Day out in the city

There is a nice little shop in Upton-upon-Severn just down the river from here which specialises in maps. Amazing range of maps from the whole world. Need a map for the Sorrento peninsular in southern Italy near Napoli. Found a decent 1:50,000 map which should be good enough for planning walking routes.

Went to Birmingham afterwards, mainly for the open market and have a walk round the new Bullring (1 year old soon). Got a big watermelon for about £1.50 which wasn't too bad and a few other things like four fresh red mullet. These were loaded into the car before we went for lunch. The Bullring is a nice example of urban redevelopment. Basically it used to a 1960s mall development which was not very well liked. It was finally demolished and a new Bullring put it its place. Besides a brand new complex, the roads around the area were also changed. This broke the "ring of steel" (main road) around the area and connected it to the rest of the city centre, opening up new public squares and pedestrianised areas. For a full history, go here.

Did a bit more research on the area we were planning to go to in the big bookshop in the Bullring and bought one overpriced coffee from Starbucks located within the bookshop itself to share between the two of us (yes we are cheapskate). The weather was quite nice as we left so I just had to take a photo or two but trying not to look like a tourist. All in all a nice day out, even though I don't usually like to go to big cities where there are lots of people. Only blot on the day was the terrible traffic jam on the way out to the motorway due to a double decker bus kissing a car.


Old and new in Birmingham - Selfridges and St Martin's church

Location 52°N 2°W

To run or not to run?

Got home at 8pm today after another long day with 400km of driving. Getting really worried about my lack of exercise, especially with my increased consumption of unhealthy snacks. Felt like just crashing out when I get home but finally decided to go for a run. Got changed, put on my shoes and I was out in the open air.

The first part of the route is quite hilly with a lot of it off road. Once I settled into the pace I started enjoying the feeling of moving quickly (for me) over different surfaces, trying to emulate the top cross country runners. Slipping and sliding on a particularly muddy uphill, I got to the first summit. It was getting near sunset with the western horizon bathed in red after days of heavy showers. Down the other side, crossing a road and then up a long rippled grassy bank. Always found the ripples (called "furrows" officially) to be good fun as you need to get a good rhythm to go smoothly over them. Might be able to see them if you looked closely at the bottom right photo in this post. Got over the final steep section to the next summit and down through the golf course on the other side, trying to dodge any flying projectiles.

By now it was getting quite dark but still a last off road section to do. Round the back of the new hospital and onto the path. The ground, still soggy from the rain, provoked some swearing as I splattered myself with some water. Trying to avoid the major puddles, I flitted from side to side, failing to keep my feet dry. End of the last off road section and back to the hard tarmac. Past the city council offices on a mild downhill. Phone rings. Answer the phone. Have to meet my dearest at train station to walk her home as it is getting dark. Less than 10 minutes to get there. Luckily quite a lot of it is downhill. Increase the pace and float down the hill. Smelt the Worcester sauce factory long before getting there. Went by quickly and powered up the little incline to the station to get there just in time.

The 10 minute evening walk was a nice warm down and saved me from having to run up the steep hill to my flat. That's why the chart below doesn't end at the same altitude as the start.



Location 52°N 2°W

More rain...

This is turning out to be the wettest August in recorded history. Rain, much of it heavy, was falling for most of the day. Pity the people who have to drive through it like me, 200km each way... Got home at nearly 7:30pm. Haven't done a proper run (>40 minutes) since last Thursday. Am I getting fat and unfit? At least my 10 lap record of 59:17 at KLCC track is still safe for now.

Location 52°N 2°W

Driving in the rain

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain. Any other day, I wouldn't have minded. Unfortunately I have to drive 200 f**king km to Sheffield today. Being a Monday, traffic is usually pretty bad on the motorways. Thankfully it is the school holidays so fewer cars on the road (hopefully).

