Having threaded thru life in a bumbling manner, perhaps this attempt at documenting faults and failures will help me have a fresher outlook of life.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Value of Friendship
It has been quite an eventful 3 weekends in a row, much to the chagrin of my wife who wonders what do i do during weekends. First, there was Century Ride, then there was the PD Triathlon and recently the Malakoff University Duathlon Series. Its not my objective to write race reports all the time, but the recent event caused me to ponder awhile and look at the bigger picture.
While running back to the finish line (I didn't know that UM is such a challenging course with short hills for both run and bike), feeling knackered, i was accompanied (what I thot was two friends) by three frens, who has finished the run and was concern by my pace. The first (Phoebe) paced me about 50 m in front while the other two (Ihshal and Adeline) ran along side coaxing me to give that extra bit and motivating me to run and not walk. In fact, i even managed to overtake another runner towards the finish line, when i thot i have nothing else to give, such is the power of motivation.
Looking back, to all the race bunnies which had motivated me, the three above, Maysenn and Joanna, it brings new meaning to the word friendship. Its not about the race, its about the willingness to celebrate the joy of victory together. I wud also like to that Sulyna who came to watch.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Weekend Warrior - The PD International Triathlon
How the event unfold was the following:-
Our swimmer was flagged of at 8:20 am and he came in under 30 minutes to tag Chipang our cyclist. Now, normally for a 40km course, one would average about 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 minutes. Coming to the 1 hour 30 minutes mark, I received news that our cyclist had a puncture and could be late, it was about 10:45 at that moment of time.
There were only a handful of us left (6 or so runner) and our swimmer walked up to me asking me where our cyclist was, and when would I start running. His subsequent remark made me more panic, when he uttered "Oh, please, please..I need to have this medal after all the efforts I have put into swimming".
I sat there feeling helpless, since if the cyclist came back too late, it would be almost difficult for me to make the run and come back within cut off, and worse still, if he did not have the replacement tubes and pump, we will not finished and not get our medals. That was the most uncomfortable feeling that I had although I had agreed with Cipang that this triathlon was only for fun. I also was not sure how i could help Cipang out there.
15 minutes later, he came back and i rushed to take over the arm band to carry out my run at 11 am. It was blazing hot and some of the water station did not have any more 100+ or were on the verge of wrapping up. Standing down or giving up is not an option, I had to carry on with the run irrespective of the weather. Word of encouragement from fellow runners on the other side of the road encourage me to carry on and as I managed to overtake a few runners, i got to feel better. As I was about to reach the 5 km mark, i saw my close fren Phoebe walking. I slowed down and walk with her coaxing her to take my water as she had cramped. She assured me that she will recover at the next water station and i pushed on.
At the 7.5km mark, i was greeted by an Angel who had cycled to look for me to keep me company. With her coaxing, i had managed to keep a steady pace and managed to catch up with Patsy and paced Patsy to the finishing line. I had made several walking stops and had it not been for the encouragement by Patsy and this Angel, i would not have made good time back under the hot scorching sun of PD. I reached back at the finishing line and was greeted by the medals and a cold towel.
I had not let my team down.........what a weekend.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Century Ride 2008
Upon collecting some of the goodies and stuff, we then went out to recce the start point of the ride which happen to be closer to Chemor town (ie 10km from Ipoh). Back we went for rest and pre ride bike check and some carbo loading at Tesco extra Ipoh.
Early morning of Sunday, we pushed of towards the start point and were there much like PCC normal 160km ride. Except rather then the usual 60 odd riders, we were amassed with 400+ officially riders and "unofficial" riders. PCC was well represented with familiar faces such as Adzim, Andrea, Azhar, Chris Milton, Daniel Lim, Lim Yew Meng, Lisa, PK and family (already one small peloton), Terry and William. Other familiar faces were Abu, Fadzil, Jaja, Ihashal, Azmar, Shazly, Stupe, Laif and Wendy (she is so much prettier in real life).
I would say that atmosphere was like a Competitive Carnival kind of atmosphere and the makeshift car park was packed. We checked in and was flagged of at about 7:10 am. The route and Terrain was (as typically described by PCC) described as rolling hills was actually flat downhill for 40km and then short undulating walls of climbs. For those who did not do the full route, it can be described as a mix of two of Puncak Alam Dragon Back, Temple Section before Ijok, Batu Arang and Sungai Tengi all in one ride. It was quite a fast ride for those who manage to cling on to the Peloton but was a lonely ride for me back to the starting point as I suffered severe cramps.
