Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Asthma Run-11/5/08


Me, wearing the Asthma Run T-shirt posing with my friends after the run .




This is the 5km run to celebrate World Asthma Day . Its an event to inform people more about Asthma and how to control it . I almost didn't go for it because my legs were a bit aching from Saturday's pia at Bomba Run.

But then ,I remembered the effort that Frank put in for me to register the run and also being an asthmatic myself , I thought I should actually go for this run no matter what my condition . So I went for it , this time I wasn't late at all and they gave the runners a free T-Shirt .

The organisers strongly suggested that everyone that had the free T-shirt to wear it . I wore it even though some of my friends who got it didn't wear it . I just wanted to show support in this way .

It's actually easier to run with the running vest but since this is just a fun run , I didn't really pia at all and just started slowly from the back . After awhile , my body warmed up and I started to go faster especially towards the last 1.5 km . At this point overtook a few people including Geraldine ( The fast lady ) and also Tay Poh Chye .

Came in 24:47 , wasn't sure how I did in this route last time .

In conclusion , this run also reminded me that exactly about a year ago , this was my first competitive run after recovering from my operation and that time I was even slower and going at jogging and talking pace .

One year has passed so fast and thank you Jesus for helping me to recover from the operation !

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Bomba Run Report-10/5/08

The night before


Set my alarm for 6.05 am .slept at about 1230am , which is after my regular Friday nite Home Fellowship .

The morning alarm

Somehow , I didn't hear my alarm . Surprisingly ,I manage to hear my phone which is in vibrate mode when Adam called me . We have arranged to meet at Bukit Aman at 645 am for me to collect my bib from him .

Adam : Kenny , are you coming for the Asthma Run
Me : Yes . ( Just awakened by the conversation)
Adam : Are you on the way ?
Me : Yes , I'm on the way ( Still blur)
Adam:Where are you ?
Me: I'm going to leave my house now ( In my heart I know it will be another 10 mins before I leave the house)
Adam : Ok , I will wait for you at the starting line


Conversation ends and I look at the clock shown on my hp , Goodness ! It shows 7.05 am !

The rush

Looks like I have to rush to Dataran without breakfast . Quickly change and then rushed to Pdg Merbuk to park my car . Took my inhaler twice before coming out of the car . Straight away ran downhill towards starting line .Good thing this Parlimen road is going downhill. Passed by Rachel and she tells me that I'm late and Adam is waiting to pass me my bib . Arrives at starting point . Everybody is at the starting line . I don't see Adam at the front . Anxious but I head towards the middle entrance of the "Kandang" , look around and still don't see Adam . Vincent who is already inside the "Kandang" spots me and tells me my bibs are with Fook who is just 2 feet away from me and he is just taking photographs . Fook gives me my bib and helps me pin 2 pins to the back while I pin the front .

Another 3 mins to go

When all this is done , then only I gave my reporting card to the official with about 3 mins to go . Got inside the "kandang" , sees Adam , Frank , Lai and Choi and I do a bit of stretching .It was fortunate that I had just enough time for all these .

The race starts

I then rush like the rest from the middle trying to get a good position .Lots of human traffic. At the hill at Kenny Hill area after the Bank Negara ,I overtake Chen who was going slow including running on the grass ! Then after that was pacing with this C category guy but after awhile I didn't pace with him anymore as he was too strong .

By the way , this is my 1st time on this route I believe


Believe it or not , surprisingly this is actually the 1st time I'm on this route. Other times, I just didn't make it or races starts in different areas .I was trying to imagine that long Jalan Duta hill that Ron has been talking about and at last I 'm running on it today .It sure is tough because after awhile , Chen has come and overtaken me from behind and about 50m in front of me .

2nd wind

I wasn't motivated anymore because of the toughness of this course . Suddenly , another person was about to overtake me and I made it a point to follow his pace which is quite fast .I've gained second wind and managed to overtake Chen again after running for about 2 to 3 km with this person . With another 2 km to go , we were going at a fairly steady pace when I began to experience side stitches . Good thing this side stitches happened when we were going downhill at Jalan Parlimen heading towards Dataran .

P.R !!

I maintained my pace downhill and also ignoring the side stitch pain . At the same time , being a first timer on this course , Iwasn't sure where we were going to finish so I didn't on any turbo . With another 600 m to go , I suddenly saw Stanley and this was when I on my turbo to overtake him . A malay guy who was quite in front of me earlier was now within my reach with another 150 m to go at the finishing line at the field but then I didn't want to overtake him at all because I didn't want to have sprint finish to save my legs and I also remembered how bad I felt when someone overtook me at the last few metres in one of the races .

