UEM CHARITY RUN 2016 - Great Experience Running on NKVE highway for the first time!

The catch of the day... Bronzy UEM Run finisher medal... Love the number 50 embedded 

It has been a while since I shared my experience running Half Marathon (HM) here. HM would always be my favourite distance because it was not that short as 10km and not too long like FM... Just nice, in between... Plus it did not take a longer time to complete. Normally within 3 hours max although I did 330 before hehee... Yikes!

UEM Charity Run 2016 was held in conjunction of 50 Years Anniversary of UEM Group Celebration. This was their first of the three series run. The other two running events will be held in Perlis 29 May (Perlis Marathon) & Iskandar Puteri Johor (6 August)

The moment they announced about UEM Charity Run 2016, I signed up for it immediately. Not just because of its reasonable registration fees, RM60 but running along the total shut down NKVE excite me the most. Runners would feel so safe running there, hassle free. Plus we could get the flashy finisher medal along with Ultron running tee & awesome finisher tee. I'm pretty sure the newbies would more excited to join such inaugural race.

It turned out I was right. There were so many runners happened to participate this event than Bukit Jalil HM on the same day. Like they said, the more the marrier. Everybody would love to run on a new route that possess new challenges too.

The REPC was smooth and silky. Easy peasy. I went to Stadium Shah Alam to collect mine & other Marathonbaker's ambassadors racekit.

Once again we were proud to be one of the co-sponsors for this charity run. Thanks to the organizer Puncak Venture for the opportunities. We also had our own booth for sales & promotion at the open field. Later I'll tell you guys about it ok...

On the race day, I could not sleep well the night before. Plus I need to wake up early to get a decent parking not far from the starrting line. To make things worse, I was lost in finding the nearest landmark Dataran Glomac. No thanks to the Waze. Dayumm. Wasted some time to find my way. Finally there was one parking slot near the lake.

Hurriedly prepped myself up and jogged my way to the starting line. Had 1 Marathonbaker Runbananaz before the run. 15 minutes to flag off. Met the usual suspects before gathering in the gantry. Hafeez, Lisa, Azman, Amin Jaafar & Taufik. One of them took a munch of the Marathonbaker energy bar too before running. Wished everyone best of luck before we were being flagged off by 5am.

Here We Go! Pic courtesy of ActionPix Malaysia....

 It was a stuffy morning. I could still remembered how humid it was during the first 3-4km. I was sweating profusely. Tried to maintain my pace throughout the gradually incline route along the highway. We were running towards a curve and went straight ahead to Kota Damansara toll gate. Made a u-turn there and off we go continued running towards the dreadful Bukit Lanjan incline.

Jauh lagik perjalanaan ku ini.... Bertabahlah! Pic credits to Abg Rozmi from ActionPix Malaysia....

I had another Runbananaz energy ball after the u-turn and downed it up with the drinking water at the WS... Must keep on refuel because we were not even half way yet.

Once I reached the hilly part, I tend to do some fast walk. However my fast walk pace was not fast enough so I kept on shuffling and puffing my way on the incline. Had some walk breaks too actually. It was quite a mental route with neverending incline hahaa... Could see some runners performed Fajr prayer at the roadside at some area.

Finally I reached the top of the Bukit Lanjan incline & made it to the u-turn point (10.5km).  Awesome view from up here and now it was time for the effortless downhill run. Yayyy!

Taking a breather here... The stones structure around Bukit Lanjan were amazing! Selfie ciked

 I ran my heart out during the downhill part. Need to compensate the time that we've lost when we ran-walked-ran up.  Just keep on moving and enjoy the scenery. Met some runners along the way. Nizam, Will & Ku Irman too.

Going Down All The Way... Wuhooo...

 It was getting brighter as the sun started to come out and play. I did not want to be roasted by the bright morning sun so I just keep on moving.

Still early morning.... So happy to see all the photogs... Credits to Running Kaki Malaysia for the pics...

The last 3-4km felt like forever. U just had to stay focus & overcame the mental straight route hehee... We had to run straight ahead before making the final u-turn towards the finishing line near PERSADA PLUS.

Finally at last I crossed the FL within 3hours (My Garmin records 2:55++ hoho). Yupp, super excited coz the morning was not that hot & fully bright yet hehee... Spare me the blazing light please hihii...

Thank You Marathonbaker for everything!

Took the medal, banana & finisher tee at the end of the canopy and walked towards Marathonbaker booth. It's time to perform ambassador/promoter/cashier job with the rest of Marathonbaker Team. That's the least I could do to help them... =D

Almost everyone was here, except Cikgu Mat and Aman. Since our booth was located at the far end, we decided to do some hooha & tried to pull and attract the crowd to come & sample our yummilicious homemade energy bars. 

