Taiping Cross Country Race Report

Number 8 "very ong" placing for Jun Shen at the Taiping Cross Country run. Congratulations to you teammate. By the way, the organizer were credited for a run well organised.

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Taiping Cross Country Race Report

The month of August has three events awaiting me to keep me committed to improve my running. Taiping Cross Country came the earliest, I was happy to race it even without trail training for ages. The thing with trail running, it is about risk taking, agility and some tactics. Over the years, my trail running skills keeps improving but the way I raced my trail races never changed. Currently I have 4 pairs of Skechers shoes with me in Alor Setar namely GoRunUltra2, GoSpeed1, GoSpeed2, and GoSpeed3. Ultra2 is my recovery run shoes, it helped me a lot during my injury recovery period with its awesome cushion. Speed1 is my training shoes for intervals, aging 2 years old. Speed2 is my choice of gear for SCKLM, and it is slowly being phased out from the Skechers performance series so I wanna save it’s mileage. Speed3 is awesome, super breathable and has my favourite carbon plate underneath.

Friday night, I got all my power banks charged, juiced up my Garmin 920xt, laid out all my compression wears and nutrition plan so that I don’t miss out any gears, filled up all water bottles before packing everything into my car. I was contemplating whether to race in GoSpeed3 or Ultra2. =p Taiping is a raintown, two hours rain could easily double up the difficulty of this race. The organizer (Karen Geh) had uploaded some of the trail pics during her recce with her organizing team, and I presumed a pair of super fast road shoes like Skechers GoSpeed3 should be good since the trail is not too technical. Saturday morning I arrived Taiping, drove around looking for hotel. Most of the hotel looks pretty decent from the outside so Lt Izlan and I checked out their aircond compressor to have a quick guess of the aircond’s capacity *typical engineer*.  All the hotels that we asked charge less than RM100, it’s really cheap and very near to the race site. The organizers had done their homework to make things convenient for runners, thumbs up! So we decided to stay in Panorama Hotel (official hotel), RM106 per night for two person (more discount for race participants). Izlan and I love Taiping’s weather very much! (Afternoon feels like Alor Setar’s 10am). Once picked up our race kit, we walked around the town before entering the cinema to watch Mission Impossible. Later on, I happily dozed off without any pre race jitters. *no podium expectation*

Race kit collection was very fast and convenient. They have race gears on sale too=)

Very comfortable room. Panorama Hotel.

All the shops, food stalls and Taiping Mall are within walking distance.

I felt freakish for not getting palpitation two hours before race=p Pulled up my compression wear and wore my 2ndskin Team Issue Race Vest (maiden race appearance). We walked to Hua Lian High School, 400m from the hotel. I set my Garmin to alert me before every water station, laced up my running shoes and secure the butterfly knot under the criss crossing lace so that I don’r trip in the jungle. The VIP who flagged us off dressed up very smartly, he respects the event I would say. I ran in the front pack for two kilometres before the bunch splitted into two groups at the stream crossing section. I can tell that this time around, the fast runners are mostly road runners because the way they carefully cross the stream is not what trail runners would normally do. We can’t tell what is under the stream, so just took my chances and bulldozed! Overtook 3 runners effortlessly at the first stream. The distance between the first and second stream is really near, all runners were wet at the early section of the race. After the second stream, we ran to the direction pointed by markers which was towards a wooden house. We were misled and ran round and round the house looking for the next markers. I think I wasted around 3 minutes till the pack bunched up to 10 lost runners. Suddenly one runner saw the red-white tape and yelled “jalan sini!” so everyone ran to him.

