5Km and the last 5KM are the same as last year but the middle part of the route was reversed and changes including running into the housing area avoiding the main roads.
I start the run with Julia Lim, tailing John Heng, Fat Keong, Dai Wei and Chan Sir, followed closely by Papaya Lee and some of the faster friends of TBJRC. Since this was not a competition, everyone took it easy and the pace was reasonably comfortable. However, I have other ideas and wanted to test how fast can I go after my recovery from the recent sickness. I want to test my current form with Dai Wei, the undisputed champion in TBJRC and those rising stars including the very physically strong Fat Keong and Chan Sir whom most TBJRC members regarded as some of the best runners. I took over the lead from John Heng at around 2KM by increasing the pace slightly. My prediction was right, Fat Keong and Chan Sir did not allow me to lead so they also increase the pace and three of us running side by side until 5KM when we reached IMU junction. I pushed a little harder and Chan Sir just dropped behind but Fat Keong holding running at my side. I heard (foot step sound) few runners are closing the gap and was a bit surprise because I think only Dai Wei is capable of closing the gap. I was curious so I turned back and see who were so close behind us, of course Dai Wei was there and the other runner was Aircon Liew. Later I found out that he was late and managed to catch up.
The run getting interesting while 4 of us were leading but other runners seem to disappeared from behind. I pushed harder and soon at the 8KM mark, I was only running side by side with Dai Wei. Fat Keong and Aircon Liew were chasing hard around 50 meters behind. I pushed even harder trying to take the lead but Dai Wei easily match and neutralize my effort. However at the 10KM point, Fat Keong and Aircon Liew were no where to be seen and Dai Wei and me were guided by the security guard entering the housing area. This will be the part of the new route and both of us were not familiar. At around this point, Dai Wei decided to take over the lead but I was not letting go, and pushing to my limit to follow him.
Soon we reached the water station manned by Lim Ming Huat, Dai Wei grasp a bottle of water from Lim and he sped away. I was at my limit and couldn’t match his speed so I was left further and further behind. I still managed to keep the gap within 300m when we were in Taman Esplanade but I lost him after turning out to the road leading to the Golf Club. I knew that it was only 3 to 4 KM more to go but I could not push harder because I was feeling the strain within my body. Hold on to my pace and manage to finish the run 2 or 3 minutes behind Dai Wei.
Gauging from my performance today, I guess I am almost fully recover and I should be able to take on the challenge in my next race.

Bareno Run 2011 - Top 10 Results for Category A,B,C,D and E

2011-03-16T13:39:00.000+08:00

Bareno® Run 2011
Top 10 for Category A – Men Open 21KM
Position Bib No Name Time
1 A0933 MOSES KIPKORIR KIPTOO 01:06:50
2 A1007 MOK YING REN 01:08:18
3 A0934 KIPCHUMBA KIPROP 01:09:26
4 A0958 JOHNSON KIPKOSSGEI TARUS 01:13:56
5 A0668 MOHD HANAFY BIN ANAS 01:14:51
6 A1036 AHMAD LAMCHANMAK 01:15:43
7 A0552 JASON PAUL LAWRENCE 01:18:34
8 A0894 BARRY LEE CHUN SING 01:26:41
9 A0622 LOH CHWAN CHYIN 01:27:02
10 A0971 CHAN JUN SHEN 01:28:50

Top 10 for Category B – Women Open 21KM
Position Bib No Name Time
1 B2237 NOOR AMELIA MUSA 01:29:18
2 B2233 SONOKO FUKUMOTO 01:49:37
3 B2260 BRITTANY LIM HUEY TING 01:49:47
4 B2128 CYNTHIA CHILDRESS 01:50:38
5 B2104 YEE PEI NI 01:52:25
6 B2221 YAP YEE LING 01:54:57
7 B2231 NICOLA SUYIN POCOCK 01:55:23
8 B2052 LEE SIAK YENG 01:58:57
9 B2209 TOH MI MI 01:59:00
10 B2062 LYNN GUAN 02:00:25

Top 10 for Category C – Men Veteran 21KM
Position Bib No Name Time
1 C3219 MARK WILLIAMS 01:18:56
2 C3297 CASEY LIM KHON SENG 01:21:30
3 C3194 KHIR BIN SALLEH 01:25:42
4 C3108 SILAHUDDIN SALIM 01:29:25
5 C3097 ONG CHIN 01:30:15
6 C3092 NG SAY HEONG 01:32:43
7 C3105 RICHARD TANG 01:34:18
8 C3083 MOEY WOOI SAN 01:35:43
9 C3266 ALAM SHAH ISMAIL AHMAD 01:36:38
10 C3236 TAN CHENG JIN 01:36:42

Top 10 for Category D – Women Veteran 21KM
Position Bib No Name Time
1 D3532 KOH LENG LENG 01:35:55
2 D3621 SUSAN KHOO 01:36:16
3 D3595 NG SUN NEE 01:40:12
4 D3611 YONG LAI CHEE 01:45:41
5 D3535 LIAN BEE HOON 01:46:59
6 D3572 CHNG LAY KHIM 01:53:32
7 D3576 EWE BEE HONG 01:57:07
8 D3614 TAI OY LEEN 01:57:44
9 D3605 SUSAN AZAM-ALI 01:57:45
10 D3571 CHNG LAY HOOI 01:59:03

Top 10 for Category E – Men Sr Veteran 21KM
Position Bib No Name Time
1 E4044 KHOR NGEE LEONG 01:22:57
2 E4035 GOH CHOON AUN 01:26:26
3 E4107 TAN WAH SING 01:35:21
4 E4095 RIDZUAN B SULAIMAN 01:35:38
5 E4181 WONG WENG SENG 01:37:02
6 E4028 CHOO KIM HOE 01:42:04
7 E4192 KOH YONG HENG 01:42:06
8 E4153 LIM KIAN HUAT 01:42:59
9 E4105 TAN HOCK HUAT 01:44:53
10 E4099 SIMON CROSS 01:45:18

Bareno Run 2011 - Top 10 Results for Category F,G,J and K

2011-03-16T13:34:00.002+08:00

Bareno® Run 2011
Results for Category F,G,J & K
Top 10 for Category F - Men 10KM

Position Name Bib No Time
1 KESEBE DICKSON F5871 35:51
2 SHAHARUDIN B HASHIM F4983 36:52
3 MURALI A/L MUNIANDY F5827 37:14
4 ALMUR ABDELKREEM SAEED RABIN F5887 37:35
5 ARUL THEVAR A/L MUNIANDY F5826 38:00
6 PRABAKHARAN A/L MADHAVAN F5825 38:27
7 GAN SHIN CHAU F4683 40:02
8 KATHIRAVAN ARUMUGAM F5891 40:25
9 CHAN WAI YEE F4569 41:25
10 CHEE EVAN F5184 41:44

Top 10 for Category G - Women 10KM

Position Name Bib No Time
1 TAN BEE KIANG G7294 42:46
2 SHEELA A/P SAMIVELLU G7357 44:09
3 CHEONG TSUI YING G6917 46:13
4 JESSICA TANG G7339 49:29
5 YASUKO HOSOTAMI G7289 49:49
6 NURUL FAZILAH BT RAZMAN G7420 50:06
7 TEE YOKE LOI G7160 52:28
8 LIM PICK JUNE G7370 54:37
9 AUDREY ROSLYN REUTENS G6522 54:38
10 OH YANN SHIE G7093 54:57

Top 10 for Category J - Men 5KM

Position Name Bib No Time
1 JASNI KHAIRIL BIN JAMALUDDIN J8102 19:26
2 ABDUL AZIZ BIN MAHAMOUD J8347 20:04
3 SATESH A/L PANIR SELVAM J8241 20:17
4 KOGILAN A/L SAVITTIAN J8460 20:51
5 AMALAN A/L DEVASAGAYAM J8018 21:56
6 AL MUZAR B MOHD AZHARI J8015 22:02
7 MUHAMMAD REDZUAN B SHAHROM J8206 22:04
8 CHEN KEAT HOONG J8035 22:07
9 MEYYAPPA MANICKAM A/L M.SETHURAMAN J8392 22:08
10 ZULAZLAN SHAH IBRAHIM J8446 22:30

Top 10 for Category G - Women 5KM

Position Name Bib No Time
1 CHEAH HWEI VEN K9044 20:49:00
2 PHUA HUI QIN K9476 24:36:00
3 SUE LING WONG K9494 25:30:00
4 THARSHINI A/P SAVITTIAN @ SEBASTIAN K9549 25:40:00
5 STEPHANIE CHONG AH TIN K9493 26:05:00
6 CHAN KER XIN K9030 26:34:00
7 LEE SOON XIN (LEE XIN TING) K9157 26:53:00
8 SRI SUGANYAA A/P HADERAJA K9551 27:32:00
9 CHEN EE VEN K9399 27:37:00
10 LIM SAW MOOI K9177 28:05:00

Bareno Run 2011 - R U READY!

2011-03-06T21:56:00.005+08:00

Picture 1 - " 1 KM To Go " or " 1 Week To Go"

Picture 2 - Distant Markers & Road Signs

R U READY, it is only just one more week to one of the "Bigger" running event this year. With almost fifty five hundred participants registered for this event, and close to 2 thousands runners will be in the start line for the 21KM race, the neighborhood within Bukit Jalil / OUG areas will wake up shocking to find out on the Sunday morning, 13th March 2011, that the streets were jammed with runners and cars.

Although I have confident in Taman Bukit Jalil Running Club organising this event, I will be slightly, I mean slightly, worried that the voluteers will not be able to cope with the crowd.

Most of the Running Vest were delivered and sitting in the "TEMP" office of Taman Bukit Jalil Running Club, Bibs were printed, Timing Chips were packed. Looks like every things were ready. R U Ready?

Remember to take a look "left or right" at the lamp posts if you are looking for distant markers.

CICM Responsible Care Run 2010 - Race Report

2010-11-30T10:22:00.004+08:00

This Run is organised by SP Wong, Pacers Sports, for CICM. I registered just before the closing date because I am not too sure I have the time to run this race since Taman Bukit Jalil Running Club (TBJRC) will be assisting him for the time keeping at the finishing line and the road "marshall-ing" along the route. Thank all my friends from TBJRC for allowing me to take part in this run while they have to work hard to ensure this event went on safely and smoothly.

Although I have a big share in formulating the route and I knew every parts of the terrain, I have only run along this 10.6 KM route for 2 times. Okay, okay, I means the exact route for this CICM 10KM run. During normal day training, we never run toward Astro and the Seremban Highway because of the heavy traffic and speeding vehicles. In fact, this 10KM route is formed by 2 x 5KM loops, the 1st 5KM loop start from the stadium towards TPM, Seremban Highway, MRR2, and turn back to the stadium. The 2nd 5KM loop start at the stadium traffic light towards IMU, Tmn Explanade, go round Bukit Jalil Golf Club and back to the stadium.

On this Sunday morning, I arrived at the Stadium just after 5.00 am. Most of the Marshall and volunteers had already arrived here and everything seems fine, passed those writing boards to the Time Keeper and I started loitering around. The participants started to arrive around 6.00 am and soon the car parks were crowded with runners mostly wearing the white event T-shirts.

After the warming up session led by Ms Lim, the "Men Open" participants were ushers into the confine starting area and flagged off at around 7.25am . I quickly checked myself into the starting area to ensure that I am not too far away from the start line. The participants for the 5KM categories were flagged off on the other starting area one or two minutes later. Almost immediately, the rest of the 10KM categories were flagged off together, it was 7.32am when I looked at my watch.

I started confidently following the leading pack climbing the first slope, after turned left off the VVIP gate of the stadium, which is quite gentle and short. Few elite runners soon disappeared from my sight while we ran down the ramp at the TPM traffic light joining the Sungei Besi-Bukit Jalil Highway. At this first KM point there were already a few slow Category A runners walking along the route, as we ran toward Astro, the road became more congested with the slower Cat A runners, the faster runners had to run just outside the coned area to avoid being blocked by the slower runners. It was downhill or flat from the 1st KM to the 3rd KM, it was around here that Vincent Wong and Tan Wah Sing pulling away from me and was almost 200m in front.

