Dragon Hills (not) Conquered

6 squashed rats, about 10-or-so nasi lemak stalls were among the things I recalled, counting between dozens of hills.

Despite what they are, I think I loved them – in a way that I could run it without having much inferiority of my speed, and ESSO station is placed nicely distanced like the Hartamas’ Petronas. Now, driving to Bukit Jalil for an LSD is another effort altogether, so hopefully I could own one house there J.

Thanks to the many open house calls the day earlier, I did not hit the sack later before midnight and therefore the plan to do a short 4+4k with Yim and Jamie was smashed. When I arrived at the mosque that morning, it felt like Maghrib prayers, more than Subuh with large numbers of runners. After quick and customary photos with the Kings alike, we leisurely walked to the starting line.

Once there, the atmosphere was festive. It reminds me of the familiar faces which is why I love KL running events – for the friendly faces.

I started easy, mostly labored paces. The calves were slightly sore from the trails, and both legs swells like jellies as I struggled to move forward. The friends I paced with changes from Nik/Shuk, to Ishhal etc. I paced with Aziz the most, and managed to pace with Yim, the runaway groom.

Honestly I did not as strong as last week, and walked uphills a lot between Point C (small roundabout) and back to Petronas. Luckily my dark skin tolerates better in the baking sun, but I was not without the customary cold water baths at water station. In the heat like that, I wished they have sponging stations too.

Going to Point B and en-route to ESSO was kind of fun, seeing many friends still smiling, as opposed to coming back with much painful faces and puffing. At both U-turns I bumped into Ian on the other side of the road (strong bloke) but I never managed to overtake him. Guess experience matters.

Coming back, all roads felt honestly shorter, although there were stretches I told myself to run to the next cone etc. And by then, I was making sloshing sounds from my superwet shoes, and when Shanaz came around did I get my second wind. I came around Syed and Ijam here (Ijam looked really worn, which he later told me he passed out after finishing, must be from serious dehydration).

Coming back was uneventful, but I did get the medal and finisher’s tee, but did not know of my time as the digital ox was facing the other way. Good enough if I managed a better time than last week’s.

 akhirnya, nampak jugak forefoot tuh...

 tok guru power nih!

Runaway Groom ka? Tok Mudim ka?

mengumpat Uncle Chan...

 

 Yang baju oren Adidas tu power-est

All in all, enjoyed the hills. The medals could have been more exclusive and better designed, as opposed to impersonal collection. But the 100+ stall was emptied by 12k runners (what?), and it was social time later when some of us re-grouped.

Newton out of the way, 2 more weeks to TNF. 50k trails… shiver!