I also sort of estimated I was within medal position and my guest was spot on when I got 57th place and a medal ( medals are for the top 75) and timed at 51:10 ,being my first time on this course .




Saturday, May 10, 2008

Another shoe from Adidas-8/5/08






Went with Ronnie,Frank and Saiful to the Adidas office today . We got another shoe under the Adidas seeding program again . Mine is named the Adidas Adizero Tempo , worth RM399 in the market .Have not got the chance to try it yet but has been wearing it around to season it a bit . Its a mixture of cushioning and racing therefore its just a little bit heavier than the Adidas Boston which I got in January this year . Adidas Boston was 321 gm and this is just extra 9 gm at 330 gm .

Here are some pictures above showing the shoes and me at the Adidas office. (Courtesy of Frank Chong)


I will write a report about it once I have tested the shoes.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Report on Adidas Boston

At last my short report in the simplest layman terms . In January I got for free the Adidas Boston and I was suppose to write a report about it .

Why I'm happy with it ?
It helped me achieved my P.R at the Hong Kong Marathon on Feb 17 , 2008

Is it that comfortable ?
Yes , it is comfortable because :
i) Even when I wear it for fun without socks , I don't feel discomfort and moisture from my legs just easily dries off because of the Climacool System .
ii)During long run , it doesn't feel as if it is getting less cushiony towards the end of the run because there is some shoes where after a long run , you will feel like there is less cushion .

How is the response on the road ?
I feel it has good response in the aspect of lift off or toe off .

Light ?
Yes , light enough to be a trainer and a distance racer .

Disadvantages or negative issues ?
i) Shoe string a bit too short , but not a major issue
ii) When the road is wet , then because of the Climacool system with holes at the soles , moisture can also easily get into the shoe but vice-versa , moisture can easily get out of the shoe.

If there is only 2 to 3 choice of shoe next time and Adidas Boston is one of them, will I choose it again ?
Of course , the shoe gets my thumbs up and there are more positive aspects about it as you can read from here .

Thank you ADIDAS !

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Some Hong Kong Marathon photos on 17/2/08



1 KM to the finish line , lots of crowd cheering the runners . I took this picture when I was going back at about 1 and half hours to 2 hours ( 5 hour mark) after I completed my run . There is no picture of me running because of miscommunication with my wife as she didn't arrive on time to see me finish and anyway , I finished before our estimated time !









People still running .





Me posing after the race








Me posing at the finishing line before
the race




Me and my wife Marianne (PACM Adminstrator) at
Ocean Park

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

30/3/08-KL Marathon and other "marathon"


Me admiring my medal and my friends after the marathon .(From left : Saiful , Me , Kevin, Lim and Ron)

Its Tuesday today , just ran the KL Marathon on Sunday . Yesterday did a very slow recovery run of 2.8 km at a very slow 9 min per km pace . Legs are all aching . Every step hurts.

Other "marathon" :

To treat myself , I went on a movie marathon from Sunday onwards after the Marathon :

Sunday 5 pm : "Duyung" ,a malay movie comedy about mermaid

1145 pm : "10,000 B.C" ,a movie about stone age type people rescuing their people from the capture of intruders

Monday 3.15pm : "Be kind , Rewind " a comedy about this guy who accidentally deleted all the shop's video tape and they did their own remake .

9.40 pm : "Horton hears a who " : Cartoon on Horton the elephant finding some sounds from a speck of dust , it turns out there are a people called the who people inside this speck of dust.

1155 pm : The Spiderwick Chronicles : About this house with a special book which the children have to protect it from the Ogre .

Chafing

After the marathon , I found there were some chafing and at first it hurts when I walked even with powder , later on I solved it by using plaster and as of today ,its healed . In fact , the plaster has dropped of but don't know where .

Why reward myself with the "other"marathon ?

To celebrate the fact that I have managed to break the course record , last year was 3 hr 57 min , this year is 3 hr 51 min 38 sec . Last year , 1 day after marathon , I had major operation caused by intestine twisting in stomach and it took me two months before I could even do a slow jog . I could say that I'm back .

Sufferings :


The last 12 km was ran at a slower pace of 5 min 48 sec as compared to the other km s averaging at 5 min 30 sec. I would say ,I hit the wall at the last 6 km coz I was just very tired and couldn't go fast anymore .

Before the sufferings


I was going at a constant pace from the starting line and I was pleaseed with it compared to last year where there were all sort of pains which I got at the half way mark . This time it was smoother .

Overall ,I'm happy with the marathon I ran and hope to improve further even though I didn't P.R set at the Hong Kong marathon this year .