At the 1st waterstation, around 4KM point, I decide to take a drink because my throat was very uncomfortable due to the cough. I have to squeeze through the crowd to get a cup of water. Feeling much better after the drink, I continue to run maintaining around 4.5 min/KM pace. This route lead us back to the stadium while I had to conquer the next gentle climb at the 5KM point around the LRT station.

While I turned in to IMU after the stadium traffic light and ran towards Taman Esplanade, I had lost my target (Tan Wah Sing). I grep another cup of water at around 6.5KM and drank to ease my uncomfortable feeling of my throat. This is the first time in a 10KM race that I took a drink at two water stations. Overtook a few kids with their parent (I guess), the 5KM categories participants, on the final climb along the Sungei Besi-Bukit Jalil Highway.

Once ran pass the VVIP gate, I sped towards the finishing line but decided to slow down around 10 to 20 meters knowing that there will be photographer waiting at the finishing line to take a photo for the certificate. Happy to finish a few seconds past 47 minutes.

CICM Responsible Care Run 2010 - Results

2010-11-28T13:41:00.002+08:00

Category A - Men Open
1. Casey Lim, Time= 39.19
2. Jasni Khairil, Time=40.33
3. Murali Nathan, Time= 41.19
4. Muhd Fazly, Time=42.55
5. Selvaninayagan, Time=43.41
6. Kajenthiran, Time=43.49
7. Amalan, Time=44.10
8. Toh Wai Kuen, Time=44.13
9. Chan Wai Yee, Time=44.19
10. Chan Chen Siong, Time=45.39

Category B - Men Veteran
1. Ong Chin, Time=40.30
2. Malayalam, Time=42.19
3. Goh Choon Aun, Time=43.19
4. Ng Say Heong, Time=43.31
5. M. Thanasekaran, Time=44.09
6. Wan Sin, Time=45.12
7. Alam Shah, Time=45.44
8. Bong Teck Yong, Time=47.17
9. Choo King Hoe, Time=48.00
10. Rosmua Paw, Time=49.06

Category C - Men Sr. Veteran
1. Ridzwan, Time=44.14
2. Vicent Wong, Time= 44.25
3. Tan wah Sing, Time=45.19
4. Tang Chee Choon, Time=47.05
5. Tee Teck Bee, Time=47.40
6. Mohd Sowoto, Time=49.50
7. Tee Ee Kia, Time=50.26
8. Lok Chan Chuen, Time=50.37
9. Raja Arumugan, Time=50.44
10. Chia King Hai, Time=51.13

Category D - Women Open
1. Yuan Yu Fang, Time=43.50
2. Nor Amelia Musa, Time=44.28
3. Agnes Tee, Time=53.09
4. Jessica Tang, Time=53.22
5. Annie Yee, Time=53.33
6. Tharshini, Time=55.29
7. Lyn Guan, Time=55.37
8. Lexi Abel, Time=56.27
9. Lim Pick Suw, 57.28
10. Ang Sinne, Time=1.01.00

Category E - Women Veteran
1. Susan Khoo, Time=48.45
2. Lian Bee Hoon, Time=51.09
3. Sara Lee, Time=53.46
4. Wan Choy Yun, Time=54.50
5. Low Wah Leng, Time=54.55
6. Anne Lee, Time=55.00
7. Lucy Lim, Time=58.05
8. Wong An Yin, Time=58.59
9. Tan Sew Whee, Time=59.05
10. Chong Lu Fong, Time=59.13

Bareno Run 2011

2010-11-26T00:32:00.004+08:00

Bareno Run 2011

What is new:

1) It includes a Half Marathon, 21KM.

2) Timing Chip will be used.

3) Finisher T-Shirt for Half Marathon in addition to the Vest given during registration.

Klang Pacer - Run 4 IT 2010

2010-10-31T15:59:00.004+08:00

Organised by:

This morning woke up at 4.30am and left home with my son slightly over 5.15am .Picked up 3 of my son's friend around my area and we arrived at Klang just before 6 am. Managed to find a fine place to park my car, changed to my running attire and took a slow walk to the Stadium. Met most of the regulars and this time I found plenty of time to do some warm up.

The men started first just before 7 am, I paced moderately at the start although I stood right in front at the second row. As usual, I only paid attention to the competitors in my category. Rama and Ridzuan were far ahead and I was following closely behind Krishnan, Tee & Sowoto. Siow Kek Kheong, who just promoted to the Sr Veteran was just a few meters in front of me.

In just less than 2KM, the famous barefoot runner, Tan Wah Seng, came from behind and overtook a few of us. I picked up a slightly faster pace and move in front of Siow & Sowoto still following closely behind of Krishnan.

At around half way mark, I was surprised to see Yahsan overtaking me. I was surprised because I have not seen him in many races recently. However he couldn't last long and slow down after the last water station.

I was quite drained out when there was only around 2KM to go, I tried very hard to maintain the pace as I knew most of my competitors were just behind me. In less than just a kilometer to go, Siow sped and overtook me, and I had no answer and his pace was too fast for me to follow. I had to concede defeat, however I was very happy with my performance because all those finished earlier are much better runners than me. I was also glad that I could out pace some of the better runners in my category.

Overall the event was quite well organised with plenty of foods and drinks. The prizes for the lucky draw were attractive enough to hold back many participants.

The Senior Veteran's winners, picture taken by KLANG PACER.

Bareno Run 2010 - Some Photo taken by Uncle Sonny Ng

2010-03-19T12:58:00.006+08:00

Bareno Run 2010 Result

2010-03-15T01:30:00.005+08:00

Results for the top 5 runners for all categories can be download from:

Bareno Run 2010 Results

Bareno Run 2010 route maps

2010-03-04T16:14:00.001+08:00

You can download the Bareno Run 2010 route maps at www.bareno.com.my

Bareno Run 2010 Update

2010-02-08T00:26:00.002+08:00

If you have not registered and wish to take part in this event, please do so as soon as possible.

We have almost achieved our target of 2,000 participants and the registration will be closed much earlier.

Category F and G (10KM) - RM 35
Category A to E (15KM) - RM 35

Category J and K (5KM) - RM15

Bareno Run 2010

2009-12-31T09:36:00.003+08:00

Date : 14th March 2010
Venue: National Stadium Bukit Jalil
Distant : 15KM / 10KM / 5KM
Registration Fee : RM25 for 15KM/10KM Early Bird, after 30th January is RM35. RM15 for 5KM.

Entry Form can be download from the link below:
http://www.fileden.com/getfile.php?file_path=http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2258942/BarenoRace%20Entry%20Form%20Ver%201%20a.pdf

Kwong Hon Run - Route Map & Updates

2009-11-25T13:39:00.003+08:00

Registration will be closed after this coming Sunday, 29th November, for those runners who are interesed, you can register via
1) Print out the form from my previous post.
2) Fill up the form.
3) Bank in the money to the Public Bank Acct as printed in the form.
3) Fax or Scan and email the completed form together with the bank-in slip to the number/address printed in the form.
4) You can confirmed your entry by calling those telephone numbers printed in the form.

Running Route: Almost the complete 10KM will be running in the Sungei Besi Army Camp as shown in the map below.

Kwong Hon Run - unofficial news & information

2009-11-13T15:42:00.003+08:00

Route :-
When I ran the Sungei Besi Iron Hill Run two or three years ago, other than the torturing experience of crawling up the hill, my impression was that the camp was very big and there were many roads in the camp. So when I did a route survey yesterday with the school organizing team, I was a bit surprised that it is quite challenging to map out a 10KM route. With the approval giving to the school to run pass the camp, the traffic control is much simpler and the safety of the participants especially those registered for the Family and Fun Run categories will be very much improved since there will not be much “speeding” vehicles in the camp.

Distance:-
If everything goes well, the 3KM route for the Family & Fun Run will be increased to almost 4 KM and the 10KM route will be very, very close to the target. Since the school is on a much higher ground compare to the camp route, there is a good view from the school compound overseeing the 10KM runners at around the half way mark. The route is mainly flat compare to the recent Mizuno Run.

Finishing Medal :-
I have not seen the design of the finishing medal yet but I believe it will be similar or better than the one giving out by the Larian Amal Seri Sinar held earlier this year in Taman Bukit Jalil. Only 10KM finishers will get their medals. The organizer has the intention to raise some fund for the school so the entry fee is set at a slightly higher rate compare to those organized by the sport bodies.

Parking:-
For those participants who come early before 6.30am on the race day, they can drive directly into the school compound where there were few hundred car parking lots available. The school gate will close after 6.30 am and only Police and Ambulance vehicles will be allowed to enter or leave. For the late comers, they have to park along the road leading to Taman Tasik Selatan. The gate will be re-open after 8.30 a.m. and those participants wish to leave early can drive their cars out from the school, however they have to drive very slowly because the slow runners will still be coming back around this time.

SJK (C) Kwong Hon Century Celebration Charity Run

2009-11-03T10:23:00.007+08:00

SJK (C) Kwong Hon Century Celebration Charity Run

Location: SJKC Kwong Hon, Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur.
Date : 13th December 2009
Time : 7.00 a.m. (Please take note)

Categories : A, B, C, D, E, F, G open to public

Distance : 10 KM (A,B,C,D)

Distance : 3KM (E,F,G)

Hundred Year's Celebration (From 1909 to 2009)

If you come from Subang, Shah Alam, Cheras, Ampang, you can use the MRR2 exit at the Tasik Selatan Shell Station opposite of the Tasik Selatan LRT station.

If you come from KL, you can take the Sungei Besi Highway. The school is next to the famous Army Camp in Sungei Besi.

Mizuno Wave Run 2009

2009-10-26T11:49:00.009+08:00

There were no races since mid of August (puasa started), I took the opportunity taking a long rest with minimal training over this period. As for the Klang Centro Community Run on the 11th October, I was taking it easy and never stressed myself.

The venue for Mizuno Wave Run this year was changed to UPM, which is nearer to my house. I arrived at the venue quite early with my 15 years old son. I brought him along because I managed to get a "free" bib from my Taman Bukit Jalil's running mate.

For the 1st half of the race, I managed to maintained my form and reached the only water station at around 5KM. I checked my watch and apparently my pace was fast, the time shown was around 22 minutes. The route from around 6KM onwards was quite flat until I reached the hostels. I felt quite tire then and I knew it is quite inevitable for the lack of training over the past two months. I couldn't maintain the pace and soon those runners around me disappeared in front of me one by one. At the last slope, my pace was further reduced since both my legs were softened. However, I managed to pickup some speed at the downhill and maintained the pace until the finishing line, it was almost twenty over seconds past 50 minutes. I was slightly disappointed not being able to run below 50 minutes for this 11Km race, but this is the price I have to pay for not training hard enough!

Overall, the run was quite enjoyable and I managed to snap some photos using my compact camera. I will download these photos to the photo album at tangcc.multiply.com.

At the finishing line.

The vest is quite nice looking.

My 15 years old son finishing the run.

Many pretty ladies taking part.

Very focus although with around 100 meters more to go.

Large crowd.

Quite many foreigners taking part.

Revisit Gunung Nuang After 20 Years

2009-09-23T17:52:00.003+08:00

Lit Jin asked me one day last month that where could he train if he plans to trek Gunung Tahan. Although I am not an expert in mountain trekking, I told him that Gunung Nuang would be ideal. The answer is very straight forward for me because I have been to Gunung Tahan once 20 years ago, and the only training I had done that time was climbing Gunung Nuang once before the trip. I have not done any more mountain trekking since then other than a few trips to the small hill in Taman Melawati.

Taking the advantage of the long holiday during Hari Raya, Lit Jin, Kit Mun and I decided to trek Gunung Nuang on Sunday, 20th Sept 2009. I did some research over the internet and convinced that three of us should be able to scale the summit without seeking help from other mountain sifu. I did not try very hard to ask around because without joining others gives us the freedom to stop anywhere and turn back if the going becomes very tough.

