Port Dickson Half Marathon Holiday
J and I were in PD over the last weekend for a holiday getaway cum (me)running the PD International Half Marathon. We booked into the Avillion Admiral Cove, which is situated near the 6th Mile along PD main road, next to the Admiral Marina Leisure Club.
We stayed at the Avillion Admiral Cove...
Fact is, I had never been to PD my entire 29 years of existence and I was pretty excited to go there and also have a run (which I hoped to be a scenic route)... We arrived there in PD after a slight crawl along the highway at about 2:30pm on Saturday and proceeded to the hotel lobby to check in. First impressions of the place were quite disappointing, with the lobby having a natural cooling mechanism (read: windows and fan, no air-cond) and it was pretty sweltering then... The initial disappointment was compounded when they did not have any more double beds, and we were given a room with a twin bed... whereby I had to do some 'renovation' by myself..
Room no 1314...With that behind us, we settled into the room (with no view) and had a nap... It was supposed to be a laze-around-and-do-nothing holiday, and not the make-full-use-of-time-quickly-get-ready-and-go-out-sightseeing-trip we were so used to...
Collection of race t-shirt and bibs and goodie bags was at the open area next to the hotel. The t-shirt was the typical crappy cotton stuff, and the goodie bag was also laden with stuff that I do not use...
My race number and selected running vest..
Stuff from goodie bag... nothing much of use..Evening came and we took a drive towards PD town and stopped by at the pasar malam (night market) and had a stroll around..
Hustle and bustle...
Ayam percik o'er the fire...The sights and sounds reminded me of Pasar Ramadans that I used to frequent during the Puasa months. We had decided to go for seafood dinner, so we weren't looking to buy dinner at the pasar malam... however, the otak-otak and roti jala looked too tempting to resist and we finally caved in and bought some... And I tell you, it was yummy!!
Scrumptious roti jala...
Yummy otak-otak..We souted around for a seafood restaurant (there were plenty lining the main road) and settled for one which J had read of on teh internet... Since there were only 2 of us, we couldn't order much and I wasn't too keen to try anything to 'fancy' for fear of stomach repercussions the next morning during the run..
Sunday Morning:
My initial race plan was to run the race at an easy pace, and finishing just within the 2:30 set to qualify for the certificate. The finishers medal was only to be given to the 1st 100 finishers, so I wasn't really with high hopes for that...
I went down to the race area at about 6:45am after downing a half glass of milk, a twiggies bun and a box of raisins. Had my cytomax drink with me and I promptly did some warm-ups... at approx 7:20am, the organizer announced for the 21km runners to convene at the start line and to my astonishment, there were probably only about 200 odd runners (including both mens and womens category) for the half marathon. The majority of runners were taking part in the 11km run... This was where the organization started to suck pretty badly...
The handing out of race ribbons was done in a disorganized manner and the start gun went off pretty abruptly as well... And it didn't help that the race started at 7:30am... Most 21km runs start at 6am to protect runners from the heat... So I was ready to be barbequed in this race...
My initial race strategy went out the window wen I saw the number of runners... I mean, if I were to run at an easy pace, I'd probably be propping up everybody else by running in last place! Looking around, everybody seemed like 'pro experienced runners' who could easily manage a quick pace... And I seriously didn't wanna be last..
My pace started off at sub 6mins/km and I was already hovering around the bottom half... I thought to myself... crap.. this was gonna be a looooong torturous race... with the expected heat and the initial blistering pace... I was opening myself to a blow-out...
At about the 3km mark, I was joined by Jon, an expat who works in a similar line with myself... We were to pace together all the way till the end (or near the end).. It was good to have company for a little chit-chat as with the limited number of runners, we were all very spaced out and was practically running on our own the whole race...
We hit the 5km mark water station at
0:26:40 and that was where I was a bit worried with the pace... I normally never run sub 6mins/km pace in the 1st 5k, as I always like to reserve energy for the 2nd half of the race...
The 1st 5km was scenic as the route took us along the main road fronting the beachline... the whole 21km route was rolling terrain, not as hilly as the NB15km, and not particularly flat as a pancake as well... No serious climbs..
At the 10km water station, my timing read
0:55:06, and this was even faster than my 10km best so far!! I was elated, but also a bit worried at the same time. Here, I downed my 1st gel... At around the 13km mark, I told Jon that I was probably going to blow-out in the last 2-3km if we kept going at this pace and we promptly slowed down a little... I think it was an understatement as the pace didn't really seemed any slower... Haha..
At the 15km mark, I hit my lap button to read
1:24:33 and that timing was quicker than my NB15km run... I was on sub 2 hour pace if I could keep this up!! However, the last 7 - 8km of the race was run on open ground, meaning there was practically no shade, no trees, and the sun was bearing down on us... Both Jon and myself could feel the heat and we were lucky to have our own hydration bottles to constantly sip from...
The organizers should have provided 100 plus or other forms of isotonic drinks at the water stations, instead of just plain H20 as runners would lose a lot of electrolytes running in the heat... I was pretty sure more than a couple of runners would have cramped up...