It never stopped raining all the way there. Very heavy at times. Traffic slowed to a crawl every now and then. Took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get there. Had a very interesting first day. LOTS of things to do in the next few months... Absolutely chucking it down with rain when I left at 5pm. Trying to get back home for 7pm to go running with the club. The rain had gone and traffic had cleared towards the second half of the journey but too much time had been lost in the 1st half despite a very heavy right foot.

Got there 15 minutes late. I can write a book on my experiences of how to arrive at training late. Did a short run (about 28 minutes for 6-6.5km) on my own, had a quick chat with a few people after the run and went home. Legs still a bit tired from the ride yesterday. Oh the wet weather is set to continue for the next few days, and I have to do the same 200km journey each way again tomorrow...


Perhaps not such a clever idea to do this when driving in the rain...

Location 52°N 2°W

Pushing into the wind

Haven't been cycling much whilst I was back in Malaysia. Went on the usual Sunday ride with the club today. Not very fast, not very hilly, with a cafe stop. Just happened to be my turn on the front with the biggest guy in the group (cycling track sprinter) driving hard into a headwind. A bit like trying to push against a wall except that you feel the effort in your legs. The pain is a bit different from that you get when you have gone over your limit on a climb or on the flat. A dull ache in the legs more than anything. Headwinds definitely affect small people like me more than it does big people, only consolation is that small people are usually better on the hills.


Distance: 87.3km Average Speed: 26.8km
Total Climb: 635m Average HR: 127bpm

Location 52°N 2°W

Low batteries

A run in the Malvern Hills had been planned for 7pm this evening by some people in the club. I love running in the Malverns because of the great views and hard climbs. Usually takes me about 20 minutes to get there by car (about 10-12km) so I got everything ready by 6:40pm and tried to start the car... WTF? Car won't start. Turned the key again, well it seemed to be trying to start. Brought out the multimeter and checked the battery, hmmm a bit low in voltage but probably still enough to get it started. Tried again, this time pressing a bit more on the accelerator (but not too much in case I flooded the engine). Vrooommm engine came to life! Spent the next 5 minutes revving the engine at around 3000rpm to make sure that the battery was recharged. Obviously my dearest hasn't been starting the car regularly over the past few months.

Damn don't have enough time to get to the Malverns. Well time for plan 2 - go to the local sports centre where the club normally meets and hope that there are some people there. Don't want to risk driving until I've checked the car out properly tomorrow. Have to run there but not a lot of time before 7pm. Time to switch on the turbo without warmup then... A few small hills early on but then mostly downhill. Got there in around 8 minutes, a bit out of breath, but thankfully there were 3 people there. The run was going to be about 40 minutes, so around 7km-8km as the pace won't be too quick.

Out on the canal, onto the road, towards Hindlip village and the police headquarters. A bit hilly but probably about the same or not as hard as Bukit Tunku. Not running very smoothly yet, maybe my body still thinks it past midnight. Weather was nice and cool with golden evening sunshine flickering through the leaves. Had a long gradual downhill on the way back, followed by a bit of rolling terrain on the perimeter of the golf course back to the sports centre. Took a slightly different route home from the sports centre along the canal, finishing with the steep nasty hill to my flat. Was a fairly easy run with heart rate mostly below 140, only went above it on the way to the sports centre and on some of the hills. Total of about 1 hour 1 minute running time with two stops at the sports centre on the way out and in.


Altitude profile of run

Location 52°N 2°W

Arrival

Finally arrived at Birmingham Airport after over 24 hours of travelling due to the long stopover in Dubai. Weather wasn't too bad, a mix of sunshine and showers. Unexpectedly offered an upgrade to Business Class on the Dubai to Birmingham leg of the journey, which was great. This meant that I went the whole way by Business Class. The main difference is mainly the amount of food that you are given. Appetiser, main course and dessert, with a choice in each category. Plus fruits, cheeseboard and nice chocolates after main meals if required. Probably arrived in the UK a lot heavier than when I left Malaysia!