Unfortunately, I have not been heeding the advice that I usually give most people, drink every 15 minutes on long rides – well, I deserved the cramps that hit me immediately after the second water station. I would like to record my thanks to Azmar though for stopping by and dropping a few salt tablets to help me recover. Those bus stops along the Kuala Kangsar Sungai Siput road look very tempting though, for me to stop and have a nap. The weather was, however quite beautiful though, (wonder how KRI manages to managed that as well) so I pulled myself back to start line after 7 hours.
Overall, i would like to congratulate KRI for the enjoyable ride. The Marshalling was excellent, the water stop was very good and that last water stop with the sponge bath really helped me.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Life goes On
My first daughter is already in Australia in her final semester doing Mass Communications (funded by her dad), while the genius of the family (IQ-180), the second daughter has graciously accepted a Government Scholarship (she was formally funded by Taylors) pursuing Actuarial Science.
I suppose the inner feeling within me is somewhat mixed and confused. On one hand, you see both your daughter as being independent and flying the coop so to speak, while you try to come to terms with your age - feeling that you are suddenly very-very old. This feeling gets further muddled when you try to pursue a healthy lifestyle of sports and outdoors.
You sometimes feel that most lifestyle goes through the learning, development, operations and later on renew/review (penchant). My life is supposedly on operations, but i now feel like going into the penchant stage.
If i were to review my life, there are so many gaps, that i wish i could have been more adventurous and done better. Moving on, i now try to seize the day while always trying something new. This lifestyle can sometime take a toll on your family, but i sometime feel that time is of the essence and which i might not have the luxury and enough of.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Trip to Singapore - Change of Scenery
Arrived in Singapore on Tuesday evening, changed my ticket from Sunday to Saturday, since most of my frens wanted to go back to Malaysia early and no one can entertain me in Singapore ;-), which was aefinitely good decision which I had found out later. Singapore is very much different then what I use to remember before, having been posted there in late 1980's to work with the PSA (Port of Singapore).
They put me up at Copthorne King, which i realized was way out of nowwhere (as far as Singapore is concern) near Havelock road. Having to walk 20 minutes to the nearest MRT, thus curtailed my movement. Got me a StarHub prepaid mobile number for me to call some of my Singaporean frens easily, i then roam China Town that night.
Meeting days was full of food from morning till nite much so until i found out that I had put on 7 kilos within that 7 days absense from excercise. On Friday, having pulled a no show at the meeting, I went galavanting with my Singaporean Tour Guide (Dennis & Jeff) to 6 Bike Shop and one Sports shoes shopping complex. This was done in the 10 hours that was available.
The 6 Bike Shops were - Tay Cycle (Specialized & Giant stuff), Bike Haus (Tri suits), Swiss Valley Cycle (BMC, Campy Stuff), Performance Cycle (Italian Bikes and Jerseys), Cycleworks (Pinarello stuff) and Boon Cycle (cheaper loose items). At queensway Comple, got me a running shoes to replace the NB shoes that was a bit undersized.
What even surprises me more is the fact that those jokers, changed their mind, to go back that same night to Malaysia. Of course they asked me whether I would accompany them back, me being a compliant and safe person decided not to follow and had to be sent to another friends house to bunk in for the night - (my flight tickets was already confirmed and I dislike trouble). Next morning, not wanting to be imposing on that friend, i decided to "ronda" Sim Lim Complex for some IT stuff. Went back at just after 4 pm to pick my bags and just in time to pushed of to Changi for my flight back.
Luckily I had managed to pack my goodies into Dennis's car much so that i had a lighter luggage when i came back.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Nothing Much to Add
New Balance 15km (18/05/2008)
Went to New Balance 15km run at Padang Merbok, the day before I have to be on duty for IMPACT (International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism). The usual suspect was there, Adeline, Ariff, Yusran, Zailan, Phoebe and surprisingly my industry friend Shereen. Paced myself normally and survived the first 7.5km in about 50 mins,although the start was a bit lazy and slow affair.