Near the end of the race, with about 1km + to go, I suddenly felt the onset of cramp on my left hamstring, feaing the worst and not wanting to hobble to the finish line, I decided to slow my pace to a jog (I was on 1:50:xx timing then) and asked Jon to go ahead and not wait for me... He was real sporting and wanted to continue running with me, but I insisted as I didn't want to slow him down and make him lose out on a sub 2 hr timing... After much insistence, he finally went off and I 'jogged' the last 1km to the finish line to complete my run in
1:57:11... A personal best!!! And I also finished in 32nd position...
I was however a bit sceptical of the actual distance of the race, as I was sure that my effort vs my timing after 15km did not warrant this timing if it had been a full 21km... I suspect the actual distance is closer to 20.0 - 20.5km... However, timing is not everything, and I did as best as I could in adverse (read: hot) conditions and I must thank Jon for pacing with me all the way and ensuring I maxed out fully... I know that if I had run this race alone, I would have wilted in the heat and probably did something closer to 2:30...
Finisher's medal..
I never get my photos taken, so I had to cam-whore..Had breakfast at the hotel and checked out after 12:30pm... On the way home, we stopped by Lukut to sample the famous king buns...
The signage says it all...
You have to try this...It was actually curry chicken baked inside of a huge gigantic bun... It was pretty good and both of us couldn't finish the whole portion and had to ta pau back...
All in all, an enjoyable trip for the weekend...
Champions League Final - Over
I'm not going to blog about how Man Utd won the Champions League Final against Chelsea in Roman's backyard in a thrilling final, with everything you could ask for in a match, with a technical goal, a scrappy goal, shots against the woodwork, a red card, bloody faces, a round of slapping, theatrical fouls, extra time, penalty shoot-out, penalty shoot-out misses and a whole lot of crying and celebrating.
I'm not going to blog about how I'm a lifelong fan, since the age of 10, back in the days of Mark Hughes, and Brian McCair, Paul Ince the Guv'nor, Lee Sharpe, Denis Irwin, Paul Parker, Peter Schmeichel the Great Dane, Steve Bruce and Pallister and Andrei Kanchelskis to the current holy trinity setup of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez.
I'm not going to blog about how I held my head in my hands when Tevez missed 2 golden opportunities to finish the game, Giggs blew his chance at eternal fame with a Terry goal line clearance, and Ronaldo changing his mind midway thru his spotkick and subsequently missing.
I'm not going to blog about how I heaved a huge sigh of relief when first Didier (the dumbo) Drogba hit the post, and then Lampard just had to follow suit and then the ultimate Dumbo himself swinging his palm into Vidic's face over some irrelevant throw-in fiasco, thereby missing the shoot-out and the medal collection.
I'm not going to blog about all that. No, I will just leave it for another time. For now, the CUP is in Manchester. And that's all that matters.
Why Oh Why?
Haiya... damn sien la always check out the photos taken during runs and always see the same ol thing....
BHP Orange Run at the Curve...
In the background... AGAIN!
And..... AGAIN!!Why won't they take my pic??? Am I so fugly-wugly meh?? C'mon guys... gimme a snapshot ma... Then at least I can show to my kids next time and say.... "See, daddy likes to take part in races and runs..."
And not... ...
..."Daddy.. daddy... why you got no face one?"
..."Daddy.. daddy.. cannot see your hand one?"..Above 2 photos from NB15km courtesy of Jason Lee...
Anyway, to all the runners pictured here, sorry I didn't get your permission to post your pic up, and no offence at all.... I just wanna say, You all rock!! ...Just because you're out there keepin yourself fit...
Keep running people!!
A Loooong Weekend...
Much happened over the 3 day weekend... I had a race (the New Balance Pacesetters 15km run), I had a puncture, my parents came down to visit, I received a 'ham choi' package (in my previous post) and I got meself a pair of shades to go with my MET helmet... in a summary...
For the lengthy version.. read on... but maybe not in chronological order..
Saturday morning I received my Dolce Vita Phantom shades from
Procyon. Bought them to pair up with my white/blue MET helmet... matching kan? hehe... If you're lookin for a pair of shades, check out Procyon's page... (Dude.. free advertising, please send over a complimentary pair of shades... haha)
MET and PHANTOM... What a perfect couple..Went out in the afternoon for a spot of shopping with J and went to collect my number/vest for the NB 15km run the following morning at Pdg Merbok.. Mum and Dad stayed home as mum wasn't feelin too well..
Woke up Sunday morning at about 4:30am to get ready for the run... decided to wear my running tights instead of running shorts to avoid chafing and to test it out for next weekend's Port Dickson International Half Marathon...
Arrived at Padang Merbok at about 6:30am and downed a small pack of raisins for instant energy... The 7am start was pretty abrupt, with runners mingling at the start line and the horn blared out of nowhere...
First 2-3km was a jam-packed affair with the narrow roads and sea of runners... I wasn't able to get into a running rhythm and constantly had to dodge slower runners and walkers... the slight uphill at the start didn't really help too...
