PAR XII 2016 1st Series ~ No Cranky Cranky, Just Run! :)

No CrankyCranky Team looking radiant in Purple....

It all started when Sal invited yours truly, Apeng, Tokdad Romzi and Lisa to make a team of five once Pacemakers announced the date for Pacemakers Anniversary Relay Run (PAR XII) 2016 - First series. We had to register asap because of the limited slots and its selling out fast too!

The rule was simple. Runners must assemble a group consists of 5 team members. Every team member must run 1 loop (3.15KM) relay and carry the baton with timing chip on it. The winning teams (Top 15) will be determined from the accumulated time. There's also prizes for Top 3 best dressed Team. :)

We chose No CrankyCranky Team as our team name because we wanted to enjoy the relay run cranky free hohohi... Plus we had to run in the morning during the holy month Ramadhan. Just run my heart out then hahaa...

A few weeks before the event, Sal went to collect the racekits for all of us at ULTRON NU Sentral KL. Thank you so much babe! We also decided to pick Purple for our official team colour. Yayyy.. That's my favourite colour... Purplelicious then! 😍👍👍👍

On that Sunday morning, I woke up a bit late for a proper Sahoor. Just had some juicy sweet dates and drink lots of water along with alpha mprolabs capsule. I just knew it's going to be a tough run. Running on empty la katakan... Just go with the flow then hoho...

After Fajr prayer, Rashid and I went to Lake Garden. I had to park near the National Memorial and slow jogged all the way to the venue. Consider it as a warming up run lah...

A photo with Kuan Chu before the run began.... Credits to you Buddy for the picture...

I chose to wear purple Pink Ultra finisher tee and MisFydKrafts purple bling-bling Magneto cape to match with our Team colour theme. Met with the rest of my team members 15 minutes before the flag off time. Oh I was being given the mandate as the last runner for my team. Gosh, that was the most stressful position for every team, the first and the last runners. Hehee... After we took our group photo, Sal went into the gantry first. She was the first runner for No CrankyCranky Team.

The women runners were being flagged off at 7.30 am sharp! While waiting for Sal to arrive, we took some photos together and started to warming up a bit.

Go Sal Go! Going minimalist... Respect!

Once I saw Sal was about to reach the transition area, Tokdad Romzi was already there to receive the baton. He ran his loop quite fast, 17min 06sec. The fastest timing among us. Awesome!

Tokdad Romzi running in style! Effortlessly too...

After that it was Apeng's turn to run the relay as the third runner. She ran barefoot and was fast too... Damn! Truly inspiring...

Go Apeng Go... She's a fast barefoot runner! Fuhhh....

Once Lisa received the baton from Apeng, I knew my time will come pretty soon. Luckily I managed went to the loo for my no. 2 nature call. Fuhhh lega hehee... No more tummy issues hehee..

It was a cloudy morning, with chances of heavy rain too, based on the really dark clouds from that early morning. I need to outrun myself so that I won't be running in the rain & got myself drenched. Well that's a good motivation, so to speak.

Lisa was running like a breeze.... Cayalah... Pic credits to Rashid Mat Rani, Captain ULTRON

Waiting patiently for my turn to come... Dub dap dup dap... Adei sakit perut also nih... The Second Wave.. =P

I could already see Lisa approaching me in the transition zone. My heart was beating fast while I was waiting for her. Goshh... Once she handed the baton, I just sprint like crazy... LOL! Full of adrenaline rush... Plus with lots of photographers were standing nearby to capture the moments. Must go all out to look good in photos. LOL! =D

The One, Two, Three motions during the baton transfer... Ikkezo! Run Aizat Run! Credits to Kahwai from RFF

Well it did not last that long though hehee... About 500m or so, I slowed down my pace while catching up my breath. My throat felt so dry, I could only swallow my own saliva hahaa... Gulped! I tried to maintain my easy pace and kept on moving. The cape was a bit uncomfy to run with. Not with this pace hehee...

Ran into Rany Tan after 1km++ around the scenic Lake Garden.... Thanks to Rany for this picture!

Just right before I reached the hilly part, Tokdad was catching up not far from me. He encouraged me to keep on running slowly while tackling the hills and took big steps while climbing up the stairs. Fuhhh, I was already breathless once I reached the top of the stairs. Hahaa... Need to shake it off and keep on running downhill.