By the time i reached Double hill, i decided to walk up the hill and rest while run downhill again to the finish line. This strategy worked for me before and i did just that. I was accompanied by a lady who was 5 month pregnant and we strike conversation. As I was coming down the hill behind Bank Negara, Phoebe turn up and kept me company back to the finishing line (phobe had finished the race 15 minutes ahead). It was a wonderful gesture and I appreciate it very much. Managed to finish the race in an unofficial 2 hours or there about. Spirits was good, but my tummy wasn't thanking me, felt like throwing up. After about 15 mins rest, and as we were walking to the car park, i decided to donate some baja (from my mouth) to the flowers and grass of Padang Merbok.
IMPACT - Being the Liason Officer (LO) 19-23/05/2008
LiasonOfficer (aka Proffessional GRO) to Foreign Guest coming here for International Conference and being confered status of Country Guest. I was assigned a guy from canada who was not very picky and was very professional. So, I had a good time and job was relatively easy. But that week saw my training regime went out the Window.
Cameron Highland Bike ride (31/05/2008)
How do you celebrate a week off not training but with a long bike ride to Cameron. If it was Andrea, I am sure she would not have done this ride (it doesn't match her rational of bike ride distance should exceed driving distance to the meeting point by 4:1), but Ariff, Kevin Han, Clarence, May Senn, Adeline and me decided to go up to Cameron last Saturday. We drove to Tapah and started the ascent at about 8:30 am. We reached Ringlet at about 11:30 am and really felt spent. But our intention is to climb at least up to the Bharat Tea House to have scones and tea and we reached that destination at about 12:15 pm.
As the weather was not permitting (dark clouds looming), we voted unanimously to go down just after May Senn's parents pick her up from Strawberry Park. They came to pick her up at 2:15 pm and we pushed down trying to beat the rain. There was slight drizzle and we made it back safely to the car at about 4:00 pm. Celebration with Mee Rebus tulang and Nasi Lemak was the order of the day. Went back to KL at about 5:30 after resting and cleaning up. Interesting 105 km ride. Calories used 4500.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A-Farmosa Triathlon - a spectators view
A must get is the Garmin GPS Muv which though nagging as it is, is a useful tool. Late in arrival due to highway congestion and we took a detour via old road to Rembau/tampin via Seremban. memories of journey - SLOW.
Registration and check in (2:40 to 3:30)
Slow and chaotic, Triathlon check was ok, but lodging was quite slow. Went back to pick up dinner vouchers as we forgot them at the club house. Muahahahah
SPRINT event (4:00 pm to 6pm)
My first view and experience of the Famed A-farmosa (monkey) lake. Famous quips about the lakes:- "its nutritiously better then PowerGel", "You can go in with white triathlon suite and come out brown","The smell is something like dead fish" and a few other which cannot be repeated on this blog. The kids gets a 5 minutes start while adults start at about 4:05 pm. It was fast race to say the least.
The bike route is a bit sandy in parts but nothing to shout about and so is the 3km run. quite easily doable if urs truly can swim.
Dinner at Cowboy town is interesting (7:15pm to 9:30pm)
had some nice food, and get to meet a lot of friends. Its a good bonding session.
Race Day (6:30 am to 11:30 am)
Race day at monkey lake saw many newbies there, frightful experience for many who have never "smell" the lake and those who were eager to go into the water and had to thread water 5-10 minutes before start. By the time the race start, many are left cold and frantic. nevertheless, the race went on smoothly with very minor casualty. Its amazing to to see people like Mok and Schubert out of water in less then 25 minutes.
On bike leg, the pros did it in about 1 hr and 5 minutes and the run was completed in less then 40 minutes.
What was interesting for me in volunteering as a photographer is this:-
a) To take note of frens timing so that I can get the sequencing of photos right
b) To know where are the critical points so that I can take photos of my frens when they are on swim, bike and run
c) To position myself properly at finishing line to capture their moments of joy.
Lessons learnt and takeaway:-
a) Photography can be tiring if done alone and trying to cover as much grounds
b) Doing relay is not as satisfying as doing it alone, be it sprint. Its better to do sprint, and u have the whole SBR all done by u and ur own effort then to participate in a Triathlon as part of the relay team, though I wud still participate a relay team if there is opportunity, since i dont swim. I have to start learning to swim now.
c) At present moment Duathlon is more my scene, and will do more if opportunity presented itself.
d) I really respect the race with people who races with oneself as oppose to racing with ur buddy, it breeds better character.
e) My hats of to all my triathlete frens who completed the race.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Possibly as Painful as Childbirth - BROGA Classic
Much like my bicycle ride to BROGA with PCC. I still remember the question by PK and DonChan last week, "Mac, should we follow the P2K boys and MKH to BROGA?". I had to repond "Yeah, it is a good prelude to Interstate...". But alas, the ride to BROGA is typically a ride to endure pain and the pain is excruciating - must be like child birth, and much like child birth, no matter how much pain, we seem to be looking for more pain to enjoy.
