My Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 - Run Fat "Sexy" Bunny Run! LMAO

#6 on my belt. Thank goodness I made it! 

Happy Wednesday folks, my distinguished brothers and sisters of runninghood. I would love to share with you on my not so recent 6th Full Marathon, or shall I say Fun Marathon this time around? I intended to run fancy coz it was the most happening n biggest marathon in Malaysia. It was like a Mecca for us Malaysian runners, where it was a MUST join event of the year. It was my second time joining this event. Last year I did a Half Marathon category. It was a sendu run back then. 

As usual I had a so-called carbo loading session on the Friday. Had a lovely pasta during my karaoke session with my ex-schoolmates. Sinfully yummy indeed. Hahaa.. Stayed up all night long after the session. Too many gossips and dirty laundries secret to be shared among 4 of us.. LOL! 

Sinfully scrumptious Redbox buffet

Pre-Race
A day prior to the BIG day, Rashid n I joined the Le Sabuns Ultra Breakfast Run aka "The Sarong Run". It was just a morning run around KLCC Park. What's the catch? We had to run in sarong, duh! I'm confident that we were the highlight of the morning. Luckily we runners are the crazy bunch of people hahaa...

A very BIG Happy Running Family... Lavits!

Later, I went to pick my props for the event from Mis Fid. She was Rashid's ex colleague and had her own Krafty blog. Feel free to visit her FB wall HERE if you are interested ok. You can even follow her Instagram at @misfyd too. She's an expert in doing all the delicate crochets for babies and adults. Not forgetting her famous sexy Bunny Ears and fluffy Bunny Tail too. Thanks Fid! 

Then we went back to my house to rest our feet. Had my tapau-ed lunch, the leftover nasi lemak with sambal sotong and runny egg. After that I dozed off until 9pm, i think. Goshhh! Hibernated much. @..@

Race Day
Woke up lazily circa 2am after a short nap (I slept at 12.30am!). Had to wake up early coz we need to fetch Fadzil at his house first before we headed to Dataran Merdeka that morning. He'll be doing his 1st SCKLM HM. I managed to park at the parking lots before Bukit Aman by 3.30 am. Still being nervous, I wore my CompresSport calf compression, energy gels belt, SPI belt and running shoes at the parking lot. 

After deposited my bag, I went to the paid toilet to force my no.2 business before the event. Don't want to waste any time doing it during the run. Hahaha... Didn't have time to warm up properly as I intended to enter the pen early, around 4.15 am, which I was really regretting very much until now. Managed to had a pre-photo session with these both running legends, Ultra Ray and Jamie. Felt blessed totally! 

I was aiming for a Sub 5:30 finish for this event, since my best timing was at Hat Yai Marathon 2013 in May (5:47:17). Well, let's dream BIG shall we? Therefore I came up with my 5:30 pace wristband (printed from MarathonGuide.com). 

One for the camera with the Ultra Otais, Sifu Rayzeef and Sifu Jamie. Pic credits to Tey

0 - 10 km (Cooling weather warming up run)
We were flagged off two minutes before 4.30 am. I crossed the starting line about 2 minutes after the flag off. Since I didn't had a proper warm up, I've decided to slow jog for the first 3 km to warm up the legs. The crowd was still big at that point. To my surprise, I bumped into the ever famous blogger cum TRI-daddy cum an avid runner, Tristupe around Brickfields area. He was fascinated with my dangling furry bunny tail. Nice to meet you Sir! Hehee...

What a surprise snap from my Running Guru, Ee-Van aka Stupe. TQ Sir! 

I maintained my pace throughout the first 10 km. Had my 1st energy gel after 8 km WS, just as I've planned before. I was running along the Sungai Besi airport stretch and heading towards Jalan Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka and anxiously looking for the 12 km WS for Fajr Prayer.  