Sifu Yim with his die hard fans hehee...

Happening at  Marathonbaker booth.

Yim & Cikgu Syed were bringing the buntings to the front & going around the field promoting Marathonbaker. While I took the initiative dragging the mini menu blackboard to the middle of the field and walked towards the FL area too hehee... That way I could meet my running friends & promote Marathonbaker as well. It was like 2-in-1 kinda things, right? Hehee 😛✌️

Bersama rakan-rakan sepelarian... Tahniah korang!

Bersama Aizul geng Divanaz ehh.... Turut tak ketinggalan Ishaqrudy & Kak Alyn Idolaz...

With Papajeeda and all the Kura Runners all the way from Johor... Laju depa2 nih...

Oh we were truly privileged and honoured to meet and greet Mr Shahrom Abdullah, the national explorer, first Malaysian who succesfully completed the "South Pole All The Way" expedition. He skied 890km traversing across Antartica from Messner Inlet to Zero degree point in 37 days! Wow amazing and truly inspiring indeed! He shared some of his sub zero experiences during the expedition. Still remembered that ABC jokes hohohi! Thanks Mr Shahrom for coming by to our humble booth and sharing all the money can't buy experiences.

Team Marathonbaker Family With The Man Himself

 After the prize giving ceremony & lucky draw sessions (sadly tak menang pun hoho), it's time to wrap up, tutup kedai sudah. Packed everything up & off we went for a group lunch/brunch hahaa...

We had such a lovely Arabic cuisine here in Samira Cuisine. Some ordered chicken Briyani but I ordered Lamb Mandy rice was to die for. Had some chit chats with our two Lady Bosses, this was our first time having lunch with (almost) everybody in Marathonbaker Family. Thank you so much babe for the lovely treat. Will be back looking for this cozy eatery spot again since I'm a huge fan of lamb! 😜✌️

Lunch time with all the Idols, Podium, Ironman, Ultra runners and Big Lady Boss heheee... We Are One Big Happy Family!

Lamb Mandy In The Houz.... the lamb was sooo tender.... Delicious!

 All in all it was a nice outing with all my Marathonbaker Family. Three of our Ambassadors finished running under 2 hours. Congrats to Tahira for winning the Champion for Women's Open 21km. Woot! Woot! Congrats to all of us finishers... I had so much fun from the wee hours to assisting promoting Marathonbaker energy bars... It was nice meeting all of you during UEM Charity Run 2016!

Congrats Tahira and the other lady winners!

Tahira was being interviewed by reporters from Bernama

29th HM done & dusted here... Hehee.. Looks like my HM is catching up with my FM already hewhew...

Thank you Marathonbaker for powering up my Half Marathon run... Refuel and re-energise with Runbananaz!

Till then toodles!

THE RUNNING DIVA MALAYSIA 2016 #bukansekadarselfie ~ So Divalicious ~

The Running Diva Malaysia Run 2016 (TRDM) was held on Saturday 12 March 2016. The venue was at Kolam Renang Universiti Malaya. It was their inaugural edition organized by Tixtac Malaysia & NM Galaxy.
 

First of all, I was so glad and honoured to be appointed as their Diva Runner "Ambassador" along with Elizabeth Tan as the Diva Celebrity. Thanks to the organizers for their opportunity and trust. Did not see it coming though. I was so flattered. Truly I am.

 There were 3 categories provided for TRDM 2016, which 5km Diva Fun Run (non-competitive) , 10km Prince (competitive)  and 10km Princess (competitive).

I took my racekit from their office a few days before the event. Met Mr Ariff Syafik and Muazan there. Thanks guys!

Unfortunately the beautiful forever gorgeous Miss "Knock Knock" Elizabeth Tan @ Lizzy could not make it to grace the event for the meet & greet session because she was feeling unwell. So under the weather. You should see for yourself how bad her voice sounds like in her official Instagram. Poor Lizzy! Get well soon yaa... But still the show must go on!

On that very day, I arrived quite early and parked my car not far from the Stadium. I decided to wear my brand new King Royale Crown and the golden bling2 hood from MisFydKrafts. The headgear was pretty heavy too. Love the intricate details and hard work being put into such magnificent masterpiece! Thanks Mis Fid!

Once I reached the venue, I said hi to Zet, Shaz and Cikgu Syed. For your information,  Marathonbaker was proud to be one of the co-sponsors for this event. We had our own booth for sales and promotion. Do follow us on Facebook, Instagram and even on Blogspot ya guys... Got some promotions and flash sales from time to time... =D

Marathonbaker selamanya dekat di hatiku.... My Familia....

 Warming up session was being done at the car park area before the 10km Prince & Princess category. There were many runners joining the session too. It was still dark then.