I spent some time on Saturday to do some shopping. Since this is a one day trip, I bought some bread, biscuits and a packet of prune. This should be enough for us to last a day, however I bought a simple camp stove (with camp fuel) which cost me RM 6.90 and some instant noodles so that I can show Lit Jin how easily “cooking” could be done.

Our plan was to leave our house at 6.30 am, have some roti canai for breakfast and reach Pangsun before 8.00 am. However on that day, Lit Jin and Kit Mum took their own sweet time and we eventually arrived at the car park just after 9.00 am.

The registration office was opened but nobody around, it was already 10 minutes past nine and we decide to move on and start trekking without doing the registration.

Along the never ending road, we met some morning trekkers walking back to the car park, they must be wandering why we started so late. Lit Jin and Kit Mun found their old running shoes were not holding well on the wet ground. I did not fare better because my 10 years old Camel Boots were hurting both my legs.

We reached the old dam slightly after 10.30 am, there were around twenty to thirty hikers around that area. I was lost around this area and luckily there was a fellow marathoner (he came alone and we met him just before this old dam) planning to hike up to Camp Pacat also. We carefully maneuvered amongst the crowd and crossed the stream towards camp Lolo, I overheard some of them were surprised that we were moving on to Camp Pacat as it was too late. It was only a very short distant between the old dam and camp Lolo and we did not stop and move towards to Camp Pacat.

The track between Camp Lolo and Camp Pacat was narrow, undulating and slippery. It was all the way up and after about half an hour, we lost sight of over running friend. We had to walk slowly because Lit Jin and Kit Mun’s old running shoes were slippery and my boots were hurting both my legs very much (I still couldn’t wear any shoes today for both my legs were still bleeding after 2 days rest).
This is a lesson learnt that we need proper tracking shoe for hiking even it is a one day trip.

It seemed to take a very long time to trek up to Camp Pacat. By the time we were there, it was well past 11.30 am. We met two small groups here, one was on their way down and the other was heading to the summit. Kit Mun told me that she felt a bit tire and would not like to continue up the summit. She would rather reserve her energy for the way down. We rested at Camp Pacat for about half an hour and I managed to convince Kit Mun to move on as far as we could. We took out the extra drinks and foods from our back bag and hid them in a bush, we continue our journey at around 12 noon.

The track from Camp Pacat onwards was very much steeper and in many occasions we have to use both our hands and legs to climb. This was indeed a blessing for us as these steeper slopes had many roots and rock and Lit Jin and Kit Mun shoes were not as slippery as in the red-soil path. However, Kit Mun was moving very slowly because of her tiredness. We reached the false peak at around 1.30pm and decided to continue since we had come so far. From the false peak to the summit, there was a long descend at the start, we met many hikers trekking back to Camp Pacat along this route.

We finally arrived at the summit at around 2 pm. Only 2 young girls and a young gentleman were at the summit boiling water to make tea. This was the group we met at Camp Pacat earlier. I was so delighted because I had left the 2 lighters in the car (I realized my mistake just after half an hour after we left the car park), and the young gentleman was kind enough to help me to light up the camp fuel for the stove. I only brought 3 cup of instant noodles along, one for each of us, but eventually Kit Mun managed to convince me to forego my share so that she could have 2 cups. I had to settle with bread and biscuits.

We left summit around 2.30 pm and during the descend towards Camp Pacat, there were 2 ladies just ascend to the summit. Along the descending route towards Camp Pacat, it was Lit Jin that felt tire and was moving very slowly. We collected back our extra water and biscuit at Camp Pacat and hurried towards Camp Lolo because we knew that it will be very late. We did not bring any torchlight along for this trip!

More than halfway between Camp Pacat, our friends (the group of three and the last group of 2 ladies) that we met at the summit overtook us as Kit Mun and Lit Jin slipped and fell 1 or 2 times along this slippery path. We finally arrived at Camp Lolo at around 5.30pm safely as the last group.

We spent some time at the old dam resting and eating biscuits. We left slightly after 6 pm when the sky getting dimmer. We quickly trekked through the remaining single track and reached the 4-wheel track or better known as The Never Ending Road before the sky getting really dark. We trekked for almost an hour in the dark while we saw shinning eyes hiding in the bushes, fireflies flying freely around the trees, listening to all kinds of sound made by the insects and animals. We arrived at the car park exactly 8.00pm.

PS
Lit Jin – My 15 years old son.
Kit Mun – My 17 years old daughter.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) 2009

2009-07-02T17:44:00.005+08:00

All these three pictures taken from Kwang Leng.

John Heng missed his sub-4 by 13 sec!

Liew Chin Ngen completed the full marathon in 3:26:45, his personal best? (I believed)

This was my 5th marathon after I ran my maiden marathon in March 2007. I will remember this event for a long time since there were many incidents happened. As a result, the organizer of this event, Octagon, as promised, delivered the most memorable event (as far as I am concerned) but perhaps not the way they wanted. They have lost control over the event as most runners complained from the way they organised the Bib collection on Friday, then the redemption of medal and the collection of luggage after the race, the “water” shortage, the traffic, etc, and a long list of shortcomings that many runners had already posted in their blogs.

When the news broke out that Standard Chartered Bank will sponsor this marathon, many local runners were so excited. The response was so good that registration was force to close much earlier. (P.S. However I was a bit saddened just before the race start when I heard the announcement that there were only 1,900 Full marathon runners. I was expecting at least 3,000 (25%) participants for the 42KM category since we have such a large population).

After I registered for this event, I realized that I have to attend a company’s workshop in Cherating Club Med from 26th to 28th June 2009. Since it clashed with the SCKLM, I quickly made some arrangement that I could leave Kuantan on Saturday night so that I still could manage to run on the Sunday morning. Since this was the tapering week, I refrained from taking part in the more strenuous activities during these 2 days and took the opportunity to carbo-load with all the good foods provided. This turned out to be the wrong strategy as I put on at least 3 more KG (memang exaggerated lah!).

I drove alone starting from Cherating at around 8pm after a comparatively light dinner, I took a wrong turn exiting the new Highway and drove towards Kuantan, thanks to the ever confusing sign board along the road. At around 11:30 pm, I was arriving at KL and I decided to stop at the last R&R just before the toll, rested there for half an hour and drove straight to Dataran Merdeka following my plan.

I was at Dataran Merdeka just after midnight, there were a large crowd and I surprised that there were so many runners came here at this wee hour. When I started to look around thoroughly, those people around were youngsters having a good Saturday’s night outing. It look a bit weird to have a group of “partying dressing” youth hanging around with a running event backdrop (with the tents, the grand stand, the mobile toilets, etc ).

The Full Marathon started punctually at 5.00 am. It was a perfect weather, cool with slight rain, to run, however I did not quite please to have my shoe and socks wet during the starting of a run. I was standing not so far from the start line and it took me less than 20 sec to cross the line.

My target today was simple, completing the Full Marathon within 4 hours would be an achievement since I could only manage to do 3 times 30KM LSD training after the Great Eastern 30KM run in January. I knew the important of the LSD training for the marathon but I still believed that those 20KM run during some of my weekend would help me through.

I started with an easy pace, not much of an option due to the crowd, I caught up with Ng “Kin Hong” after around 2 or 3 minutes near the old Railway Station. I was surprised he was not pacing with his training mate, “Fei” Keong. As the congestion eased, I picked up a little speed heading towards Bangsar. Saw “Papaya” Lee and “Fei” Keong not far ahead, I kept the pace and slowly approaching them. While we turned in to Brickfield, “Fei” Keong saw me and run together with me for the next 1 or 2 KM. He decided to slow down slightly just before the water station at 5th KM. I moved ahead and run alone again along Loke Yew road and here I overtook Tay Poh Chye, he was running much slower compared to last December SC Singapore Marathon. Caught up with Klang Pacer SP Wong around this area. SP was not running his usual pace so I decided to move ahead alone along Jalan Cheras.

I was so surprise to see Tee Ee Kia overtook me just before turning into Jalan Tun Razak. I took a look at my watch and did a rough calculation based on the distant marker, I was at an average of 5min per KM pace at this point. I knew that I would not be able to survive later in the run with this pace and I was quite certain that Tee would not be able to sustain this pace since we did train together sometime. I am sure Tee is a better runner but I also knew that he did not train hard enough for this run especially the LSD. As all these thoughts still with me, I saw Tee sitting at the roadside seemed trying to take off his shoe, he showed me some sign indicating he was having problem with his shoe. I moved ahead and only after the race he told me that he finished the run slightly more than 4 and a half hour and having problem with his wet socks and shoes.

Met Jason Thiang riding his bike along the course and he was surprised I was running at this pace. He was right because I started to feel the strain when I turned into Jalan Ipoh and I decided to slow down a little. I had overtaken a few runners and at the same time, a few runners overtook me around Jalan Sultan Ismail/Jalan Ampang, including two ladies and Sam Pritchat. At the water station at Jln Kia Peng, I skipped and nearly fell on to the ground while I tried to maneuver around the volunteers to grab a cup of water on the table. They were standing outside trying to pass those cups of water to the runners, but the 4 runners just in front of me took all the six cups held by the 3 volunteers, 2 more volunteers were holding the sponges.

At around Jalan Bukit Bintang, my speed dropped to almost 7 min per KM as I became tired and hungry. Since I did not have the habit of carrying any Gel or Bar while running, I had to wait till I reached China Town. I torn open the PowerGel immediate when I took it from the volunteer and squeezed those sticky gel into my mouth. It was quite a challenge to swallow it without water and it was a calculated risk that the water station would be at around the church along Jalan Hang Jebat. I took 2 cups of water and my throat and stomach felt much better and there was no miracle, I still had to struggle to climb the slope just outside of the FTAAA’s office.

There were huge amount of traffic being held up the run for runners crossing over to the middle of the highway in front of the Istana. I was wondering why the traffic police did not diverse those vehicles and prevent them from coming in to the Istana area where they had to wait a long time. Running in a narrowly condoned-off path along the highway created a sense of insecurity. Making it worst because the full marathoners running along-side the half marathoners. What-if the high speed car lost control and veered towards the crowded running path, many runners will be killed and injured. However, putting this negative thought aside, it is quite pleasant for me running along this path feeling proud overtaking many slower half-marathoners, temporary forgetting my tired body and heavy feet.

It was a challenge to run up the slope in front of Wisma Tani, it was a huge relief when I reached the top and started strolling down. I had studied the route map many times and I knew that I need to turn left towards Pertama Complex at Jalan Raja Laut. I gathered all my energy and continued running completing this loop while the effect of the PowerGel started to kick-in.

Kevin Tan & Ah Boon’s wife were at the finishing line after finishing their half marathon waiting for all the Taman Bukit Jalil runners returning. I was glad that I could still make it within 4 hrs. However, it was not as lucky for John Heng, he crossed the finishing line while the clock showed 4:00:26 Hr (Net Chip Time of 4:00:13) and later I found out from the internet that he missed the sub-4 by a mere 13 second!

Another shocked was that Liew Chin Ngen finishing at 3:26:43 (No, the shock was not the timing, he was expecting to finish sub 3:30), overtaking our top runner John Chow (Ah Wei). Ah Wei only managed a poor timing (as he is a 3:15 marathoner) of 3:45:50.

I will not dwell into those negative aspects of the event as most incidents have been widely publicize in the local newspapers and the internet. However I would like to congratulate our maiden marathoner, an 80KG plus “Big Size” Liew for completing the full marathon in less than 7 hours. He was lucky that he carried some money with him so that he can enjoy stopping by at, at least 4, of the best marathon water stations in the world equipped with all sorts of cold drinks, Coke, Seven-up, Gastronate, 100 plus, orange juice, etc, including beer. While other not-so-lucky runners had to pick up half-filled water bottles along the road to re-hydrate. For those who are curious how the water station look like, there is a picture below.

