Invisible Guard

Ok, I’ll continue from where Kash, Zarin, June and Haza had left us. First I have to tell you guys that I am not the kind of guys who can become a member of that ghost hunters’ crew. Since I was one of the most junior members in the close relatives circle (i.e. among cousins), I was exposed to ghost stories since I started to understand other people’s conversations. Hence, I could not restraint myself from imagining things back then and made me a kind of “penakut” kid (yeah, blame others hehehe). So, I never wish to experience any encounters with the unseen world. I mean here we are facing and occupied with all type of threats from our own kind, which seems like a never ending affairs (reading newspapers now did make me depressed).

Before I continue, I would like to discuss a bit the issue of the supernatural or in malay society, commonly referred to as “alam ghaib”. My father is solid rock in his belief that nothing else is greater than God and all others are just His mere creatures (makhluk) and due to that only God can protect us from any threat from others, seen or unseen (of course we cannot just sit and do nothing in protecting ourselves). When I was a kid, each time I told him of any ghost stories which I heard from other kids, he would tell me that those creatures do not exist. Once I remembered that a guest at our house asked him about a “Pontianak” seen somewhere besides the Klang-Banting road (those days travelling from Klang to Banting can be scary at night with plantations, forest reserve and few kampongs/small towns in between, not like today). He just responded by saying that those were just “tahyul”/”khurafaat” things to be believed. I guess he did not want his kids (and people) to be overly concern about these things. After we have grown up, when this kind of issues cropped up, he would just say that these makhluk of the unseen world do exist in the form of evil (“iblis” and “syaitan”) and jin, as mentioned in the Holy Quran. There is a chapter in the Quran that is called “Surah Al-Jinn” which touches on the subject of this type of creature of God. The last verse of Surah An-Nas (i.e. one of the 3 “Qul” verses) clearly mentioned the word “jin”.

To tell you the truth I could not really claim that I have encountered supernatural forms since I was not really sure whether it did really happen or not. If I did not imagine things, below is the story of that encounter.

In year 2000, I went back to Malaysia from a 1 year stay in Japan accompanied my wife. We stayed at my parent’s house, which is beside my brother’s. My brother and his wife were performing Hajj at that time and his daughter was staying with my parent and hence his house would be empty for about 40 plus days (save for my parent’s maid coming to clean/mop the floor etc once a week). It was quite a big single storey house. We used to joke that devoid of any furniture, the living and the dining areas combined could be used to play badminton. Every evening one of us would go the house and turned on few lights in the house. One evening (before dusk) I went to the house and once I entered the house I felt very-very uncomfortable, feeling like someone was present inside. I went straight to the kitchen to turn on the light and when I was going to turn on the light at the dining area, from the corner of my eyes and in split seconds, I saw a man! I saw a man, a bearded and pious look with a white robe and turban (arab style turban) sitting on a chair at the living area facing me! I had goose bump straight away and automatically turned my face to his direction for a second look and …..nope he was gone. I hurriedly locked the sliding doors and went back to my parent’s house with my mind full of confusion, debating whether what I saw was real or just my imagination. I made a conclusion for the latter and I have not told any of my family members of that event, even until today.

A good 6 years after, I had a fresh perspective of what may have happened. Before sending off my sister and my brother in law to perform their Hajj, my father gave a few minutes of advise (tazkirah) to those present, inter alia, for those who are going to perform Hajj, not to feel sad and heavy hearted leaving their family behind and to believe that God Al-Mighty would protect, being His guest, their family and properties. It kept me thinking, was the “man” I saw (again if I did not imagining things) a makhluk (be it an angel or jinn) assigned by God to watch the house of my brother during my brother’s pilgrimage?

Allahu A’lam (God Knows Best).

Ultimate Canon Rock

Canon in D. Its actually a classic song composed by Pachelbel and has been reproduced in so many versions. Though the violin version and piano version would sound more classical, the "guitar rock" version has gained popularity around the world, which if I not mistaken, since it was introduced in "Avangelion", a famous japanese science fiction anime in the 90's. I found in Youtube a very interesting video where a guy mixed more than 20 individual videos of amature guitarists playing the rock version of this song into a single clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMWl_5NujBw

By the way, so far I did 3 easy runs before iftar for a distance of 5 km and 1 easy run after terawikh of 7.7km. I did join the friday night ride initiated by Diket at Putrajaya. A lot more to be learnt in this 2 wheels thingy but I enjoyed those rides very much. Looking forward for the next ride. Would also try to do one LSD during ramadhan but with Friday night already slotted for the ride and Saturday night would be reserved for family/neighbourhood events, it does seem remote. Tengok lah macam mana nanti.

