A historical breakthrough, a podium debut on the Malaysia Day

Malaysia day, 16th September is a great day to run and race.  This is a way to commemorate history by doing something healthy. A tribute to Malaysia and our forefathers for their hardwork in uniting us all.  As far as I know only one race usually held on that day, Larian Oren Sports Bandar Diraja Klang.  Gme participated in last year edition & it seemed fun.  Aizat registered early in 10k category and asked me to do so. This run got 10k and 5k category and trophy will be offered to the top 10 winners. The registration fee is cheap. Somehow I felt reluctant as I had already registered Reebok One Challenge which will be held 2 days prior to this event. Reebok One Challenge was a revenge attempt, I vowed myself to do better as I didn't do my best last year.  After did some not so serious research, I concluded there's some super-duper-truper slim chance of me getting top 10 placing in 5k category for this Oren Sports run. I registered 5k as I believe 5k will be perfect for my recovery run after the Reebok One Challenge. Thanks to my favourite Penonton blog, I could see the previous race results. Unluckily there was no timing for 5k category, only name and category. Ah well, let’s get rich or die trying (50 Cent album name).

The run

Route map

Oh, trophy for top 10 winners, nice!

Race details

Our bibs. Many thanks to Romzy Liu for colleting our race kit.

Few days prior to the Reebok One Challenge, I decided to DNS this event. I didn't train well for this obstacles running. My mileage not that high as well.  20.95km with obstacles is not a child's play.  I can finish this race within the stipulated time but it won't be a great one. The concept is focus, for greater good. I DNS ROC with hope to do well in the Oren Sports run.

Flag off, credit to Run and Explore

It was drizzling at the race venue (Stadium Padang Sultan Sulaiman). I entered the pen once all 10km runners crossed the starting line. I was standing in the front row, my usual strategy. Few familiar strong and podium faces were there.  Lil bit terrified. I'll do my best, podium will be an added bonus. My target for this event was 20 min with 4 flat pace. We were flagged off at 7 am. I ran sub 4 pace for the 1st km before slowing it down to 4-415.  After 2km plus running, we met this high hill. Dang, I didn't equip myself with hill training. I ran that nasty hill with a moderate pace, didn't dare to attack it.  Not so ambitious this time.  Durex Play safe.  This hill sure going to make my target 4 flat pace fail. I kept running and tried to maintain 4-415 pace. However, 4-415 pace actually was a heavy burden to my body as I didn't well accustomed to this speed. Thought of giving up kept coming to my mind. It was a battle inside of my mind.  I endured and maintained my running form.  I didn't dare to take a glance at my gps watch. I was elated upon seeing the stadium.  My suffering is about to come to an end.  I increased my stride upon reaching the synthetic track and sprinted for the last 100m. All out, all might. I reached the finishing line huffing & puffing.  Oxygen, oxygen, where art thou. I did 5.45km in 22:46.43min with 4:11min/km average pace. It was a PB but I failed to get my target pace, no thanks to that hill. Plus it was a (little) wet morning (alasan sangat hihi).

Final sprint! Such a wet morning. Credit to Run & Explore.

Trolled, no thanks to UltraJoll hahaha

I didn't know my placing until I was given a piece of paper with a number written on it. It was a 10! Freaking 10! Huhuhu felt want to cry already. Tears of joy. I achieved something that I wanted all along, a podium placing. I worked hard for this, endured rigorous training (which always caused sore muscle), ‘jaga makan’ and also asked His help. My prayer got answered this time. Syukur! I went to the designated tent for winner verification and I was given a potential no 10 winner tag. Nice! I take a long look at the tag; my hard work has paid off. I messaged my family and few friends letting them know my winning. If you reading this and you got my winning message, meaning you are pretty special to me hihihi. I whatsapp-ed to few groups and congratulation wishes kept coming. So happened Epito won 7th place in 10km category.  Romzy, Aizat, Nyun and Azni arrived at the finishing line few minutes later. Took photos, took my trophy from prize giving ceremony and went home. Aizat & I didn’t bother waiting for lucky draw as we were not much of lucky lads. Penonton blog did write an entry about this race result, link here.

Potential winner tag hohoho

Bib, medal, winner's tag & Santai Pace Runner tee, a great combination

Podium at last! Nasib baik sebenarnya hihi

Top 10 winners in 5km category. Far left no 1 and far right was yours truly no 10

Speedy Epito won 7th placing in 10km category. Idola kelajuan!

Bib, medal and trophy. Thanks to this Asics GEL Hyper Speed 6 racing flat

Wefie with my partner in crime. I still owe you that Johnny Rockets burger hohoho

Otai pun masih berbisa

Group pic

I consider myself previously as an elusive elusive elite as I usually got top 30 in non FM race (refer here). Now I'm upgrading my title to a pseudo-elite LOL. Hopefully this wasn't a one hit wonder. Why pseudo-elite? Coz my timing wasn't that good & if I race at bigger scale event I believe I might not stand a chance. Look like an elite but actually not LOL. Looks can be deceiving after all. My target is getting top 10 spot in a large scale event.  I guess no shortcut for this except train hard & smart. By the way, I love reading this blog post entry, http://crazytomatoman.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-first-individual-top10-trophies.html. So inspiring. My experience kinda similar to his.

I've decided to collect trophies starting this year.  Medal is too mainstream & I have truck-load of them. Not that I'm not appreciating their the bling-blings but it's not wrong asking for something better. I love all my medals. It marks my achievement since the day I started running again.  Love them more if it's limited & I worked hard in order to get one.  Every medal has its own unique history. However, trophy is hard to come by.  Being a mere finisher is never enough to secure one.  It's a combo of hard work+strategy+luck.  Usually they don't come in bulk. Most events offer trophy for top 3 or top 5 and few top 10. Top 20 is the rarest breed.  Imagine competing with thousand or hundred competitors for super-duper limited memento. The winning prize obviously so tempting but being an underdog, winning a prize seems asking too much. Pushing too much luck. Let's start small & move one step forward after that (Jordin Sparks - One Step At A Time). Ah well, this is going to be my 2015 resolution ;)

Halfling, half-breed or Muggle? No, it’s just a hilly half marathon 2XU Compression Run

I participated in last year edition and it was 16km at was held at Padang Merbuk. They upgraded to 21km this year (venue: Lake Garden) but unluckily finisher tee was not part of the deal unlike Singapore edition. The route was freaking hilly last year. Runners called it bukit tak masuk akal, bukit setan, bukit azab etc especially the Mayor residence stretch. I knew they will use the same route again this year but this was a necessary evil as part of my upcoming marathon training. Halfie wasn’t my forte actually, my weekly training volume or mileage not that high.  Not my favourite distance.

Went to the race venue with my usual partner in crime Aizat, met friends, warmed up and entered pen early. Forth/fifth line from the front. It was a PB mission but I didn’t put high hope on a big margin. Hilly hokey. My Pb for HM was 1:57 hr at 2XU Compression Run Singapore last year. I didn’t do many HM this year and I was an epic fail at Sundown Malaysia in last April. Most of my ‘rakan sebaya’ pace has successfully clocked at least 1:45hr in their HM and I was waaaaayyyy behind them.

Cubaan menyelit hihihi

After the flag off, I ran at my appropriate pace of 4:30-5:00. Not going to do sub 4 pace for the 1st km as this was a half marathon not a sprint. Or 10k. Saw few friends overtook at earliest km. Since I knew them too well it’ll be a just a matter of them before I can return the favour hihihi. From the Lake Garden we were directed to Padang Merbuk to Bukit Tunku to Dataran Merdeka and finish at Lake Garden. It was flat and few small and moderate hills for the 1st km. One thing I love was the u-turn where I can get hi five, motivation, hand gesture or anything from friends at the other side of the road. My mood was significantly elevated and somehow helped me in running better. Met Shaidan Embee and I ran with him until 16th km where I couldn’t longer kept up with him any longer because of the hilly route.

With accidental pacer, Mr. Shaidan Embee

Elevation profile from Baman Ketama (Fenix 2)

I finally met bukit azab/bukit setan/bukit tak masuk akal shortly after that. I wasn’t too ambitious with that 1km steep uphill route and ran with a relaxed pace. The most important thing was to endure that hill not to attack it. But then my relaxed pace wasn’t enough, I shifted to slow jog. Slow jogged few hundred metres before I made a decision to resort to fast walk as it was too much to bear. Few fast runners u-turned and gave motivation to me. The sufferfest ended when I arrived at the top of the hills where the KL Mayor house situated. Took water from water station, crossed timing mat and ready to run downhill. I need to be careful running downhill as it might cause bad impact to knee, heel and joints. Saw few familiar faces struggling running uphill and I gave them some motivation. I could see the struggle from their face hehe. Bertabahlah. Some asked a question which I considered a trap question. They asked ‘jauh lagi ke?’ If I reply near I’ll be lying but if I reply far it might kill their will and determination. I replied keep on running; you can do it and smiled. Play safe hokey.

