Newton Test Drive

The weekend after the Raya. Apart from scattered open houses everywhere, I intensified running to make for loss time, being home 3 days babysitting. After the dreamy trails on Malaysia Day, I decided to rest on Friday, be a good employee, and plan a back-to-back LSD.

Please, do not misconstrue this as a desperate attempt to log unnecessary mileages over DM... :D.

Saturday, I headed to Bukit Aman and ran to Hartamas, revisiting the loop behind after months of absence. The pasta I gobbled similar to sahur time in Ramadhan burped out with the tang of chillies once in a while, but the fuel it provided was good. No fatigue whatsoever, except for the occassional hydration.

The route was deserted, and rather melancholic. The last few LSDs along this route in Ramadhan was throat-burning.

I drove home with 2 packets of RM1-nasi-lemak, and managed half a packet. 

Sunday, arrived in BK5 after we agreed for Yim to host a Newton trial run, ahead of the race itself. The plan was a 25+5k today, which later looked too ambitious. In between sleep the night prior, I received some desperate SMSes from Ijam, Nik, Irwan etc calling off the run, and God knows what I replied them. 

Today, I tried eating my usual fuel before sleep time, knowing pushing food at 4:00a.m. is not desirable. Few shots of 100+, and grabbed some chocolates before the drive. This proved not enough as I was grumbling from the 6th KM.

We started at 6:05a.m. after the last call to wait for the remaining runners ended. We had to start then and not risking heavy sun, in 2 separate groups (ours are Shanaz, YS, Zulhassan, Robi and Wan Noor Mahirah and myself, with Yim on the bike, and Chia Kai with few others). 

We started climbing easy immediately upon exiting the commercial zone. 

Boy, it rolls a lot. But I ought to leave the fun for next week.

I was running and pacing with Shanaz all the way - one strong runner, by the way. We stopped at ESSO around KM12 to regroup, only later to move on upon YS's arrival as our legs were getting cold. More climbs afterwards, and we hit the 2nd U-turn at roundabout no.2, after the road felt like an eternity. We hustled back to ESSO to refuel, a quick pit stop, and left to complete the remaining 6k or so. 

The sun was up, and the cool morning breeze from the rain earlier dissipated in the cloudless morning, and I am thinking of a shade for next week.

Understandably but not surprisingly, we saw quite a number of groups, no less than 30 runners doing their trial runs. And later I was told by one of the organiser that the Newton route is the Bukit Jalil's regular LSD route... waiiiittt... mana aci...

I lost a little bit of navigation coming back, but alas finished the 26+k run strong and happy. It really was a good run, surprisingly, perhaps mainly because of the strong pacer I was with.

I didn't stick long to wait for them, and rushed to Bukit Aman to pick up my Newton kits. And with the many nasi lemak stalls scattered between the start and the end, I was craving for some comfort food myself. All money I brought was spent on bars of chocolates and hydrations. Those damn hills made me extra hungry!

Arrived Bukit Aman and collected my kits in a breeze. The M vest is huge (what's with the colour?), and the downside is that the M-sized compression socks are short. Any swaps?

Rushed back to the cold Milo at home yeahoooo!

the long overdue reward