Double Hill Run – 30 July 2011

Distance: 10.84km

Timing: 59:54 min for 5:31 min/km pace

I’m in the office. It’s Saturday afternoon. Enough said.

Since Jeff’s proposal was still hanging in the air when I logged out last night, I texted Aron to see if he was up for a run. Done. We met at 6:25 am and he gave me cardiac when he suggested we do the BA-Hartamas route. Holy cow! Nope, not today dear…let’s just tackle the DH.

Actually the LSD would have been perfect this morning since the temp was low and the air was crisp due to the overnight rain…but I’ll be working late tonight (and not getting my afternoon nap!) and have a race tomorrow. On hindsight, it was the right thing to do although he was pretty much gutted this morning – it poured around 8 am!

Oh right, I’m supposed to be blogging about the run. It was at an easy-moderate pace and we were talking the whole time. Aron wanted to run even splits of 5:30 min/km and I told him to run ahead if he felt strong. I’m more of the “based on effort/feel” runner or that’s what I tell myself. The effort pushing up hills, slow as it may be, should be the same on flats; downhills are exceptions! I just want to fly down them! Aron powered ahead on the slopes at km6-7 and km9-10 while I trailed him. It wasn’t too bad since I was only a couple of steps back; breathing hard but not labored – I try to keep to the Buteyko as much as possible and so far, have been succeeding.

Km1-5 was light and easy as we caught up with each other and discussed the pros and cons of running almost each day; he’s a pro while I’m an advocate of thea 3-4 day/week plan. We passed a group at km3 at the climb leading to Bukit Tunku; they were probably the only group or even individuals we saw this morning. Guess everyone is gearing up for tonight’s Men’s Health & Shape Run or the multitude of races tomorrow (Klang Admiral, Shah Alam adiNation, Segambut Welfare, sEGi).

Soon we were at the turnaround to the first hill – wow! time did pass rather quickly – and this was where Mr 4-hour Pacer powered ahead and slow-mo moi tortoised after him. There was a bit of uphill at km7 but most of it was downhill. Km8 was another downhill as we left Bukit Tunku and moved to the flat Jalan Tun Razak. Km9-10 was the second hill – Aron terms it “small hill”, “something you can do with your eyes closed”, “it’ll be over just as quickly as it takes you to breathe” etc. You know what…he’s right because after this, it was flying down the hill and back to the car park.

Awesome run, great temp and the best thing – fantabulous running buddy.