Let's cucuk some eyeballs

Nice!

Not nice! Dang it Syed hahaha

Momentum from running downhill helped me to run fast even on flat surface afterwards. My legs lost its power at final 2 or 3 kilometres. My pace dropped tremendously. Thanks to the the bukit tak masuk akal. Luckily I met Kakai and I felt happy seeing familiar face. He helped me pushing myself and never surrenders to mental and physical limit. I kept on running with moderate pace and sprinted as usual towards finishing line. Ohhh the sufferfest ended finally. I did 1:47 and it was a PB, yeay! Kemarau panjang berakhir sudah. Shaidan did 1:46, roughly 1 min faster than me. I got top 30 placing (27th), hmm not bad.

The end! Hoyeah!

My bib and hard earned hilly route medal. 

Top30 result! Shabba!

It was a great event by Malaysian top compression brand (I believe so). The routes, the volunteers, the water station, the medal, all were awesome. I don’t know if I’ll participate again next year. Penat woi lari bukit tu hahahaha. We’ll see next year ;)

Meriah!

GoPro 1st angle

2nd angle

Acid woot woot

Team Malaysia Fan Run; supporting our athletes and 4:30 mission delayed accomplishment

I wrote about my 4:30 mission last year.
It was tough to achieve this pace but I didn't give up or surrender.
I keep on training and believe in it.
My 4:30 mission target was end of 2013 actually but I didn't achieve it within the time frame.
It was not an easy task to upgrade myself from 4:47 (best 10k event pace) to 4:30.
My legs, lungs and heart can’t keep up with the demand.
So this year my target event for 4:30 mission was TM Fan Run under 10k category.
The venue was supposedly held in MMU but they changed it Dataran Merdeka, in combination with Fit Malaysia (Fit Run 10k).
My friends and I were excited with run because of the cheap registration fee and new Team Malaysia tee design. It was designed by Melinda Ooi and I love it!

Parappapa I'm loving it! 

We (MARDI runners) carpooled from MARDI Serdang to Masjid Negara.
Performed Subuh prayer (berjemaah lagik) there and we walked/ran to the race venue.
Met few WARs friends along the way.

MARDI runners, not a fan of bright lighting LOL 

Anas and I entered the pen early and we got ourselves 2nd row from front.
Ariff and Ridwan came few minutes later and we stood near to each other.
Ridwan and I ran under TM Fan Run but Ariff ran under 10k Fit Run.
Since we have the (almost) same pace, my strategy was to run beside them or perhaps to keep them within my sight if they run at a faster pace.
Not many local elites were seen as few events were held on the same day.

Menyelit jap
(from Tomok's IG)

Y u so serious? Smileeeeeee!
(credit: Gme)

The power of three will set us free, ehhh.
No need to show my insignificant bicep volume, ehhh
(pre-flag off pose)