Well, yesterday PCC was joined full force by more then 30+ riders (some who has graduated from the Thursday Nite ride) on a trip to BROGA. I tried to pace the peloton out of Tekala at about 26-28km/hr, so that the late riders can catch up and also set a reasonable pace for things to come. But no, after Semenyih, some riders in the peloton lost patience and started shooting out at 32-35km/hr. By Lenggeng, some were already out of breath, while I had a quiet Kopi O Ais and nasi lemak at a shop around the corner.
Ariff, Laif and me decide to push of early, but alas, our intention didn't go unnoticed, a heard of P2K boys swarmed us before the ride up the first hill before Pantai. We were still doing OK until comes Bukit Tangga. After being passed by Sayuti and Bikepro Lim as if we were standing still, my perservarence went thru the window. Receiving a call from someone halfway up the hill also doesnt help.
Made it down Bukit Tangga and sped thru to Kuala Klawang. Caught up with Joanne and one MKH guy and we worked together a paceline of between 30-32 into Klawang. We reached Klawang Petronas at 10:45 am and took our deserving stop there. We then pushed off towards TiTi and Peres at about 11:15am, the peloton was kind enough to wait for me to rehydrate myself.
While going into Titi, we managed to catchup with the MKH peloton and made it together as a group towards Peres. Peres climb sorted out the man(old man..that is) from the boys. Old man like me tend to drop like flies and on hill climbs just about 1 km before the summit, I didn't have anymore energy. Only the "hand of god" by Vong, William and one P2K motorcyclist help me up to the summit. I had cramped out big time and while making myself back to Tekala, at the foothill of Peres, i was struggling up the hill balancing between pain of cramps and the ability to drive up the hill. Luck was with me and I was joined by Ariff who gave me water to cool down my thighs.
That helped me back from the dead and we worked as a team to get back to our parking area at Tekala. I owe a lot of people this time round, for the push, the water and the buddy spirit. Its the spirit of team work that I am so happy to see out of this ride.
I take a bow.....
PS reminder: Never do a 10km run before a long ride to BROGA the day before
Monday, April 14, 2008
Tiring weekend - Flat and Hill
Not having enough mileage, was tempted out of bed again by Don Chan's message to ride the Sempah Bentong ride starting at 9 am. It rained heavily that morning and the thots of snuggling in warm blanket did cross my mind 5-6 times. Went off at 7:45 from home and reached Sempah at 8:40 am. Unpacked and was streaming downhill again at breakneck speed until lost a bit of steam near entrance of Bentong town. Came back was torturous, though the draft that wong CC and Lisa oon provided was ok untill the last 15km. Help out fellow rider with puncture and was late back into sempah at nearly 1:00 pm
Total distance this weekend of about 166km. Damn, i use to cover 160km in a day, now it is so damn difficult to cycle 160 km in two day. Better buck up before interstate.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Keep Moving Forward
Ah well, on the happy side, i managed to shave of 15 minutes of Mizuno Wave 10k run, didnt walk at all and kept running all the way.
Sad side, didnt get medal though i was below the cutoff of 1 hr 20min, better luck next 10km run.
My guardian Angel (literally and physically) was there to coax me along. I dont know why, she seems to inject strength in me. I felt pity for her somewhere near Concorde hotel as she was already overheating with the wings on her back and quips by runners passing by. But it was all fun.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Different Kind of Racing in Sepang

Met a few IronMan over there chilling out

These guys were going to participate in the Open Category and they seem fast even standing still

In actual fact the peloton was very fast and u can see teams from Singapore going head to head with the MSN and continental Teams


Overall, we had a blast enjoying the event and good time with the Letua Team.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Seen any good Movies lately
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Lonely Malaysian - Bah Magoh/Long Sheridan

It is amazing that in our endeavour to achieve a state of developed country, there are still people who lived below the poverty line. Are we forgeting these people?
Who are looking into the affairs of these Penans. ?