Saturday, February 23, 2008

I ran under the sea i.e Hong Kong Marathon 2008

Few days before the event

This was the conversation ( or something like that) I had with Lai,Kit and others:

Lai, Kit and others: Kenny ,I’m sure you will P.R at Hong Kong Marathon

Me : I don’t knowlah , I haven’t been running 30km since GE 30 km race in Jan 20 lah.

Lai,Kit and others : I am confident you can .

Me : I’ll just try my bestlah , furthermore the route at HK is quite hilly I heard.

Lai, Kit and others : Yes , especially towards the end , the tunnel slopes are a killer .

Me : Then probably its just a practise run for me whereby my priority will be just to finish the race and then concentrate for KLIM .

Lai, Kit and others : Wow , then its going to be an expensive practise run for you .

Me : Yalor ,most probably for the experience and to tour HK .

---End of conversation ---

I was not confident enough because even 3 weeks before this event ,I was getting some sort of pain behind the knees and some other muscle aches .In fact , there was once during the long run to Hartamas with Choi that I had to stop to ice my leg before continuing on .

Never run in cold weather before .

I have never run in cold weather before . Hong Kong at this time of the year is having winter and news reports states that it is HK’s coldest in 40 years. It has been averaging between 10-13 degrees celcius. The closest I have run in cold weather was when having a leisure trainning session in Cameron and that was also manageble at 18 Celcius degrees.

Nevertheless , I also didn’t know what to wear in cold weather . So 2 to 3 days before leaving for H K , I turned on the CCTV channel in Astro and this time really observed what people were wearing in cold weather .I also checked in the Internet for past HK marathon participants to see what they were wearing . I noticed that most looked like they were wearing an extra shirt beneath their current shirt .

Saturday :

On Saturday , the day before the Marathon , I had a slow jog in the morning. I wore 2 T-shirts and it was manageble .It was just nice . From then on , I decided that I’ll be wearing 2 Nike Dri-fit shirts for the race .

After that went to collect my bibs at Causeway Bay , at Victoria Park which is also the finishing point . Everything was very organised . The place was huge. I think it was too huge for collection of bibs but just nice for the finishing of 49000 people !!

Some medic researchers were randomly recruiting people to participate in their research on hydration and sodium levels in a marathoner during and after the race and they asked me to participate in this study and I agreed . There was no harm because after the marathon , they will be taking my blood sample to analyse and will then email me the results on the optimum intake of sports drinks I should take during a marathon .

Marathon day, before the race :

I know that I had to be there by 745 am for the start and I also wanted to take out my track top and track bottom only 10 min before the start and leave it to the baggage collection truck which will then drive it to the finishing point . I was not not very sure how to get to the spot with my limited Cantonese .But I knew I have to take the 1st 6am bus from where I was staying to one place and then take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui at the starting point . I was among the first at the bus stop and the bus was not moving yet . It was waiting for 6am . As I got into the bus , lo and behold I saw another marathoner guy as he was also holding the same baggage deposit bag . I said that I’m also going to the Marathon but not sure how to get there . I asked him if I could follow him . That was all in my broken Cantonese and he understood but started speaking to me in Hongky English. It was a great thing that God send him so that it lessened my anxiety . He was helpful all the way and we went together to take out the track suits and deposit the bags . But then I felt it was still way to early ( 45 min before Marathon ) but no choice since I was following him . So we just jogged among the crowd for awhile and suddenly he disappeared .

I then went to the loo . ( still 45 min before the race) . There were many portable loos and very short ques of 2 to 3 people at each loo . After that I found a spot to sit down and waited till the half marathoners started the race .At 15 min before the race , it was the Marathoners turn to go to starting point . The sign says its 13 degrees Celcius . I started onto the road with the rest and suddenly he amazingly appeared again . I told him I thought I would never catch him again in this big crowd of 6000 marathoners . Amazing !!

Race begans , pee story .

As the race began , I suddenly felt the urge to pee but ignored it as I thought I can just join the rest of the guys to pee at any particular area . But then on 2nd thought , this is Hong Kong , what is the culture here ? Is it the same like S’pore Marathon where the Men Marathoners also peed in a particular spot .? After running slowly though the huge throng of people for about 2 km , I noticed a public loo and a few men going for pee and I went in and did the pee . After that, I just continued running and at the 4 km mark and still within the city , there were some trees and I noticed a number of men peeing . I didn’t pee because I did it already but at least I know that in the marathon in Hong Kong , its in the culture to pee . Do take note , in S’pore it was darker , this is really in broad daylight !

Half way , cold hands !

