Double Hill Run – 21 June 2011

Distance: 10.57km to traffic lights; 10.86km to Bukit Aman

Timing: 58:09 min for 5:30 min/km pace; 59:31 min for 5:29 min/km pace

I had a potential double booking this morning! Now if only that would apply to hot dates and I would be set! Aron buzzed me on FB last night and as we had agreed to meet at 6:25 this morning 2 minutes before Kenny’s text message, I had to move my “date” with Kenny to Thursday morning.

This week is taper week for the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon, at least for those covering the longer distances. So no more long runs and in any case, doubt I can do 19km this morning without going to Holland! Since it is a workday, traffic was a bit heavy on Jalan Parlimen, behind Bank Negara and Bukit Tunku but once we got to the first hill climb, it eased off a bit – traffic! Not the climb!

And I now know why I felt winded this morning – we started off way too fast! 5:11 min/km! When the plan had called for a 6 min/km pace. Oh golly! The pace dropped off at the second and third km as we ascended the back of Bank Negara. The fourth and fifth were flattish and we held pace at 5:20+ min/km – good stuff. Then the first hill came into the picture and Mr 4-hour-pacer powered ahead but this time, at least I was not too far back (probably 5 steps?). Km7 and 8 were downhills with part of the latter on the straight stretch of Jalan Tun Razak. Km8 has always been my favourite. After this, it was the climb for the second hill – oh why do I torture myself like this???!!!

We finished off our run at the traffic lights leading to Bukit Aman; too many cars zooming past to cross the road. It was definitely a good run – just look at the average pace (hey, my standard ok! Not Boss’ standard). I may ask Aron if we should set up a weekly date since Kenny will be away from next month. The other potential partner I may hound is TPC but TPC’s paces are too fast for me. Or anyone out there who would like to take on a slow-mo running buddy in the mornings?