We ran across parks where the grass is so soft and wet; perfect for training but not to my liking for racing. I never liked too much of cushion when I race because it dampens my speed. I got more convinced that Skechers GoSpeed3 was the right pick as I entered the trail. Kilometer 4, grabbed a cup of water as I ran past to cool my head without slowing down; volunteers were very impressed with the cup grabbing skill=p. Not long later, I got side stitches and back muscle spasm. Hamstring was pulling too! Gosh this is too early! (obviously lack of trail running=p). Base on my experience, side stitches could be solved by slowing down the pace while fine tuning the breathing technique. I synchronized my running steps and breathing rhythm, by the next two kilometres the spasm and side stitches was gone=)   

I did not slow down when descending, just kept speeding and ready to stumble in case I misstep. In trail running, I have less control over the nature so I spread my arms to gain better stability while maintaining high cadence speeding down the slope. The organizers also encouraged runners to carry their own cup to keep the jungle clean.The climbs were manageable and the surface is kind of sandy, very similar to Teluk Batik’s trail. Kilometer 8 & kilometre 12 were the other two water stations but I only sip a bit of isotonic because the chilly weather didn’t make me feel thirsty. The kilometre 13 marker was slightly under distance (compared with many other GPS watches) but the trail was very well marked with red-white tapes and shredded paper, one of the marshall said to me “you’re no 12”. That was too close to miss the podium, not knowing whether overall no 12 overall or men open, I ran harder and harder. My watch alerted me as I hit the road at kilometre 14, I pushed the pace slightly higher although I didn’t see the possibility of crossing the finishing line; we were still far from the town! Overtook two more runners and dropped them to gain a comfortable margin, I don’t wanna repeat any final sprint drama as my podium spot is not guaranteed! By that time, no more distance markers, but marshals and traffic control were sufficient.

The “last kilometre” felt like forever, I really didn’t know how far would this race go over distance so I stopped looking at my watch. When I entered the town and made my final turn, I tried to run faster but I had nothing left already. Crossed the finishing line in 1 hour 25 minutes, was given the 8^th position Men Open podium tag. =) I saw so many runners wearing 2ndskin shirts, surely they love the material and I believe the brand is growing each passing days. It feels great to be able to meet my running friends, most of them are ultra runners already and I wonder when am I going to do my maiden 100km ultramarathon. As for this year, I aim to break my marathon PB by at least 10 minutes so all my races are projected towards my marathon goal.

Men Open Podium Ranking No8. 

To sum it all, this is a very well organized race. Karen Geh and the team did a great job promoting this event in facebook, thumbs up for all the volunteers and police/RELA for making this race safe. The selection of Taiping is an awesome venue, the fact that racer’s logistics were taken into consideration makes me more convinced to support this organizer’s event.

Tip of the Month : Trigger Point For Plantar Fasciitis

Massage therapy for plantar fasciitis (under foot arch) is relatively simple compared to other parts of the body. Being one of the hardest working muscles located under the foot arch, it is often exposed to great amount of stress causing the “stiff” feeling. The arch basically functions like a bow. It is curve in shape and has strings-like muscles and connective tissues. The arch retains its form through a complex combination of bone shape, springy ligaments, tendons and elastic muscles. Once it fails, the connective tissues in the arch will start to degenerate resulting a tendonitis called the plantar fasciitis.

What we can do about it? The cheapest and simplest way is to use a golf ball. Put the golf ball on a mat so that it doesn’t slip away as we step on it. Place the foot arch right on top of the golf ball and slowly press it with your body weight. You can do it while seated or in standing position depends on your personal preference. Roll the ball slowly under the foot and look for the trigger points/pressure points. They are usually tender to pressure. Once you have found it, roll it as many times as you wish.

If there is any sharp pain, you can opt for an iced bottle treatment. Fill up a mineral water bottle and freeze it, then roll it under the foot to ease the pain. Roll it for 5 minutes, not too long till get cold injuries. This self-physiotherapy is very popular among the runners in parallel with the R.I.C.E method (Rest Ice Compression Elevation). 

Hope this tip helps=) Stay tuned with our team blog for more monthly tips.

Tip Of The Month - Trigger Points Part 1 - Jun Shen

Ever feel tightness after some hard training session that makes your muscles literally scream in agony? The muscles experience repetition of intense stretch and contract which causes the formation of muscles knots. This write up will share with team2ndskin blog readers what you can do to relieve the tightness in your muscles.

