MPSJ Run

I had a great time.

Probably because the event location is just 5 minutes walk from our home. And it's a 10k, my favorite distance. (To be honest right now 21k is a marathon distance!) And it's small, so I bet there will be Milo (I thought wrong. So disappointed.)

The race started out nice and light. Saw no one famous, except for an ex ironman and his hot young thing, but I saw a lot of schoolmates and teachers from my school. We all live in the same area after all. The course had no serious incline, only very minor false flats, but one puny downhill. I started out targeting my pacers. After 3km, saw this lady who kept a very even pace - even during small downhills. She was so even, I got so relaxed. I ran by her side long enough to realize she might be annoyed with me, so I struck out a conversation. I told her I've been pacing her. We ended up deciding to run together so I could pace correctly and she could run faster at the end (my idea - told her let's pick up a few 100ms before)

The route was nice - one big loop around major usj areas. the downside of knowing the route is that you know when it's going to end and at one point I was dying to stop knowing it's still far away. I made a promise to run the whole 10km to see if I still have the stamina. The traffic was light and water stations plenty but kept small - a few times crowds were bigger than the water station (1 table). One junction was unpatroled (spelling? or does this word even exist?) thank God there were no cars.

When we reached the last 300m, I decided to run a little bit faster. My knees were hurting at that point and so were my ankles. I crossed the line at 62 minits. Not my best timing and despite the fact that I should be happy with the fact that it does not suck my ego still wish I could hit lower than 60minutes. don't we all.

The bad news is that I have overworn my five fingers. The toes are out of their toe sockets and thank god i have a spare ff. I realized that I've been using them for nearly 3 years. What a good investment since I don't really need to change them often. Harris wants me to run wearing shoes but I have grown so accustomed without them I just couldn't.

Anyway, I had a good SS session last Saturday. I am serious about it being one of the hardest sports in the world. I have newfound respect for yogis, dancers, or gymnasts these days. Too often we endurance athletes think that our sports is the cream of the crop, but seriously. One of my favorite athlete, who is a triathlon coach and a top triathlete for her age group in the states (she did so well for the ironman kona) said that she picked up pole dancing after her racing season as an 'active rest' and she was so blown away by the difficulty level. Imagine doing the 'flag' - where your body is parallel to the pole, arms straight. Kau mampuuuu??

The Runner

Last night I went out for a run. A short one. I haven’t been really training when it comes to my running. I prefer to let my knees take more rest than they needed, only running when the urge hits. And last night my lack of running showed.

It’s just one of those days when you feel wistful. For the most part, I am ok with what I have and what I could do. For every shortcomings I have, there are many others who couldn’t even enjoy a simple walk. But there would be days where I feel somewhat frustrated with the situation.

My running partner was fast and seemingly has no limits to her energy. She kept a fast, stiff pace, and the only thing that was more audible than the steady poundings of our feet against the tarmac was my labored breathing. Granted, we did spend most of the run talking; but she was steadily moving forward, and I was struggling to keep abreast and the same time trying to regulate my breathing. It was at that moment I realized what a far cry this was to the Me before – the only struggling I did was during trainings where I really pushed myself, and even then I wanted to pant. The old me was not fast, but at least she was strong.

Sometimes I miss feeling the buzz of wind passing through my ears. I miss knowing that running is THE best thing I have in my life, the one thing I could do and do it right, do it well. That sense of belonging was what helped shaped me in my teenage years, where friends learned the art of smoking and chasing the dragons, wild parties and what have yous, and I was at the track, doing my runs up the bleachers and around the dreaded ‘oval’. Some girls were the Prom Queen, the Socialite, the Class Nerd, the Trainwreck, and I was always in the middle – the Runner, not too glamorous but not a complete social overcast, complete with the rubber elastic around my wrist so I could tie my hair up anywhere, anytime.

Nevertheless I finished the run with the faster-than-I-would-like pace. I’m proud that well, at least I still ‘have it’. I might be gasping like I’m having a heart attack on a flat route, but I finished it, that’s what matters. And the best part was my knees were not complaining. In fact, they have been silent for some time now.

What’s your weekend cardio? I love the weekend. Too many things to do, too little time. Cherish every single second!

Random

I've been hitting it hard during the weekends and taking it easy (almost sloth like) during the week. Workload's taking the blame, followed by my new place, also the fact that I'm sick - again.

 Sometimes during the long drive back I look at the roads wistfully and think of how amazing if I get to test drive them instead of being stuck in a car. I am forever finding new routes to discover, new sights to see. I would love to run the whole way of LDP, or if I had to compromise, from the Sunway stretch to Penchala toll.

 Also the USJ-Nilai highway stretch, what a fucking trip that would be on foot. The rolling routes... amazing. 

 In the meantime, I'll be doing the Siemens run. The first time I did my 'official' 10k race, it was this one last year, and I spent the whole day feeling like Marge Simpson, like I'm a superwoman.

