to 30K with love

First of all, I wish to congratulate Che for his maiden half-marathon, and he did very well too. And congrats to Shaqi to, for inching ever closely by completing his 30k, and his voyage (chewah!) to his maiden full marathon!

Second of all, I wish to say Alhamdulillah, for my health that I am blessed with now, to enjoy I while I am still strong and abled. I realised that I have forgotten to be grateful to Allah lately. Amin.

Thirdly, from now on, I wish to apologise to some people who thinks my putting my run timings in my blog as 'syok sendiri', as it was never my intention to brag (come on, look at them, there's nothing to brag pun), but merely as my own inspiration only, and as a note to myself to keep on improving. We can't stay dormant forever, la ok. Of course I do draw encouraging moral support from fellow blogrunners, and it is only natural to do so. Don't you draw support for people to awe at your new shoes, bags and other worldly materials?

That said, today's New Balance Pacesetters 30k was such a very enjoyable event for me. Great friends, breathtaking routes, good food post race, not-so-good medal but ok-lah, great run etc. Water stations were ok but I wished more isotonic drinks were served. It took pressures away from actually doing a full marathon, but offered enough adrenalin shot and challenge for a beyond half-marathon.

We arrived at Bukit Aman almost simulaneously - Shaqi, Diket and friends, Shuk, Ian, Nik, Kash and Fadhil, and we were as always, chatting away when the gun went off. All of a sudden, the group dispersed and I found myself pacing with Shuk at first, and he was then magically replaced with Diket after Shuk stopped for water. Me and Diket ran all the way strong to Hartamas, did our Subuh prayers, and went off again.

Diket pulled away near Matrade, and I was running alone (lama dah pakai keting Kenya tuh, bagi la pinjam pulak!). Arrived at the 20th km marker at 2:01 - so far so good. Then came the Double Hills! I went up there once back in 2007, and today I was struggling. Still running, albeit too slowly to my delight, but running nonetheless. My HRM was screaming at 184-185! But I slowed down considersably, when Shuk came and smoked away near Istana Selangor (?). Just by the Tugu Negara, I saw Fadhil behind me, and we ran together until Padang Merbok where he went for his home run.

The next 3-4 km was ok, going through Bank Negara (2nd time), into JKR quarters and back to Padang Merbuk. The downhill homerun was good for sprinting though... I came in at 3:14:22.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this one race, although my lack of training into Double Hills did shocked me to my very core! I suppose that is sort of a punishment for dwindling on the idea of running Bukit Antarabangsa and Batu Caves! I have enjoyed my 20km run prior to that, and the last section after coming out towards Wisma Tani. Double Hills - memang dessert habis...

I have had some side stitches going up the hills, after long absence of it. But the old trick to apply pressure helped. O well, improving is always better than degrading. Now, I look forward to LSD with those multiple hills.

We re-grouped post run while waiting for the whole geng to return, while having the oh-so-blissful cool watermelons. We were warming up to catching up on many stories, but before the Siti Nurhaliza and her LV bag surfaces, wifey called to tell the special nasi lemak at home awaits (she knows how to manipulate my cheat day). Siti Nurhaliza some other day, she is saved by the ringtone.

So thanks guys, for making this event a memorable one. Need my massage now.

Comments

kookykash said…
Ada ka orang komen tentang putting in time on blogs? When I put mine, its never meant to show off, well, there's nothing to show off to be honest. We are just weekend warriors and pitting against our own selves.

Well great run, bro. I am actually proud of you, and how much you have always try to improve yourself. Congrats!

Regret we did not have time to sembang after the run.
shuklazim said…
bro, it's your blog and you have every right to write whatever you want. if some readers do not like it...well too bad.

congrats for strong finish. yea! the route was really challenging, and the post run borak2 was fun. let's concur those double hills.
iamsyah said…
kash, ada lah suara2 sumbang kedengaran. tapi takpa, orang komen, kita dengar :P.
Well, a great run indeed. we sambung gosip later ok. next week LSD jom

shuk : true - offended pulak.
anyway, itu asap tadi berkepul-kepul. Next year I'll pace you to the end! Itu double hills banyak bagus for err butt exercise hhahhah
crushhio said…
congrats bro!u did great!
Diket said…
Bro, for 2010 it's called keting Avatar. Great pace bro, despite some nonsense talking along the way. More runs to come. You still owe me 40k handbag story.
Yimster said…
klau ada yg tak suka tu, jgn baca lah. kan senang camtu. no pressure kan hehe

i, like most of you have timings as my own tracker and thats just how i track improvement lah. if dont improve watpe nak run kan?

anyway, congrats to all who finished, doesnt matter how many kms lah. but now i am a bit geram wondering if i could do 30 :). ah well, wont be the last race ever. soldier on peeps!
Anonymous said…
Wah Syah, congrats on your latest achievement and about those unsavoury comments about inserting your timings here, well don't bother about them.