11 - 20 km (Time to seek divine blessing and stayed running strong)
Stopped by at 12km WS for a Fajr Prayer and my only toilet break before I continued my run. I was still within my pace band pace by that time eventhough I took a prayer and porta loo break. I had my 2nd energy gel after 16 km WS and still felt fresh. We were running along Jalan Cheras towards Jalan Peel and had my banana treat at the 1st banana station at KM 17. Took 2 pieces of it. Yum! Then I kept moving on to meet the cut off time for 20 km based on my pace band (2:36:24). Bumped into the glamorous and gorgeous as always Marathon Mom Sis Nannoor and her great hubby, Abg Ibrahim somewhere at Jalan Tun Razak heading towards Prince Court Medical Centre and Pavi. Said hi to them and kept on running. It was started to get all shine and bright after I reached Jalan Tun Razak... 

I was caught running at KLCC area and Jalan Hang Tuah, if I`m not mistaken. I didn't realised there were any photogs at that time... Gosh! 

21 - 30 km (Beware! Enter the mental stretch at your own risk! )
After running towards Jalan Sentul from Jalan Tun Razak, I did not realized that I'll be heading towards the first mental stretch along Jalan Ipoh. It was getting hot and so bright by that time. Running in this kind of condition was never an easy task for me the slowpoke bunny. Need to remind myself to bring along my shades next time. Gulped down my 3rd energy gel circa 24km. I could already feel the cramp started to accumulate around my quad and hamstring but I continued on running. One of the motorcyclist honked me and gave me a thumb up for my funky head gear. It was hard to run fast with this fragile bunny ears and heavy bunny dangling bunny tails ok! Tobat xmahu lari pakai headgear berat2 dah lepas nih... T_T

31 - 40 km (Hot was just getting hotter and hotter!)
I was not done with Jalan Ipoh yet ya. It was sooo long until I ran into Jalan Kuching, where the mentally exhausting route kept on like a never ending story. Hahaa, super mental I tell ya. I stopped for a while circa KM 33 to stretch my feet  for a while and took a breather. To make it worse, it was sooo freaking hot. I never felt that extreme heat before even during my late long runs before. Totally fatal ok! Mad I tell ya, mad. I could see many of the runners were tried to run under the shades of the trees along the route. Finally the torturing heat was over when we ran into Bukit Tunku. The inclines were runnable. I would rather run on a shaded inclines than running under the bloody hot sun. Took my 4th energy gel and endurolyte pills after KM35. Stopped by at FMV' Kak June's kedai runcit and said hi to Farah Fazu. Sipped down some water and continued my run. Another pitstop was at le Sabuns Ultra's kedai runcit and had a icy cold Coke and grapes. Hahaa, thanks to Abg. Zul and Zinov, the taukehs of the day. 

Running at the famous Bukit Tunku... Yeah!

41- 42.195 (Almost there, almost home!)
Once I've reached the Bank Negara loop, I knew the journey was almost came to an end. I tried to quicken my pace knowing that my Sub 5:30 was far fetched. I tried to muster any last strength to endure the long stretch along Jalan TAR loop towards Pertama Complex and running towards Dataran Merdeka. At the last 400m towards the finishing line. I was startled and awed to see all the familiar friendly faces snapping my pictures. Felt like a glamorous artiste being swarmed by the paparazzis at that moment. LOL! Thanks fellas... Love your support! =D. I managed to cross the finishing line in 5:50:42:31 (nett time), 5:47 (Garmin time), within the cutoff time of 6hours. Hehee... Not that shabby though, considering the insane lethal heat. 

 

So many photographers, dunno how to pose anymore... LOL! Pic credits to Abg Zaini. 

I stayed at the favourite spot after wards to keep on cheering the incoming marathoners. It was  a very nice moments at that time. Most of them looked suffered like hell due to the merciless hot weather. After that, it post-race photo-ops with the usual suspects and supporters. Chewah!

 

Goofing around with the hunkilicious Acid, the Golden Boy...

Lazying around in the middle of the road while cheering on the other runners

With the Sub 3 Marathoner, Edan Syah... I read his blog before... Very very inspiring ok! 

With two lady runners who fancied my Bunny Ears,Tail  and drooled over Mr Golden Boy

Me and the Hot Glam Speedy Marathon Moms, Sis Eena and Sis Nannoor. Well done ladies! 

Me, Rashid, Izman & Ijuwah and their friend. They ran LJS in Kuala Terengganu a day b4. Congratz Ijuwah for the winning! 

