Mesmerizing Malakoff KL 2012 - Damansara Hills Slain!




Eh, samalah macam logo MALAKOFF KL Baru perasan... LOL!!! Credits to Victor & Elaine.. =)
Owh I was caught red handed doing a heel strike... Oopsie!!!

Hello there, Assalamualaikum and a very lovely Thursday to all of us, fellow followers and hardcore runners, brothers and sisters... I hereby present to you guys my recent race report on Malakoff KL 2012. Fyi, I ran Malakoff Penang 2012 earlier on 25th March. It was a total flat route starting from Esplanade aka Padang Kota Lama in Georgetown and moving towards Gurney Drive and ends at the starting venue. It was an awesome experience. Since I've ran this Malakoff KL route for the first time last year, it really gave me the impression that it was the toughest hilly route ever in KL. Nothing can beat that. Period. So now I'm back with a mission to improve my timing thus slain all the killer hills...

The majestic 272 steps of Batu Caves Hindu Temples

A day before the event, me and best friend took a dear friend of us who came all the way from Phillipines to visit the reknowned majestic Batu Caves temples. It was my first time too to go to this tourist attraction spot. It was cloudy with drizzles followed by heavy downpour before we started taking the flight of stair up. I spotted this Chinese uncle wearing the Pacesetters black running vest doing his stair training going up and down non-stop. Totally full of respect! (o.O) So, I managed to climb all the 272 steps to reach the spectacular Hindu temple in Batu Caves. There was also Dark Cave located at the left side halfway up. 



Awesome Sight For A Sore Eyes... LOL... Sedapnya limau tuh... Nomm Nomm... XD

What fascinated me during our visit was the adorable behaviours of the sacred temple monkeys. Some of the visitors offered some fruits like oranges, apple and even coconut to those cheerful monkeys. I could see some of the alpha male monkeys were being agressive towards the tourists too. Creepy much.. 
Anyhow, both of my calf muscles were a bit sore from the climb up and down the Batu Caves steps (272 x 2). Go figure. Tulah gedik sangat naik tangga like a pro... kan dah amik hobat.. Hahaha... T..T Thank goodness I was wearing my running shoes. Fuhh...

So on the D day, I woke up around 5.15am, quite late due to forgot to set my alarm at 5am... My bad... Wuaaa.... Rushed to take shower, put on all the running gear and equipments. I haven't pin up my running bib. Then I rushed my way to pick up Rashid, out backbone contender for We Are Runners (WARs) clan. We reached Sri Hartamas around 6.20am, managed get on the shuttle bus on time despite having some kalut moments with me finding my stuffs last minute... Clumsy me, *Sighed

As we reached the starting point, it was already 6.40am, all the runners were seeing doing their stretchings and warming up exercises along with the instructors. While I desperately pinned up my bib and managed to do some 10 minutes warming up jog around the venue. And by 7am sharp all the male runners were being flagged off first. 



The Sperm Head 11.4km Route... Super killer hills!!!! 

It was like a dejavu to me to run this "Sperm Head" route all over again. I could still remember how I gave up and decided to walk at the second rolling hills near Shell station before and the ultimate killer hill. But this time around I was all prepared to face the same nemesis. Hehee... The first few kilos I experienced some excruciating muscles pull around my ankle. Then I realized I didn't do my hamstring stretching after the warming up jog. So I stopped at the nearest tree to do some stretchings before I continued running.
 

Me running with a curvaceous pose... Tooo sexy to handle it... LOL... Credits to Vivien Tay =D

Suddenly I could feel my tummy started to get upset after KM3. It was starting to bloat. Oh dear! The feeling of running with a bloated tummy wasn't that pleasant. Most definitely. Adeiii.... Although I managed to pass the gas a couple of times, but my tummy was still felt like a BIG balloon. So uncomfy. Urghhh... I was like dying to run uphill the 1st loop. Rasa nak pengsan, seriously I could felt my body started to having some cold sweat...Cuak gilaa! @..@ After having my energy gel around KM5 entering the second loop. It manage to subside a bit but still the urges to do no 1 & 2 came after that. I tried to stay strong and kept on running knowing that I finishe this race with a better timing compared to previous year. My 10KM was successfully done in 1:10:05 with 6'24'' pace. I reached the finishing line with the timing of 1:18:30, shaving off 10 minutes from my last year's timing. Nonetheless it's stilll a PB for me... Yayyy...


Muka baru abes lari... Still managed to smile ok... Penat yaamats but still bearable... =D

After finishing the race, I queued up for the mineral water bottle and for my goodies bag. Too bad there was no more hot yummilicous taufufah or tantalizing icy cold cendol like last year's event but we were served with fried kuewtiow and God sent ice-cream ala Magnum.... LOL... Awesome still... Later on it was post-race photoshoots time... Hehee... Oh I forgot to tell you guys that I met with several distinguished running bloggers, such as Khairul, Kak Nannoor and Azim. Good job guys.. Keep it up doing PBs ok! =D

Met Kak Nannoor for the first time... Well done Sis!!! Taken from her Instagram..  



Azim, Rashed and Yours truly... Depa nih laju2 belaka woo... T..T



Yours Truly and Taufik... Sapa protege, sapa mentor nih... Hohoho...



Congratulations to all of us the WARs finishers... =D

Oppa Kiara Style!!! Yeahhh =D



My precious 12KM medal... The same design like Malakoff Penang ... Credits to Azim

Soon after the race, I had to rush back to my Auntie's house in Ampangan, Seremban for her grandchilren's cukur jambul kenduri and my late grandma's tahlil. The food spread afterwards was superbly awesome, totally mouth watering and simply scrumptious. I ate gulai kambing, ayam masak merah, daging masak kurma, sembilang masak lomak cili api... Siap tambah nasik dan lauk kambing lagi... There goes my 12km  (11.4km, slightly under-distanced) run on that morning... (T..T)

Baby Thaqif Zafran slept soundly on that day... So cuteeee...

Ikan sembilang masak lomak cili padi... Memang trangkek... Hehee

Just look at those succulent dishes in my plate... My oh my... Totally sinful indulgence!!!

Overall, it was good to have a PB for this Malakoff Killer Hills, the vicious Bukit Damansara has been tamed by me at last... hahaha... statement perasan sgt nih! Looking forward to improve my timing next year provided that I have to prep up myself with sufficient trainings and lose more weight as my current weight is 87km with 3kg increase... Oh dear, padanla rasa berat jer badan nih nak daki bukit2 tuh... LOL!!! Have to inforce strict diet from now on to perform well for this coming Newton Challenge 2012, the Ultimatum closing event of 2012 for me. Need to do the Simulation LSD this coming weekend, any takers? Hehehe....


Funtastic Five WARs... Ho yeahhh!!!

Last but not least, here are the results of my WARs clan for this race. Congratz Rashid for your Sub 1 PB and Top 80!!! Insanely fast with his new Wave Elixir shoes... Yoshhhh!!!!

1. Rashid Mat Rani     (0:59:21:66) 79th
2. Raja Arief Deli        (1:14:45:71) 446th
3. Hafiz Aizat             (1:18:30:92) 606th
4. Dr. Chin Siok Fong  (1:18:39:66) 71st
5. Kamal Ghazali        (1:31:40:45) 1019th