Commonly, coaches and experienced athletes call “knots” in the muscles as muscles knots or trigger points. Releasing the muscles tightness could be done by massaging, foam rolling or even use a lacrosse ball to apply pressure at specific points. This will help in the recovery process of the muscles so that they stay healthy, elastic and ever ready for the next workout. Trigger point is felt when pressure is applied at a certain area, it will cause slight discomfort but should not be unbearable. Self applied pressure is more precise as the athlete knows where the exact location of the muscle knots is. Releasing the knots helps to rebuild pain free movement and finally enhance performance. 

In the market, there are plenty of tools for releasing muscles knots such as the massage roller stick, foam rollers, or Trigger Point Therapy set. For a cheaper option, a tennis ball can be used for certain area of the body such as the back muscles along the spine and around the shoulder area.

Reminder : If you ever feel any sharp pain, please stop this exercise. This method is not to be applied to the bones. It’s only for muscles, remember that! =)

There are many ways to get the tennis ball to pressure on the muscle knots. Roll it as many repetitions as you feel comfortable, get ample sleep like a baby to accelerate the recovery. Some therapist might recommend laying on the floor and some suggest leaning against the wall. I would prefer to recover while I’m doing my work, lets score two birds with one throw=) Since I am attending a course in Alor Setar, I tend to feel a bit groggy especially in the early morning. The tennis ball on my back keeps me “ahhh and oouuch” as it pressures the muscles knots, so that’s how I keep myself awake=p I will roll left, right, up and down to search for the “knot”. Once found, keep the ball rolling! =) At the end of the class, I feel like I’ve just had an awesome Thai massage session. In the evening, I will be ready for my workout session. 

Hope this tip helps=) I will be writing about trigger points related topics in the upcoming tip of the month. Stay tuned! =)

Alor Setar Jogging Club 21KM Race Report - Jun Shen

Our teammate Jun Shen has moved to northern part of Malaysia in his new assignment as a Naval Officer. Being closer to land (no pun intended) meaning he has more time for some local races nearby. He did not waste time and went on to run the ASJC 21KM. Enjoy the wonderful Paddy Field Run.

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Alor Setar Jogging Club Half Marathon 2015 Race Report

Last week I started racing again by completing the Larian Bendang 11km under the extreme Kedah weather. This week is my second race of the month, most likely will be the last one for this month to restructure my training programme. I’m currently based in Alor Setar Airforce College, nothing much triathlon related stuff that I can do due to the road condition and my tight schedule. I could hardly run because the sport period in the college is allocated for group sports. Unless I choose to be anti social, I have no choice but to join all the ball sports that I really suck in.

My left knee injury started few months ago when I was triggered to do my ultra marathon this year inspired by my teammate Deo and Roy. I went through a tough time looking for remedies, doing self physio and stretches, strapped up my knee with kinesio tape in all races and greatly reduced my training mileage. None of that worked, ultra marathon became an abandoned plan. While driving long hours when my knee flexes, the sharp pain starts to torture me. Finally, I went to I-Sihat pharmacy at Manjung and bought myself glucosamine.

Surprisingly, the pain was gone. With just glucosamine?? I should have swallowed it long time ago! Better late than never =) Upon competing Larian Bendang (30 May15), I was quite positive with my left knee’s progression. Larian Bendang was a fun run actually, it was not organized mainly for runners. I mean the run was intended to make the carnival merrier; too many VIPs attended the run. Long story short, race start was delayed almost two hours. I managed to finish the 11km run in 47mins, pace was around 4.16mins/km.

Completed the run with my fellow future aircraft engineer. =)

Pre-Race Drama

I signed up for ASJC Half Marathon which is one week after Larian Bendang. I did a bit of homework studying the route from Garmin Connect, trying to remember some turnings and landmarks. The manual registration is similar to Larian Bendang, fill up forms and be present at certain location to pick up race kits. So the direction given on registration form was 1073, Bee Bee Park, Alor Setar which could not be found in GPS, Google Map or whatsoever. I drove towards the huge maze of Bee Bee Park, stuck inside the housing area asking everyone I saw, “Where is this ASJC (Alor Setar Jogging Club)” before I found the mysterious race kit collection center at one of the corner lot.