All in all, it was a very well organized event. Lots of Water Stations along the way. Plenty of bananas, energy gels (twice), water and isotonic drinks. The traffic control was awesome. Many thanks to all the policemen, policewomen, DBKL personnel, road marshals, the cheerful volunteers for the smooth sailing event. They were the unsung heroes of the day. I just could not thank them enough. The only con of SCKLM was the super dogdy cheaopo finisher tee. The material and the design was super sloppy. Tangkap muat betul la, not worth for what we have paid. I personally think last year's one was way better than this year. Sooo disappointing. Buat lap lantai jelah nampaknya nanti. Nak pakai sambil brag pon rasa malu bila tengok finisher tee event lain yang jauh lebih berkualiti ok! Urghhh... 

6 Down, 3 More To Go! =P

The results. More work need to be done to achieve my PB... 

Till we meet again... Ciao! 

Next Entry: My 1st Ultra Loop Maiden Attempt. My mental strength was tested to the ultra MAX!  

Reebok One Challenge 2013 - My Super EPIC Late Start, Almost DNS k!

Staying true to my nickname, I was as super late as a snail aka Siputhon! How irony... T_T

Hi there guys and gurls, fellow brothers and sisters in runninghood, even to all non-runners readers too. Happy Tuesday guys! Let's cut the chase, shall we? Okay, I know this entry was so backdated already. But somehow I need to publish this one. Why? Because this is the only running event that I've started super late, like almost 1 hour late, I tell you! So bear with me as I`ll spill all the juicy details later on.

It was all started just fine. Me and Rashid were contemplated to sign in for this event. Why? It's logical. It was held on Sunday, 22 September 2013, 1 week before the postponed Standard Chartered KL Marathon and we could not afford to injured ourselves during the event. Very very risky. Some how in the end, we managed to sign in on the 11th hour after seeing the attractive finisher medal and not so vibrant finisher tee. Hahaa... If we could survived the 20 horrendous grueling man made obstacles during the Viper Challenge, how hard could it be to endure 9 obstacles on a 18.95km distance event? We shall find out soon. Hehee. I received my racekit via courier, two weeks before, I guessed. But things happened for a cause. I simply couldn't sleep early the night before the race. I slept around 2.30 am!!! Disaster in the making, most definitely... @.@

O-M-G! As expected, I woke up around 6.30-ish, I hurriedly got all the important stuffs ready and off I go to Palace of Justice. I was driving frantically like a F1 driver, Fernando Alonso, perhaps? Did Not Start (DNS) is not an option by that time. There's no way I could let that precious finisher medal and fabulous tee slipped away from my hands. Once I arrived at the starting line, I could see there were 1 lady runner started out super late too and I tried to over take her along the route. I did not have time to do the warm up and I just dashed to catch up with her.  It was already bright and I was running without the safety cones anymore because they might have cleared things up already.

After the first WS, I was not that far from her. She was running quite fast too. She was wearing a Vibram. But somehow I had to decrease my pace fearing that a cramp might be creeping up on me anytime soon. At that point, I already reached KM4, where I could see some fast runners were already making their way back to the finishing line already. I still remembered that Rashid seemed puzzled when he saw me running followed by a safety motorcyclist. I knew I was the last runner by that time. Hahaa! I saw M.Ridwan and Nick running towards me then.

Thank goodness as I tackled the incline at Putrajaya International Convention Centre, I was no longer the last person as I managed to run a bit faster than the lady runner. Fuhhh... It was quite a pressure to keep up with my own pace and at the same time being escorted by a motorcycle. Blame it on me, as usual... Hehee...

I reached the first obstacle, which is the sandbag challenge. Managed to carry the heavy 15kg rice sack on my shoulder for 80 metres. Fuhh thank goodness haha! Next it was the most daunting challenge, the monkey bar one. I attempted once and I slipped. Therefore I just did the 10 burpees as the penalty. Dang, doing a set burpees was definitely tough, especially after running 5- 6 km! Later on it was the third obstacle, the barricade. I did not dare to leap like a pro athlete. So I just crossed it carefully. Could not afford to fell and injured my precious foot, remember? Hehee...