After that it was smooth flowing all the way and when I hit the 1st water station (I assumed it to be at 5km), my watch read 0:34:40... And I knew that the initial slow pace was a factor in my timing and I had to pick up the pace... I scouted for a person to pace with and saw
Arif whom I recognised from his blog that I read... Said hi to him and paced him for a while... after that I found another girl in halter straps doin a solid pace consistently (which I gathered to be about 6mins/km)... followed her tight all the way till the 2nd water station (presumably 10km) where my time was 1:01:21...
There were some hills along the way, and I had never run this route before so I didn't know where to expect the hills and where to expect the flats... At my 10km timing, I was still feeling strong and felt that I could do a sub 1:30 for this 15km run...
Kept the tempo going and went past the girl... Met up with Steven from Kota Kemuning and had a chat with him before we each went on our own pace... Finished my run in
1:28:45 and saw
Frank and
Jamie at the finishing line waiting for runners to come in... First time meeting both of them and some other runners as well... (My pleasure guys..)
For my efforts... I got a finisher's medal shaped like a New Balance shoe... wonder which model this is???
Great design medal... Something different..Yesterday, I did a solo recovery bike ride.. Wanted to do something like 30km just to get the tiredness and muscle soreness out of the system... Went riding around Bukit Rimau, Kg Jawa, Kesas Highway and had done about 29km (slightly over an hour) when my rear wheel went bob bob bob bob... Looked down and saw a flat... Haizzz... Luckily I was about 2km from home then... POndering whether to change the tube there and then or walk the bike home and change it later... With the heat and sun bearing on me, I decided that the 10 mins it takes for me to change the tube had better be spent walking home with the bike and changing in the comfort of my home...
So, a 15 min walk ensued... And I haven't changed my tube yet as of now... Yes, I am a procrastinator.
I'm Speechless...
Look at what fell on my doorstep yesterday...
No wonder it got detained and I got taxed by Kastems.. What the hell did the guy think when he packaged it like that? In fact the fella from Poslaju asked me... "Apa ni, bom ka?"...
Personally, it looks like a huge gigantic packet of 'ham choi' (salty vegetable) that you get from the wet markets... Crazy stuff this.. Its pretty heavy, and its not professionally packed... I tell you, even the sleepiest, sleep-deprived, watched footbal all night long and had no coffee for breakfast Kastems officer would spring up and take note if something like this passed thru the conveyor belt....
I'm gonna give the sender a piece of my mind.... making me waste money paying taxes. Crap.
David C or David A?
I guess the question on all Idol fans lips is... "Is it goin to be David C or David A??"... Actually I had pretty much guessed that these 2 would make it all the way to the finals.. And I got my money on David Cook to be the next American Idol..
Archuleta... puppy eyes..
Cook... modern rocker dude..Now, I'm not saying lil Archuleta is not as good as big bro Cook, but I'd say that Archuleta is a little one-dimensional, while Cook cuts it better with a wider diversity of tunes. Me? I don't have a musical ear (so to speak), but both Davids are pleasing on me ears... and I seriously don't know if any of them finalists ever go out of tune, or hit the wrong pitch, cos everytime they get on stage, I feel they do no wrong.
Probably the majority may vote for lil teenager Archuleta, given that he's got that boyish charm, puppy eyes and forever feeling giddy and 'surprised' that he survived to the next round (dun act astonished boy!!) again and again and again... but he does sing a mean ballad... and make Lennon sound pretty normal..
Cook on the other hand, wasn't even trying to be an Idol in the initial stages.. accompanying his younger bro to the auditions and finally gettin in at the expense of lil bro... (wonder if there's any resentment in the Cook family). David Cook looks and exudes the aura of a modern rocker... along the lines of Doug Robb (Hoobastank) and ex-Idol finalist Daughtry.. His tunes are more diversified, his style more appealing and he'd probably swoon more than a couple of female fans with his unkempt look and devil-may-care appearance..
So here's lookin forward to next week with bated breath. Like I said, I'm on Cook's bandwagon all the way. What about you?
I Have Not Been....
updating my blog lately...
I have been lazy. I have been busy. I have been tied up with personal stuff. I have been bogged down with work stuff. I have been going thru the motions. I have been living in a daze. I have been flitting in and out of reality.
And therefore, I have not been updating my blog lately.
And I will, ..... in due time.
2008 Goals Update (April)
2008 Goals:Distance To Run: 1168km
Races To Run: 6 Half Marathons
Weight To Lose: 6 kgs
What I've Done:Distance Run: 515km
Races Done: 5
- KL Int Towerthon- KLIM Half Marathon- BHP Orange Run- Shoe String Run- NB Klang Pacers Half MarathonWeight Lost: 2 kg
What's Left To Do:Distance To Go: 653km
What's Left To Race: 4 Half Marathons
What's Left To Lose: 4 kgs
Am I On Track?Tired, and losing focus, but still gonna do it...