10km runners were warming up by stretching themselves.... Pic credits to TRDM

Some of runners wanted to take pictures with me before the run. Hihi... Adei I was so shy one huhu.. Thank you guys! We were being flagged off by 7.10 am. There were quite a number of runners joining the 10km category. We ran towards the Sprint highway exit and that was our first loop. Went back up and off we go tackling  the dreadful Bukit Cinta. Heheee...

Huffed and puffed my way up and enjoyed my downhill run there. Yayy! Lots of photographers were spotted moving along the route.

Adorning MisFydKraft Creation - specially made for this event.... Pic courtesy of Running Magazine Malaysia

Afer that we turned right towards another loop up the mini incline. How cool was that! You could see and cheered some familiar faces along the loop. So cool!

Gave some high fives to several runners along the way up... Felt so good motivating each other - Pic credits to TRDM

Stopped at the WS somewhere around 3km++ Later on we ran past the normal route and went to the next loop at the end of PJ Exit. Still flat here. It was already 4km++ by then. Now we had to run all the way up to another loop on the right side. Managed to exchange high fives with some of the runners along the loops. In the spirits of runners encouraged each others. Sometimes I felt like gracing my subjects in my own way LOL...

Run Arthur Run! Almost there already.... Pic credits to TRDM

Once I reached the 6km distance, I saw Cikgu Syed & Zet were distributing Marathonbaker's Runbananaz samples to some of the lucky runners. I was running towards the last loop before we headed back to the FL.

Felt like flying when I ran downhill... Thanks to this King Royale Cape hoho! - Pic credits to Running Magazine Malaysia

 But first we had to endure the fume from the standing still traffic in Universiti Malaya compound. Thanks to the security for controlling the traffic flow. As I was running, there were people kept on cheering me. Some even called me Arthur! Like King Arthur LOL...

Smiled while running is mandatory folks - Thanks Mr Addy for this picture!

I could already see the Finishing Arch was not that far. Yayyy! Finally I crossed the FL around 1h20min++...

The race village was so happening. The runners were hanging out around while enjoying themselves. Free flow 100Plus drinks and drinking water. They were waiting for the lucky draw session after the prizes giving ceremony. Lots of runners were taking selfies, wefies and groupfies.

The Princess and The Prince.... Nice to meet you Indah!

Wefie dulu bersama Ucu Aman, Afandi, Hanim, Ishaqrudy & Kak Seri wajib k - Pic credits to Running Malaysia Magazine

With all the runners lingering at Marathonbaker's booth.... Congrats to all!

That really suited TRDM's theme tagline #bukansekadarselfie or #notjustaselfie. I went around to take some wefies, selfies groupfies with other runners. Felt like a Celebrity already hoho! Ah well, just for a half day event why not la kan... Kuikui...

Group photo with all the Bursa Runners.... So nice to meet you guys!

With the Zumba Queen herself, Hanim & her cowboy suit.... =D

Post race photos with all my loyal subjects was a must hohoho... =P

Being called up to the stage to give away the 2nd runner up prize to the 10km women's category. That was my first experience hehee... Bukan selalu diberi penghormatan sebegini hehee...

After the prize giving ceremony, our plan to had a surprise birthday celebration for Zet Marathonbaker on the main stage was successful! She was speechless when I brought her the birthday cake with all Marathonbaker Family. We sang the birthday song for her along with other runners... That was truly unforgettable moments! Happy belated birthday Zet! XOXO 🎉🎉🎉🎂

It's a Surprise Party For the Diva herself! =P

 All in all, I had so much fun meeting new friends and familiar faces during TRDM. Some of them were my Instagram friends that I met for the first time. Nice to meet you guys in person! Even Mis Fid came to meet the Marathonbaker Iron Ladies,  Zet & Shaz there. That really made my day.

Thanks Mis Fid for coming by.... Susah2 aje since you were pretty busy on that Saturday hehee....

Kebetulan pulak ter-sedondon dengan tudung kuning Shaz... hohoho!

 Thank you TRDM 2016 for having me to be part of the event. Congrats to all the finishers, organizers and co-sponsors for the smooth and well organized event. Love the finisher medal design and purple running tee for Prince category... Yeayy!

Cool medal design by Nexus Medallion... Me likey!!!

Thank you so much to all the volunteers, marshalls, crews, photographers, and medical team for all your dedication and selfless works. U guys were great!

A group photo with all the paramedic team... Cayalah korang....

The Whole Production Team of TRDM 2016...

Looking forward to join TRDM 2017 @ Melawati. Coming Soon! Stay tuned for more updates and further announcements folks! Once again I was being featured in their cover photo in Facebook page! Awww blushing already nih uols... LOL... 😝✌️🙈 Feel free to follow their Facebook The Running Diva Malaysia for more details....