After 400m run I met again with the same anthills just like in Deuter Trail Run. I swore that I could already see some stars after the last anthill(fourth obstacle). My heart was screaming for mercy! To add more salts to the wound, I had to tackle the nasty steep climb immediately. I was forced to speed walk for 200m before I could run a little bit more (fifth obstacle). Then I could see the familiar Deuter trail as my sixth obstacle. It was fun and exhilarating running downhills but with care too. At the end of the trail run, I had to cross the ocean of tyres in order to get to the other side. That was my seventh obstacle so far. I took my sweet time to overcome this as I did not want to trip myself up. I even witnessed one of the runner's shoe left in the tyre.

Later on, after 400m run I reached the eighth obstacle, which is the high wall challenge. I failed at my first attempt and luckily there was this one kind hearted marshal who lend his shoulder for me to step on for the leverage. Blessed you, Sir. Even the Orange Man helped me a bit at the other side of the wall. Thank you too, Sir! Looks like my upper body still sucks and not that strong to support my heavy body. Urghhh! I nearly had a hamstring cramp when I was on top of the wall.

Finally it was over. I had to keep on running after going through all those challenges. By that time it was getting hot and the sun was shining bright in the sky. Running in that kind of condition alone was quite tough, just so you know. Reaching the final 400m, I could see the last surprise obstacle. It was two Ford pajero being parked back to back. I had to climb over the pajeros carefully and made my way to the finishing line under 2:36:22 according to my Garmin time (3:21:16 nett time).

I was freaking tired that I did not had the appetite to savour the scrumptious buffet spread afterwards. At first I thought it was meant to cater for the VVIPs only because it looked quite posh. The heat was unbearable too. After all the post-race photo session with all my running friends, then I managed to swallow some of the food. The briyani rice was delicious! Yummeh...

Thanks to all my running buddies of We Are Runners for being patiently waiting for me, the super EPIC late runner. Almost 1 hour and 10minutes ya. I`m so touched! Muaks guys n gurls!!! =D

With k.Romzy Liu and Rashid

The Fantastic Four - One... 

With a decent pose of Acid... I was shocked! LOL

Me and Fadzil T.

NO EXCUSES TO SIMPLY DNS YAA... =P

                                                                Cheeky me!

I Am An EPIC Late Runner... LMAO!

Overall, it was a very well organized events, especially for an inaugural event. WS were aplenty too, serving icy cold drinks and isotonics too. Medical team were always on the go. Love the reversed route, instead of POJ - PICC usual route. They even provided us the wet sponges to cool off the heat. Well done to all the volunteers, marshalls and organizer for the smooth sailing event. Thank you to the motorcycle marshal guy for escorting me for about 2km. Safety first as always. We shall see if there will be another Reebok One Challenge next year, perhaps?

Till then, adios amigos!

P/S: NEXT: The most anticipated full marathon event of the year in Malaysia. My 6th FM by that time.. =D

My GARMIN Data is HERE , Feel free to check it out yaa... =)

Men's Healh & Shape Night Run & Back 2 Basics Fun Run 2013 - NEVER a win-win situation! T_T

Two Back 2 Back Events Again... When will I ever learn from my itchy hand, huh? 

Helo there fellow readers.... So sorry for keeping you waiting for my backlogged entries, lots of them actually. I will try to publish them one by one and tried to stick to K-I-S-S (Keep It Simple la Stupid hoho!) concept. This super late entries was due to super laziness, the lack of mood to write and share although I really love to comment on other's blogs asap. Hahaa... How irony of silly me... I really deserved more *Piakkk7x at the back from you guys, ya... Forgive me then...

Men's Healh & Shape Night Run (7 September 2013)
Enough with the introduction, let's go straight to the point ya... The normal suspects, me, Rashid and Fadzil T, went to the Men's Health & Shape Night Run venue in Palace of Justice just in time. For your information, this was second attempt in securing the Top 1000 limited medals after not being able to grab those limited Top 500 medals last year which happened to be on my 30th Birthday by that time. It was drizzling wet all the way but I hope it will stop from raining by the time we were being flagged off. It did, temporarily. Nearing the gun off time, I was rushing to get Rashid's SPI belt from Aafong. And I could not place myself as near as I could at that time. Not being kiasu much and I really paid the price from not doing so on that night. Hahaa... *dush2 me...