More of these images on the following links http://www.flickr.com/photos/fayeosman/ and http://www.pbase.com/tanboonen/long_seridan_to_ulu_magoh
I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, but i think this girl is very plucky and brave to have roughed it out in places where even the trekker had thought it risky, took a lot of tumble and with the desmise of her shoes, had to survive on slippers for most of the trekking. Salute!!!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
CyclingNews - CNY Holiday
When you have 4 days of holiday break, you then looked out for some interesting rides. Well, the first ride for me was to Frasers on Thursday. It was a day of riding and support car driving for the whole of the day. How the event unfold was as follows:-
Got out of the house to meetup with Weina and Jaja at the Shell petrol station at 0645 am and convoyed with them to Kuala Kubu. We reached KKB at 0745 and preped ourselves while waiting for the rest. Soon, Fadzil(CK) and his friend Jamil came along. We were also joined by AJ (Mr Malakoff), Zamani (ex LeTua rider) and Razak. All six of us left earlier at about 0840 , leaving Zamani and Razak to catch up later.
Zamani caught up with me at the dam and we decided to cycle together until he found me to slow and decided to start sprinting to catchup with AJ. By the 16th kilometer, Razak had caught up with me and was pushing of to the front to catchup with AJ and Jamil who must have been about 1-2 kilometers ahead. Decided to wait at the 25th Kilometer mark near the waterfall for the girls and we reached GAP about 2 hours after start.
We decided to climb up to Frasers using the blocked road as Zamani assured us that it was passable by bike and we pushed off up the 15% gradient and only managed about 5km until we had to turn back as there was a huge sinkhole. After refueling at GAP, we decided to go down to KKB for our birthday lunch feast with CK and we reached KKB at 1255. What was memorable to me was how fast the crosswind and headwind that I nearly flew off with the bike going downhill near the dam.
Knowingly, we decided to wait for the Tria boys and girls who has decided to start from Hospital Orang Asli and shud be passing KKB by about 1-2pm as we had anticipated. There were some casualties from their ride and i decided to give one of them a lift back to HOA as he had a twisted knee tendon. We left at about 3 pm. Curiousity brought me to investigate the Hulu Yam route and upon seeing it, i thought I better stay around near HOA just in case my services was called upon as a support car driver.
As if making my wish come true, the call came at about 4:55 pm to pickup another casualty near Batu Dam, and upon sending him back to his car, some of the riders had reached the last checkpoint (HOA) at about 1805pm. We sat down discussing the ride and later all of us left HOA at almost 1845pm tired and knackered.
9th February 2008
Feeling sadistic and wanting more of the endorphin rush, decided to follow the Fadzil(CK) and geng to undertake the Broga Classic ride so as to answer some the debate posed by Ariff and May Senn. Having decided on the last minute, which as at 0550 am, i rushed out of bed and packed my bike and stuff leaving the house at 0620 while reaching Batu 18 at about 0700 just about to see Jaja unpacking her bike and getting ready. We were joined shortly by CK, Radzi and AJ (they are old Putra Boys). Meeting Shazly at the bridge, we pushed off toward Tekala where we rendevoused with the Tria/IronMan participants (Adzim, Ariff, Maysenn, Laif, Dicky, Bacin, Adeline, Ihshal, Chan, Zamani and Zabil)
We pushed of for Semenyih and was crusing at about 30km/hr and hit Broga for refueling. At we entered Lenggeng, Jaja and Radzi had a puncture and Ariff, May Senn CK and Zamani stayed back to make sure everything is OK. The rest of us pushed off to Bukit Tangga and we arrived at Klawang Petronas at 1200. While coming down Bukit Tangga at about 70km/hr, there was a hugh gust of wind that nearly make my hugh body mass fly of the road. That was hell of a scary moment.
Leaving Klawang Petronas, the guys set off at quite a pace that I decided to drop back and cycle alone at my own pace to Peres by the time we reached the foothills of the Peres climb. I suddenly realized that its quite a scary moment as my energy was sapped and there was no handphone coverage. Will I be left alone, how will the guys reached me, how will I contact them.? Your mind really plays tricks on you when one is knackered. About 6km before the peak of Peres, I metup with Sazly, Laif, Ihshal and Adeline who waved me down by the side of the road to enjoy a cool shower underneath a small waterfall. It was the most glorious sight that I have ever seen - the people and the cool water.
I think, much to my comrades relief that I made it, they pushed off back to Peres leaving me to enjoy my shower. Ariff, CK, May Senn and Jaja arrived about 15 minutes later and we pushed of together back to Peres. Not knowing, whether I will make it back, I did pass my car keys to Adeline (who is ever so kind) to come and pick me up when she has reached Batu 18.