Larian Amal Seri Sinar - News & Results

2009-03-20T09:47:00.010+08:00

Larian Amal Seri Sinar 2009 - Photo at the finishing line

2009-03-18T17:00:00.039+08:00

Managed to snap a few photos at the finishing line.
--
There are many more pictures taken for this event, you can find them at KC & the Sunshine Runners, http://penguin-r2.blogspot.com/ , and Mr. Tey ET's multiply site.
--
--

Larian Amal Seri Sinar 2009 - Let's Start

2009-03-17T17:44:00.015+08:00

There is a big contrast between the 10KM run starting & the family category.

For the 10KM lineup, there were close to a thousand runners including some professionals from other parts of the world. During the start, the runners running up a short and gentle slope and reaching the highest point at a distant about 200 meters from the start line. While these runners started to descend, the photographer was waiting at a lower altitude and taking these pictures.

(Photo - Courtesy of Mr. Tey ET)

For the Family Run, there were about 50 teams with a total of 170+ participants including many children. By just looking at the photo below, you may think that these photos were taken in a different event while the atmosphere was totally different.

(Photo - Courtesy of Tang CC)

Larian Amal Seri Sinar - Pre Event Day

2009-03-15T23:20:00.016+08:00

Participants Collecting their Bibs.

Total of 1,500 registered participants for all the categories.

Will these watermelons be enough?

Mr. Wan Yew Leong from Runners Malaysia.

The T-shirt & the Running Vest.

Looking Forward for the Event.

The Simple and Non-Lavish Stage.

The Necessity.

You will only have Bread in you Goodies Bag.

Power Bar need to be purchased!

I have Nothing Much to Say.

No Feedback, Please! The Boxes are small.

Let's go to work!

Larian Amal Seri Sinar - Route Map II

2009-03-12T10:04:00.001+08:00

Click on the map below to have an enlarged view!

Larian Amal Seri Sinar - Route Maps

2009-03-11T23:34:00.004+08:00

Health Benefits of Running

2009-03-06T06:46:00.002+08:00

Is Running bad for your Knee? Everyone somehow acknowledge that there are many benefits in running but most people fear that this exercise will injure or damage their knee, especially those middle age and above. There was a research studied 538 runners and 423 healthy controls for 21 years.

BBC News, Monday, 11 August 2008 00:48 UK

The work tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years, comparing them to a similar group of non-runners. All were in their 50s at the start of the study.

Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners. Both groups became more disabled with age, but for the runners the onset of disability started later - an average of 16 years later.

The health gap between the runners and non-runners continued to widen even as the subjects entered their ninth decade of life.

If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise

Lead author Professor James Fries

Running not only appeared to slow the rate of heart and artery related deaths, but was also associated with fewer early deaths from cancer, neurological disease, infections and other causes.

And there was no evidence that runners were more likely to suffer osteoarthritis or need total knee replacements than non-runners - something scientists have feared.

At the beginning of the study, the runners ran for about four hours a week on average. After 21 years, their weekly running time had reduced to around 76 minutes, but they were still seeing health benefits from taking regular exercise.

Lead author Professor James Fries, emeritus professor of medicine at Stanford, said: "The study has a very pro-exercise message. If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise.

"The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought." Age Concern says many older people do not exercise enough.

Extract from Archives of Internal Medicine

Vol. 168 No. 15, pp. 1602-1720, Aug 11/25, 2008

Reduced Disability and Mortality Among Aging Runners

A 21-Year Longitudinal Study

Eliza F. Chakravarty, MD, MS; Helen B. Hubert, PhD; Vijaya B. Lingala, PhD; James F. Fries, MD

Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(15):1638-1646.

Background Exercise has been shown to improve many healthoutcomes and well-being of people of all ages. Long-term studiesin older adults are needed to confirm disability and survivalbenefits of exercise.

Methods Annual self-administered questionnaires were sentto 538 members of a nationwide running club and 423 healthycontrols from northern California who were 50 years and olderbeginning in 1984. Data included running and exercise frequency,body mass index, and disability assessed by the Health AssessmentQuestionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI; scored from 0 [no difficulty]to 3 [unable to perform]) through 2005. A total of 284 runnersand 156 controls completed the 21-year follow-up. Causes ofdeath through 2003 were ascertained using the National DeathIndex. Multivariate regression techniques compared groups ondisability and mortality.

Results At baseline, runners were younger, leaner, andless likely to smoke compared with controls. The mean (SD) HAQ-DIscore was higher for controls than for runners at all time pointsand increased with age in both groups, but to a lesser degreein runners (0.17 [0.34]) than in controls (0.36 [0.55]) (P < .001).Multivariate analyses showed that runners had a significantlylower risk of an HAQ-DI score of 0.5 (hazard ratio, 0.62; 95%confidence interval, 0.46-0.84). At 19 years, 15% of runnershad died compared with 34% of controls. After adjustment forcovariates, runners demonstrated a survival benefit (hazardratio, 0.61; 95% confidence interval, 0.45-0.82). Disabilityand survival curves continued to diverge between groups afterthe 21-year follow-up as participants approached their ninthdecade of life.

Conclusion Vigorous exercise (running) at middle and olderages is associated with reduced disability in later life anda notable survival advantage.

Author Affiliations: Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.

NOTE: This is an abstract and the full report can be access following this link http://archinte.ama-assn.org/

Larian Neighborhood 2008, Tmn Bkt Jalil - Photo

2009-03-04T16:12:00.003+08:00

You will find the photos taken by Ms Lim, Ms Foo & Ms Tang during last year Bukit Jalil Run at the following link:

http://tangcc.multiply.com
tangcc.multiply.com

Bib Collection - Larian Amal Seri Sinar

2009-03-03T12:36:00.002+08:00

Bib Collection for Larian Amal Seri Sinar will be on 13th March 2009, Friday, and 14th March 2009, Saturday, 10am to 8pm. , at Car Park C in Taman Bukit Jalil.

The Event Main Organiser, Pertubuhan Amal Seri Sinar will be setting up collection center next to the Bib Collection Area on these two days plus on the event day. If you happen to have something (refer to the table below, extracted from their website) you want to dispose, you can bring along these items to the collection center.

Registration Closed - Larian Amal Seri Sinar

2009-03-02T10:34:00.002+08:00

The registration for the Larian Amal Seri Sinar is officially closed today. The total number of participants exceeded our target of 1,000. The estimated number of entry forms counted last night was between 1,200 and 1,300.

The committee members still receive many phone calls this morning for the registration but we have to turn down their requests due to the fact that we have to finalise the number of participants. This will ensure us that the medals and vests/T-shirts could be ready on-time and there will be no shortage or too much wastage.

Around 70% of the participants take part in the 10KM run while 20% for the 5KM and 10% for the 3KM (Family Run).

There are many people finding difficulty to come to Taman Bukit Jalil, many of them went to Taman Komanwel near the LRT or the Stadium. I will expect more confusion on the Bib collect day, 13th, 14th March and the event day itself. For those that registered through friends, at the Curve, Garden, Klang or via email/fax/post, please take note that there are two parks in Bukit Jalil. Taman Komanwel is near the LRT/Stadium while Taman Bukit Jalil is opposite Bukit Jalil Golf Club.

Larian Amal Seri Sinar - Closing Date 1st March 2009

2009-02-26T15:19:00.004+08:00

Sponsors:

Last day for registration will be on the 1st of March 2009.

10 KM participants will receive a vest together with the bib on 13th & 14th March 2009. Participants will be allowed to choose the size of the vest on a first-come-first-serve basis and the organiser cannot guaranty everyone to get the right size.

5 KM participants and every member of the family team will get a T-shirt each.

There will be baggage storage service on the race day but please do not keep valuable items in the bag as the organiser will not take any responsibly for any loss. The participants will be taking their own risk for using this service, however the organiser will take certain precaution by assigning a few volunteers and reserving a dedicated space inside a canopy to store the baggage.

ALL participants (10Km, 5Km/3KM) will receive a pewter finisher medal when they complete the run. There will be check points along the route for all categories and participants must collect the ribbons as proof of completing the run.

To encourage the participants to wear the event vest or T-shirt on the race day, the organiser is planning to have a special lucky draw for these participants.

Larian Amal seri Sinar - Registration

2009-01-14T17:25:00.002+08:00

The organiser is making arrangement this Saturday & Sunday to set up a registation counter in Lake Garden conincide with the Great Eastern 30KM Bib collection and race day.

If you have downloaded the earlier version of the entry form, please take note that the minimum age for Men & Women Veteran is 40 years old.

Where to register - Larian Amal Seri Sinar

2009-01-12T20:33:00.002+08:00

The run can be registered at the following places:

1. Brooks - the Curve, Mutiara Damansara
2. New Balance - The Garden, Mid Valley
3. Brooks - AEON (Jusco) Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre, Klang ** Starting next Week.
4. Taman Bukit Jalil - Carpark B, 6pm to 7.30pm

Location Map - Taman Bukit Jalil

2009-01-11T21:33:00.002+08:00

PDF Link -->

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2258942/Taman%20Bukit%20Jalil%20Google%20Map.pdf

Larian Amal Seri Sinar 2009 – The Unofficial Site

2009-01-09T17:08:00.004+08:00

After a few months of hard work, everything is ready and we can start to accept registration for the run. What a relief!

Entry Form – Click à
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2258942/Race%20Entry%20Form%20Version%202.31.pdf

This is the 2^nd running event organized by us and this event will be much larger in scale compare to the previous event. The previous event "Taman Bukit Jalil Neighborhood Run", held in May 2008, was planned as a community project targeting to promote running and a healthy lifestyle to residents and casual runners around these areas. The organizing team had no pre-set targets to meet as most of the sponsors were friends and running mates. We did not plan to do any promotion but the participation (in term of participants, organizing committee and sponsors) was overwhelming.

Larian Amal Seri Sinar 2009 was planned much earlier when Pertubuhan Amal Seri Sinar (PASS) agreed to provide the fund sufficient to get the ball rolling. The title of the run was decided and the theme should evolve around what PASS does. "GREEN" was chosen and the emphasis is on "RECYCLING", recycling should be more comprehensively meant to include the 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). We have to wait till the event day to determine how successful we can promote the 3R, but for the runners, the event will definitely GO! GO!

One of the difficult task is to set the entry fee, neither it can be too high nor too low (we have no money to subsidize!). By setting the fee for the 10KM to RM25, the committee having some hard time trying to secure more sponsors to bundle a running vest and a pewter finishing medal to all runners so that it doesn't look exorbitant. By paying RM15 for other categories, the participants will most probably also receive a pewter finisher medal with an event T-shirt.

This event was planned very much earlier and the date was fixed on 15^th March 2009 trying to avoid KLIM (At the time we were not sure this event will take off) and the Chinese All Soul Day. PASS managed to acquire the support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the appointment was made.

Why is it so late to publish the entry form? Since most of us are active runners, we were all very busy taking part in race all over the country, i.e. Penang Bridge, Ipoh KRI, Singapore Marathon (Off course Singapore is not in Malaysia), Malakoff 12KM, etc. By the time we realized that we were very late to finalize the details, it was already "Christmas". The date cannot be changed for many reasons as some being outline above, so we have to work through the NEW YEAR to thrash out all remaining issues.

For the details of the event, please down load the PDF Entry Form from the link above.

NOTE: The contents in this article are purely the opionion of the blogger and does not represent the view or stand of any other individuals, committee or organization.

Larian Amal Seri Sinar 2009 - Entry Form

2009-01-09T14:32:00.011+08:00

You can download the entry form here .

http://www.fileden.com/getfile.php?file_path=http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/9/2258942/Larian%20Amal%20Seri%20Sinar_0001.wmv

Adidas Running Shoes Seeding Program Q1 2009

2009-01-07T11:09:00.007+08:00

Hello Guys,

Good news for runners who blog or having their own webpage.

Adidas had once again brought in more highly innovative running shoes to be given away FREE to runners to wear-test them & to post in their blog a very frank & unprejudiced opinion about the shoes after 30 days ofusage.