Out from the Shell

My last post was on 15 July 2010, where I blogged about to run or not to in the Siemens 10K. In the end I was extremely glad that I decided to be there at Dataran Merdeka, meeting friends and running with the Sarong Runners party plus Ronald MacIjam. I really had fun that day. My tabik to u guys!

After Siemens, my hibernation period started as planned. The crazy workloads made the resting period easy to chew, just like eating banana split (ok, I did think about karipap but it has a higher degree of difficulty compared to banana). I first thought of being a kaypochi in the Shape Run but could not make myself available due to other unexpected event.

By now, I had been lambong-ed many times in FB on the newly acquired Pooky…opssss no, not Pooky but Merrie Go Slow (no element of vulgarity in any way you spell or pronounce it :D). I have to admit that my mileage with Merrie Go Slow is shameful. I had a sore butt after riding Merrie for 11km and was told by King Mambo that it should be the lesser worry compared to the soreness to other part of my body after a long ride. I just need to get used of that soreness anyway and am looking forward to the Friday night ride at Putrajaya to be organized by King Mambo during Ramadhan.

Merrie Go Slow

On the running side, I did my first “recovery” run last week at Putrajaya. With an evening meeting scheduled last Friday at one of the buildings along the boulevard, I thought of releasing my long preserved endorphin after the meeting. My wish came true when my client released me at 9pm. After the extended zero weeks, doing a 7km at 7 min/km-ish pace felt hard, a clear indication of my declining fitness level.

Considering Newton 25km after Aidilfitri, I don’t think it is any longer an option for me not to run during the holy month of Ramadhan. Hence, please include me in any of your “lambong” in these coming 4 weeks OK!

“SELAMAT MENYAMBUT RAMADHAN KEPADA SEMUA DAN SEMOGA AMAL IBADAT KITA DITERIMA ALLAH”

Lenggang Kangkung

God willing, I will turn up at Dataran Merdeka this Sunday but I have 2 options, i.e.:

(i) to join the 10k run and in most probabilities, will try to complete it not in the usual snail pace but rather in a lenggang kangkung style; or

(ii) to cheer the RBUs and other runners (and snap pictures in the process).

After the extended zero week, I made my first morning run today, aiming to finish a 5km-ish distance. The tight breathing, stiff muscles and slight discomfort of the shin splint were all within my expectation but not the pain at the right knee, which originated from the marathon run at SCKLM. The extent of the pain frighteningly felt similar when it struck around KM3. Although I tried to be optimistic, such optimism was dented with the niggling pain each time I walked for the rest of the day.

More to the form of a blessing in disguise, I will be forced to start my cross training soon as I need to get an alternative jab for my endorphine requirement once the resting period from running commences. Diket, itu ler pasal sekarang nie bola leret pun aku nak bikin lipat gulung jugak :D

See u guys at Dataran!

A Maiden Lanun Voyage?

Originally I did not plan to run in the Siemens 10k this Sunday as the date would clash with the supposedly family trip to Langkawi. However since the planned trip was cancelled due to certain reasons, a 10k run this Sunday would be a nice recovery race for me after the extended zero week. I have no specific target, just wanna enjoy the run. Anybody who wishes to sell his bib (confined to male runner only lah) please feel free to contact me. If wanna donate (i.e. free) lagi bagus :D Question is if I could not get a bib, would I do my maiden pirated run this Sunday? Worst case scenario, thinking of pirating the run if no bib is available prior to Sunday.

By the way, all this while I was pretty sure that I had submitted my registration for the Shape/Men's Health Run. Just found out today that I'd confused myself between my registration for Newton 25k and the Shape Run and the registration window is already closed. Again, I need to look for a bib (I am willing to pay in full but wanna have the right to keep the goodies). This time around if I could not get a bib, highly likely I will give it a miss. Tengok lah macam mana nanti.

Extended Zero Week

I have decided to extend the zero week to include this week as well. Strictly speaking, last week was not really a zero week as I joined the kaki lambongs/RBUs for the trail run at Kiara. A great outing that day. Diket had captured those moment beautifully in his posting at http://wcr1414.blogspot.com/2010/07/dirt-day.html and I am perfectly happy to echo the same (ni dah jadi trick universal for RBUs hehehe).

With the extended zero week, I will skip Seremban 1/2 this coming Sunday. I think running 21.1k pending proper recovery of my current injury would keep the vicious cycle alive and kicking. To get my endorphine fixed with no running this week, I did a 500m of "caca merba" swimming at PADE's outdoor pool last tuesday (with wall break for every 50m of course). Obviously my water confidence level is still low since I am pretty sure I would only be able to do 1/2 of such distance if I did my swimming in the PADE's indoor pool (swimming in a 9 feet depth pool all the way is damn scary, especially when you are at Meter25 and succumbed to the thought, "oh no, I can't reach the wall"). I plan to do another session this weekend BUT may need to swim in the dreadful indoor pool since the outdoor pool would be transformed to another Sunway Lagoon or Desa WaterPark during the weekend. Will see how lah.