Yayyy done with the stairs! Credits pic to Kang Kang....

Almost there... Sikit lagik wehhh.... Fun Run la katakan hehee... Credit pic to Rashid RmR

I love running downhill part. That's where I should be able to increase my pace and get ready to sprint once I reached the corner. As I could see the FL, I gathered all the remaining strength I had and sprinted like there's no tomorrow. All the runners & my friends were cheering for me on both sides. It was a mad dash towards the FL. I could already see the stars & moon once I crossed the FL. Too tired to go and handover the baton to collect our finisher medals, so I gave it to Lisa & Apeng. I clocked it 24:43 for the final lap. Way better than my earlier target 28min hoho...

The moments upon crossing the finishing line.... Picture credits to Se7en Chiam and many others... Thank you guys!

Took a group photo at the field and right after we went back to cheer for the remaining runners at the venue, it was started to rain cats and dogs. Some of the runners were still running despite the torrential rain.

He had my utmost respect for braving the rain.... Kudos bro!

We took shelter at the hut nearby. I had to lay on the wooden floor as I was still pretty much fatigue and still not recovering well.. The cold weather made me feel hungrier hahaa... Luckily it was Ramadhan and I had already tapau-ed some nasi lemak and bread.

It's a Group Photo Time... Go Purplelicious! Go!

The rest of my team headed home while I waited for the prize giving ceremony. Soon after that, the rain subsided and it was time for crowning the Top 15 Teams & Top 3 Best Dressed Teams. Congrats to all winners!

No. 1 Best Dressed Team - The Incredible Kids

No. 2 Best Dressed Team - Team Chap Ayam Runners with Malay Traditional Dress

No. 3 Best Dressed Team - Dashing Divas

All in all it was a very well organized annual event. Great event tee by ULTRON  as the #OfficialApparel #MicroDry, awesome finisher medal design too. You have to run both series to complete the Ironman inspired finisher medals. How cool is that. Plenty of banana, nasi lemak, bread, Revive isotonic drinks and drinking water for a great after race hospitality.

Awesome funky first part of Ironman finisher medal.... =D

Once the result were already out in the evening, placed at 130 out of 199 teams. It turned out that we did great, despite that there were 4 of us were fasting on that event day. Yayyy.. Fasting was not a hindrance for us to stay active and running on the broad morning light. hehee...Congrats to my No CrankyCranky Team for a great teamwork! Thanks once again to Tokdad Romzi for pacing me and Apeng. I had such a great time running here for the third year in a row.... It's like my annual Ramadhan event already... =)

Till then, take care and thanks for reading guys & girls, ladies and gentlemen.... =D

VIPER CHALLENGE 2013 - I'VE CONQUERED ASIA'S BIGGEST OBSTACLE RUNNING EVENT!

Are You Game?

Hi there fellow readers, silent or outspoken one, my brothers and sisters in runninghood. Happy Monday y'all.... My apologies for keeping you waiting for my next entry... Being super busy recently, with all the workloads and other planning ahead.. I would love to share my not so recent experience in participating Viper Challenge 2013, dubbed as Asia's Biggest Obstacle Event. It was really the most mind boggling and nerve wrecking event I've ever participated so far. It really tested my physical and mental to the max, I tell you... And I'm glad I've conquered the feisty nasty serpent challenges!

First of all, what's Viper Challenge?

Viper challenge is a 20km Obstacle Course Challenge, which is predominantly filled with man-made obstacles that will put both heart and spirit to the test. It is Asia's first and largest obstacle challenge, like no other. Imagine obstacles Designed to take you out of your comfort zone, you will enter the challenge either as an individual warrior or as part of a team...  Whichever way you enter, you will finish understanding that cooperation and teamwork will be the likely factors that will help you to get across that finish line, without it, you will find it difficult to succeed. Even individual Warriors will depend on others participating in the course alongside them for a boost at times

(Source: http://www.viperchallenge.com/what-is-viper-challenge)

Me and my running buddies from WE ARE RUNNERS (W.A.R.s) group decided to register for this event as a team. Padel as the team leader, Dr Fong as the assistant/manager, while I and Fadzil as the other member. Fadzil was replacing Murni at the very 11th hour since she could not make it.

