Borneo International Marathon 2012: My Experience

Into it's 5th year already, I've heard so many good things about the Borneo International Marathon. And so, I made the early decision to register for it back in January, thinking it would be a nice little break for the fam as well. More on the jalan-jalan bits later on, but let's talk about the event itself now...

I collected my race kit from Suria Sabah Mall on Saturday, 5th May without any hitches whatsoever. The mall was very nearby our hotel, the Hyatt Regency, and there were sufficient signs to point me to the right place. The people manning the counters were nice and friendly and I collected my kit in a mere few minutes.

Having rented a car, I also made it a point to drive over to Likas Stadium that evening to check out the route and our Start & Finish points.

But knowing the route a day before proved to be pointless on event day cos as expected, the main roads leading to the stadium were closed and re-routed elsewhere. Yup, I woke up at 4.30am on Sunday, got prepared and drove out of the hotel around 5.10am. Then I got stopped and asked to turn back every time I tried getting to the coastal road. (I know, I know, they gave away pamphlets with the info, but I was just trying my luck!)

Stopped at one roundabout, I asked a cop for direction. "Saya bukan orang KK, tak tahu shortcut Encik," I said. He then asked me to take the Bukit Bendera route and pointed me to the road leading to it. At this point, I genuinely thought that I might miss the whole thing altogether just because I didn't know the directions!

I then saw a turning going uphill but with the word "Istana" written on the signboard, I didn't think it would be the right place. I drove further ahead and stumbled upon the red light district (!). And yes, I was THIS close to asking some transvestites for directions but they seemed, er, busy. But I did get help from a kind (24-hour) KFC staff. Turned out, yes, I was SUPPOSED to go uphill and take a left to the stadium.

And so, in a matter of minutes, the stadium was in view and I patted myself on the back. I get to run the damn thing after all! I parked the car and walked to the 10km starting line. At this point, I had two complaints. 1. There were no mobile toilets, so I had to do my thing at the back of some lorries. 2. There was no motivational music played. It was too quiet. Come on lah, play some shuffling songs or something.

Anyway, I then joined the entourage from Media Prima (and ex-Media Prima), who all looked chirpy and ready. We stretched and camwhored for a bit, and then it was time to run!

 

 As usual, I started a bit at the back, but it didn't take long to get past the gantry.



But really, I should change this "strategy" of starting at the back and once in a while try to work my way to the front of the pack. Otherwise, my "gun time" will always be poor, but even more frustrating, starting at the back would mean you have to get past the power-walkers, the "jalan bersaing" bunch and yes, boyfriends and girlfriends who walk holding hands and continuously smile at each other like it's bloody Valentine's Day.

OK, coming back to my own run, I must say that the weather was just absolutely beautiful. It was cool, and the sun was out later than usual (I was told). And as we turned into the coastal road, the sea breeze made it even more wonderful. Check out the views:

The first water station came after 4km. And I must stress that apart from the above complaints, everything else about the event was perfectly organised. Syabas!

We then got into the city centre area and for the first time too, my family was waiting to cheer me on and snap some pics! What a feeling it was to see their "muka-tak-mandi" waiting for me. Hehe.

We then made a u-turn and went back to the stadium on the same route. Unlike Brunei where we got fried, we were lucky enough to be shielded from the sun by shop houses and lorries conveniently parked along the coastal road!

Then we got into the stadium for the final 200m stretch. I actually felt good the whole way really, but my time fell a bit below expectation. No matter. I then joined the rest who had finished and waited and cheered on for the rest of the posse.

Post-run grub was in the form of cereal and the milo queue wasn't that long as well. Everyone was in good spirits, and that was the most important thing.

And oh yeah, I would like you to meet 62-year-old Dr. Majid. He told me that I inspired him to take up running and lose weight. He saw me on MHI, and in the past few months, he's lost 16kgs! And that morning, he actually ran the Half Marathon. You inspire me now, sir!

There were no goodie bags though, but we did leave with a nice medal and happy memories. Borneo International Marathon, bagus bah!

Borneo International Marathon 2012: All Set To Go!

Yup, I'm in Kota Kinabalu now and just one day away from the Borneo International Marathon. It'll be my first time running in this event, and despite the lack of training, I'm actually very much looking forward to it.

I picked up the race kit just now at the Suria Sabah Mall, just a few hundred metres from our hotel, the Hyatt Regency.

The mall itself is pretty good I must say with a lot of the top brands calling this place home. And the race kit collection was well-organized with plenty of friendly faces around.

So KK, get ready for a sea of yellow tomorrow! : )

Jom Heboh Ipoh 2012

It's been ages since my last visit to Ipoh, so it was pretty cool when I was told I'd be "on duty" at Jom Heboh this past weekend. We left KL on Friday evening and the drive took around 2 hours plus. We went into the city centre looking for a makan place, but driving "blind" with no map or guide whatsoever, we actually got lost, going round and round, without finding anything significant. So we decided just to check in to our hotel, the Impiana, and had some hotel grub.

The next day, it was time for me to suit up and face the Jom Heboh heat and crowd. Getting to the location, Stadium Indera Mulia, was pretty easy though. I just looked out for some stadium floodlights and drove towards it.

First up for me was co-hosting "Sembang-Sembang Jom Heboh" with "WHI"'s Azzura and "Mag 7"'s Irin.  And we had a special guest on set as well, Filipino award-winning actor, Dingdong Dantes! Yup, the dude's been raking in the ratings on TV3 through a few telenovelas, the latest one being "Endless Love". The buzz on Dingdong had been pretty good with him causing extreme excitement amongst Media Prima staff the day before Jom Heboh itself.

