Of Trail and Expressway

Trail

The Kiara trail run a week after SCKLM was my first brief introduction to trail running and I had to concur whole heartedly with others who had done trail running before that it was FUN. Far from being a walk in the park and at certain times, the inclining narrow, tricky and twisted trail would made you want to scream for air but once you managed to be at the peak, you will be rewarded with a great endorphin released going downhill. The connection between you and nature is also awesome, as reflected in the pictures captured by Diket and Yim below.

Left - Trail head to the Dream Trail - Pic courtesy of Diket

Right - On the way to the Steroid Hill? -Pic courtesy of Yim

I don’t think I had to re-write or re-express the awesomeness and the fun of the run at FRIM last Saturday with other RBUs (Syah, Ian, Diket, Nik, Syed, Yim, Zack Yui, Shuk, Deo and Shanaz). You can see the excitement on our faces in the pictures below (taken from Diket's blog and Yim’s Facebook album). What’s more with the food fiesta that we had in celebrating Ian’s belated birthday and I pampered myself with 2 of the the yummiest homemade coney dogs prepared by Ian after completed the introductory loop of my FRIM trail run comprising the Dream Trail, Rover Trail and the Steroid Hill. Yeah, that Steroid Hill, its name suits perfectly with the mental and physical demand that it extracted from you in conquering the same. It was also my first run with a hydration pack and being a gas guzzler, I enjoyed the convenience of sipping ribena drink mixed with ORS at anytime I wish to. That day was also the first car pool arrangement I made with Deo and Zack Yui going to FRIM. Next time we can car pool again guys! I wish another session of trail run to be organised in anticipation of Genting Trail Blazer end of this month.



Left - Bukan malu kucing nak lambung tapi malu nak lawan betis-betis gebu yg lain -Pic courtesy of Diket

Right - All excited to start the much awaiting run- Pic courtesy of Yim

Expressway

With some soreness at my legs being the left over from the trail run the day before, I decided to join the Bukit Jelutong cyclists (BJC) for a Sunday ride and on their menu was either (i) a 150km ride from Bkt Jelutong to Sg Tengi (somewhere in Hulu Selangor) via Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) and Ijok or (ii) a 70km+ ride via GCE to Ijok and return. And as the icing on the cake, the ride would also be joined by the LeTua riders and these guys are like a local semi-pro tour team, if I am not mistaken. With no mileage at all since my last ride in Ramadhan, I was apprehensive to do even the 70km, what’s more with the unknown BJC riders (and the story of their super expensive bikes), not to mention the LeTua riders, who all looked “pro” (what do I expect anyway).

GCE but we used the motorcycle lane

I was saved from the humility of being an unknown newbie with an entry level bicycle in a well established group with fancy bikes (seems that all were using carbon frame and high end group set and wheels set) to be left behind with the appearance of my junior in school, who is not a so new rider but decided to do a 50km-ish ride only that day with another friend of his. The plan was to ride strictly on GCE, breaking away from the main BJC group at the Paya Jaras exit and proceeding to the last toll booth of GCE (Toll Lagong) and return to Bkt Jelutong.

Briefing by BJC President. Menyorok kat ujung2 ajer - Pic taken from the Facebook album of Nazlin Abdullah

Some of the LeTua riders - Pic taken from the Facebook Album of Nazlin Abdullah

We did as planned save that we were left behind about 2km after we entered GCE from the GCE-Bkt Jelutong’s junction LoL. They were just too fast for me especially with the “tarik” service provided by the LeTua riders. GCE is not flat but not hilly as well but has a fair share of undulating stretches. I would say that it was more or less like riding around Putrajaya minus the flat Putrajaya-ELITE stretch. Acknowledging the feat of chasing the main group would surely be an exercise of futility, 5 of us continued to ride at our own pace. After a long rest from cycling the legs felt really weak in cranking the pedals, especially on inclines. Obviously I need a much stronger legs to even keep a decent gap between me and the regular and otai riders and to achieve that I need to do more rides (could Trainer helps?). There is no short cut if you want to get better, full stop.

This Weekend

This weekend I understand that everybody would have their own races. Syah, Ian, Yim, Haza, Kash (Nik?) and shanaz would be in Singapore attempting the TNF. I wish you guys all the best and I am confident that each one of you would nail it fine. Others, i.e. Ray, Zack Yui, Deo, Ijam and Shuk I believe will participate in the Nike 10k run. I have not registered for this event and do not have a plan of pirating it as well. I still have issue with my right knee after my run last evening and I may just do a slow run of 7-8km in my neighbourhood this Saturday and do a 50km-ish ride on Sunday. My best wishes as well to Diket, Det and Jaja for their King of the Mountain race this Sunday. Jgn lupa minum teh boh panas dengan makan strawberry kat atas Cameron tu nanti OK! :D

Terlenggang Tak Tertanggung Kangkung - Newton 25km Challenge 2010

Newton 25km Challenge 2010 Kuala Lumpur. Yeah, before the day of the run I knew from other RBUs that the route has ammah hill, as per the picture below posted by Yim in his blog.