My name was missing in the Men Open starting list. =p I stayed calm and once again told the elderly uncles, my name is “Chan Jun Shen, 22km Men Open A category”. When they finally found my name in the veteran category, I was sure that I will be in the podium tomorrow because there were only two participants! That will be one veteran uncle against me, fighting for the RM500 cash prize and trophy=p Anyway, a lot of participants registered at the very last minute so I changed my bib number to A category. 

This ASJC has been around for over 32 years but this is the first time I’ve heard of it.

The registration costs only RM40, I was provided with a collar cotton tee and a cotton race number.=)

The Race

I was ambitious to target 4.15mins/km pace throughout the course. I felt that I could do it so I set Garmins 920xt alerts to beep me at slowest pace of 4.30mins/km. Once flagged off, I just wanted to maintain my pace and not to be bothered with the race field. The first 5km was manageable with 4.15mins/km although I was still synchronizing my breathing and running rhythm. I tried to maintain one inhale and two exhales to make sure the double exhales puff out all the “used” air. The course was “pancake flat” along the “ruler straight” Kuala Kedah road, but I could not see the race leader (just to give you an idea how fast they were going). In my group was Wong Jin Ji, and two Thai runners. I had no intention to drop anybody or chase after the front runners because I feel safer to run at my own planned pace since I don’t think I have much endurance or speed with my current tight schedule. My alerts were to remind me my every 2km pace and slowest pace beeps at 4.30mins/km, so my Garmin 920xt was my pacer.

I wasn’t feeling comfortable with 4.15mins/km pace when I almost reached the turning point at Jambatan Tok Pasai. My breathing rhythm went haywire as I tried to synchronize my steps, my upper posture started to slouch and too much of sideward arm swing motion. Obviously, it is a sign of fatigue. I switched to one inhale and one exhale, grabbed water at all water stations and suck in one caffeinated energy gel. The race course was very well marked and marshalled at every corner, we were provided with 8 water stations (if I am not wrong). The local communities were really committed to organize this race, most of the marshalls were old uncles and MTB escorts were plenty. Garmin non stop alerting me since the 10^th kilometre, I dug really deep to shut it up but my pace was fluctuating between 4.25mins/km to 4.35mins/km. In order to be a good distance runner, consistency is the key to a strong finish. I believe in amateur level, there’s not much tactic involved so just stay focus on pace, nutrition and gears.

Out of form =p

Later on, I saw the silhouette of a runner few hundred meters in front; I tried really hard to reel him back since the 16^thkilometre. It became more like a mental game already as I struggled to focus on my rhythm and dig as deep as possible. “I have 2ndskin Vaporlite Team Tee, Skechers GoSpeed2 and Garmin 920xt! All are the best gears in the market! If I couldn’t get top 5 I should at least push myself to the maximum possible effort”. I gave 100% to catch him because I am confident to finish this race in top 8 position. I needed three kilometres to overtake him! I did not slow down so that I could get break him mentally and get a comfortable margin just in case I bonk for the final 2km. It was such a battle because I did not have the speed! Moral of the story, “The best medicine always taste the worse, so the medicine for a slow runner is the much hated speed work!”. 

Come the final kilometre, I saw another runner! Haha. My last 400m sprint put me one ranking up but I was about to pass out at the finishing line. After more than 10 slices of watermelon and few cups of 100 plus, I felt much better. 

Met new friends=) 

Kota Kemuning Pacers, they all know Eugene Teoh and Roy Yeow =p

All pictures courtesy Soon Hoe Hin Tak=)

6^th place Men Open finish for a 21.32km ASJC Half Marathon. I feel really happy that my knee did well and my timing was an acceptable 1 hour 33 minutes. Frankly, I am coming back and will train harder to shave off a few minutes from my PB by the end of this year.   

More Garmin Connect Data.

Tip Of The Month : Making your Own Race Belt - Jun Shen

Ever went to a race only to realised you left your race belt? Have something spare, like a set of shoelaces (from a shoe laying inside the car?) or a loose piece of string? This month, Jun Shen share how he transform what he has extra into a set of good race belt that can be used and reused - at almost no cost.