Collected the hire car at the counter and had to fight the luggage trolley from hell all the way to the hire car pickup point. The steering wheels on the luggage trolley had a mind of their own, giving me several scary moments as I was trying to maneuver the trolley with all the heavy luggage on and off pavements which were off camber. I was given a brand new Vauxhall Meriva with only 0.5 miles on the clock. Due to the height of the rear end, I was able to put the bike bag into the boot vertically. This is pretty good for a small car. That is why I cannot understand the preference people have for saloon/3 box cars (for example in Malaysia). Hatchbacks and things like the Meriva (and Jazz etc) make a lot more practical sense.


Vauxhall Meriva

I must admit that I revved the engine quite hard on the Meriva even though you are usually advised against it in a new car until it has done a few thousand miles. The small petrol engine meant that pulling in 4th or 5th gear took quite a while especially at motorway speeds. Needed to keep the revs up to have any torque or power. That's why modern diesels are so often preferred. Still managed to get it up to 140km/h but it felt slightly unstable in crosswinds, probably due to its height. Anyway, it was a decent little car but a bit lacking in handling and power.

After doing some unpacking, I decided to go for a run. Apparently natural sunlight is a good cure for jetlag. Did about 40 minutes over a fairly hill route (didn't use the HR monitor so no altitude profile this time) so it should be around 8km. Probably just under 50% of it was on trails and paths (or at least not along main roads) with a nice section coming down a grassy bank. The sun was out and it was quite warm, though certainly not as warm as an evening run at KLCC park. Felt a lot better after the run.



Photos taken with the camera on an S-E K700i

Location 52°N 2°W

Takeoff

Bags all packed to overfilling, I got to the airport just in the nick of time as check in was just about to close. This would be the first time that I have taken business class for a long flight (thanks to an upgrade) but only from KL to Dubai. Went straight through immigration to the aerotrain to the gate. There wasn't really a queue as most people were already boarding.


Some things to pack

Then a group of people escorted by a couple of officials arrived. I think they were Bangladeshis being deported. They didn't look too unhappy and I sincerely hope that they have actually made some money for themselves (not through crime of course) while they were in Malaysia to take back home. Despite all the bad things most people say about immigrant workers, the economy would not survive without them, at least not at the level we are accustomed to. Would you want to do housework, work in the construction industry or the catering industry, long hours with relatively low pay? It's only natural for people to want a better life.

The severity of the haze is best appreciated from the air. The plane actually took off in a south easterly direction so it had to make a 180 degree turn, giving me the chance to take the photos of KLIA below. The plane then flew over Klang (could recognize it from the river, bridges and some of the buildings) on its way north. Over the Malaysian peninsular over southern Thailand, Myanmar and then west to Bangladesh. Wasn't allowed to get off at Bangladesh so had to wait on the plane.


KLIA from the air through the haze

By the time we arrived in Dubai, I had already watched both Shrek 2 and the Day After Tomorrow. Shrek 2 was great - watch out for parodies of other movies, I spotted Star Wars, Crouching Tiger and LOTR. Day After Tomorrow was an average disaster movie, but it has to be commended for introducing the term "North Atlantic Conveyor System" to a wider audience.

Location 25°N 55°E

Unable to organise a piss-up in a brewery

As one of the Penguins will no doubt describe in further detail his friendly encounters with the race directors, I shall restrict my reports to the running aspects of the MPAJ race since this is likely to be my last race on Malaysian soil for the PM team for a while.

Now that I know that the race director is the same person as Klang, it all becomes clear why the distances for Klang and MPAJ are wrong. You see, Klang was short by about 1km. Therefore, Mr Mohan or whatever his name is has to make MPAJ long by the same amount. This is to give people who got super-PB in Klang an incentive to train harder since they think that they have become very unfit and he can also claim that his race distances are "on average" measured correctly.

Its payback time for runners from Klang who had an extra hour of sleep for the Klang 10k. I got up at 4:45am and picked up pm11 at his house before 5:30am. Why so early? Well our team manager pm1 told us that the race starts at 7am so we wanted to get there early. Well too early in fact because we reached the area just after 6am. We had a lot of trouble finding where to park even though we knew the race started from the padang so we drove round in circles for a while. There was a severe lack of signage compounded by the fact that not many people were there yet. Suggestion for race organisers - put up signposts saying "This way to race start" or "Competitor parking - This way".

