run for it 9

i know my competitive running for the year 2015 was supposed to end with the salomon x-trail run, oh no, it was supposed to end with pbim - salomon was last minute as well. but well - after viper challenge, i knew i would need something to kickstart my running engine. if not i would probably lay in bed and sleep, and eat, and neglect running, and put running at the very back of my mind.

so, i very last minute signed up for run for it 9. i signed up only for the 6km because my body could still feel the repercussions of viper challenge. i am still bruised. i have a terrible skin allergy. my cuts aren't healed yet. i'm still on medication. so at least i would try to run at least to prep for the race. quite the logic right no?
 
but now i really know the meaning of fatigue. believe me when they say it takes more than, just a couple of days for your body to recover from an ultra run. but then again, i have so bad an allergy, i've been on anti-histamines, that are drowsy. so right now i cant differentiate between fatigue and drowsy haha.

anyways, back to this run. so after practically not running for a week, i was just going to take it as it is. my running plan was - to see how my leg condition is, and just go with the flow.

so upon flagoff, i just bounced away. i saw the other girls speeding off. but i didn't want to push my legs where my legs or lungs couldn't take me. so i just ran comfortably. my first km was a tad bit too fast though, clocking in a slightly under 4 minute pace. then i slowed down to a more conservative pace. normally i dont go so fast, but i wanted to keep the girls in front of me, at least in my line of sight. after that, slowly but surely, i overtook them one by one. before the u-turn back, i was running in first place. and that is also where, i think i totally gassed out.

i could definitely feel my pace dropping. sign number one i was not recovered yet. anyways, when my watch showed i was 5km in, i picked up speed again. it was just 1 more km to go. u should have seen my face when my watch said 6.2km, and the signage said 1 more km to go. completely drained, i had no choice but to try salvage whatever little energy i had left, and push myself to the finishing line.

i managed to come in 1st place, but more importantly, i kickstarted my running engine. although, my timing for this run, is far from ideal, but well, what did i expect right, right after a 24 hour event, i can't be performing at my peak. so it was satisfactory for me.

someone say off-season?

congratulations to all the winners. don came in 4th place in the men veteran category sinyee came in 7th whereas hannah secured the 10th position.

kemensah krazy 30km trail run

saturday evening, i wasn't too sure whether i'd be showing up to race. 

first of all, i felt i was under-prepared. i wasn't too sure whether my body was recovered from the half ironman the previous week. also, i didn't run the entire week after ironman 70.3 save some short recovery runs. and yeah i had many reasons not to go. after much contemplation, i thought, i paid 160 bucks for this, i better damn well go. and i ain't no quitter. how can i give up without even trying. so off i went to the pharmacy to get some basic first aid stuffs. 

i'm not a fan of plain white rice. i'm the fried rice, chicken rice kinda person. normally before a race, if i eat dinner at home, i would pack a packet of rice to eat with the dishes that grandmother cooks. this time, i didn't. so dinner for me was only egg wine soup and vegetables. and this was one of my thoughts during the race. i should have eaten more. 

got up around 4, and went to zoo negara together with coach. he was joining the 45km category whereas harjinder, kak hani, kak syaz, guzzy, dave and myself were joining the 30km category. i watched him prep and watched his flagoff. then it was my turn to prep. met harjinder and dave and we had breakfast whilst prepping. the whole race is about the both of them, harjinder and dave. they are epic. so i passed them some ORS to take. but they didn't have water, nor could they find water. so they decided to drink the ORS with teh-o. epic i tell u. 

anyways, upon flagoff, i did pretty well for the first 10km. until, a dude fell on me. it was a steep area and he slid and fell. i grab hold of his bag and pulled him. i thought i was going to roll down the hill with him. luckily the girl behind me also grabbed hold of him and he really was there hanging with the 2 of us pulling him. that almost gave me a heart attack. after the incident, i felt my heartbeat shot through the roof. i went slower and was extremely cautious and sections. 

the entire run, i was thinking, i should never join a trail run more than 20km, ever. and also thought of how i should have eaten more the dinner before. and thought to myself i was insane when i signed up for this. 

also, after the 10km point i had a stitch which made it difficult for me to run. i had to run, walk, run walk. the frustrating part was running towards cp7. checkpoint 7 seemed like a world away. it was like a never-ending trail to cp7. whenever i passed oncoming marshalls, they would tell me, really near. but, the really near turns out to be, i still don't see anything 30 minutes later. my joy when i saw cp7. the trail after cp7, is what the organizers would term technical and what i would term walking through a jungle not a trail. 

another drama was when i saw my watch hit 30km. but, i was still in the middle of nowhere. i asked oncoming runners whether there was a junction that turned off nearby but they said no and they said the checkpoint was pretty far away. i majorly panic-ed. i thought i was lost. my energy levels stooped major low. i had zero energy levels. i was frustrated by the over distance. and i just wanted to sit there and not move. i turned back, and i saw coach. if not for him, i don't know how i would complete the over distance. he motioned for me to keep walking and keep moving. there were no distance markers so we didn't know how far along we were and how much more we had to cover. 

the finishing line was a whole over 3km away. the joy when we crossed it. i managed with a time of 5h 50 minutes. 

but the highlight of this race was not my experience. the highlight of the race was watching harjinder complete a 30km trail run. and hear his epic stories after his run. his experience was definitely gold i'm sure. he was very semangat throughout the entire run and that spirit is super admirable. congratulations harjinder on your accomplishment. you did amazing. congratulations to dave as well who was harjinder's partner in crime in this entire thing. you both just have that extra something special in you that is worth admiring. 

congratulations everybody on finishing the race. and congratulations coach on his 2nd place finish.