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Making your own Race Belt

Being a Boy Scout in St John’s Institution at the age of 13, I have learned to make knots as it was part of the task need to be mastered I get my “Usaha” badge. The skills of making knots have helped me in so many ways, give me any string and I can make something. Tip for this month, I’m gonna share with our blog readers how to make your own race belt. Either you are gonna use this as your real race belt or emergency survival race belt, it is all up to u. One thing for sure, it is lighter than the race belt you bought for over 50 ringgit. Before that, you need to master two knots, The Fisherman’s Bend and Alpine Butterfly. 

The Fisherman’s Bend is a knot used to join two lines. However, this knot doesn’t work well with slippery nylon strings. 

The Alpine Butterfly forms a loop in the middle of the rope, giving you flexibility to create a loop anywhere you wish. You will need a shoe lace to make this ultralight race belt.

 The self made race belt looks like this =) Much lighter than any race belt in the market.

I have raced Mount Telapak Burok with this self made race belt, and also the recent Shape Run.

Once you have mastered this, no race belt no problem. =)

BSG Property 15km Race 2015 Race Report : Jun Shen

Team Athlete Jun Shen and Annie Yee ran a good race over the weekend at the BSG 15KM run. Annie won the women category (Congrats!) and Jun Shen posted a very good timing. Here is Jun Shen's report. Thank you for sharing sir! (by the way, you very the drama lah)
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BSG Property 15km Race 2015 Race Report

BSG Property 15km Race 2015 is another race which I signed up when I was at 

Pulau Mabul. I could hardly get connections at sea, so at that time I registered 

3 back to back races hoping that when I come back from operations I can race 

during the weekends. On Friday I was on duty as Officer of The Day, it is part of

my routine to conduct silent round when everyone is sleeping so the next day I 

was a little groggy while driving to Butterworth due to deprive of sleep. 

I met Michael, Jasmine and Ethan at Seaview Tower; one of my favourite pit stop 

in Penang. I am pretty close with them; it started way back in 2012 when I 

coached Ethan swimming during my internship in Prai Power Plant. 

I brought along Ethan’s long due birthday present that I bought from internet. 

Never had the chance to celebrate with him because of my packed schedule.

Bought him a 4WD TAMIYA, one of the toy that I adored very much when I was 
a boy. However, the price tag made it elusive for me to own one. I only played 

those China made ones. I’m glad that he likes it.

We had dinner at Xiao Fei Yang Steamboat, Penang Island. The food was really 

good, been craving for steamboat in ages. I always have sleeping problem caused 

by pre race anxiety, somehow on Saturday night I dozed off rather fast after 
stuffing my stomach with all sorts of sliced meat. I got up at 3am in the morning, 
pushed off to race site around 4am.

I found a parking lot right next to race site, just couldn’t believe how close it was 

to the starting line. When I was doing a little warm up, my team mate Annie Yee 
approached me and gave me a biggie Hi 5. She just scored her personal best in 

Hong Kong marathon last week, so this week is not likely she is going to score 

another PB. She doesn’t need PB to thrash the field anyway=). We chit chatted 

during the warm up before I introduced her to Hammer Anti Fatigue Capsules. 

I finished my Hammer Perpetuem drink as my pre race food and planned to 
carry one Hammer Gel Apple Cinnamon flavour with me (another gel given 
to Annie).

Flag off was super congested. Penang has plenty of super fast runners, my plan 

was to place myself in the chase pack with 4.00mins/km pace, then slowly drop 

the pace to around 4.30mins/km. Over the years I have learned to run in my 
own stable pace instead of chasing the front pack like a man possessed. 

Garmin Forerunner 920xt will be making its first appearance in racing today. I’ve tested it during training to get familiarized with the functions. I got dropped by a 

lot of runners in the early few kilometres despite my watch says 4.00mins/km. Recently I feel some discomfort in my knees, Patellar Tendonitis maybe? 

Hopefully not. I opt to use Kinesio Tape given by Major Kumar when I did my 

physio with him in Lumut Armed Forces Hospital.