After going through the underground undersea tunnel of about 6 km, we came to the bridge that connects the Island . Right now the race is something like running through Smart Tunnel and then arriving at Penang Bridge to continue the run .. Here the wind blows hard and it is quite cold . My hands were freezing . I’m sure others felt the same . Those wearing gloves should be OK . After coming thought the U turn and back to the bridge , I saw a pair of gloves on the road and thought of taking it to wear but had second thoughts on who the wearer was and the germs inside it, so I didn’t take it . Later on when we made another U-turn somewhere , I glanced at the opposite direction and notice that the glove wasn’t there any more. Someone didn’t have second thought and actually took it to wear !

30 mark surprise !

I was going at a decent speed .There was no race plan . Just to go at my own comfortable speed but also to follow whoever is at my speed .The course is quite challenging on the highway where the gradients are gradually going just a little bit upward . It was easy to go downhill just a little bit faster as my legs were numb and cold and I didn’t know if it was aching or not because of this numbness .I was also praying to God that my muscle pains especially at the back of the knees don’t act up. It didn’t .

At the 30 km mark , I saw my time was 2:35 , my eyes almost popped out because I didn’t expect to be going this fast because although I had achieve this timing before , it was in last year’s GE 30 km race and whereas this year my finishing timing for GE 30 km was about 2:52
( caused by not having enough sleep and lethargy) and my S’pore Marathon split time at the 30 km mark was 2:45 .

Run at tunnel

I quickly did some mental calculations and calculated that I could beat my P.R of 3:52 at S’pore if I maintained at this pace and just slowed a bit at the last 5 km .We then headed for the 6km tunnel again and there was this fast guy who came from behind . The tunnel being flat helped me to run faster and matched his pace . It was about 4min 30 sec per km pace I believed because I felt it was fairly faster than usual whereas before this I was going at about averaging 5 min 9 sec per km pace .

Out of tunnel , 6km more to go , problems arise

At this point , my legs were getting tired and the highway slopes were getting undulating . At the same time , the cold seem to numb the aches but I have sort of slowed down . Cramps were also setting into the calf and at 1 point I had to stop for awhile to stretch the calf . Further troubles brew when I could feel bad chaffing at my legs . I tried to moist it but it just didn’t work because the wind keep blowing and there is just no sweat or lubricant . The legs are just dry all the way , its not like running in KL or S’pore where we are constantly sweating thus avoiding chaffing . Lesson to learn here : Use Vaseline in this kind of weather next time .

Last 2 to 3 km towards the ending

I have slowed down significantly . The legs just couldn’t move fast . I suppose I have hit the wall at this point . In fact , at the last km where there is a big crowd cheering us on ,I just can’t be motivated by the crowd anymore and I’m just going at my pace . A number of runners overtook me . Usually my last km will be a very fast motivated finish but this time as I reach the finish line ,its very slow .

At last I reach the finish line in a time of 3:41:32, position 201 over 1425 in my category and over 6000 + marathoners . A new P.R for me beating my previous time of 3:52:09 @ S’pore 2007 by about 10 min ! The predictions of my friends came true .I surprised myself but I suppose it must have been the cold that helped us not to be so tired during the run .

Lessons learnt when running in this kind of climate next time :

1.Bring along gloves .

2.I found out if you want free T-Shirts , go for the Half Marathon ( which has even more participants) because a lot of people who were wearing 2 to 3 layers threw away the New Balance Dri-Fit T-Shirt which was part of the items in the goody bags and some Giordano can also be found along the road .

3. Use vaseline on your legs .

Split times :

1st 10 km 54:04 (5 min 24 sec per km pace)

2nd 10km 50:47 ( 5 min 04 sec per km pace)

3rd 10km 50:04 ( 5 min per km pace)

Next 11 km : 1:00:49 ( 5 min 31 sec per km pace)

Last 1 km ( 5 min 48 sec per km pace)

Thursday, January 31, 2008

18/1/08-The day I got free shoes from Adidas




ADIDAS BOSTON




Adidas gave out shoes for those who have websites or blogs on running . Mr Krishnan was very kind to let me check out a few shoes . He let me try 2 different pairs on each leg and he said that this is the best way to try out shoes . This is the first time I try out shoes using this method . It is a great method . There were about 4 different types of shoes to choose from and in the end I felt very comfortable and confident with Adidas Boston and here are the pictures above .

Reports of the shoes will be out within a month .

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

27/1/08-KLIM Circuit Run 1


Not sure why I looked angry here
(Picture courtesy of Tey)



Before the race , I told Tay Poh Chai that I will be following behind him . Reason was that he is realy improving and getting better timing then me in Network run and GE30 KM . I also like his footsteps sound which helps me to run , its like a piano metronome . His fartlegs are interesting too .