We were flagged off by KJ at 715am and I ran slightly fast for the 1st km to distance myself from other runners and ran at an appropriate pace at 2nd km.
Ridwan, Ariff and I overtook each other and our position kept changing but we were still relatively near to each other.
The route was not that easy as we encountered few hills, which caused my breathing and pace went haywire. Hill training was not part of my training schedule before the race. Dang!
Running at Putrajaya was much much easier LOL.
Dataran Merdeka was not a good place to target a PB actually hahaha.
I lead our small pack from 6th to 8th km.
Ariff overtook and sped off at 8th km.
I tried to keep up but to no avail.
The distance grew bigger and the only thing I could do was keeping him within my sight.
Roughly at 9th km, he disappeared completely.
Tak guna ko Ariff hahaahaa.  Ariff, awak kat mana, awak kat mana!
I saw the finishing gantry from the last turn which approximately within 100m.
Suddenly I heard loud footsteps approaching.
Person behind me most likely ‘buka langkah’ and sprint.
No, u not gonna overtake me at this point. Comprendo!
I didn’t dare to look behind as finishing the race was more important.
I dig deep and squeezed every ounce of energy left for a strong finishing.
I knifehand-ed, heel-to-butt-ed and sprinting all out towards the finishing line.
I crossed the line in 00:43:06 (nett time) with average pace of 4:29min/km!
Woohoo 4:30 mission was a success!
It was a PB as well!
I was super-duper-truper happy.
Let’s do the happy chicken dance, or not hahahaha.
It was a delayed accomplishment but I felt happy nonetheless.
However, I felt lil bit dissappointed with the distance as my Garmin recorded 9.6km only.
Dang, underdistance 400m.
Ah well, take it or leave it.
I took a look behind me and saw Ridwan!
He was few seconds late.
I won this time mate hahhaha.
Ridwan has beaten me in all of our races since TM Fan Run December last year.
I shook his hand and hugged him.
We had a great race session and felt satisfied.
I went to medic’s tent straight afterwards.
I vomited few times after finishing the run but nothing came out as I hadn’t eaten anything beforehand.
Muntah angin, happened due to pushing myself too much.
They were puzzled when I told them I vomited and need their help.
Perhaps this was their first time encountering this kind of problem in a race LOL.
Since they were not much of help, I said it’s ok and took a stroll around the race area.
Walk helps!
I felt better and reunited with Ridwan, Ariff and few friends.
Ariff told us he completed the run in 42 mins (1 min faster than Ridwan and me) and won the third place for Fit Run. He was awarded a trophy later.
Untunglar hahahaha. Mode: jeles.

Rakan sebaya 'pace'
Post-run pose

Wefie!

Oh yeah, we are TM Fan Run finishers!

Runners and idola!

Let's support Team Malaysia!

Team Malaysia, you have our support!

WARs @ TM Fan Run

KJ, a fit minister

Took photos with friends, 'pusing-pusing' booth and 'balik.'
Overall, I was satisfied with the race.
Apart from the underdistance issue, the organiser did a great job.
The race was meant to support our local (heroes) athletes in Sukan Asia after all.
We had a great race; pacing and support each other.
Fair and square.
Official result came out a little late.
Perhaps the combination of TM Fan Run & Fit Run 10k made them hard to sort it out.
Turned out the time difference between Ridwan and me was just by 1 second!
So close!
We got the same nett time but I started the race 1s faster than him.
Meaning that I crossed the starting bar (chip) 1s earlier than him and I was saved by the bell bar!
Surprisingly I got the 9th placing!
Hoyeah top 10.
This was not the kind of top 10 I’m aiming but since certain someone want me to embrace it, so I posted the result to social media.
My target for next year is four-flat mission and I’ll post that entry soon ;)

Lucky no 9!

PB finally!

No drama no run? The birth of a drama-less blog?

No drama no run? The birth of a drama-less blog?

I’ll touch specifically this time on why do i blog. Why do I even care to blog? Why I don’t bother if people actually read my blog. I’ll also tell the story behind this blog weird name. Friends complained this blog contents are on the contrary with its name LOL. Running without drama is actually a tad boring but too much drama might kill others mood and perception. You don’t just simply run and go home afterwards. There must be an interesting story on why do you run, preparation before running, thought during the run and the conclusion of the run. The story gets more interesting if you participates in a race especially a competitive one. Lots of things happened and it’s a waste if not getting it recorded. Doesn’t matter if it’s via writing or picture. Plus picture speaks thousand words.

I’m not a hard-core blogger. Not a serious one. I drafted an entry and usually took me weeks or months to finalise it before publishing LOL. I write based on my current mood. No mood no words. I don’t care my blog rating, who reads my blog post, the traffic, the keywords etc. Being popular is not my target. I also don’t generate money/income/free gift from my blog. No ad, no product testing, no whatsoever. But then maybe I can do some running product review. Hmmm, sounds like a plan. However, I do reply to people who commented. I like their effort and I feel obliged to respond. I don’t know if my blog do inspire people but I hope so. I’m not a prolific writer and my grammar sucks. So to the grammar nazi out there, please keep it to yourself hahahaha. I turn on spellcheck option for my drafts so that any spelling or grammar mistakes are kept to minimum.