Anyway, we eventually parked the car opposite a few kopitiams some way from the padang. It wasn't just pm1 who needed to go to the toilet very often. Pm11 also seemed to suffer from the same pre-race nerves and visited both kopitiams opposite where our car was parked within a few minutes, and he didn't go there for food or drink. After spending lots of time deciding what to wear (yes sometimes I am worse than ladies before a night out) we finally started making our way to the start.

Again we had to use our own sense of direction to find the registration tent. No signs, or at least the signs were not visible because it was still dark. Along the way we ran into many other pm team members who had just arrived and were parking their cars along the side of the road. A few rushed greetings here and there and we continued on our way to the registration (at this point we still thought the start was 7:00am). All we had to do at registration was put the slip into a box for the lucky draw. Nothing more - much better than having to stand in a line to get some half awake official write your name on a sheet of paper.

There was some colourful language when we found out that the start was actually 7:30am. This meant we had quite a long time to warm up (and could have potentially spent 30 more minutes sleeping). The longer the warm up is, the more likely (at least for me) for doubts to creep in. For example, "Oh no, I feel tired even jogging along at this pace. How am I going to be able to go 10km at a much higher speed" etc etc. After changing into my blue racing shoes, there was still time to run around for a bit before the start. Well I would either be all warmed up and ready to run or already tired out from all the pre-race antics.

There was a massive crowd at the start line. People from all categories ranging from A all the way to Z, except there wasn't many people from B (which was a pity). It was a worse squeeze than an LRT leaving KL Sentral at 8:45am. Couldn't imagine running as it was impossible to move. Could just about hear the officials saying something on the super megaphone (super as in super soft, which is what you want from toilet paper and bedsheets but not for megaphones). Ha ha, trying to get us to move backwards. Might be more useful to go behind and tell the runners at the back to start moving first, but hey that is common sense, something that many organisers lack. Anyway after managing to confuse the hell out of certain veteran runners by changing distances they had to start the race in case a riot happened. So the race was started with a bang...

What a spectacular start it was, and I don't mean spectacular in the way one would perhaps describe the Olympics opening ceremony in Athens. Arms and legs all over the place. People jostling for position and pushing (sorry to anyone who I pushed, especially CM). People starting from in front of the actual line. People starting from the other side of the road. People starting from the other side of the road more than 100m after the start. I know the organisers might be trying to imitate the London Marathon with 5 or 6 different starts which eventually merge after several km, but man they have a lot to learn, starting with course measurement. Oh yes, there were some 7km runners mixed in with the main 10km start as well (by mistake, by design or because they were stuck).

Pm14 and I ran together along the long straight road, chatting occasionally. The crowds started thinning out as the people who started too quickly fell by the wayside. After about 1km, the familiar figures of pm1 closely followed by pm3 appeared just ahead of me. Offering words of encouragement, I overtook them one after the other. Coming up to the first left turn at the set of traffic lights (the first of many!), I caught up with pm9 who said that there were far too many people ahead to hope for a top-30 finish. Said goodbye to pm9 and I continued my journey of trying to overtake as many people in front as possible. Up a flyover and down onto the MRR2, caught an Indian runner whom I have run with in Klang, ran with him for a while before making my move. This pattern repeated itself but overtaking opportunities were becoming more difficult to come by as people settled into the normal pace.

Around this point I started feeling sort of the mid-race blues. Been running hard since the start but not near enough to the finish to pick up the pace. Something had to give and that was my pace. A couple of runners passed me during this bad patch. Tried to hang on to them but couldn't. Despite this I still went past several other runners who were probably suffering even more than me. Got on the back of Suleiman (from Guinea, studying at a college in Subang, met him at MMDS3 where he ran in the winning mixed relay team) just before the hill. Tried to get away from him on the hill but he countered. Maintained my pace to the top of the hill but just had to let him go. Some distance after the top of the hill was a left turn near some shops and this thankfully led to a fairly long downhill. This gave me a good view of the people in front of me. Got back to Suleiman as the route flattened off. Ran alongside him for a while (pretending I was running against a Kenyan) and then turned up the pace. This proved to be a decisive move as he did not / could not follow me.