The course was pancake flat, we ran around Gurney Drive then turn back to 

Tanjung Tokong. At kilometre 9, I sucked in my Hammer Gel as I felt I was at 

my 80% effort already. The Kinesio Tape supported my knees till this point 
before it starts peeling off. My pace was gradually dropping to 4.30mins/km 
already. 

I really gritted my teeth and close my eyes every now and then to close up the 

gap with the bunch of runners in front of me. I would say today’s field is really 

strong. I suffered 3km to bridge that 50m gap! That means they are increasing 

their pace at every distance marker! Distance marking along the course is 
very accurate and easily sighted; marshals were way better than the FTKLAA 
Sports Toto Run. The final 3km was a hell for me, my abs was cramping and
my back was getting spasms. My breathing rhythm went one inhale and 
one exhale synchronized with my steps to support my effort, I guess my 
body is not ready for this intensity but the mind just says “shut up legs” 
and keep digging deep! 

Like Kevin Siah said to me during Ironman, “Dig Deep! Dig Deep!”. I don’t know 

how deep could I dig somemore or I’m digging my own grave=p I showered 

myself at all water stations to keep my overheating engine cool, it’s not gonna 

make my race kit heavier as my 2ndskin team tee is made of Vapor Skin 
material, ultralight and breathable; as I always tell my team, “feels naked but 
it got you covered”. After making the final turn, Annie from the opposite site 
yelled my name but I was dead tired to respond. She was first placing in her 
category yet still has time to greet me; she made it look so easy. 
The finishing line was in festive atmosphere with drum beats welcoming the 
finishers to cross the arch.

GPS is always ready, only me not all the time ready. Haha. 

By the time I crossed and stopped my watch, I was about to pass out. I don’t remember when was the last time I pushed myself this hard. With my work commitment yet I’m able to do average pace 4.19mins/km, I’m contented. I 

pressed the start button a bit late so that’s why the distance is short about 
300m.

Team 2ndskin in action. 

Annie told me the Anti Fatigue worked for her, so I gave him my whole bottle. 

Gonna order another bottle for myself soon. She chose to run in the stiffer 

Skechers GoSpeed while I ran with my Skechers GoSpeed2. Annie sounds very 

mature and wiser now, life has toughen her up perhaps. 

Meet Calvin Boon, man behind the Alpha Project. He ran a 55mins 15km, 

did extra distance somemore due to wrong turning at the final U-turn yet doesn't change his champion position. Super fast runner. 

It feels like Chinese New Year already. 

I rushed back to Lumut immediately after race to rest my body before I close up 

duty as Officer of The Day again on Monday. I had a good massage by Annie 

(not Annie Yee), the thai lady that fixes my aching muscles. She is about my 

mum’s age, has abundance of strength pressing those trigger points. As I’m

typing this race report, I feel so much fresher and great. Next race, next 

week's KL City Day Run, see you there. Hopefully I won't get lost again at 

the same course=)

FTKLAA Sport Toto 10km Race Report : Jun Shen

Hello All! Sorry for the long silence, we had a technical glitch that involves one of us not having the full use of internet, one with no PC or laptop, one on duty, one getting married, one busy with work, one busy training and one settling down in his new home. Nevertheless, we are here, always. it was a busy weekend for the team and the first report that came out was from Chan Jun Shen, where he and residednt ultra runner Deo ran the FTKLAA 10km Cross Country race. We have strong reason to believe that Chan has not gotten used to being a "land-lubber" after him protecting the country in the East Coast of Sabah (and not seen the land for a extended period of time), he clocked more than what he paid for in the race. Welcome back Chan, and welcome back dear readers, this is Chan's report.