Okay, let’s move on to the history of the No Drama Drama Just Run name. It’s all started in 2012. Aizat had started his own blog and I was featured many times since I was his running partner/ accomplice hehehe. I had this idea of writing my own blog but it failed to materialize because I was too lazy to start/write hahaaha. Lame. Let’s the story begins.

I participated in KL Fabulous Food Hunt in 2012 with 3 friends. Their format was quite simple, go to their designated checkpoint with public transport and perform the tasks. Then they’ll stamp the form. Seems easy but believe me my friend it was not. Since the event name was Fabulous Food Hunt, the task obviously involved eating various foods in a big portion. Only one member can eat that food at one checkpoint. Daud wrote a great blog post on this. We ate nasi lemak, nasi ayam, sate, mee bandung, cendol, roti canai, vegetarian food, nasi campur, sate, steamboat and rojak. A lot! Glorious food indeed! We took lrt, taxi and also running/walking. We ‘sesat’ litle bit and cost us some time. We got 55th placing out of 100 teams. Not bad lah considering this was our first time participating and none of us knew KL that well haha.

 

Four is for foursome!
From left Izwan, me, Sani & Najib.

Us in paper y'll - fefeeling femes

Buruk lantak, anak sape nih

Aiyoh, in newspaper oso got. Mulut naga!

It was a great experience but I felt super tired post-event. My tummy experienced trauma of eating too much too LOL. Eating a lot and racing in the same time. We were the first timers but our competitiveness spirit was there. We didn’t participate for the sake of participating. The tired feeling was too much to bear; even running full marathon cannot beat this. I arrived home quite late as we had dinner 1st (plus gossip as usual LOL) before heading home. I was supposedly tumpang carpooling with Aizat to go to the inaugural Great Eastern Live Great Run a day after at MATRADE. Since my whole body sore and the tiredness feeling still lingers, I texted him saying that I want to DNS the Great Eastern Live Great Run. Aizat didn’t agree with my DNS option but I was not in the running mood. Goodbye Live Great Run, I’m not ready for you. B2B wasn’t my thing. No stamina to do it. Tummy superfull also. How to run with sore body and full tummy ah. I slept around 10am and slept like a baby. I woke up at 5plus am. My body felt ok. I felt fresh. Not tired. I contacted Aizat but he was on his way to the place already. Plan B. I contacted Kamal & he was willing to wait for me. I drove fast to Kamal’s house and ‘tumpang’ him to the race site. We arrived just in time before the flag off. But then, I was quite far from the starting line. The race was flagged off slightly late. I ran without any big expectation/target. I didn’t have Garmin watch yet at that time and it was quite impossible to check my pace as I was using Nike+ app. We were required to climb over road barrier, 1km before the finishing line. I crossed the finishing line in 01:02:00.48 nett time (pace 5:10min/km) and it was a PB!!!! I was shocked and disbelieved. The last 12km that I did was Men's Health & Shape Night Run 11.8km in July in 01:08:16.06 nett time (pace 5:42min/km). The last 10km that I did was Nike We Run KL 10K 00:53:42.05 (5:22min/km) in October. I successfully save 12s/km if referring to the Nike Run. For me, that’s a lot! PB is actually hard to come by. Syukur. That awesome feeling you got after a PR/PB is hard to describe. Met Aizat and he said drama. Too much drama. From almost DNS to PB hahahaa. I guess the fabulous foods that I ate yesterday fuelled my run too well. It was a fabulous run. I didn’t plan it to be this way, chock-full of drama. A weirdest case, one of a kind.

Bang bang boom. Killing them softly with my brightest smile ;)

PB! PB! PB!

No drama drama just pose hihi

WARs @ Live Great Run 2012

with Aizat, who gave idea to the birth of this blog, yosh!

The moment was too epic and unforgettable. From that experience, I suddenly got this tagline of ‘no drama drama just run.’ Obviously this tagline was on the contrary with what was happened. This tagline was meant for a suggestion, please run without any unnecessary drama or attention. Usually an unwanted attention. However, like I previously said no drama no run LOL. It works in tandem & reciprocated. The birth of this blog was from that tagline, as a way to record my beautiful moments from any races I’ve participated. Roarisme? I usually use roar as my nickname for many years. I just wanna say roar is me and hence it became roarisme, as if it was an –isme. It was nice though. That’s all I wanna say. Happy reading ;-)