Left again and back on the main road we started on, except it was in the opposite direction. A sense of relief as this meant that we were on the way to the finish. Caught and ran for a while with a runner who asked me where the finish was and how far it was. Told him that it shouldn't be too far away. Wound the pace up a little bit, he was still hanging on. Increased the pace a little bit more. Where was the right turn that would bring us to the finishing straight? Eventually got to the right turn and this was the incentive that I needed to start my finishing kick (well not really a kick like what pm15 can do over the last 400m but more of a sustained increase in pace). Think smoothness, think cadence, relax... Went past several more people in the finishing straight (most of which I think were not in category A), sneaked a quick look behind and someone appeared to be coming up. Up the pace even more in a desperate sprint for the finish. Where exactly is the finish? Was it where the balloons were? Taking no chances, I sprinted right past the balloons and straight down the cones towards the official's table before being told off. My answer to him was that how would I know where the actual finish is if there is no line on the ground and no one standing there to note down times.

Waited for what seemed like ages for the runners ahead to complete their finishing formalities. My turn. Got a slip of paper that said 31. Told them my name and it got noted down. WTF!! 31st place?! *&^&*(%£%^^&. One place away from prize money. Went to get my free bottle of water. Thought of going to collect the medal but the queue was quite long so I headed for the car to get changed first. Went back to the finishing area to collect my medal and look for pm11 so that I could give him the keys to the car for him to get his stuff. There is always the small hope that someone ahead of me would get DQ'ed so I had to wait for the official results. Personally I have not seen anyone in my category take a short cut, though some people have mentioned that it was highly likely. However, two runners were DQ'ed in category C for taking the 7km route.

More controversy! Someone (I shall not mention names) was giving another runner a hard time because the latter registered for several Thai runners, apparently on Friday after the closing date (but was still accepted by the MPAJ). He sort of accused him of not being patriotic in helping "outsiders" come in and win money which should be going to the locals, bringing me into the equation by saying that I lost at least one place because of the Thai runners. My take on this is that as long as someone ran faster than me and did not take a short cut, his place is fully deserved. What do I have to complain about? Arulthevar and Muniady should be even more unhappy as first place went to a Thai runner*. Late entry, well if the organiser accepts it, why not? Personally I would be happier if more organisers allowed entry on the day, perhaps with an added surcharge.

* Note – Arulthevar was unhappy! See this article in the Star. Ridiculous, both the statement from Mr Mohan and what Arulthevar thinks.

This was a pretty featureless and boring route, spiced up by one flyover, one hill and lots of traffic. The latter is not unexpected as the route included many main roads, for example we ran along a stretch of the MRR2 (thankfully far away from the cracked Kepong flyover which someone tells me is missing more than a few steel rebars due to "cost cutting") and also some of the key roads that the local residents use to get to their breakfast on a Sunday morning. I want to run against people, not machines powered by the internal combustion engine spewing out nasty fumes! The route was perhaps designed so that people could take shortcuts as it went through many Tamans with small side roads. Surely there are nicer places in Ampang Jaya to hold races. Furthermore, there was just an official noting down numbers at the far end of the 10km route. Maybe giving out strings or tags would have been more effective. Credit to where it is due, considering how busy the roads were, traffic control was actually fairly reasonable as drivers were prevented from getting too close to runners at the main junctions.

Just like Penchala everything just took so long. Lucky draw, prizes for colouring / drawing competition for kids. Unlike Penchala I didn't win anything in the lucky draw (or at least haven't yet won when I left as it was still going on). Checked the official results when they eventually came out and my 31st place was confirmed. Does it really take that long to sort the results out? Oh well, that's life. Chatted to many people as this was my last race for a while and finally left with pm1, pm21 and my passenger pm11 to go have some nice Ampang yong tau foo before setting off home.