This is your blog.

Period.
tolldoll said…
hey, putting down time is our reward for working hard ok. if i were as fast as you, i'd gladly put down my time to remember all the hard work. except that i dont (run fast) so i want to try to enjoy other things about running.

congratulations on the 30k! my god ive been going to most blogs now putting down congratulations on their entries.... jealousnye :(
EnAikAY said…
Syah,
What else can you ask for? A nasi lemak meal after 30km run... wow... rasanya dlm cerita Avatar pun tak dapat mcm gitu baekk punya treatment... kan kan kan? Hehehehe..
Patutla tergesa2 nak balik cepat tak sempat nak gosip. hahaha.

Well done bro!
ian yusof said…
(confused) siti was there?

p/s - *ehem* .... nasi lemak for post run? (I had a big plate of NL near the carpark with some runners .. delish!)
Che said…
Wahh.. thanks bro! atas sekali pulak tu kena congratulate.. hehe..

of coz cannot compare to your NF run punye medal.. but for me interesting shape/idea. simple.

do share your timing please. one day i will make sure i beat it.. haha.. boleh ka? sape yg komen tu dengki lah kot, they are not part of our group maybe? hehe..

i was actually looking at those coming down from that double hill and said to myself 'thank god im not doin that, yet' hehe.. scarryy...

sorry x sempat join gossip2. too sleepy! seriously.
doris 桃利思 said…
congrats on completing the run!

haha... i also put timing in blog... some people may find it a joke. to them i am jogging only :P

contrary to you, i know every stretch and corner so well of the hartamas and double hill route so well... i could plan well ahead. quite satisfied of my timing :)
ziff71 said…
Congrat Syah and look at the timing! That re-affirmed my claim before, members of GBS mmg power-power.

On the suara-suara sumbang tu, my take is that they are just too lazy to write or keep a blog. The blog serves as a "running journal" and the timing, without doubt, is one of the most mportant data that need to be kept and recorded in d journal. I cant see any other easiest platform of keeping and recording that except via blogs.

Again, congrat bro and good luck for your next run (Putrajaya M rite?)
Shaqee said…
Timing does not = Bragging, as for me u deserve what u deserve, u did very well..

thanks for the word of encouragement,i'm certainly looking to improve myself and upgrading my "keting" to 'Keting avatar 3d" higher version ckit..

GBS rocks...
iamsyah said…
crush : thanks. as long as we have fun doing it, it will be a bless and well, fun

diket : keting Avatar? tapi apsal err, gelap sikit? hhehehehh. nnt ajar camana nak keep lu punye pace daa, gue mau jugak... eh now will be weekly LSD togedergeder for the Energizer ka? nnt aku arrange for night run simulation mau ka?

Yim : don't worry. Come back next year with a bang! for 30k lah... nothing stopping you for a first full, if kaki permits :)

faisal : thanks bro. orang kalau dengki tu, macam2 jalan nak bagi sakit ati... ajak exercise sekali menyihatkan badan, tak nak ikut... manusia... rileks, jangan naik darah bro! we running sundown this year, kan?

nadia : thanks for your kind words. that to me is water under the bridge, we move forward, not backwards...
and sorry we missed you for this run, tapi fret not, there'll be tonnes of races, but we have only a pair of running kaki... take care of that ok... catch you around!
iamsyah said…
Nik : lama oo pendam nak makan nasik lemak... ehehhe, takpa, we gossip this week;s LSD... rozita chek nak dapat private jet ka? ayoyyo!

Ian : Nana knows Sunday is the only day she could get to me loosing myself, and it is our big family meal day... sambal udang pedas - irresistable! hahahahah bertuah badan

Che : obviously not from our circle of friends, some loose individuals who've been tracking my weightloss progress.
btw, this year kita sewa bas pegi TNF ramai-ramai kan... yeahooo, tu GBS trail run for October okeh!

doris : tu lah, double hill schmubble... but it is good learning curve. will kawtim that in future LSDs. keep posting your timings, doris. you are so freaking fast, smoked us like crazy

ziff : takpa, hak dia berkata-kata... see you in PNM insyallah. tapi pirate saja la... see you there, come sembang2 lah nnt ok

shaqi : we need to always, always enjoy the run. it should be pleasurable, kan... takpa, we are all learning everyday, and what does not kill you, will make you stronger... rest well, and be strong ok bro!
Julin Julai said…
alah..boh je timing..I put my timing even tho it's lousy..haha
Congrats on the 30K..wah..semakin laju dan berdesup nampak
iamsyah said…
doc : yeah, biarkan si luncai dengan labu-labunya...

thanks. still too heavy to run faster-er. Sorry we missed bumping into you last Sunday, lah...

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