Ekiden Run 2012

So on Sunday, it was the first time for me at a different kind of running event, the long-distance relay! It was first mooted by one of our Larian 40 Taman runners and I thought, hey why not?

And so, we formed a five-man team, M.Zul, Fadli, Daud, Ayiem and Mie, and called ourselves "Coklat 40 Taman". Haha. "40 Taman" for obvious reasons, while we added "Coklat" cos Mie's a chocolate entrepreneur.

I reached The Palace of Justice, Putrajaya around 6.45am that morning. The plan was to have some light breakfast before the start so I didn't take anything at all at home.

But as it turned out, things were already getting chaotic as the organizers were trying to get people on buses to take us to our respective stations based on our running turns. And I have to say that I did not like how the organizers were shouting at and ordering people around over the PA system. Come on lah, granted there were a lot of school kids and first timers, but the intonation was all wrong. We paid to participate, so please have some respect!

Anyway, I was the assigned 2nd runner for the team and so I got on the bus and headed to the station. My distance was going to be 2.8km. All of us were running slightly different distances with a total of 15kms.

The mixed category started at 8am sharp and a few minutes later the front runners arrived at our station. Fuh, those guys were really sprinting the first 2.4km! Damn fast.

Our Open category started at 8.10am and after a good time, the sash was handed to me from Mie. My own route was pretty good which went downhill, then a flat stretch before a slight uphill and past a bridge. But of course the heat was pretty punishing by that time.

Anyway, I maintained a consistent pace before sprinting the last few hundred metres. I even recorded my fastest mile ever, according to the Nike + voice!

After passing the sash over to Ayiem, I picked up the food pack before taking the bus back to the Start/Finish line.

Only the first 100 teams would be granted medals and we did it, coming in 90th! Well done Coklat team! But most important of all, it was a good experience for everyone and we bonded even further on the day. Awwww... : )

Impossible Is Nothing: 7 Years Ago...

I honestly gave up at halftime. 0-3 down against AC Milan, I thought it was all over, no matter how much I loved the club and wanted to believe otherwise. I hadn't cried yet, but my heart was slowly being broken into pieces. It was a bonus that we made it that far, but to see a dream slowly fading away was too painful to bear.

BUT, the impossible DID happen... Liverpool Football Club came back from the dead and showed to the world what true grit and character really meant. 7 years ago today, Liverpool Football Club showed why we are the best sports team on the planet. Period.

Hitting A New Low

Of the good kind, of course! Yup, stepped on the scale today and saw "81.8", definitely a new low for me : ) My running has been consistent, but I've also tried a new circuit-training routine. Hope I just won't get confused by all the muscle building, fat burning and cardio for performance! Meantime, yes, I do need a bunch of new clothes!

KK Calling

If you haven't read my post on the Borneo International Marathon 2012, do click HERE .

So yeah, we were in Kota Kinabalu two weekends ago for the event and for some "makan angin" (literally!) I've not been to KK for more than 10 years while this would be the fam's first ever visit.

We took an evening flight out of KL and reached KK 9 plus-ish.  It wasn't a long drive from the airport to the Hyatt Regency, but I could see that KK had changed quite a bit. There were strangely a lot more malls, but everything looked neat and tidy, I must say.

The Hyatt Regency itself was opened in the late 1970s, but man, they've really managed to maintain it at a pretty good level. Have a look at our room...

What's great about the hotel as well was the location. It's right smack in the centre of town and we were within walking distance to quite a number of must-see spots.

And so the next day, we started our walk towards the Suria Sabah Mall, which looked a lot farther in google maps, but was really only a stone throw's away. But before that, we just had to take in the ocean smell (not pretty good, I must say) along the waterfront area and snap some obligatory shots.

Then we walked straight to the mall which turned out to be more modern and happening than I anticipated. 

I'm pretty sure it opened fairly recently seeing how all the kedai had, er, "bau kedai". It's got some pretty top brands with some pretty good restaurants. It was there that I picked up my race-kit, as well buying some Sabah souvenirs (which I'm sure are a lot cheaper outside, but what the hell, I can't live without air conditioning).

Ironically though, we couldn't decided what to have for lunch there, so we walked back to the hotel and had chinese food at the Chinese Restaurant. Really, the restaurant is called, the Chinese Restaurant.

But we had no regrets at all, as it was one of the best chinese meals we ever had. Sure, the bill came to around RM200, but everything we ordered turned out to be super delectable!

After a short rest, I then took delivery of our rental car, hired through a Media Prima colleague. It was an old Waja that made all sorts of sounds it shouldn't have, but hey, it moved! (Jangan marah, Rona!)

I didn't have a GPS, so we whipped out google maps and just drove following the signboards. We drove by the coastal roads and looked for Stadium Likas, the Start/Finish point for the run, which we easily found.

Then we just drove towards the iconic Yayasan Sabah building. It was the first time I was looking at the building up close, really. (It looks dramatic with the dark clouds in the background, doesn't it?)

On the way back, we also stopped by this gorgeous looking mosque, the Masjid Bandaraya Likas.

Then we attempted to go to 1Borneo Shopping Mall but failed when the google maps (and foursquare), brought us to God-knows-where. But since  I saw that we were on the right track to get to the airport, I drove straight there, where the location for my Larian 40 Taman, Perdana Park was.

It had started to drizzle then, but I managed a couple of rounds around this new and wonderful park.

Then it was time for some (more) seafood! And yes, we WERE ready to splurge on lobsters, prawns, the best kind of fish, everything. The only problem was, we didn't really know where to go! I did ask some people and all of them pointed me to the place near Promenade Hotel. So we parked our car nearby and took a walk on the boardwalk.

As for the makan bit, the stalls there were just like any other seafood stalls you see elsewhere offering the same kind of dishes. It was after we've ordered that I googled "Best seafood in KK" and came across this place called SEDCO which had stuff we were hoping for. Argghh... Nevertheless, the food at Anjung Senja wasn't really that bad, it's just that we were expecting a whole lot more. Ah well...

On Sunday morning, it was time for the event. As I mentioned, you can read the whole story three posts down. After the run and a quick nap, it was time to check out and ronda-ronda the city again before driving to the airport. First off we dropped by the observatory deck on Signal Hill. Definitely a great place to see KK from a different point of view.

After that, it was time to hit the world-famous Filipino Market. Bought a pearl bracelet for the little one while we went crazy with the traditional kuih and biskut.

So, it was a pretty good 3 Days 2 Nights stay for us, but no, we didn't go island-hopping or the more outdoorsy activities, which can only mean one thing: we will be back!

Video: Larian 40 Taman 100 Kilometer #1-17