Pm1, Pm10 and Pm16


Pm9 and Pm16


Pm10, Pm3, Pm1, Pm11 and Pm9


Pm3 keeping cool in borrowed Oakleys

Location 3°N 101°E

Farewells and lack of practice...

Been to several farewell lunches and drinks in the past few days. I haven't been around long enough to justify all these farewells! Not ran since Wednesday and my diet hasn't exactly been all that healthy. Hope I am going to be ok for the MPAJ 10km on Sunday. Looks like this Sunday will be one of the biggest gatherings ever of the Pacemaker team.

Had a couple of beers after work with colleagues yesterday. Worryingly I can feel it after just two beers. Severe lack of practice here.... Went to get a new toy after that at Mid Valley (why is it called "Mid Valley City"?). Not many people can claim to have a HBS driver but I have the option to use one, for now. :P

Men's cycling road race in the Olympics today from around 7pm Malaysia time. Pity I probably won't be able to watch it. :(

Location 3°N 101°E

Slow...

Went for a run after work at 7:30pm in KLCC park (where else?). Again did six laps fairly easy in around 35'45". Legs a bit heavy and slow, probably from the hard work yesterday. Weather seems to be very warm the past few days, not helped by the haze. All these together made it feel like running in treacle. So glad when I finished and got in the shower. Will be taking a few days off to rest before racing on Sunday, maybe just get one more run in before that.

Location 3°N 101°E

Murky days

Looks like our neighbours are burning trees again. Visibility has gone down but luckily the smell of burning is not in the air yet. Of course air quality is a national secret so it cannot be disclosed for fear of unsettling investor or tourist sentiment. Well from where I am, my air quality index involves checking which is the furthest tall building I can see. Perhaps I should publish my index.

I remember several weeks ago when it got pretty bad. Ran indoors for 4 out of 5 days on the treadmill at the gym. So boring even with the TV. Can't do more than 40 minutes, by which time I am soaking wet. I need to get outside - looking forward to doing long runs on grass again soon. :)

Location 3°N 101°E

Hill Training!

Managed to get away from work at just past 6pm. Did a quick change in the gym and headed down to the LRT station. I'm sure I got funny looks but who cares. Ran up Jalan Parlimen from Masjid Jamek station. The meeting place at Lake Gardens is quite a distance away from the traffic lights and Bukit Aman car park! Already all warmed up by the time I got there. Want to know how it feels to gain weight? Try running uphill with some weight in a backpack, which is what I did.

Coach Chan had some interesting things in store for us today. Unlike nearly two weeks ago, today was not a "taster" session. Part 1 was 4x up the long hill, part 2 was 6x up the stairs (this time it was longer because the gate was open). Both involved 25m of ascent for each interval, giving a total of over 250m of climbing.


Altitude chart for hill session on 10 Aug 2004

Nearly all the fast boys were here today - Cecil, Eugene, Wei, Goh, Don etc. Makes it a bit more competitive and hard. As usual Cecil, Wei and Eugene were up front. Goh went hard only on the last two times up the hill. In my case I was just behind them, either in 4th place or 5th place to the top of the hill. Usually started a bit slower but put in a kick in the second half. Indeed I am often not very near the front at the right turn where the road is steep. Eugene didn't seem like he was at 100% today because I managed to catch him at the top of the last interval. My times uphill were pretty consistent - 2:48.2, 2:44.4, 2:44.7 and 2:44.2.

Didn't feel like running fast downhill today so nearly every man and his dog came past on the downs. Was actually running down slower than going up. Partly because I felt a bit of a niggle in my left IT band at the beginning. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes. Had a quick break and then we hit the stairs. Thanks to my slow overall time, I didn't have to start near the front of the 1st group. Legs felt a bit more tired than last time, hardly surprising as I had already run around 2km most of it uphill, then four times hard uphill and we had further to go up the stairs on this occasion. Managed to get to the top in 1:05-1:15, again taking it easy coming down especially it was getting dark.