One of the shoe that is included in this program is adiZero Adois that Haile Gebrselassie used at the 2008 Berlin Marathon setting a world record in the Marathon at 2hr 03 mins 58 sec.

The sizes are limited and I have them in size UK 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, 8.5 & 10.5. Those wishing to possess these shoes will have to comply with the following terms & condition :

1 ) Come to the adidas office to fit the shoes.

2 ) Undertake to post a comment in their blog

a ) about the Technical features of the Shoes upon receiving them

b ) about the performance of the shoes after 30 days of usage.

3 ) Must be a blogger or has his/her own website.

This offer expires on 15th January 2009 & the shoes will be given out on a first-come-first-serve basis. The program this year is only open to those who had NOT participated or missed out in this program previously.

If you are interested pls call to make an appointment as appended below

Office address:

adidas Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Block B , Level 4, Plaza Damansara

45 Media Setia 1

Bukit Damanasara

Kuala Lumpur

Tel Office : 03 - 20804843

Mobile No : 012 - 3503668

E-Mail : krishnan.karuppan @adidas.com

Best Regards

Krishnan Karuppan

Head of Running

adidas Malaysia

Larian Amal Seri Sinar 2009

2009-01-07T07:55:00.000+08:00

Singapore Marathon 2008

2008-12-11T00:12:00.005+08:00

I reached the City Hall Padang at around 4:30 am and there was another 1 hour before the race would be flagged off. Immediately checked in my luggage and headed towards the mobile toilets. Moved towards the staring area but the gate was not opened yet. Did some warm-up and at around 5.10 am I walked towards the start line when I found that runners were moving in to the enclosed starting area. The 1st chamber was reserved for the elite runners where the 2nd chamber seemed to be left empty intentional as a buffer zone to separate the elite and the rest of the runners. Just few minutes before 5.30am, the officials removed all the barriers separating the chambers and we were allowed to move forward behind the elite runners.

The gun went off sharp at 5.30 am with a brief count down, all runners heading west along the Raffles Quay. Took a U-turn at around 1.5 KM and headed towards the starting line along Robinson Road. I could see that there were still hundreds (perhaps thousands) of runners trying to pass through the start line.

I ran an easy pace and around an hour, I found myself running in the East Coast Park. As I moved eastward along the park, saw the elite runners returning on the other side of the park. I did not increase my pace because I knew that it was a long long way to go. It was quite pleasant running in the park at the dawn as I could see the sky slowly but surely became brighter and brighter as time went by.

Decided to take a toilet break at around the 18KM point, as I re-joined the race I soon saw Liew was returning from the other side. I estimated it was 3Km ahead of me! After taking the 20KM U-turn and running along the path closer to the sea, saw Victor Loh on the opposite side and trailing behind me about 1.5KM.

At around 8.20am at the 31KM, I turned into Stadium Road and found the road was crowd with the slower 21KM runners. I (as if running an obstacle race) have to duck around to find a clear path to move forward. My speed was affected by firstly my tiredness and secondly by the human traffic jam. Luckily it last only for about 3KM and then the full marathoners were separated from the half, immediately I tried to speed up a litter to compensate for the lost time.
As I was getting more and more tired, I hit the moving obstacles again (this time was much worst with thousands and thousands of 10KM women & 21KM runners) at the last 3 KM. Since I did not have much energy left to duck around, I just squeezed my way through the crowd. At one point, one young lady gave me a hard stare when my sweaty arm touched her “clean” shoulder.

At the 42KM mark, there was 192 meters more to run, the right lane was dedicated to the full marathoners, since there was so much space to maneuver, I increased my pace and sped to the finishing line where the clock shown 3:57:54. Although I was exhausted after the race but I felt quite relax and able to roam around the finishing areas. There were many queues for the 100plus drink and it took only a few second to get a chilling bottle. There was no problem getting a second bottle or more as the volunteer very effectively distributing the drinks.
The organizer really did a fantastic job, where you could found unlimited supply of banana and gels at the designated stations. The water stations were aplenty and the “extra long” arrays of tables could easily cater for a large crowd.

The graph below really shows that I was getting tired along the way as the pace decreases gradually.

The finishing medals and T-shirts were given out orderly as you walked out the enclosed area by returning the timing chips.

Collected back my luggage and rested for an hour without meeting any friends. As the weather became warm, and I decided to take the MRT back to my brother’s house.

PBIM 2008 - Endnotes

2008-11-18T18:12:00.017+08:00

The Finishing Area Early in the Morning

Since every runners talking about the water, or lack of it during the PBIM, we will stage a protest walk to the Queenbay Mall

Have to Continue even without water

Hey! Where you get that bottle of water?

Slow Jog in the Morning ?

Our Future Stars compete with the "Serious Runners"

I have to rush back for a drink!

How to complete the run without water?

What an victory, we are back safely with all the constrains!

There is all from me! Bye PBIM 2008!

Penang Bridge International Marathon PBIM 2008 - My Race Report

2008-11-18T14:46:00.002+08:00

The Taman Bukit Jalil gang charted a Tour Bus to ferry the 27 registered runners to the Penang Bridge Run. This is the first time I was going to a race with an “organized” group in a bus, I regretted immediately when I knew that we have to gather at Parkson OUG at an early hour of 6.00 am on Saturday morning. I have no chance to withdraw since I had paid the full fare before I knew the departure time, I protested to the coordinator many times by fell on deaf ear.

Saturday, 15th Nov 2008
Woke up when the alarm go off at 5.00 am still feeling very heavy after a late night at the PIKOM Diner at One World Hotel. Arrived at Parkson just before 6.00 am, met up with the gang and Gan offered me a banana for my breakfast (Another first having one banana for breakfast).

When everybody boarded the bus and I was feeling a bit strange to see an unfamiliar lady making some announcements. Soon I found out that our organizer, Datuk Chan, engaged a professional Tourist Guide to accompany us to the Run. Further to my surprise, I was handed an Agenda for the trip, I was officially going for a tour to the North.

Reached Prai at around 11.00 am and made a wrong decision to have lunch in Butterworth, we were caught at the Saturday mid-day jam at the entrance of Penang Bridge after the no-so-satisfy lunch. Fortunately, the collection of Bibs went very smoothly and we were being able to check in to the hotel with amble spare time. Most of us went to the pool for a swim and we went out to Gurney Drive to have diner around 7.00 pm.

Another shocking announcement was made on our way back to hotel after the diner, the bus would leave the hotel at 1.00 am so that we would be able to park in the designated carpark within the Queenbay. After analyzing the pros and cons, the group consent with the idea and those running the “Half” and the “Fun” had to put up a night on the bus (Another first, rent a hotel room and slept n the bus).

Sunday, 16th Nov 2008, the RACE DAY
The bus left the hotel at 1.20 am, slightly later than planned because many runners overslept (or should I say underslept) and missed the 1.00 am timeline. There were not much parking bay for the buses and we were lucky to get one of the slot. Our Marathoners lead by Mr. Chan and Mr. Chan (It has to be “Chan” to be qualified as a leader in our group), at least in my opinion then, went for an impossible mission. Half of them have not done a sub-six marathon and I expected them to be swept by the bus when the bridge needed to be re-opened for the traffic.

Stayed in the bus trying to catch some sleep and woke up hearing the gun go-off. Came down from the bus and could see the marathon runners heading towards Payan Lepas along the emptied Highway.

Ate 2 pcs of bread and went to the toilet at the back of the Mall, eased myself by still felt a bit un-comfortable inside my stomach after all the “tasty by notorious” Penang hawkers’ dishes consumed during Saturday night dinner. Went to the start area and do some warm up, checked in to the “unnecessary lockup” where there was little room for anyone to move around. Snaked out from the back as most runners did and roamed around the surrounding areas. By the time I realized that I have to move to the start line, there were already too many runners crowed around the front lines. I squeezed (very ungentlemanly of course) towards the front but have to settle at around 10 meters away from the start line.

Once the race flagged off for the Men 25KM, I tried very hard to maneuver forward zigzagged around many slower runners. It was almost 1KM down the road before the crowd thinned off. I decided to take it easy until I reached the bridge. I felt very relax with cool breeze blowing towards me from the sea and I sensed that this would be an enjoyable run for me this time compared to the hot weather last year. I had forgotten about the full marathoners until I caught up and talked to Wong SP, the Klang Pacer, that I realized some of them already on the bridge. He overtook him easily this time since he had ran half way in his full marathon and I was fresh for my 25KM.

I gladly grabbed a power gel from one of the volunteers but decided not to eat because my stomach was still feeling un-comfortable. This was one mistake that I made, I should not hold on to the gel and gave it to someone since I had decided not to eat it. Of course it would not slow me down by holding the gel in my hand for the next one and a half hour, but RM6 should not be able to compensate my discomfort during the run.

Further up the bridge, I easily overtook Tay PC and feeling great. This is the advantage of running the Half, thanks to the organizer for such an arrangement so that I could easily overtake anyone, of course, the “anyone” must be the one who ran the Full, Ha Ha!

The bridge did not look great with all the widening works, many street lights along the bridge were not functioning most probably due to the renovation works.

I did not felt the strain running up the bridge, I think the slope is very gentle compared to most races (Last year, I did have the same feeling). I felt more confident while I reached the middle of the bridge and continued to speed towards the mainland. This portion was mostly dark with few runners along the way and I reached the U-turn. Looked at the watch and it was slightly over an hour, took a wrist band from the check point after the U-turn and ran back to the island. I did feel some strain along the slope for the return journey, maybe this was the sign of tiredness.

After the middle of the bridge, I estimated it would be less than 7Km to go. At this stretch, I was being challenged by an un-familiar Chinese man in my category (Later I found out that he was a Singaporean), and I was feeling the stress in both my legs. When we were about to leave the bridge, another runner from our category zoomed past us. The Singaporean put up a great fight but I was a spent force and had to slow down slightly. Anyway I was quite satisfied with my 2 hrs 4 min and 30 sec result and had to settle for the 12th place.

After all our runners returned, I realized that there was serious shortage of water along the bridge while the organizer had to deploy the ambulance to deliver extra water to salvage the situation. And I just get to know that our famous photographer runner, Mr. Tey, was nearly murdered by the organizer! Water! Water! Water!

However our runners from the Taman Bukit Jalil group did enjoy the run with many of them achieved their PB. There is a secret , all our runners were well prepared and carry their own water, we do not have much expectation from almost every Race Organiser in Malaysia after many races.

Penang Bridge International Marathon PBIM 2008

2008-11-17T12:26:00.002+08:00

Despite a very short time to plan and organise this event, the organiser did manage to put up a good show.

The major complain is the shortage of water along the way for the women 25KM and most of the Full Marathon runners. The 25KM male runners and all the 10KM runners should have much complaints.

There will be many people writing reports with lots of complain but I will trying to be different looking at the bright side. Since I was not personally affected by the shortcomings of the organiser, and indeed I am very much satisfied compare to last year. The good things were:

1. The collection of Bibs was very, very smooth although you did not have the choice for the right size shirt (This also happened in a more renown race like Singapore International Marathon 2008).

2. It is a very good idea to allow Fun Run to be registered during the Bib collection (when you have friends go along and last minute decide to be part of the event).

3. Good atmosphere as a race event, it is much more carnival like compare to the KLIM.

4. The races started (almost) on-time, should have no complaint from any runner.

5. Although the reporting was not planned & done well, the finishing is commendable. The finishers get their medals immediately after the run without having the trouble to go through a long queue (No comment on the quality of the medal).

6. The winners verification and prices were giving away before 9 am. All the international runners must be very happy (many of them won the prices).

7. The lucky draw was conducted very smoothly with winning numbers displayed in the "Ultra" big screen.

8. The results for all categories were published early Monday morning (the next day after he race. However only the 15 winners were published and I would see any possibility for them to publish results for other runners since they were not using the chip-based system.

9 Their web site was frequently updated prior and after the event, well done the IT team from the organising committee.

My race report will be posted soon!

IOI Community Run 2008

2008-11-10T15:01:00.003+08:00

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!