But , as the race began , after 30 to 50 m , he was nowhere near me . I had to just run according to my feeling . But I knew I was at 5th place with Chen in front of me . At the same time , proud to say , its my 1st time in junior veteran category ( 35 till 44 years of age ). Getting old but strong :)

In the end got 5th over 13 place but I felt it was a fairly decent pace based on my trainning . I also achieved my aim of running at least 7 laps in the 1 hr 15 min time zone.

Here are the stats :

Lap 1 : 9 .28 ( Approx 4 min 6 sec per km pace)
Lap 2 : 10.28 ( 1 min slower !! , approx 4 min 33 sec per km pace)
Lap 3 : 10.32 ( Just slower a bit , or positive splits , approx 4 min 34 sec per km pace)
Lap 4 : 10 .47 ( 4 min 41 sec per km pace)
Lap 5 : 10.56 (4 min 45 sec per km pace)
Lap 6 : 11.05 ( 4 min 49 sec per km pace)
Lap 7 : 10.20 (Last lap , the flying lap , I increased the pace) 4 min 29 sec per km pace

Total : 1 hour 13 min 37 sec


Overall , athough didn't win a medal ( only for top 3 ) ,I'm happy with the overall performance because the pace was slightly faster than the Network Run on 1/1/08 where in that run , each lap averaged about 11 min .

Posing after GE 30 km race


(Picture courtesy of Mr. Mohan)
Me , Jamie , Lawrence and ...

Sunday, January 20, 2008

20/1/08-Great Eastern 30 km Run

I almost wanted to stop !!


Its true ! This was one of my most tiring race . I was at around top 50 for the 1st 10 km and going at a decent pace . But...my legs were getting very tired and I'm not surprise . There was very little sleep this past 3 to 4 days .I was involved in a conference organised by my friend and had to fetch people to and from airport , some in the wee hours of the morning . All these distrupted my sleep pattern and rest .In fact , this 3 to 4 days , I felt very tired and sleepy and was wondering if I can do well in the GE 30 km race .

So after running for about 10 km and when we arrived after the Tugu Kebangsaan , I had an option to just run straight to Lake Garden ,get my car and go home , resulting in a DNF .But ... my mind said just persevere . So I persevere but was getting slow at the 12 to 13 km mark .

One by one , people started overtaking me , at least 50 or so . Those whom knew me were surprised that I'm at this pace and so slow . First it was Chen , then Raymond Ng . In fact , Raymond Ng did encourage me to run with him for awhile , which i managed just awhile . Suddenly I see 1 fast runner ( Hamidon ) ,walking back and I announced to Raymond , who was then 20 m in front that I want to follow Hamidon . Other people at the back 20 m behind who heard me say that laughed and thought I was joking . In fact ,I wasn't , I was really tired that those people at the back of me slowly overtook me .But I kept going because I malu to DNF as I never DNF in any race in my life before .

Later Raymond Hee also overtook me .He was also surprised at my condition but Iexplained to him and he understood .

At the junction almost reaching Jln Duta, Geraldine came from the back . I thought since she is my familiar trainning partner that I will just pace with her . It was faster then my current slow pace but it helped .

Going into Hartamas , Zulazlan also overtook us . Later as we head towards Petronas , we can see some familiar faces , including those friends who have overtaken me . So , after coming out of Petronas and into the downhill after the Hartamas Shopping Centre , I increased the speed going a slight downhill and overtook Zulazlan . It was quite a fast speed and I surprised my self that I can still go at that pace .

But as we reached the Jln Duta Tennis Courts , I slowed down again and Shine came from behind . I thought I might as well pace with him the last 5 km . But it was more of a race too coz we were also trying to outrun each other .

With the signboard showing another 3 km to go , I managed to up the pace and he as strong as ever stayed just behind me . It was hard to run away from him coz he is like a leech ! With another 1 km to go at the Lake Club , I know we are almost finishing and I upped the pace further and he stayed closely . Finally at the last 100 m , it was a very fast run to the finish and he then managed to outsprint me at the finish with just another 20 m to go and beat me by 1 second !!

Overall , I am not very happy with this race but then I can also say that with all the little rest and sleep , this is to be expected . 2ndly , I was surprised and also happy that being so very tired at the 1st 10 km and when it looked like I was going to do above 3 hours at a very slow pace , suddenly I had 2 friends to pace with at the last 15 km and it motivated me to at least get
2hr 51min 46 sec , far from my Marathon pacing , far from last year's timing of 2hr 37 min and not achieving my target of at least 2 hr 45 and below.

Try again next time , hopefully with more rest .

Tommorow (Monday) ,I'll be preapring for some major muscle aches !!