The interview itself went pretty well. And I must say Dingdong turned out to be a down-to-earth dude who loved to eat! He was game enough to brave the heat at the Women's booth and entertained all picture-taking requests from his fans. But then again, I was informed by his entourage that the weather's much more punishing in Manila, so I guess it wasn't too tough for him after all. Hehe.

And talking about the weather, it turned out to be pretty erratic throughout the entire two days there. It was nice and breezy in the morning, scorching hot in the afternoon, and it rained suddenly on both days after 4pm!

Apart from "Sembang-Sembang", I also recorded two other crossover segments that were aired around 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. But one of the highlights I need to mention here of course was my first taste of the famous "nasi ganja". Yup, that's the name, and you're allowed to say it out loud, like this... "SAYA NAK NASI GANJA!!!" Haha. Anyway, the kind peeps of TV3 got someone to buy a few packs of this local delicacy and together with Dindong and his entourage, we gobbled down the good stuff in no time at all.

My verdict? It's somewhat like nasi kandar but with a slightly different sambal concoction. The fried chicken was also absolutely delicious. So yes, as they say on social media-land... WIN!

We also had some time to do some ronda-ronda around Ipoh town. Weren't looking for anything in particular but I was told on fb to try out some of the food at  Dataran Ipoh.

The place wasn't too hard to find, but we had to follow our instincts as to which stall to choose. We saw one with a good crowd and ordered the char kuey teow. Which turned out to be pretty good, really.

I also organised the 15th round of Larian 40 Taman at Ipoh's famous Padang Polo, but that's for a different post altogether.

And oh, we also stopped by Ipoh Parade, but you know-lah, a mall's a mall, no matter where in Malaysia :) But I must say the crowd at Jom Heboh was really happening and the people came out in droves. Hate to use the cliche, but "Ipoh mali talak sombong!" Hehe.

Larian 40 Taman: FRIM & Central Park Bandar Utama

Whoa, I'm far behind in updating the Larian 40 Taman exploits, so I might as well skip a few and talk about the last two runs we did. Hehe.

On the 14th of April, Larian 40 Taman went to FRIM in Kepong to run together with participants of the World Forestry Day Run 2012. Finding the place itself proved to be a challenge for myself, seeing how my last visit there was probably about 15 years ago. Basically, I missed the turning from the highway and ended up further ahead in the middle of Kepong town.

But google maps saved the day for me, and once I found the right turning, it was a breeze finding FRIM. Once I got in, I then had to look out for Rumah Terengganu, the run's starting point. I was pretty fascinated by the fact that there was already a steady stream of people entering FRIM; some in running gear, while others came with the whole family, looking like they're going for a picnic.

I found Rumah Terengganu and immediately hooked up with a few other Larian 40 Taman runners. We then had to wait for a while for the organisers to sort out stuff like T-shirts, but eventually we got the tees with no hitches. The number of participants that morning was were around 160, a bit short of the 200 that they were expecting.

The run was then flagged off at around 8.20am, and this was when things got REALLY interesting. You see, when I was referred to this run, somehow I did not pay attention to the route. Only that very morning did I discover that it was going to be a half/half thing; trail and road running. Which was interesting for me, really. I've always wanted to try trail running and the opportunity came rolling into my path.

We started out OK, but then it was time to go into trail run mode, and immediately we had no negotiate a bukit. A bukit that went on, and on, and on... Seriously, it was literally up the hill for a good few hundred metres.

With no experience whatsoever with the route, it was tough for me to figure out the pacing and what to expect next. So when the climbing didn't stop I just decided to walk it until we got to a flatter part of the route. Plus there was the added challenge of avoiding mountain bikers. So runners, blasting music on your headphones is not recommended at all here. No syok sendiri runners, please!

Of course when you go up, you must come down, and the downhill part was pretty interesting as you had to apply the "brakes" on yourself so as not to skid down the hill. And oh yeah, good and appropriate shoes are definitely needed. I wore my Brooks Glycerin 9, not exactly trail running shoes, but they worked pretty well and gave me good grip throughout.

I finished the 5km route in 40 minutes and was placed 39th out of 160 runners; the first time I'm in the Top 40 of any event. Haha! They also had a lucky draw but I went back empty handed lah. But overall, a very good experience for all of us newbies. Click HERE for the full report.

Next up is the run at Central Park, Bandar Utama, the 14th run in the Larian 40 Taman series. It's a nice little park (with a big name) right next to One Utama and just a few hundred metres away from my office.

A pretty decent crowd turned up this past Saturday morning for an easy 2.6km run (600m per loop). But one thing about this park though, dog owners are allowed to bring their pets here, so Central Park is also known as a "dog park".

For this run too, I got Grand Brilliance and TV9 to sponsor some T-shirts to be given away. So after the run, I had the pleasure of giving away some cool tees to the runners!

For the full report, click HERE .

Call Of The Kettle Bell

I'm sure you've seen these innocent looking things by the window of fitness shops and thought, "OK, like THAT'S gonna help me with burning fat and stuff". Well, all I can say is, you will be surprised!

The thing about the kettle bell is that it's perfect for you "so-busy-that-I-can't-find-time-to-exercise" lot out there. It's not expensive and you can easily keep them at home or at the office and use them whenever you want.

Seriously though, having known only dumbbells and barbells all this while, using the kettle bell was a nice (and intense) surprise. I regularly use it for squats now, and I can feel the results. For more ideas on how to use the kettle bell, check out this video: