The RV point for the race was the swimming pool/sports complex in University Malaya. The regulars were there as well. Over 200 plus plus people turned up for the race in 4 category. Men Varsity, Women Varsity, Men Open and Women Open.
Wet Wet Wet
Dino made a comeback in this race after his unfortunate accident between him on the bike with a Proton Satria about 6 months back. A few superheroes was there as well, namely Abu and his brother and cousin. Stephanie Chok, Neeza, Ishsal, Vicky, Ariff, Julie, Doc, Kam, Budin, Azmar was also racing, just to name a few. Mejar Kalam and his merry men from UPNM was also there, most notable, my junior Jun Shen will also be taking part. Mejar Kalam's wife and son will also take part in the race. There were a lot of other familiar faces in the race as well, sorry i can't name all of you.
The race format, as explained by MC-Extraordinaire Razlan, was that it will be a 5km loop up and down the hill in UM. So, you will run ONE round, then Cycle FOUR rounds and then end it with ONE round of running.
Everyone dreaded the hill in UM. I for one was impartial, it will be a good training race, since hills are involve and i intend to make hill my best friend.
At 7.45am, the race briefing was given and all participants were ushered behind the starting line.
Sharp at 8am, the horn went off and all athletes ran as fast as they possibly could. Well, apart from some of us behind which were taken by surprise when the horn was blasted!
The first 5km run.
UM Hill was my training ground some years back with Dr.Amir and Dr. Hisham. The hill, though short, is steep enough to punish the most confident runner. It actually looked daunting if you pass it from Kerinchi Link. No kidding.
I ran at my own 10km pace. slowly, i caught up with Mejar, Abu, Neeza and Julie. I tell you, it was great effort to actually catch them!
Mejar
Abu - notice i'm half dead catching Abu?
Neeza
Julie
After the hill, i started to run faster. Taking extra precaution as the road was wet and any overly confident stride might result in some butt aching and potentially spine crushing fall on the cold wet tarred road.
Pushing myself hard, i managed to complete the first 5km in 24:32.
A quick run into transition to change to the wet cycling shoes and i was away.
Bike 20KM
As i exit the transition, Dino came shooting past. He lapped me once on the bike already. I'm a good 10 minutes behind him, i reckon. Not too bad, got this close to someone strong like him.
The climb up UM Hill was a great workout. I drop to the 42 crank, after advices from Azwar to use the gears during race(uphills) and use the 52 for training. I managed to climb relatively faster than others, maintaining a good speed above 25km/h on the climb. Feeling strong, i pushed on.
Danger lurks on the downhill as the ground was still slippery and on those skinny700x23C tyres, it's not worth the risk to kiss the tarmac and end up leaving your skin (as what May Senn would say) all over the road...
I did not manage to use the Aerobar, as UM roads are riddled with bumps! some as high as a good 20cm!
The second climb was still ok, i still felt strong.
By the third climb, i was actually feeling tired, but i had to push on. It was also then when i saw Dino started running. I guess i'm a good 20 minutes behind him by now!
By the 4th climb, my mind was blank. I usually shout out my number when i see the race marshall, so they could be spared from looking at my butt for the numbers.
But this time, i actually forgot what my number was by the 4th climb! Yes, i was that tired!
Nevertheless, i managed a good 42:47 on the bike over a distance of 20km.
BY the time i started Running, Dino clocked the race at 1:08...damn fast, i'm a good 25 minutes behind by now, if i could keep the running pace like my first 5km run!
Final 5km run
I entered the transition and saw Abu's cousin. Good, now i got a running buddy to finish the race.
I was dead wrong. He ran so fast that after the hill climb, he went missing! I was overtaken by a few others as well, but i made mental note to keep the pace up and started to overtake everyone that overtook me one by one.
The feeling was estatic. I was still feeling strong on the run, the downhill scramble was reduced to lesser speed as i was physically tired. By the time i pass Dewan Tunku Chansellor in UM, i quicken my steps. ONLY 2 more KM to go, it's now or never!
So, i stepped on the accelarator, overtook a few more others that was infront of me in the race, ran for my life in the final 1km after the turn off and wrapped the final run in a flat 26:00 minutes.
I was estatic.
I came to do a sub 2 hours race (30 run - 1hour bike - 30 run) and i managed a total time of 1:33:59!!!
Jun Shen managed a good result of coing in 5th in the men Varsity, beating all his senior. Infact, most of the people i know won something. The organiser has prizes up to position 20 in each category.
And what was the best thing?
I ACTUALLY TURNED UP AS NUMBER 13TH IN MY CATEGORY WINNING RM50!!!
The picture below tells it all....
WooHOOO!!!
OKla, get off the stage you nicompoo!!!
The stats:
More pictures tomorrow, hang on to this entry!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment