Great Eastern-Pacesetters Run - 22 Jan 2006

After the race - sun in my eyes and looking very "Cina"











I survived! It was one of the fastest races I'd ever run, what more I was untrained and the maximum distance that I had done prior to this was 13.5km. It was a 30km race but I entered the 20km category. I came in about 2 hours 16 mins. I was quite sure the distance was more than 20km, because I remember that in 2001 I'd run 20km in the PJ Half and I was much slower then but completed it in 2 hours 18 mins.

Woke up at 5am and not 4.30am (could not drag myself out of bed), stuffed my face with an expired Power bar and hydrated myself. Jin came to pick me up, then we picked Hsiung and Harlina on the way. I was going to take a leisurely run. By the time the gun went off, we were still chatting! We took the usual Lake Gardens-Sri Hartamas-Lake Gardens route. There were water stops every 4km and that was more than enough H2o. The also provided evergy drinks. Jenny was on duty at one of the water stations. Hats off to the Pacesetters who always organise runs so well. Honestly they should be more involved in bigger races because the FTAAA don't have a clue about organising runs. The first 10km I thought I ran quite fast, because I was quite tired by the time I reached Sri Hartamas. The mid point was near Petronas station. Took a power gel (Tropical flavour) with some water and regained some energy to continue. The second half I ran even faster because there were more downhills than uphills. Spotted Harlina happily strolling and eating on the other side of the road. She actually carried a whole bag of goodies to eat on the way! By the time I reached Jln Parlimen, I had no energy left to sprint, even though it was flat all the way to the end. I ran as hard as I could - I could feel all my thigh muscles tightening up.

Hsiung and Jin were ahead of me by a couple of minutes, then we waited nearly for an hour for Harlina!! Spotted Lionel, he was waiting for his friend at the finishing line. There was a mini fair at Lake Gardens, so i went to refuel myself with some banana and chicken porridge. Great Eastern also had a mini "Wheel of Fortune" where you spin the wheel and answer a question acoording to the category you get. I won a little notepad. (Everybody gets to win a prize anyway because they ask really simple questions..) Bumped into KC where he took the shot above for me.

It was a great race, I really enjoyed myself. The best part was a good recovery. This morning I woke up with some slight soreness in my thighs, but that didn't stop me from working out today.