Date: 15 January 2012
Venue: Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang/Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Distance: 10km (Garmin: 9.95km)
Timing: 49:19 (Gun); 48:48 (Chip); 48:48 (Garmin)
Pace: 4:54 min/km (Garmin)
Another organized by Pacesetters and since it’s Pacesetters, never, ever, ever, go in without expecting bazillions of hills, upslopes and cliffs. Steep Extremely steep and long hills. This was an out-and-back course starting from Universiti Putra Malaysia’s stadium taking the runners through the campus. The route was slightly off the main roads – for traffic management I reckon and probably safer for everyone.
As usual, the ladies were flagged off 10 minutes before the guys…and naturally, being the slow poke I was, got passed by a few countless guys. Gotta keep the ego in check.
Km1-2
I lined up with Jessica about 4-5 deep since we wanted to start slow though her slow is probably my fast! True to form, Annie Yee and her sped up even before we got out of the stadium.
Er we’re starting with a climb in the first 500m? Are you kidding me? This was reminiscent of the Malakoff run! But this was followed by a nice long downhill whizz…which of course, cannot be a good news because we would have to navigate, crawl up this same stretch on the way back. On tired legs, zero in the tank…you get the idea. Go see the last point and you’ll know.
Brittany and I ran the first 1.5-2km together, passing Chia Ee at the above dreaded climb and Indra on the flat out stretch just before km2.
Km3-5
Probably the flattest stretch of the entire route. Also the most boring since the road seemed to go on forever and ever. First hydration station here and I was glad to have Kelvin cheering me on as well as watching KahWai’s antics snapping pics (he likes to move back and forth as runners approach and pass him). I needed the distraction because (1) the stretch was endless and (2) I was running neck-in-neck with a Caucasian girl from the Open category.
With KahWai after the event (photo credit to Jason Thai)
Km6-7-8
Second hydration station here, first checkpoint came after km5, ego-busting here when the guy lead runners pass you…on an upslope to boot! This portion was rollers...but do-able…coz I slowed down on the climbs. Not exactly following the coach's training advice of “kill the hills and recover on the downhills”, eh? Oddly, I managed to pass Bee Hoon on the first climb – the one which the lead runners from Africa (they totally dominated the Open category!) “humiliated” me. Very odd indeed.
Km9-10
Remember that long downhill in km1? Payback time! And a big payback! Unfortunately for me, the left Achilles tendon started getting angry…and cajole the right shin and calf to follow suit. I “walked” up the last bit of the “cliff” (someone said it was 90ft!)…the most incriminating evidence is probably somewhere in someone's album (nope, will not embarrass myself further by posting it! Great, I can't believe I wrote that!). Not even Tey’s encouragement could make them go away.
Pros:
a) Well organized event by Pacesetters, as always. It’s always different when an event is put up by runners and by event management companies.
b) Sufficient hydration stations – 3 along the route with one at the start/finish point. Isotonics were also served and I like the bit where the volunteers call out whether they were handing out H2O or isotonics.
c) Distance markers every 1 km in the second half.
d) Well-marshaled intersections and Rela patrols at the car parks.
e) Post race grub – your choice of bean curd, nasi lemak, cereals or waffles or all 3! Together with milo.
f) Early and on-time start at 7am! Yes, we runners do have a life like to loll around doing nothing while the dishes pile up in the kitchen sink, dust gathers on mantels and floor, fridge and larders unstocked etc on Sundays.
g) Time chipped!
Cons:
a) Post race traffic wasn’t as good as that of Malakoff probably due to space constraints? You collect your goodie bag and then make your way through a narrow pathway to the hydration and post-race grub booths, after which you need to queue up for each item. I’m surprised Pacesetters didn’t take a cue from Malakoff:
- Give each runner a water bottle and a can of isotonic. Congestion warning! You need to go back 3-4 times because they only handed out small cups of water and Gatrorade. Plus it makes no difference since the volunteers were basically pouring out the water from the bottles and cans anyway. Having small cups for pre-race is fine since most of us only need a sip or two after our warm ups; having the same set up post-race is chaotic.
- Then you queue up for the bean curd.
- Repeat for rest. If you want nasi lemak, waffles or cereals, go to the back of each line for each item. Pretty much time wasting.
b) Nothing much for the goodie bag – not much an issue for me since I subscribe to the principle of paying for an event to run, not for the goodie bag although I’m sure a lot of people out there would disagree.
Photo log:
With Brittany (photo credits to CH Leong)
Photo log:
With Brittany (photo credits to CH Leong)
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