For skipping Seremban 1/2, I need to apologize to Ijam since he was the one that did the registration for me and collected my race kit, to the extent of offering the service of his office's despatch boy when I was in a long hybernated mode in getting my lazy bum to collect the bib from him. Nanti aku belanja kau Karipap ok :-)

By the way, I had lunch with the Kings @ gangster kg pisang, i.e. Diket and Det at Pelita Jln Ampang yesterday. Had a good time chit chatting (tak ingatlah ada ke tak mengumpat other RBUs hehehe) whilst enjoying our nasi kandaq. May be next time others in the vicinity/territory can join in as well :)

For those running in Seremban 1/2, don't forget to pose for pics at Jln Panglima Siamang Gagap OK. Good luck guys!

My Maiden 42.2km Journey

Last Sunday (27 June 2010) was special. The day that I had completed a journey of 42.195km on foot around Kuala Lumpur. Passing through those roads and places, which prior to the journey, were mostly of no significance. Roads that you have passed and places that you have seen countless times. Below is the haphazard recollection of my maiden journey called a “Marathon”.

Zero Week and the Point of no Return

6 days prior to the big day I completely rested my legs from doing any running, not even 50 meters. I can’t think of any reason why it is called “Zero Week” other than you are not supposed to run right? Anyway, my left leg was in dire need of the rest because of, no need to guess, the shin splint (naik muak korang tengok term ni kot). I wish that the shin splint can be transformed to banana splits (just look at how Syed performed by whalloping 5 pisang montel before the run J). By Saturday I have accepted the fact that the shin splint (not the banana split) will remain as my unwanted friend in the most important run that I had ever attempted from the day I was introduced to the running world at SCKLM 2009. The mantra is “embrace the pain” (the advice to FMVs by Ultra Marathoner Kash).

I wish I had a quite Saturday so I could have enough rest, physically and mentally to run the next day. But at the end of the day, running is just our hobby and passion. Whether we like it or not, we could only attempt our best to juggle our time between running and our other responsibilities, to our family, career and community (isshh..macam cakap org politik lah pulak).

My Saturday started at 3.45 am, sending my wife to LCCT to catch her early morning flight to Thailand. Later in the morning, I attended a kenduri in my neighbourhood and then in the evening, I drove 170km +- (to and fro) attending another kenduri of a wife’s relative. I reached home around 8pm and tried to sleep by 9pm but I was swarmed with restlessness (an obvious sign of pre-race jitter). Since I could not sleep early, I watched the “Spirit of the Marathon” as part of my “anchoring” (the tip given by Diket aka King Mambo) and “acquiring positive energy” (the tip from Nik, the Ultra Marathoner and Lanun King). With a more positive mindset coupled with a number of spin exercises on my bed (malam tu aku tidur sorang, tu yg boleh golek-golek lebih sikit), I managed to have a 2 hour sleep before getting out from bed around 2.30am.

It might be due to the short nap or the jitter but whatever the reason was, my body refused to happily take in the rice porridge as my pre-race breakfast. I had to force to take in few spoons. Spent quite a long time in the loo but I could not claim that I had fully achieved the objective of the mission. Because of the jitter, my race prep was a bit disorganized. I left home quite late and parked my car near Masjid Negara at nearly 4.30 am. Put on my shoes and jogged to Dataran Merdeka.

It was not long after I reached the Race Venue that the full marathon crowd started to flow into the starting gantry. Bumped into Haza and said hi (she was with June, Azza and few others). Later I met Ijam, the official RBU’s photographer with the other kaki lambongs/RBUs i.e. King Mambo, Syah, Nik, Shuk, Nizam, KA and Zaki. The atmosphere at the back was easy, just like listening to the lite & easy channel on my way to work. Jokes were flying around between runners though they were going to be released to tame the 42.2km monster. It did help me in fighting my jitter.

I had finally arrived at the point of no return.

I got the best wishes from an Ultra-Marathoner Nik! TQ for the lambong atin the last LSD :)

Posing dulu dlm hujan

Photos courtesy from Ijam

The Journey

KM1-17

We were gunned off in a downpour. Love the cool early morning weather. My only worry was the possible blister at a much later stage of the run due to hours of running in wet socks/shoes. My mission, as in all my other races, was to go on a snail pace and finish safe. A sub 6 hour finishing time is a bonus hence I decided not to chase the red balloon.