Mizuno Wave Run 2008

2008-10-20T14:56:00.013+08:00

Do you enjoy the run? I am sure most people will answer "YES" without any hesitation.

This is one of the well planned and well organised road race in Malaysia. It is quite an achievement to have a 10KM race attracting more than 3 thousand registered participants, any other road races that registered more than 3 thousand runners always include a substantial number of school children. Whereas this race only target the adult and the veteran.

The route is well chosen and this is the first time I am running the double-hill in the reverse direction. Since I am not a regular runner in this area, I am totally caught off-guard and do not know what to expect along the way. However I do enjoy the run very much and happy to complete the run in slightly less than 47 minutes.

I believe no event could be organised to satisfy everybody. Overall the event is successful and considered well managed and executed in most areas, but there are glaring short comings need to be overcome.

Firstly, the chaotic start because of the chip while every runners need to pass through the not-so-well-placed carpet, the sensor. I heard that Ronnie See has the video in his web site but I have not watch it yet.

Secondly, the long queue at the finishing line. I could not comprehend why a chip-based run should require the the runners to queue before the final timing is taken. The picture below shows that the runners have to wait for his turn to cross the sensor.

Thirdly, the quality of the chip is not that good. I would like to qualify this statement because the chip may be of high quality but the plastic cover is very flimsy for the purpose it designed to be used on a running shoe. I tried many ways to secure the chip to my shoe but I couldn't tighten my shoe lace, one of my friend from Hong Kong did put it on easily but with a price to pay. The organiser refused to return his deposit of RM10 because the plastic cover was damaged. You should look at the photo below to imagine how my friend secure the chip to his shoe!

However credit should be given to all the officials and volunteers to make this event successful, below are 2 photos showing the poor volunteers distribution goody bags to the large number of finishers.

The return of chip is very well planned and chairs are provided to the runners to un-tie their chips from the shoes.

The lighter side, Mr. Chan from our Tmn Bkt Jalil group with his blue-eye boy, oops sorry typo error, it should be blue-eye girl.

Mr. Yong, the poor Road Marshall under the hot sun.

A late starter, sprint all the all the way making for lost time!

Some of the "endurance" runners still going strong after more than an hour o the road under the hot sun!

New Balance Klang Pacers 12KM Run

2008-10-12T19:04:00.011+08:00

There were practically no races organised during the Puasa month and the Hari Raya period, many runners were looking forward to this run.

This morning, I arrived very early and there were already many runners around the stadium chatting and warming up. Everyone looked fresh and energetic. It was a bit cloudy and it would be the perfect weather to have a race. (Note: I was wrong, many slower runners complained about the scotching sun in the later part of the race).

The race as usual started with the Men Open, Men Veteran and Men Senior Veteran flagging off first while the lady started slightly later to avoid over-crowding for the first few hundred meters.

I started together with Lok & Tan Wah Sing just few meters away behind the starting line. Once the whistle blown and I managed to squeezed through the crowd and taking quite a comfortable pace. Tan Wah Sing zoomed past me just after 1KM from the start line, I tried very hard to follow him but the pace was definitely too fast for me and I eased myself back to my comfort zone and have to let him break away from me.

Along the way, met Sham, Suresh and Chen from the Pacemaker, it was soon and reaching the water station, without wasting much time took a few sips of 100Plus and continued with the run. Since I couldn't find any distant marker, I was not so sure how long more to go when I reached the check point, collected a ribbon and heard someone reading out "C068", which I immediately reckon it was my number. The voice continue to read out "C101" and I was shocked there was this guy so close to be, I thought that there was nobody behind me since I did not heard any "heavy" breathing sound except my own. My sense told me that it must be Lok but I was wrong again and I saw Sowoto trying to overtake me. I increased my pace to match his and soon he eased out and let me took back the lead.

I sneak at my watch and it was closed to 40 minutes now, I heard some heavy breathing sound very close and I thought Sowoto was closing the gap again. But this time it was Lok that I was expecting all this while, we paced together until we saw the stadium on our right. He sped and soon opened up a big gap between us. I was lucky to finish at the 5th position for the Men Senior Veteran while Sowoto was just less than 100 meters behind me.

After collecting the price, went to breakfast with the Taman Bukit Jalil running mates (Managed to capture a few photo for the "Endurance" friends).

Green Run 10KM Route Map

2008-10-02T10:39:00.002+08:00

Click on the image to enlarge.

Back To Nature Relay - 2008

2008-09-16T20:10:00.005+08:00

Eddy SMSed me 1 week before the relay which would be held on the 14th September 2008, he was asking me to assemble some teams from Bukit Jalil to participate in this event. I did not go to the garden to run or meet up with the gang for about 2 months now after taking up a new assignment, I was very pessimistic that I could gather enough runners to form a team. I told Eddy that he had to work with either Ronny Yong or Mr. Ting for they are the de facto leaders in the Taman Bukit Jalil running gang. I would not be running for any Tmn Bkt jalil team this time because I had committed earlier to be in the “Cool Runner” team.

At our Moon Cakes Festival gathering in Taman Bukit Jalil on Thursday, 11th September 2008, I was so surprise that Ronny told me that they would be sending 9 teams to the RELAY. What 9 Relay Teams from Taman Bukit Jalil? How can it be possible! What a pity John Chow was not available for the run, otherwise we would have a very strong “OPEN” team in John, Liew and Lee Sze Wei. Picture below shows are the team members from Taman Bukit Jalil, they are out for a pinic in the park or taking part in a “Road Relay Race", your guess is as good as mine!

The Taman Bukit Jalil Relay Teams – Photo by PM Tey

On the race day, since Naido had committed to go there early, Tee came and picked me up at 6 am. sharp although the relay would be starting only at 7.30 am. We were at Taman Metropolitan Batu around 6.30 am. Where there were very few people in the park. A few kids with their overly expensive (at least one Cannondale, not the one-side fork design) mountain bikes roaming in the park, these bikes should be out in the wilderness to justify their existence. I suddenly realized that I have spent so much time running and have not ride for a long time, my last ride was few months back in the “Ipoh Fellowship Ride”. Mountain biking is definitely becoming a popular sport in Malaysia. Picture below shows a very unique Cannondale F1 with a one-sided fork holding the wheel, I had seen this design in KSH and the “Ipoh Fellowship Ride 08” if I remembered correctly.
At around 7.10 am, we walked to the start line which is actually outside the Metropolitan Park. Runners were busy collecting their bibs and pinned those bibs to their vest. Runners took the opportunity to warm up running around near the start line while some of us trying to look for some bushes so that we could answer the nature calls.

The relay started slightly late at around 7.50 am, since I would be the last runner in my team, I continued to do some warm up. After about 12 minutes, most 2nd and 3rd runners crowded at the transition area knowing that the 1st runner would be coming back anytime. The 1st runner coming back was a young runner from Negri Sembilan followed very closely by our elite Senior Veteran, Thurei in 13 plus minutes.

Tee took over the baton from Thurei and move on, photo by PM Tey.

When I received the baton from Tee, I sprinted off immediate trying to catch up with the young runner about 20 to 30 meters I front of me. Although there were 53 teams in this competition, I noticed that the trail was very empty along the way. Overtook 1 lady runner at around 1 KM, I saw May just 30 to 40 meters in front of me. After overtaking May, the young runner in front of me increase the pace and our gap started to increase. I tried and to slow down and along the way overtaking a few more slower runners. Approaching the 3 KM point after overtaking Datin and a litter boy, I saw Naresh being overtaken by the young guy in front of me. I have never seen Naresh running so slow before!

Finally, I was at finishing line, photo taken in PM Tey’s album.

The Prize Presentation took a long time because it was time consuming to presnt all the medals to more than 150 runners.

Taman Bukit Jalil Neighborhood Run - 4th May 2008

2008-05-05T15:21:00.047+08:00

Pictorial Story of "Larian Neighbourhood Taman Bukit Jalil", pictures taken by Kit Mun.

Key elements :- Community, Friendship, Family and Teamwork.

Tan Khee Meng's Friends from Permaisuri

Kelvin Tan and his family

The Lee's Family

Ida's and her Lovely daughters

Friends flanked by Johnathan and Ah Choong

The Core Team

Chan Weng Kwai and Friends

Ronny and Friends

Pre-Dawn :- The anxiety is over where actions about to begin

Chan Weng Kwai looks worried at the Reporting Counter - How many runners will turn up?

The Early Birds - Johnathan Lian and his brother

Pre-Race Warm-up

VIP - The race will not flag off ontime without them

Pre-Race Briefing - "This is not a race".

Will anyone takes his word seriously?

Runners waiting patiently at the Start Line

The Actions Begin - The First Kilometer

Siew Chin Phui was Tailing Behind Ronnie See

Jeremiah Joseph and Low Kuan Haur trying to breakaway

Lian (Johnathan's Brother) trying to breakaway from
Chuang and Pak.

Fast and Fury - The Podium's Contenders ?

Moment of Truth - The Finishing Line

Omar Khaliff was so happy and flew over the finishing line

Eddy Choo - Powerful Finishing

Chong Hee Voon was dashing to the Finishing Line

The Champions

Geraldine - The Women's Champion

Men's Champion - Jasni

The Lucky Draw's Winners & Happy Moment

Bukit Jalil Neighborhood Run - Route Map Correction

2008-04-23T20:27:00.004+08:00

Participants have to follow the RED Arrow running 2 complete loops for a total distant of approximately 7.5KM.

Taman Bukit Jalil Neighborhood Run 2008

2008-04-22T21:22:00.014+08:00

Picture above - Taman Rekreasi Bukit Jalil, the "Missing Link"

“Hey, is there a Taman Bukit Jalil Run in May?”, “Who are organizing such a run and for what reasons?”

“Why I couldn’t find any information from any local sport’s web sites, newspapers and magazines?”, “They do not want anyone to participate?”

“Is it a scam?”, “I only heard of the IPOH KRI 10 miles Road Race for member only on the 4th May 2008?”

The answers - from my perspective.

Details of the Run

Date : 4th May 2008
Time : 7.00 a.m sharp, hopefully!
Venue: Taman Rekreasi Bukit Jalil, Car Park B.

Status: Registration closed due to overwheming response.

Background of the Event

Objective – Neighborhood, Friendship, Community & Fun

To promote running as a healthy hobby for residents around this area.
To promote more residents to visit and use the facility in Taman Bukit Jalil.
To promote friendship amongst the frequent visitors to Taman Bukit Jalil.

Targeted participants – Non-Hardcore Runners, “Want to be” Runners

Frequent visitors to Taman Bukit Jalil.
Residents around the neighborhood of Taman Bukit Jalil, e.g. Bukit Jalil, Sri Petaling, Kinrara, Sri Kembangan, Salak South, Taman OUG, etc.
Preferably “amateur” joggers, Weekend Warriors, uncles & aunties, morning walkers, future runners (currently non-runners), etc, however all runners are welcome to add variety and excitement to the event.

Promotion Strategy – Focus on Neighborhood, Surrounding Areas and friends

Aggressively promote the event in Taman Bukit Jalil only because of the targeted participants.
Through friends and words of mouth.

Number of Participants – Hopefully out-number the monkeys in the park!

Planning for 100 participants and increase to 200 maximum if the response is good.

The Route – Taman Rekreasi Bukit Jalil

Picture above - the "Kindergarten Loop"

The route chosen by the committee for this run is the usual loops that we run during our training. This may not be the perfect route for a road race but we have to live with it because we decided not to venture outside the park. Since the distant of one round is less than 4KM, the participants have to run two rounds for the 8KM run. Below is a scenic photo taken at the "Lake Loop".

The planned route consists of an “FIGURE EIGHT” loop (but this figure eight is very much distorted so may be more appropriate to describe it as a double loops), and each participant has to complete two rounds of the “FIGURE EIGHT” loop, thus making the run very complicated and confusing. Because of this, the committee has to assign the 2 most capable runners (Ah Wei & Liew) from the group to man the route and supervise the marshals, in order to guide the participants on the right track.