(Credits to Afong and Padel for all the wonderful pics)

On that morning of the event, Rashid and I departed early to fetch Fadzil in Taman Melati first before heading straight away to Sepang International F1 Circuit (SIC). It was the torrential rain with some thunderstorms that welcomed us that morning. I had a feeling that I might have to run in the rain and obviously the obstacles will be getting more and more muddier due to the heavy rain.

From left: Me, Padel, Afong & Fadzil

Team WARs before the flag off of the last batch. Still chirpy still happy  and full of energy!

Rashid started his slot at 7.20 am because he entered as an individual while the rest of us started our horrendous gruesome journey by 8.00 am. I soon found out that we were the last batch to be released on the second day. The first obstacle was very easy. We had to crawl under the fishing net. The second and third one required us to climb over the wooden wall with different height. The second wall was a bit challenging because it was higher and teamwork was much needed here to push your teammate to climb over the wall.  

Looks easy, right? Just crawl underneath the fishing net...

The fourth challenge was the most coolest of them all, like literally. We had to dip our body waist deep in a tank fiilled with ice cubes cold water and went underneath a wooden plank midway. Boy, I could not feel my balls anymore. LOL Half of my body was numb and I was shivering like hell... Brrrr!!!

Padel, Me, Fadzil and Afong after the muddy barb wire crawl. Pardon for the muddy smudges images of us!

Fadzil in action to cross the slippery muddy balancing pole...  He made it.. Can you spot me? =P

Padel, our team leader took the bullet for the rest of the team by completing the monkey bar... Bravo! 

After that we had to go through many more countless obstacles like barb wire crawl (I hurt my knees during the nasty crawl that really triggered my old injuries!), dusty trench crawl turned into murky muddy at the end of the crawl, balance beam (I fell off this one and hit my elbow on the solid soil, Ouch! mujolah xlebam dll.), steep hill slide, trye run, tyres hill, incline wall, cargo net, hill rope climbing, haystack wall, tried to do the monkey bars over water but it was so damn slippery and my upper body was so weak, so I had to skip that obstacles, takut terjatuh dalam air lumpur teh tarik tuh sebenarnya... Boohoo! Noted to myself: Need to sign up for the gym asap!

Members of WARS with some of our running friends and strangers united mid way...

Took our sweet time posing on top of the haystack wall

My Skechers GoTrail shoes were drenched most of the time but I seemed to enjoy every moment of it. The hilly route was awesome and running under the hot scorching sun at 1230pm was EPIC! We were roasted to perfection after the grueling 4 hours and 30 minutes (almost 5 hours ok!). I found out there were two different tones on my arm and legs after the Viper Challenge... Gosh!

WARS In Blue... =D

The super nasty giant hilly slide! Love the G-Force, just like a going down a roller coaster  weh!

After the slide... Coated with mud all over us... 

Fadzil's back were badly slashed by the sharp stones hidden underneath the canvas. Even his shirt was torn.
He received a shot for it but never whined about it all on that day. Totally anak jantan indeed! lol

Most of us in my WARs team suffered some scratches and bruises at the back, especially after the giant hill slide. "Thanks" to the sharp stones underneath the freaking hot canvas. Luckily I survived it without any scratches. Cuma satu bisul je pecah dan tersemburlah darah pada baju saya yang tebal ini... LOL! I really love the ending of our run. All five of us were holding hands in hands running together towards the firemen hose shower at the finishing line. It was worth with all the insane challenges we've endured!

Many thanks to our drinking water sponsor, SYABAS!  

Overall, it was very well organized event. Plenty of drinking water, albeit Syabas tank and Revive isotonics drink too. (Psst: The drinking Syabas tank felt like a Evian nonetheless  at that moment!) They really listened to the complaints from the 1st Day participants and improved their WS and plenty of medical volunteers around too. However, they still failed to serve us any mineral or isotonic drinks since it was super duper blazing hot by that time. They only provided us with Milo drink, ice-cream and the finisher medal, cert and finisher tee. I`m so thirsty, ice-cream or Milo won't be able to quench our thirst, ok!? 

                   

The Famous Five WARs with out finisher tee... Note that Afong got some sunburn mark on her face already. 

This is my must pose after the gruelsome challenge... Now I know the sky is the limit! Bring it on!

Next review:  Fascinating River Jungle Marathon 2013 aka Full Marathon #5. It was a full marathon full of emotions... Needless for me to say... Sigh... T_T

More of my Garmin data can be reached right HERE ya... =D

Ciao!