Cari Runners Valentine Day’s Couple Run 2011

Venue: Taman Tasik Titiwangs, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Distance: 3km (Garmin: 2.69km per lap)

Timing: 13:32 minutes or 5:02 min/km pace

This was a small local race; actually more of a fun run and Valentine weekend outing rather than a race. There is really nothing much to write about it except that Kei Ming and I went into it with no expectation other than to have fun and meet up/yippity yakking with some of the Cari Runners. It was billed as a 3 km individual run followed by a 2 km 3-legged run but in the end it turned out to be one lap around the lake for each segment. The Garmin measured 2.69km per lap, multiplying it by 2 brings the total distance to 5.4km. This was a new running venue for me and hence I am not sure about the calibration.

Result: 9th placing (more on this later but at least we were within the first 10 and hence awarded a glass throphy)

Good:

a) Fun run with no time expectation!

b) Race pack and bib pick up on the same day (this is very rare in this country).

c) The ever cheerful and bubbly emcee, Kelvin Ng.

d) Great pace and even splits – 5 min/km despite dodging traffic and pedestrians.

Bad:

a) Iffy organization from route planning to awards/prizes to start/finish atmosphere. I was surprised because these were the same guys who put out the Cari Runners Merdeka Run 2010 and I thought that was very well organized for the size of the race.

b) Expensive registration fee – about RM50 per runner. I do not usually have an issue with fees but there wasn’t really anything worth while provided – iffy organization, finishers’ medal, certificate and running tee (don’t think it was dri fit).

c) Zero marshals – I could only tag along or at least keep Kei Ming and the 2-3 guys in sight. There were too many possible turnings; in fact, there were some runners/couples who came back via the “wrong” route. This probably also explained why we came in 9th when we were in 2nd place up till 100 meters to the finish. We thought only 2 couples passed us…we thought wrong. I puzzled when Kei Ming told me the results because my pace was more or less on target (5 min/km) and I was the first female to finish the individual lap. Oh well…it was after all a fun run cum Valentine Day’s outing.

d) Another issue with the route – we were not sure if we were supposed to be running on the footpath nearer the lake or on asphalt. I did the latter and coupled with the zero marshals, was an excellent target for road kill.

Photo log. Credits to Tey. And guys, ignore the uber fugly outfit...hey I was supposed to show up in jammies, remember? LOL!