From the entrance via Car Park “B”, the run will start at the “Space Walk”, less than 30 meters from the gate. Participants will run towards the toilet and turn right when reaching the T-junction, heading towards the Kindergarten Loop. The “Missing Link” is the road joining the two sides of the park, this will be the most busy road while every participant has to run along here four times, two times up the Kindergarten Loop and two times down.

When the participant comes down from the “Missing Link”, he or she has to run up the “Toilet to Toilet Slope”. This is the mini version of the dreaded Double Hill, the two existing wash room facilities were located at both end of this slope. Once the runner conquer this slope, he or she will run past the Children Playground towards the “Lake Loop”. It is a pity that we have to exclude the “Snake Curve”, the path descending to the lake from the children playground because it is narrow and winding. After completing the “Lake Loop”, the runner will be running back to the Starting Line to continue for the 2nd round. The 2nd round is exactly the same as the 1st round except that the runner will be running towards to the gate of “Car Park B” for the last 10 meters. The picture below at the left showing the finishing area and behind the gate is Car Park B.

The narrow and winding "Snake Curve" leads you to the Lake from the Children Playground.

Prelude

The idea of organizing this event was mooted two years back by a group of active runners in Taman Bukit Jalil. We have unofficially formed a committee to work on this event to ensure that it can materialize. There are some obstacles and most apparent is the date, we need to decide on a date before we can proceed. There are enough races to occupy most Sunday morning and fixing a date not to crash with any event is a challenge.

Beginning of this year, we have made up our mind to fix it on the Sunday, May the 4th, 2008. We are aware that the Bomba Fireman Run was initial schedule on the same day according to almost all runners’ calender. Since the organizing committee is all active runners, we are prepared to forgo the Bomba Run this year. However, it was pure coincident that later the Bomba organizer announces their event to be held on the Fireman Day, 10th of May, a Saturday.

By virtue of a Taman Bukit Jalil based regular runner, I found myself being included in the committee. However my contribution is very limited while most of the rest put in tremendous effort and time to ensure that all preparation works are progressing well. Our “Flying Fish”, John Chow who designed the registration form, planned and charted out the running route.

Ronny Yong & Mr. Ting (oops, is he Mr. Chan, I am confused) who actively recruit the sponsors and the “targeted” participants, together with Mr. CP Chan (who usually talk more than run), sorted out all promotional materials and most importantly secured the sponsors for the 200 plus pieces of finisher’s medals and the position trophies, enough foods, enough drinks, enough lucky draw prices (Hopefully I may be exaggerating).

From the progress, I foresee the event will be successful held with not much complaints and untoward incidents. My only worry is, we will scare away the native and the rightful dwellers of the park, i.e. the birds, the monkeys, the snakes, the monitor lizards, and the wild boar. The tortoises and the fishes should be safe because no swimming in the lakes or ponds will be allowed for this event. As the registration forms came in exceeding our expectation, Mr. Lim HS has put in quite some effort to sort things out.

There are not too many unexpected incidents to curl the progress of the preparation of this event, everything seems to go on smoothly (Maybe I am a bit optimistic). We have enough sponsors, both named and anonymous, contributing enough materials and resources to stage this event. We have enough participants registered to-date and in fact, we have to turn away many people that called up. If not because the planned & chosen route for the race will be too congested and overcrowded to accommodate the runners, we could have staged a much bigger event with two or three times more participants.

Everything seems ready now and we are keeping our fingers cross and waiting patiently for the “BIG DAY” which befalls on the 4th May 2008.

Last but not least, thanks to all the 200+ registered runners and the generous sponsors.

Shoe String Run - Kota Kemuning

2008-04-21T21:29:00.006+08:00

Shoe String Run – SRK Kota Kemuning II
Distance : 10 KM
Date : 20th April 2008
Time : 7.00 a.m.

There are 4 categories, i.e. Men Open, Women Open, Girls and Boys for the 10KM run.

In addition, there is a Family Category consist of minimum of 2 family members for a team, and the team members must complete the 3 KM distance together.

On the event day, 20th April 2008

At the SRK Kota Kemuning II, the Starting Line - Picture by Jason Lee.

When I arrived at the venue, it was already 10 minute to seven in the morning, most of the participants were warming up in the school compound lead by the Fitness First’s instructors. The weather was fine with little cloud covering the sky, it would be a hot morning run for the slower runners.

Category A, the Men Open, was flagged off first at around 7.10 a.m. and I lead the pack followed closely by Daniel and a few young Indians men. After a few hundred meters, they overtook me and the gap between me and them became bigger and bigger. I lost sight of them at around 3 KM while we reached McDonald Fast Food Outlet. However there was only one more runner overtook me at this point. Since I could remain at the top ten position after 3 KM , this was a clear indication that the good runners were away at the Chinese Kubur Run or the Olympic Torch Fun Run in KL.

The route is flat and quiet with not much traffic flowing although the roads were not closed. There were at least 2 water stations along the way, I skipped the first one but took a sip at the second station around half way. The terrain was mainly flat and I was quite relaxed and enjoy the run. At the end, although my timing was not really good, I managed to finish at the 7th position which earned me one of the twenty medals offered for the Men Open category but missed the "Hamper". This is one of the best designed medal and it really looks classic and nice!

No cash reward but nice hamper for winners from position 1st to 5th. Good quality designer "Blue" T-shirt for all participants.

Picture by Jason Lee.

BHP Orange Run 2008

2008-04-13T21:46:00.007+08:00

Waked up in the morning and found that it was raining quite heavily. At around 6 a.m. after taking a light breakfast and prepared to leave home, the rain was almost stop and the air was fresh and cooling.

Reached The Curve at around 6.40 a.m. and there were many cars parked along the road, I couldn't find a space outside and decided to park my car inside the Complex Car Park. Met the Taman Bukit Jalil gang at the entrance of the Car Park and everyone seems confident and ready to take the 9KM challenge under the nice cooling weather.

Two categories, Men Open and Veteran, were flagged off quite punctual at around 7.30 a.m. followed by the Women few minutes later. The last group, Boys and Girls below 18 year, was started at around 7.40 a.m.

The first part of the run was indeed very enjoyable due to the cool weather and mainly downhill. The uphills were gentle but long so I had to slow down my pace while taking these challenging slope. Overall the run was fun and enjoyable.

There were plenty of foods and all kinds of drinks (100Plus, Vico, Coffee, can drinks, etc ...) at the Finishing point. The event look grand with the carnival like atmosphere.

Pretty Girls

The Drummers

The Winners, Category Boy under 18.

The Winners, Category Girls under 18.

KL International Marathon 2008

2008-04-03T12:58:00.001+08:00

2007 KL International Marathon is my maiden run since I took up running a few years ago. This is my second attempt and everybody expecting me to do well since I did a sub-4 at my first run.

One day before, Saturday, 29th March 2008.
Woke up at 5 a.m. and drove down to Ipoh to meet my uncles and cousins for the Ching Meng. Came back to KL in the evening and went to sleep at around 11.30 pm.

Sunday, 30th March 2008.
Woke up at 3 a.m., no time for any breakfast and rushed down to Bukit Aman bringing along a packet of powerbar and powergel each. Walked and slowly jogged down to the merdeka square after eating the powerbar as breakfast in Bukit Aman car park. Reached the starting line at around 4.10 a.m., met up with a few fellow runners from Bukit Jalil, did some stretching and checked in to the "cage".

My muscles had not been fully recovered after the 5 hours plus torturous ride at the Ipoh Fellowship Ride on the 23rd March 2008 but I still quite confident that I can finish the run within 4 hours.

I started slowly and everything seems fine, however I was slightly worried when I reached the 10KM mark. The time was more than 56 min,compare to last year the timing didn't look good and I was already feeling a bit tire. I started to doubt I could do another sub-4 after a successfully outings in 2007 (all 2 sub-4 marathons, KLIM and Singapore Standard Charted Marathon).

I was feeling very uncomfortable when I reached the 25KM, although my legs still OK but I felt some pain in my stomach. I knew that this will be my PW (person worst) timing this time. I totally gave up hope when crossing the 30KM point, how could I do another 12KM in 1 hour and 12 minutes with the current conditions, feeling heavy and tire! I started to walk, after a few minutes, Mr. Lee (Papaya) and Mr. Wu overtook me and asked me what happened to me. I wished I know what happen! I walked all the way for the next 8KM until Tan Ay Peng approaching me, he stopped and talk to me. I was feeling bad so I started to run again together with him, we run/walk for the next 4 KM until the finishing line. It took me 4 hours and 32 minutes.

There were around 15 runners from the Bukit Jalil Area Group taking part in the Full 42KM Marathon! All of us finnished within the official allocated time. We have one of the fastest in Ah Wei running 3 hours and 18 mins and one of the final qualifier Mr. Ting running 6 hours and 58 min. Well done, Bukit Jalil Team!

A photo of some of the Bukit Jalil runners, 8 of the runners below taking part in 2008 KLIM full marathon.

Am I crazy? Ipoh Fellowship Ride 2008

2008-04-03T11:21:00.000+08:00

(Photo by Andy Yuen)

After attending the Pacesetters Club annual dinner on Saturday, 22nd March 2008, I had to rush home to pack my luggage for the Ipoh trip. The ride would be starting at 7.00a.m, this mean that I had to reach Ipoh as early as 6.00am. After loading my Santa Cruz Blur in my car boot, it was already closed to midnight. I was thinking to myself, shall I travelled straight or shall I slept and wake up at 3.00 am, both options would only allow me to sleep for three and a half hours the most. Since I was a bit tired then, went to sleep and set the alarm to 3.30 am.

Since I had already loaded everything to the car the previous night, I drove off at around 4.00am in the morning. It was a breeze to drive at this early hour as there was not much traffic. I saw a Ford Storm carrying 2 bikes at the back along the North South Highway and I had to presume they were heading to the same destination, hey, I was not the only one that is so crazy!

Met my nephew at the start point, and had breakfast at the kedai kopi opposite. Before the start, found the hydration bag's bladdder was leaking at the joint. What an unlucky (or lucky that it was no leaking half way). Threw away the bladder and stuck a 1.5 litre and a 500 ml water bottles into my hydration bag.

The ride was flagged off at around 7.15 am., slightly late due to the amount of traffic flowing into the car parks. The organizer, KRI, was doing a great job guiding all vehicles to the designated parking area.

I was at the back watching the riders slowing moving forward, it was such a great view looking at 600 plus bikers forming a very long queue.

The traffic eased up slightly once we were off road, most of us had to push all the way up the 1st hill because of the crowd and the terrain. Everybody was commenting that this will be the perfect downhill ride if we take the reverse direction.
After the 1st uphill, the downhill is very technical and should be very interesting if not because of the over-crowding. Almost everyone had to get down and push, only the front riders would be enjoying this downhill, I guess.

The only feeling in this ride was “up, up & up” The hills were killing and it seems no ending. The downhill was steep and muddy, I could hear the mud scratching between the bike frame and the back wheel, the back wheel was somehow stuck and instead of rolling, it skid most of the time. There was hardly any flat trail along the journey.

I was back at the starting point around 12:20 p.m. after completing the ride. The start point was still very quiet and I think most of the riders are still struggling with the uphill trails inside.

A long wait to wash my bike before loading it back to the car, the lunch provided taste delicious. After resting for 1 more hours after the lunch, straight drove home to KL.

Feeling quite tire after the torturous 5 hours ride off road and I was worried whether I could recover fully the following week for the KL International Marathon, I really feel that I am crazy to come here alone (My nephew met me at the start point) for this ride. Overall, it is a good and enjoyable ride and will be back next year.

Larian Jubli Emas MSSM - 2008 Results

2008-03-03T21:32:00.000+08:00

Boys under 18 - Top 3 runners.

RESULTS -

Boys

Under-18 (8km): 1 J. Karthik (Mal) 29:09; 2 M. Jayseelans (Pen) 29:30; 3 B. Thaneshan 29:37 (Sel); Team: 1 Selangor; 2 Negri Sembilan; 3 Perak.