Ariff, May Senn, Jaja and me pushed off back to Peres 5 minutes later and we arrived to the peak at about 1505 pm. I rushed down to Batu 18, and ironically met Adeline at the foothill of Peres. Took her back to her car where we call it a day and i bid my thanks to her.
Conclusion: Broga Classic is tougher then reverse to me (especially for that day) because of the tired set of legs having to endure about 90km of ride (which include tackling the 2 hills after Lenggeng into Klawang) and further tackling the 470m ascent in the final hours of the day, when your leg is well spent. I would look for kinder weather to tackle that loop again. But more then 200km for that holiday - it is a holiday well spent.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Fast Service Wedding
Organizing and managing wedding has now become an expensive and complicated affairs. What use to be done in a community, is now managed by Wedding planners. What use to cost wedding organizer (be it the bride of groom's parent) RM7 per head now cost RM1000 a table. How does one cope up with this escalating cost and complication of the event and expectation. A friend who i met during this event, sighed and remarked to me ," I guess you are here to also observe and learn from the event as we both have daughters that are of marrying age" to which I nodded.
I was thinking to myself, "Why can't we just have a wedding at McDonalds, they have an event room, they have menu to fulfill most of the taste of the invited guess (from fish fillet to beef). They will provide the event room for free!!". "I guess, it will look awkward with the Ronald McDonald reading the "Doa" then, i suppose". Must ask my daughter when time comes, at least its an option.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Trail Running anybody?

Surprisingly, its half the price if I were to get it from here
Community Service - Sweeping
Firstly, I accidently left a rider Weina (wandernut) behind and only realised when we reached Sepang. I stopped by Sepang and Maysen Ariff asked me, "Have u seen Weina?". I quickly got on my bike and cycled backwards and met her 1 km behind. Feeling foolish, i kinda made notes to stick with her to and fro on the ride.
As we were on our way back from Bagan Lalang, another rider Annie got the cramps. We coax her to Petronas Salak and rested there for about 15 monutes. Just as we were out of Salak, she cramped again, this time so badly that her body was so stiff, that in order for her to get off her bike, we had to remove the front wheels and drop the frame down. We then had to lift her off her dropped frame and place her on the roadside. There she laid by the roadside and was unable to move. Constant massage from Weina couldnt get her muscle to relax. Time for us to hail a taxi back for her.
After about 20 minutes or so, we managed to hail a taxi and got her into the taxi. But the scene was comical but also pitiful. Try to stuff an unvolunteering body into a taxi with care ;-). With the sun on our back, Weina, Vong and me made ourselves back to MTDC and arrived about 40 minutes later. Some of the guys waited patiently for us and we really appreciated that. That 97km ride somehow feels like a 1++ km ride with us being in the sum for more then 6 hours.
I think i will stick to short ride for the time being. Quite an interesting week this has been. But I suppose, someone's got to sweep while others can enjoy their ride.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Great Eastern Run 20km
Quite a fair bit of quotable quotes during and after the run which are words of encouragement for me:-
Anonymous before race - "There is a difference between Carbo Loading and making yourself fat for those legs to carry you, you know"
Hin Tong at the 6km mark - "Is that you Mac?...by god it is you"
AJ (MD of Malakoff) at 12km mark - "Come on young man, lets go.." as i slowed down to a walking pace.
Ariff (triathlete) at 12.5km on opposite side of road - "You are doing fine Mac"
Adrian at 13km - "See you at the finishing line"
Adeline at 14km on opposite site - "Is it far to the Petronas loop?", my response "Yes"
Sazly - Fitness Consultant @ 15km mark - 'There is only one way to face - forwards" as i stopped to stretch my calf
Ihshal by txt after race - "Don't worry, we all walk like crab today, avoid stairs"
Finished the 20km in a slow time of 3 hours and 15 min (unconfirmed) fully knackered. Ah well, at least I finished. Four memorable climbs of the race are:-
a) The 2km climb from JKR to Kenny Hill junction
b) The climb near Wilayah Mosque
c) The long climb near Plaza Damas and lastly
d) The small loop climb behind Petronas Hartamas.
The difference between cycling and running, even going downhill, u still need to run - no recovery. Thats what no training does to you, only thing that got me through it is some secret concoction that Bernard had recommended and Ihshal pass it to me.
Two massive body pounding events for the month of January, better slow down old boy.