Just missed the 20:48 train so had to catch the 21:18 train. Got home just before 22:30, a bit tired. Getting worried that I am not getting enough rest and not getting in enough carbohydrates. Usually a lot of vegetables and other protein stuff left over so I get given not a lot of rice in the hope that I finish off the other things. Another excuse for poor running performance. A bit different when I used to cook my own food. Will be doing that from next week again. Also find it quite hard to fully rehydrate before bedtime even though I start training fully hydrated by drinking like a fish all day at the office. Maybe I am just worrying too much...

Location 3°N 101°E

Burning both ends of the candle?

Legs feel slightly tired today, probably the result of the ride yesterday. Felt a bit sluggish around KLCC park, first 3 laps the hard way in about 18'10", second 3 laps the easy way in about 17'30". Maybe I am not getting enough sleep for full recovery and getting up too early. Hope I can get away from work on time tomorrow to get to hill training and actually able to run well if I get there...

Location 3°N 101°E

Klang (nearly) 10km

Before I start the report, a special mention must be made of several Klang Pacesetters and Loneruner. A few days before the race, Loneruner drove round the route and marked out the distances on the map. The Klang Pacesetters went out the day before the race to measure the course. Yes, just in case you have noticed, the white km markers on the ground were NOT put on by the organisers. The 10km course itself was short, just over 9km so don't kid yourself that you have suddenly improved by 4 minutes for 10km. Pity the 7km runners who had more than 7km to run though...

Now on to the race. Not having felt very well for the entire week, my sore throat came back with a vengeance at the ungodly hour that one has to wake up to make it even to a local race. Thoughts of DNS immediately came to mind. However, an internal compromise was reached whereby I decided to go just to see what I am able to do with no great aim for prize money. Having collected my number from the president of the Klang area group and making up some excuse based on death from coughing for my expected poor performance, I proceeded to the bureaucrats tent to register.

Now I must admit that I have not raced very often in Malaysia and I appreciate that there are issues such as imposters etc in races. However, how many times does one need to meet the organisers before actually running? Enter the race (by post or in person), collect numbers and so-called free gifts the day before, finally register again on day of the race. Do we *really* have to register again on the morning? It's not that difficult to check the identity of the winners after the finish especially as there is still plenty of time before the prize giving. Well, at least the Klang 10k tried to be innovative. At registration you were given a white cable tie to put on. Oh yes, that's a very very useful device for some unknown purpose.

The start was slightly delayed as usual. Luckily this time there wasn't a Datuk Seri something or other who couldn't wake up on time to give a speech. Many runners were so impatient waiting that they started milling around the start line which is the obvious place to wait for the race start. For some reason or other (perhaps because they couldn't get the starting banner up because runners were in the way) the officials started asking everyone to leave the start and go round the side to stand in the kandang kerbau (the tennis courts). Well the PA system wasn't working very well so many people just generally moved about aimlessly.

Anyway, I stood near the start line and soon people were being assembled for the start. Now the people who listened to instructions earlier to go into the kandang kerbau couldn't hear the instructions to assemble for the start. From what I have heard, many got trapped and couldn't get to the start on time. I chose the right corner this time as the road bends sharply to the left some distance after the start. Why do some people want to stand in the front two rows if they are not going to be able to run fast except for the first 400m? Just gets in the way of everyone else!!

The gun eventually went and there was the normal pushing and shoving. Very good practice for getting on the LRT in the morning rush hour which I am now getting better at. Get up to some sort of cruising speed and just take it at my own pace. Past Masjid India and then under the bridge, coming up to the 1km marker and I was still breathing. A good sign as this meant I wasn't dead yet - 3'56" for km1. Not coughing too much either. First little incline of the day, a flyover. Hey isn't that pm1 just in front? "Hello Ronnie" as I went past him on the uphill section, kind of hoping that he would follow me to keep me company.