The first 3km, I felt sluggish though we were soaked wet in the rain. I felt hungry as well though it was still an early stage of the run. Luckily I brought along dates and took some of them. Somewhere in Brickfields, Azza caught up with me and we ran together. It was a small world after all as our family had known each other for a long time. My family stayed in the same Taman with hers for not less than 30 years. We reached the first Water Station and I stopped, not to drink but to get the hot ointment/cream for my shin splint (I applied the ointment in the interval of 1 water station throughout the journey).

It was after KM5 that my body started to feel better. Continued with my plodding and caught up with Azza at Jalan Sungai Besi. We run together for a while. Though I saw the red balloon about 300m in front of me, again I decided not to chase it but continued with my pace. I caught up with the red balloon somewhere near Dewan Bahasa and paced with the guy along Jalan Loke Yew before increasing my pace going into Jalan Cheras. We were handed banana at the Water Station around KM14 or 15 and it was like a godsend to me. I should have asked for 2 since I was near famine. Anyway I continued with my plodding.

KM18-30

KM18 was where I first encountered the most unexpected issue of my maiden marathon run. My 30 days’ old Adidas Supernova Glide 2 had decided to transform itself into Adidas Supersole Glide 2. I believe it was due to the wet shoes and socks, the sole of the shoes just slipped and folded under my foot. #$%$$##$! Tried to ignore it but it affect my running gait due to the discomfort. I decided to stop and sit on the pavement to rectify the issue. I thought the problem would cease there but it kept recurring and I made 4 other stops along the distance to attend to the problem. My shoes just failed me big time.

I reached the 21.1km mark around 2 hr 45min. Sub 6 hour looks possible, I told myself but I decided not to push myself for fear of worsening the shin splint and the problem of the Adidas Supersole Glide 2 (I was not ready to run bare footed, even with Vibram). The run along Jln Bkt Bintang, Jln Raja Chulan, Jalan Sultan Ismail was the highlight of the event. Good to run with cheers along the way.

I think all runners will share the same view that running along Jln Ipoh up to the junction to Jln Kuching was the dreadful part of the course due to the traffic. The building up of the pain of the shin splint and the #$$%@ Adidas Supersole Glide 2 issue started to affect my mental strength. The mantra of “embrace the pain” also started to fade by the time I reached 30km. I did more walking than I wished to.

KM31-42

The first highlight was that I met an old college mate whom I had not met since we graduated in 1994. She was doing her stretching at KM31 and I stopped there to attend to my Adidas Supersole Glide 2 issue. The second highlight was the right knee started to give away at KM33. I suspected that, due to the shin splint of my left leg, my running gait might have put more pressure to the right leg, hence injuring the right knee. It was the biggest blow to my physical ability and fighting spirit to go strong for the last 8km. KM36 changed that.

KM36 was in the heart of many runners because of the fantastic, kind hearted and sincere people who were there waiting, cheering and supporting us runners at the time when we needed them most. Kash and Rais would never cease from receiving my utmost admirations and respects for all that they had done. My thank you as well to Julie, Karen and Allen (and whoever) that were part of the KM36’s crew. You guys ROCKS!

At Jln TAR, 100m frm the finishing line - photo courtesy from Ijam

From KM36, I had the second wind. I tried to run (though in super snail pace) as much as I could whilst bearing the knee pain. The familiar territory did help as well and I just ignored all those discomfort due to the Adidas Supersole Glide 2 issue. When I passed Bank Negara walking to Jln Raja Laut, I saw Shuk and he asked me to run. Bro, you pushed me well just like in the last Bkt Aman LSD :). I ran with a couple of walk breaks until I entered Jln TAR. Last year I gave everything to run along this stretch to finish my 10k run in chasing the qualifying time. This year, I was in similar situation albeit I was going to chase the qualifying time of my maiden 42.2k run. I just ran, pain or no pain and the feeling got better by the meters I was getting closer to the finishing line. Got the cheers from Ijam, KA and Deo (TQ guys) and I crossed the finish line just in time to get the bonus of doing a sub 6 hour maiden marathon, Alhamdulillah.

Aftermath

I had a good time spending time with friends (RBU/GKL) after the run. It was a great day for all, with many clocking their PBs. I had a great time cheering the other marathoners back to the base with the presence of the many KINGS’ of the kaki lambongs (siap dah habis santap nasi Kandaq) and the highlight was when I was part of the entourage escorting June to finish her run. Congrats to all RBU/GKL and all FMVs. I don’t have to mention names, you know who you are. Well done to all and hope we will continue this wonderful and self fulfilling journey in the future, Insyaallah.

Note

Save for the swollen knee, I had no major pains (shin splint tu x payah cakap, mmg kira close buddy dah). I iced the swollen knee right after I reached home. By night the condition had improved a lot. Experienced muscles ache/stiffness but it was not that bad. Went to work on Monday and I knew that I have recovered quite well when my colleagues said I did not look that I’d done a 42.2km the day before. Alhamdulillah.