 

The Day of Energy

No one else has updated their escapades so far, I guess running a 21k or a 42k in the humid heat takes a toll out on everyone. When we left there were still people walking about in a daze everywhere around Cyberjaya it seems. If one didn't know any better, the whole scene looked like a grisly zombie scene - except all these zombies wore race ID number. We saw a couple people limping painfully and god only knows how far along they have to shuffle to the end. I love the inspiration the sight built inside me.

Anyway, I ran a pretty good race. If I was keeping score, I would say that this would be a PB for me. When I said I ran a pretty good race, I didn't mean the speed. I could have finished really fast but suffered throughout, or ran ok and didn't enjoy the race. No, what I meant is that the whole thing just felt put together. I ran the whole way strong, and finished equally well. I wasn't thirsty, and my knees didn't ache (but my ankles did, but it's not because of the run), and I paced myself really well, and I managed to beat the mental fatigue (mental fatigue for a10km race? I must be really rusty!)

Most of all, I managed to guide my cousin into her first medal run and a good timing for someone who's never done a 10k or any race in her life. When she did the Malakoff 7km, she walked the entire way. Starting at the race yesterday night, she told me to wait for her and that she'll never get the medal cause the cut off time was 1hr 30mins. I told her I'm going to help her get it. I told her I'm going to run with her until the halfway mark, where then I'll leave her to run on our own.

So we started slowly. I counseled her on the breathing. Breathing for me is the most crucial form in any exercise. Breathing hurts when you are tired. You began to take short breaths that don't really help. What you need is to fight it and regulate your breathing. It sucks, but it really does help. So I told her to breathe, and she ran with me the whole time. When she slowed down, I ran beside her again to make sure she was ok. At one point she gasped out, "I can't do this!" and I was like, "You can! Just slow down if this speed hurts but don't walk. And BREATHE!!!"

I left her at the 5km mark and went on my way. Met my other cousin at the goodie bag collection and later found my dad gorging on watermelon without even bothering to lineup for the medal! He told us later he must have had 20 cups of water. I think he enjoyed this part of the race more than anything! Then my cousin called me, her voice elated. She finished the race at 1hr 4mins! Personally, I think that it's a GOOD timing, for someone who's never RAN in a race before, and for a first 10k attempt. I remember when I first attempted a 10k race, my time was like 1hr 15mins. She did it. And the best thing is that she was so excited and happy and bubbling up with post race euphoria and she kept on saying, "Ohmigod thank you Nadia! Thank you!"

I was hoping to see Kash, Haza, Ian, Syah, Julin, etc and anyone else who were running so that I could shout out words of encouragements, but I guess the 10k course doesn't cover much. I did see a couple of people I know from my karate class, also old uni mates.

One bad point about the race:

1) Unorganized medal collection. The runners have to go all the way inside to get their goodie bags and even then there were no proper lines for runner to queue properly. People were left confused and cutting into lines and wandering about. Many people didn't know where to get their medal. Sometimes lines were nonexistent.

2) (make that 2 bad points) NO MILO DRINK! Why??? Or did I just leave this one yet again??? I miss my ol' trusty Milo drink :(

Personally, I was glad I had a good race. I had a REALLY good workout earlier in the morning which energized me to run later in the night. I arrived home at noon, showered, ate a really good meal of nasi with telur mata and kicap and slept for 2 hours before getting ready. Not before shoveling a bowl of mee rebus of my cousin's hahah.

I guess that's about it from me. Looking forward to read everybody's race experience.

Honey, I'm Back

The result is out: I am deemed fit to run again.

 After a weeklong back to back checkup with my doctor (which involved a lot of waiting), a long MRI session in which I was hoping for a good looking McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy analysing my scans, and a series of knee tests, he said that aside from the genetic flaw of my bone structure and the spurs already formed and the bone degeneration at some places, technically, there shouldn't be any reason I should not run. He would have preferred I don't run, but walk instead, and we have agreed to settle on doing moderate distances.

 Marathons are out. The training it takes to get there will make my knees cry, "Uncle!". Forget about trails, even the thought of them makes my knees cringe reflectively like some kind of a Pavlovian response. Not going to unearth the Nepal memories again!

 To be honest, I am in a cross between euphoria and trepidation. I haven't been running for 3 months? I have let go of all running things - schedules, blogs, etc - and even though they seemed hard at first by now it has become natural for me not to think of running. The first month, I would drive past the lake on the way back from work and out of habit would turn my head and look at the runners to see if I could catch a glimpse of familiar figures. Because I would not be joining them as I had many many times before, I would feel a twinge. But now I just drive past, and if I happened to be glancing at the runners, I would think, "Damn, that's tiring!"

 In my quest to compensate the cardio benefits of running in my life, I have stuffed as many other sports that I could into my busy week. I bought a bike. I took swimming seriously (to be honest, sometimes I regretted it. I miss swimming and NOT caring about techniques), I in-line skate like crazy (the. best. rush. ever), I continued with karate (awesome drills!), and incorporate yoga in between (seriously, yoga is definitely not for grandmas only. You do NOT need a gym after giving this a try).