This Diva won't be running for Live Great Run, need to rest for one week, at least! 

Oh well, as soon as I reached the finishing line in 1:24:52, it was very hectic and havoc. We were requested to line up to take the number for the limited finisher medals. Unfortunately I was 16 seconds late from the last person who received the limited medal. Oh well, better luck next time. Not having the limited medal for the second time was already sucks, unlike my other running buddies. I had to blame myself for neglecting the speed training several weeks before the running event. Plus, I`m not super kiasu enough to place myself among the front line. So now all I need to do is to take the bitter humble pill and move on as I really need to get a decent sleep before the next running event which will be helf on the very next day. *Sigh....  (Nanges2.. Dah lah kaki sore segala, pace sendu tetap hajat tidak kesampaian... Apakan daya, takdir menentukan segalanya...) =P

We Are Runners  (W.A.R.s)- Reunited again...

MARDI Runners Trio

Pacesetter's Back 2 Basics Run (8 September 2013)
I woke up lazily on that wonderful chilly Sunday morning after the exhausting tormenting night run and hurriedly prepping up myself for the event. Although I was still feeling traumatised and demotivated after I failed to secure the limited medal, but I managed to stay calm and positive about my unfortunate incidents. Maybe it was not my time yet to shine. Hahaa... Dramatic much! Luckily it was held near at the heart of my office compound, MAEPS Serdang, Selangor. Managed to snap several photos with my usual partner in crime, Rashid, hunkilicious Ridwan and super determined Gme Azmi before we were being honked off. I treated it just like my normal weekend's LSD run, except it was a wee bit faster.

Me and Ridwan (fitness celeb in the making)

The usual suspects, Gme, Rashid and me... 

We were running on a 7km loop along the wonderful breathtaking scenery along MAEPS Serdang. It was supposed to be a 10km loop distance but I heard that the authority did not approve the additional 3 km route on the 11th hour. There were some photographers seemed to be taking the runners' pictures along the route. That's really helpful considering that us runners tend to run a lot more when they were in sight. Hahaa... Motivating much! Must look good in camera by the way. There were two Water Stations along the route. After the first loop, I heard the sound of the usual brass band performed while the runners were running. Hmm that's unique! I immediately snatch some heavenly slices of watermelon after the first round. And I was ready to go for the second loop.

After the second loop, it's show time synergy! 

Tadaaa! 

It's goofying time already for us!

Just dance while runnig y'all... hahaa

I've decided to add some elements of fun and leisure during the second round. I changed my running tee and cap into a different colour. So did Rashid and Azmi too. Hahaa... It felt so good to run in a group, eventhough I know my pace was way slower than them. Hehee... After I completed my third loop, it was time to call it a day. There's no point of doing the fourth loop because you will be 2km short by the way to make it 30km. Blame it on my lazy bump for not doing the final loop hahaa...

The remaining of W.A.Rs on the 2nd day... Hahaa!

Me and Mimi on her FMV journey during SCKLM.

Me, Gme, Ejah and Aniza

Me and our Powerman cum Triathlete,  Mr. Andi

After that it was time to indulge the yummy nasi lemak and juicy water melons and limau kucing. I enjoyed meeting the usual suspects and we took lots of pictures together. Definintely a FUN running event. It was well organized, lots of marshals at WS and at the main junctions, the food was good although it was a small scale event only. However the running bib was so dodgy, it crumbled after my second loop and had to keep to redeem my finisher medal and tee. The design was awesome! It's a must join event for next year then for me! =D

Rashid, Khairi Muin, Kak Eina, Kak Lina, Me and Abg. Zaini...

My precious finisher medal... 

That's all folks... Barang yang lepas jangan dikenang, kalau dikenang merana jiwa... =P
P/S: Next entry, The Super EPIC Late Reebok Challenge 2013.... Nanges lagik ok!