The next section wasn't the most interesting route in the world, unless you like long straight roads, shophouses, houses and fields full of long grass. For me it was a bit like fishing - see target in distance, pull string slowly so that I'm just behind them. Then put in a little spurt to get past them. Got past many people along this stretch. If I potong any more people would think I worked for "Potong". At least I don't need to be overprotected unlike "Potong", still unable to really stand on its own feet after nearly 20 years in business.

Coming up to the second flyover, I could see a fairly large group up front. Good good. More overtaking. Hit the flyover hard, got past about 2 people on the up... See Ah Toh just up front, looks like he is suffering a bit. Drinks station, Ah Toh and another runner stops for drinks. I fly straight past hoping that they wouldn't be able to catch up. At this point I felt that I had no kick in my legs. Breathing is still ok but just not 100% right. Doubts start creeping in especially as the sharp left past a petrol station signals that the hills are coming up.

Ran through the middle of two lady runners (probably the leaders of the veterans race) in their own private battle. A bit odd as it was as if I was intruding into a personal conversation, so concentrated they were at matching each other step for step. I think I upset this as one of them made a break for it after I went past, using me to pull her along for a while. Right turn up the steep MPK hill. Get arms moving, pushoff the trailing leg, overtake two runners just before the top to latch onto a young runner in a Pacesetters jersey (Yit Kiat). Brief respite past the clock tower, followed by a bit of a drag towards the Subramaniam Hall. Just hanging in behind Pacesetter, biding my time...

Long downhill towards big roundabout and left again for Jalan Istana hill. Two fast school boys from the 7km go past me. Start of the hill. Time to go. Slowly wind the pace up - no kick today, more like diesel engine. Managed to drop Yit Kiat. Now the downhill part, trying to catch runner in red jersey in front. Overtook a few 7km runners, is the gap getting smaller? No he is still holding on to his lead. Turn right into the straight leading to stadium. Check behind. Aiyo Yit Kiat running hard to try to catch me. Turn left heading into track. Breathing hard. Check behind again, switch on finishing sprint. Getting closer to runner in red jersey in front... fail to catch him... got to finish line.

Got a card without number. Ok, so not in top 20 then, no cash prize today. Also stupidly forgot to switch off stopwatch so I don't know what time I did, probably around 36'00". Cough cough cough. Sit down on the grass. Cough some more. Shake Yit Kiat's hand. Try to recover. Start jogging back to the car. I nearly lost my voice before I got to the car because I shouted encouragement at Ronnie, Chen, Ah Beh and several other people. Dumped all my running clothes in the back of the car and changed into something dry. Walked back to the stadium to do more shouting and the usual post race things...

I can't say I agree totally with runwitme that describes Klang as full of rubbish. One has to remember that MPK are paying out so much prize money that they can't afford to have enough rubbish collectors. Furthermore, the millions of crows who used to live locally and act as part time cleaners have mostly migrated somewhere else (did you see any during the race - exactly). You know, people in Klang have to pay extra taxes to support the prize money and hundreds of cheap medals (just joking!!). Anyway, it wasn't a great concern to me during the race because I couldn't really smell anything with my blocked nose. The last section of the old route is even worse - trust me, I do that route nearly every Sunday morning.

Route Profile of Klang 10km

The new route for Klang is definitely better than the old one which is totally flat and boring. The hills towards the end makes the racing more interesting. To increase the distance, they could start it on the track and make the runners do one lap of the track at the finish which would make it much closer to 10km. Organisationwise, well it's not the best in the world but perhaps it will get better. Come on, I don't really want any more cheap XL-sized T-shirts. All I want is a medal which is not so thin that it bends if you stare at it for long enough. Just a pity that I didn't push harder to get into the top 20 - needed to be about 10s faster per km, which is not impossible to do. My finishing time wasn't great but perhaps it was ok considering that I wasn't firing on all cylinders.

Location 3°N 101°E