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FTKLAA Sport Toto 10km Race Report : Jun Shen

I was in the vicinity of Pulau Mabul when I signed up for this race, there’re not many distance option for me to pick in this small scale race organized by FTKLAA and Sports Toto. As usual, checked with my 2ndskin team mates, initially I really thought I have to forgo my favourite Skechers GoSpeed 2 because I thought it’s gonna be a dirty CROSS COUNTRY.  Since Roy told me it’ll be mostly on road, I remained GoSpeed2 as my weapon of choice! It has been two months since I left Lumut for operations, I was floating here and there all over Borneo patrolling islands and shoals that most people wouldn’t know its existence in Malaysia. On completion of washing my ship on Friday, I rushed back to KL to meet my family and get myself ready for this race. My mum helped me to collect my race kit when I was still in Beting Patinggi Ali, it has a dry fit tee in the bag with all the race details.  

10km was never my distance, I seldom incorporate speedwork due to my fear for getting injuries. When I come back from sea after more than a fortnight’s sailing, I can’t be pushing the pace too hard but I still can do some LSD to be on the safer side. Ultimately, the main reason I love long distance running is because I’m a day dreamer, an excellent one. My mind can turn into sleep mode within seconds. I rather run slowly while enjoying the scenery than doing lung bursting speed work. 10km pulls me out of my comfort zone, make me run beyond my economical speed, I don't like it. If you see a fighter jets burning her after burner for speed, she trades off efficiency for speed. This is a similar situation with a 10km run. 10km has no room for mistake, too short for dreaming, it’s all about pushing HARD all the way.

When I arrived at the race site, the FTKLAA technical officials were having briefing for this morning’s race. I paid 30 cents to enter the DBKL public toilet to settle my pee poo business, queued for quite some time. It was my turn after a RELA staff came out, “submarines” floating in the toilet bowl. Early morning get bad luck =p I walked out of the toilet, get myself back to the racing atmosphere. The sound system was good around the tents area, we did some aerobic exercise to pump up our heart rate. However, as we proceed towards the starting line for briefing, I only saw the Race Official’s mouth moving and his super slow voice came from a speaker few hundred meters away. Once the gun goes off, I tried to place myself comfortably in the front pack. Within 2-3km, there’s a clear gap between the front pack, me and the chase pack. My Garmin Forerunner 620 kept beeping, so I took a quick glance, 3.20mins/km!!! I have a virtual partner in the watch, so I’m not running alone =)

Around 3rd kilometre I settled myself with 4.30mins/km pace. The track is amazing, kinda shady and slightly undulated here and there. The course is a little congested once the 6km runners were released, we also shared the course with the BAR Runners at the lake area so 3m course width is a little too narrow. I counted the front pack earlier, they’re 20 over super fast “Sport Toto Race Horse” galloping towards the finishing line, so it is unlikely that I stand a chance to go on podium. Collected ONE fluorescent ribbon, continued running. Then I came to the junction where I was supposed to turn left, I showed the marshal my ribbon, he asked me to keep right and continue to round the lake. I wasn’t sure so I just obeyed, then I came again with TWO ribbons in my hands and SHOWED him, he said keep right again. I obeyed again. Finally when I came with THREE ribbons, I slowed down and showed him all my ribbons, I asked him how many ribbons am I supposed to collect? He told me "ONE ribbon only, how am I suppose to know how you got THREE?". The ribbon, coincidentally same colour as my fluorescent 2ndskin team tee, perhaps he couldn't see it clearly. A little pissed at that time, but I forgive him since his spectacles so thick. Knowing that I’m certainly off the course, I did not stop running. This will be a very good weekend LSD for me! =) Not gonna podium anyway.

When my parents came with me this morning, I told them that if I don’t come back within 1 hour, there’s something wrong with me. Finally, I came to the finishing line marking total distance of 15.3km with the average pace of 4.58mins/km. I guess my parents knew that I went off course. My father was at the finishing arch taking my photo with his Blackberry.

Snapped by my father.

Catch up with Ong Wei Xiang my old time rival. Now he is too fast for me to catch already. =)

See the 3 ribbons in my hands and neck.

Deo handed me my long awaited Garmin Forerunner 920xt, I take it as my reward for running extra distance this morning. I know this course better now, my next race KL City Day Run will be at the same place, hopefully I can do better and run faster for my next race. =)

Thank you Skechers Malaysia, Garmin Malaysia, Hammer Nutrition, LifeLineID, Kraftfit Malaysia