That was only one “ammah” hill in the picture so I thought I might just attempt to run it halfway and walk until to the top and then tackle all the other hills with a snail pace and would end up Ok and finished the run within 3 ½ hour. Sound reasonable and far from being ambitious right?

The problem is that would only qualify as a wishful thinking for a snail pace runner who did not manage to run a single LSD exceeding 16km for a period of 3 months (I did 2 run which may qualify to be categorized as minimal LSD training for ½ marathon during that period). But the other bigger problem is, as far as I am concerned, almost all hills along the route were of “ammah” and “appah” standard. True, no kidding! And that is the essence of what I have experienced in the Newton Challenge (not race ok).

That Sunday I reached the venue around 5.30 am. I went straight to the mosque and met Tok Ketua Poco-poco Shuk. Actually it is very convenient for muslim runners if the race venue is near a mosque. Rayzeef and Zaki arrived at the mosque not long after that. Later I met Nik, Det and Bahri (Putrajaya Ramadhan Friday Night riding gang) inside the mosque and bumped into Syah, Ijam and KA at the starting point.

As planned I decided to run with a snail aka lenggang kangkung pace with Zaki’s company. Ijam has decided with his alter ego Ronald McIjam left at home, he could do the ‘rempit’ pace, leaving me and Zaki behind :D At the early stage the pace was Ok for me in tackling the hills and the funny thing is once I saw a hill which looked quite menacing, I would say “yeah, this is the “ammah” hill. The problem is I kept telling myself the same thing EACH time I reached ANY hills. And what is termed as “ammah” by Yim was actually “appah” standard for me hahahaha.

The earlier ammah hills were still Ok with a snail pace. Later part dah jadi muka serigala!

So to cut the story short, I lost steam as early as at KM10 and though I asked Zaki to ‘tarik’ me, I just could not maintain the same pace unless I wanted to bonk early. So after that point and starting from KM11, I mostly walked uphill and jogged downhill under the “ammah” heat. Mentally and physically I felt lethargic. I saw other RBUs, Ian, Syah, Ijam, Yim, Deo, Shuk, KA, Nik and Zaki all running strong at the other side of the road and “me?... is just a singer in a long haired rock and roll band” (ehh, apa hal lirik lagu Bon Jovi muncul kat sini??).

My target of finishing within 3 ½ hour was slipping by each KMs after KM20. As far as I was concerned I just aiming to finish the run and could not care less about the timing. Legs felt heavy like timber logs and the calves felt stiff under the compression socks. I just could not run anymore after KM21 save for a brief 100 meter jog to the finishing line.

Did I regret participating in this Newton Challenge? Not a single beat! I think I had done quite a number of races that I would no longer sulked for being slow or missing my personal target (though this is the first time I did not manage to finish within the given qualifying time). Injury wise, I could say that I did not suffer any ‘real injury’ during and after the run save for some soreness at my SCKLM’s injured right knee (running with my knee guard did help keeping the issue at bay).

Looking forward, the Newton Challenge 25km 2010 was the kick start that I was seeking for my next 3 primary challenges, Genting Trail Blazer, the Sprint category of Powerman 2010 and Singapore Standard Chartered 2010 full marathon.

Lets rock and roll guys!

Lenggang Kangkung Part 2

First, the pictures above have no relevance at all in connection with this posting. I have been reminded by Ijam to up-date my blog and in doing so, I had promised him that I will put a picture of “amoi” in my new posting :-). The above pictures are neither hot nor sexy but for me that lady represents the natural japanese beauty. Her name is Matsu Takako, a famous actress/singer/musician in Japan and during my time there in 1999-2000, she was one of the top Japanese celebrities and one of my favourites (apart from Fujiwara Norika) ;-). [Note to Ijam – bukan kau sorang ajer minat amoi ok! Hahahahaha]

Ok, now I wish to proceed to the actual subject matter of this posting, i.e. lenggang kangkung part 2. I don’t think you have to guess the reason why I have chosen that title for my post, yes, that ammah hills run this coming Sunday! Though I would be lying to say that I have not put in any mileage in my preparation for the run but realistically speaking I don’t think my training so far is good enough for me to expect a decent performance this Sunday. The cold stark fact is I have not done a single siput pace LSD exceeding 16km after Aidilfitr and after taking into account the reports from other runners on the ammah routes, it would only be prudent for me (or rather optionless) to take it easy this Sunday with a lenggang kangkung pace. At least that could minimize the level of suffering that I would need to endure during the run. Whatever said, I am actually excited about the run and looking forward to see you guys this Sunday!

All the Best to All!

Salam AidilFitri

To the RBUs, the Ramadhan Friday Night Riders and every muslims out there, I wish you and your family Salam Aidilfitri. It has been a wonderful time for me so far, meeting and making new friends and I seek your kind forgiveness for any wrong doings on my part (via my words, writings or deeds).

By the way let us remind ourselves that the real battle starts from the very first day of Syawal, i.e. the battle of Men Vs Food. Lets also hope that we would end up victorious :D

My Battle is not to Finish 4 Jars of Pineapple Tart by Myself

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”