Under-15 (6km): 1 Boby Kambidau (Sab) 23:42; 2 R. Dayanithi (Sel) 23:45; 3 Muhammad Auf Afibukhari (Sab) 23:46; Team: 1 Selangor; 2 Sabah; 3 Negri Sembilan.

Under-12 (4km): 1 M. Tamilmaran (Sel) 14:49; 2 P. Tharumashilan (Sel) 15:20; 3 Vyner Warean Bidin (Sar) 15:23; Team: 1 Selangor; 2 Sarawak; 3 Negri Sembilan.

Girls

Under-18 (6km); 1 Teo Su Chin (Lab) 27:50; 2 Nora Akun (Sar) 27:56; 3 M. Alakusundari (NS) 28:10; Team: 1 Sabah; 2 Sarawak; 3 Negri Sembilan.

Under-15 (6km): 1 N. Srisuganyaa (Sel) 27:49; 2 Nur Aisyah Ahmat (Sar) 28:19; 3 Edory Yami (Sab) 28:51; Team: 1 Selangor; 2 Sabah; 3 Sarawak.

Under-12 (4km): 1 Mastulrina Daud (Sar) 16:18; 2 Nazirah Ramli (Sar) 16:19; 3 Afifa Aqila (Sel) 16:41; Team: 1 Selangor; 2 Sarawak; 3 Kelantan.

Source : New Straits Times, 3rd March 2008

Larian Jubli Emas MSSM - 2008

2008-03-02T23:40:00.000+08:00

Date : 2nd March 2008

Time : 8:00 a.m.

Venue : SMK Sultan Alam Shah, Putrajaya

Some of the teams.

Actions on the road.

The Primary & Secondary elite school runners from all states were competing to be the best in Malaysia.

Selangor, the champion team!

2007 Look Back - Running & Biking.

2008-02-14T15:21:00.000+08:00

KLAVA Relay at Bukit Kiara

IPOH KRI 12KM

Last year (2007), I spent too much time & energy in running that I did not give much priority to other physical activities. I missed all the traithlon races, but I was still able to do my Powerman in Lumut on 11th Nov 2007. Pictutes taken by Tey E T (thanks!).

2007 POWERMAN (LUMUT, PERAK)

I took part in almost all road races including the Kuantan TC 10KM & KRI 12KM Road Race, 2 full marathon (KLIM & Singapore Standard Charter), the FTAAA Cross Country & the Iron Hill run.

Below are Two pictures from KLMBH member's website for the Nov/Dec 2007 Putrajaya Hash.

Below are some pictures from 2007 Serendah hash.

The Briefing

Showing off - in the air!

Kit Mun crossing the river

Below are 2 pictures taken during the 2006 PCC Presidential Ride.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007

2007-12-06T10:24:00.000+08:00

After running my maiden marathon in the beginning of this year at Kuala Lumpur, I was highly motivated to participate in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007. There were many reasons to convince myself to take part and I had heard a lot about this event, the incredible number of runners, the sporting & enthusiastic supporters, the efficient & well-manage organiser, the scenic route, etc, but more importantly, the flat terrain.

30th November 2007
Friday night, the journey began. My wife sent us to KLCC where we met many runners waiting at the railway station. The train started moving at 10pm sharp, gossiped with the fellow runners until around 12 mid-night then went to sleep.

1st December 2007
Around 3.00 am in the morning, slightly awaken and felt that the train was not moving, went to sleep again. Waked up again at around 5.00 am, the train was still not moving. Later I found that we were stuck at Rembau (somewhere near Seremban) for the whole night due to a cargo train derailed along the way!

Reach Tanjung Pagar in Singapore around 2.30 pm, rushed to take our brunch at the nearest hawker center. Reached Suntec city around 4.30 pm to collect our Bib & Vest. A bit disappointed to get a "L" size vest although I registered for "M" size, however this is the only hiccup for this event. Have my suppose to be carboloading dinner at 8pm and went to bed at around 11.30pm.

2nd December - The RACE day
Waked up at 2.15 am, after doing whatever necessary for the morning and walked to the bus stop alone. Gush down a few pieces of bread with water and boarded the night bus at around 3.40am. There were around 10 people in the bus and all except one passenger were runners for this big event.

Deposited my bag with no hassle (one up for the organiser) and went to the start line to do some warm up.

Took a bottle of drinking water around the start line (another thumb-up for the organiser) and the race start sharp at 5.30am. This is the 1st time I was running with a bottle of water in a race thinking that the first few water station will be very crowded.

Pacing with a group of runners with 3:45 printed at the back of their vest at the beginning, wow 3:45 what a humble target finishing time!

Noticed quite a number of male runners rushed to the bushes along the way. At around the 5 KM mark, I also decided to ease myself at the bushes. Joined the running line again and the 3:45 group were very far in front. Found Tan Wah Seng from Kuantan just right in front of me, increase my pace to catch up with him. We start some conversation and soon we reached the 9 KM point for around 51 minutes.

Soon we were passing the starting line on the other side of the road. Grapped a banana at the next water stop but it dropped back to the table, decided to just move on. Luckily the runner in front of me having 2 bananas and decided to discard 1 along the road. I picked it up and continue running while enjoying the banana along the way. To ensure that I would not be de-hydrated, I drank at all the water stations along the route!

After reaching the East Coast Park, I am pacing alone and still feeling strong. It took me around 1 hour and 50 minutes to reach the 21 KM point. Without realizing I was running faster than I planned, at the U-turn, around 27 KM mark, I started to feel that my legs were heavier, I quickly slowed down and tried to relax. Grapped a power gel along the way and hastily swallowed the gel with some water at the next water station.

However, after the 32KM mark, I felt like I couldn't move my legs. I continued to inch forward slowly until one familiar runner ran close to me. I have seen Lai Fong Sang many times in the Malaysian races and we exchanged a few words. Since he was sill running strongly, I had to increase my pace to follow him. Unfortunately, it didn't last too long that I had to slow down again and saw him zoomed pass me. At this point, I was so tire and the muscles of my legs were so stiff that I have to walk for many times. Many runners overtook me and I was a bit worried that I couldn't finish the race with the timing I wanted. Nevertheless I forced myself to move forward and limiting my walking time to a minute or two.

Continue with running a few hundred meters and walking for a minute, eventually I was approaching the padang. At around few hundreds meter to the finish line, I threw in whatever energy left and ran hard towards the end point. I was so release that I cross he line at less than 3 hour and 55 minutes. Wow, what a feeling!

My pacing chart

0 to 8 KM = 8 KM @ 11.3 KM per hour = 43 min
@ 8KM ------------------------------------43 min

8 to 21 KM = 13 KM @ 11.6 KM per hour = 68 min
@ 21KM ----------------------------------- 1 hour 51 min

21 to 27 KM = 6 KM @ 12.7 KM per hour = 28 min
@ 27 KM ----------------------------------- 2 hour 19 min

27 to 42 KM = 15 KM @ 9.5 KM per hour = 1 hour 36 min
@42.195 KM ------------------------------- 3 hour 55 min

Shah Alam 10KM Run

2007-09-03T22:42:00.000+08:00

Yesterday morning went to the Shah Alam 10K race, this was one of the worst race I ran not because I didn't do well, I still manage to finish No. 9 in the Sr. Veteran category although I (together with many more fore runners) were directed to run another 1.5 KM by the Road Marshall at the last roundabout. The slower runners were allowed to bypass the 1.5Km loop and straight went to the finishing point! So many slower runners were given the chance to get the cash prizes. Maybe this is a good way to motivate runners to take part in local road races.

Immediately after the race, you can hear many runners complaining and there were various versions of this mess up. The MBSA blame the SAAA and vice versa!!!

Waked up at around 5.50am and as usaull got to the start line just in time to do the reporting and a few minutes of warming up. The Man & Woman Open were started on-time, 5 minutes later, categories C, D & E were flagged off together. I started at the mid of the packed and I manage to zig-zag to quite in front. At around 500m, I saw Agnes and Tan from Subang, after saying hello to Tan, I surge forward and try to catch up with Tee and Radzmi (?). However they were running at a very fast pace especially Tee. After a few minutes, Tee was out of sight and I followed closely behind Radzmi and waiting for opportunity to overtake him. I did not have much confidence to overtake Radzmi because in most (or every) time, I could not follow his pace.

At about 3 or 4 KM mark, a Indian (I think his name is Bala) overtake me and soon I lost sight of him. However I still could see Radzmi about 100 meters in front of me. At around 6 or 7KM mark, I noticed Radzmi was slowing down and I knew that this will be the best opporturnity to sayur him. I surged forward with full speed and did not look back.

At the last roundabout(just few hundred meters more to the finish line), however the road marshall direct us to go straight instead of turning in to the finnishing line. Not too long after, I saw another road marshall riding a motorcycle on the other of the road leading a pack of runnrs. He shouted to everyone to continue and take a U-turn back someway down the road. There were a few police/road marshall stationed at the place that we did the U-turn and Tee was on the other side of the road after taking the U-turn. I kept the pace and ran back to the roundabout, I saw Radmi following behind and later I also saw Tan and Lok running towards the U-turn.

When I reached the roundabout again, I saw many people cutting in and run towards the finnishing line without taking the 1.5KM U-turn loop. The road marshall just stand there and couldn't care which direction the runners decide to take. When I reached the finishing line, I am surprise to see Mr Foo just in-front of me taking his No. 8 position finishing card. Although I could have a better position if the organizer, SAAA & MBSA with their road marshall, take the race more seriously and professionally. I was happy with my performance and I was richer by a hundred ringgit!

In the evening, I felt that I had rested enough and went for a LSD in Taman Bukit Jalil. I ran about 23 to 24KM for around 2 hours. I need these LSD to prepare for the Singapore marathon this December.

Total mileage for yesterday were about 34KM so I decide to take a rest today.

Training with my 13 years old son

2007-01-22T22:07:00.000+08:00

I went to the Subang Stadium and train with my 13 years old son. This will be his 2nd "running" day!

Here is a photo of my son last year. He is now being nickname "Fei Chye" and he needs to lose a few inches especially from his waist line. Running will definitely be his right choice and I hope he can maintain his interest in running.

He did quite well by running/walking more than a total of 3KM. Not bad for a novice with excessive fat!

Training after the disruption last week, thks to those raining days

2007-01-22T21:35:00.000+08:00

Did not achieve the targeted training schedule last week thanks to the rain, quite disappointed and hope to make up the lost days this week. I am still hoping that I can stick to my training plan for the March 18, Ambank KL Internation Marathon. With the 10% increase per week for my long run, by the end of February I should be doing around 30KM for the long run. This will be my first ever Full Marathon if I were to take part !

Today, quite happy with the training by doing short speed work. Thanks to the good weather.

A total of 8.5KM with Heart Rate reaching 182bpm at the peak!

Pre-Introduction : What lead me to running again

2007-01-16T16:47:00.000+08:00

Few years back, I was introduced to cycling by a friend.

This lead me to the journey of running again because I need to be fit & ................................

Introduction to My Journey of Running

2007-01-16T15:22:00.000+08:00

I was quite active, I mean not quite, when I was young. I swam in a river few times a week, cycled to nearby town miles away few times a year. But running, only when required by the school sport club just weeks before the Sport day.

Although I had not run anything above 5 KM during my school day, I took part in the Half Marathon in KL on the year 1989 and completed the 21 KM race under 2 hours, around 1:50 to be exact. Of course, many hours of training were spent for the preparation. Within the next few years, I took part in 2 more 21 KM races in PJ. The last one was a disaster where I took more than 2 Hr and 10 min to complete the race.

At the end of the 20th century at the age of 40+, I took part in 2 more 21 KM race at veteran category and hoping to do well in these races. Although I did complete the races, I walked almost half the distance !

In the mid of the year 2005, I started again to take part in many shorter distance road races ranging from 5 to 10KM. I started to do quite well (my own defined standard) with more committed trainings. I finished another Half Marathon at Putrajaya (2006) with a sub 2 hour timing, look like I am even fitter compare to my younger day!