 I have been carrying the 'runner' tag for too long on my back until the last few months when I began to enjoy other activities. I became obsessed with sparring, I practiced speed skating uphills, I map out cycling routes that would make me die halfway, planned out swimming drills, and would go crazy if I missed out on one vinyasa class. I am not a runner anymore - I am a cardio freak!

  So now I am left trying to figure out my weekly schedules. I have crammed them full until Sunday. Everyday is filled with either yoga, skating, swimming, biking and karate. I don't know when I could squeeze in some running time without jeopardizing my family and the wrath from my soon to be neglected boyfriend hehe. I still want to have friends after running races you know. Even my mom is starting to be unhappy with how dark I have become and how unwomanly (since I'm decked out in tshirts and sports bag and flip flops with uncombed hair in between). But that is another story.

 Anyway, my first race for 2010: Energizer Night Race. I registered for a 10km. With my dad. I don't really like hyped up races but I'm not complaining. After all, a race is still a race. I might be starting my run tomorrow... or maybe Tuesday. We'll see, won't we?

 All I know right now is, "Damnit, running is tiring!" 

 I think I'm just going to walk.

 

 

too lazy to write

so I'm going to put in pictures...

My dad posing before we head out to UPM at 545 am. He looks like an excited  7 year old school boy on his first day of school. He ran a good race, considering that the route had double hills at the end and that his knees weren't really good as well. He thought that the Milo and 100 plus drinks that were being served out weren't free, so he just waited there dying of thirst until I arrived (I had the money in my pants). When I told him that they were gloriously free, he was ecstatic. I think he must have had 10 Milo cups.

The Great Eastern Women 10k. The elite runners were in front of the pack. This was just minutes before the race begins. It was cloudy. I don't like running in cloudy weather. 

 The race for me was quite horrible. I didn't know why but as I was just starting I started to have that discouraging thought, something like, "Oh, I'm going to get so tired," and sure enough that was what I felt throughout the whole race. 3km was a LOONG distance to cover. I was so surprised at my lack of mental strength. It was a flat route mostly, for which my legs were grateful for, but I was kinda hoping some hills were involved. I like hilly courses, especially going uphill. I think I run even faster uphill than downhill. 

 When I reached kilometre 5, I felt lightheaded. I wasn't sure what the reason was; I actually nibbled on a piece of bread earlier in the morning when I never ate anything in any of my race before. They had drinks out ever 2.5k. I drank some at 5k. 

 I was actually struggling at the 8km. My breathing was a bit labored and I felt sick. The last stretch was near to the ocean so it was nice to see the sun peeking through the clouds. The whole time I was using this matsalleh girl as my pacer - she was running steadily which was was I need, and I told myself to not lose the sight of her. 

 The best part of running in a race for me is that - pacing. I like to target someone or a couple of someone in a race and then challenge myself to try to keep up or beat them. During KOTR, I had several pacesetters - and whenever I sped by one I targeted another one. I find that doing that appeals to the inner competitive geek in me - I get to compete with my pacesetters - and its either I win or lose.

 Anyway I'm going to retrace back to Mizuno run, which was a greeeeaat run. I wasn't even tired. I was pacing this girl in a blue headscarf and at kilometer 5 she picked up the pace and left me waay behind. But since the end of the race were just hills, I caught up with her. I was so proud - hey my knees were burning and throbbing like they're Brazilian dancers on fire.

 One thing helped me a lot in the Great Eastern with my knees. I went to this shop called Motion Sport in Paragon Mall, initially wanting to look for a pair of headbands for my boyfriend's shaggy hair during football, but I went out of it with this knee contraception called Patella Stabilizer. And it was AWESOME. My knees didn't even utter a squeak. After the race before we head back, my friend and I headed back to  the shop where I bought another pair for my dad.

 I'm having a headache... guess I have to cut this supposedly long entry with many pictures short. i know what a downer!

Energized

I'm back! 

 I have been terribly busy the past few weeks. I know it's a shitty excuse to use, but I AM really busy with work. My new job's amazing, but that's not what I wanted to write about. I'll keep this update short because I want to do a longer one with pictures.

 Last two weeks, I ran the Mizuno wave run with my dad. It was my dad's first official running event - and he was so CUTE! He laid out his pants and running shoes (I bought for his birthday) and knee guards and what not, and got excited when I gave him his running bib. He reminded me to bring my receipts and i.d for verification, cautioning me that it's important. The next morning he woke up at 5, told me he couldn't sleep really well. And he insisted that I snapped a picture of us in our bibs. SO CUTE. I was amused and happy and nervous and glad that I was doing it with him. 

Last week I went to singapore for the great eastern women 10k. The race was the worst 10k in history, but it was also a good one since I ran a good time - with injured knees, I mean! I was so surprised with myself. My timing in the mizuno run was bad - normal with my swollen knees and the hills and all, but the great eastern was also better than some of my 10ks, especially my earlier ones. I think with mizuno I did 11km in 1:20, but for the great eastern I did 1:06 mins. haha ok it's NOT FAST. But I haven't been running - the last time I ran was the mizuno race, plus my knees were so bad, and before the mizuno race I didn't run for weeeks.

 okay the phone's ringing for the third time. later!