The Asia Masters 2010 Road Race

Wifey and me took part in the Asia Masters 2010 Road run this morning and I must say that while the crowd turnout was pretty lacklustre, we both enjoyed the run and even managed to get a finishers medal to boot :D

For wifey it was her first medal since she started running 8 months ago and I am so darned happy and proud of her. Eight months ago she would have balked at the idea of running and here she is now doing a 10K run with ease :D

For those not in the know, just like me, the Asia Master Athletics event is to keep the master athletics, from 24 Asian countries which is affiliated with Asian Master Athletics (AMA), fit and healthy and a reunion of old friends. This year the event was held at Bukit Jalil which started from the 6th of December 2010 until today.

Some of the participants at the finish line ...

In conjunction with the event, a race was held at Dataran Merdeka which comprised of 7km and 10km races. Both wifey and me took part in the 10K event and I must say the route was pretty scenic as well as challenging with some long steep uphill stretches littered along the way.

Good thing we were both familiar with the route as we took a drive a few days earlier to check out the route, which was a good thing mind you cos we knew how to pace ourselves throughout the run.

One heck of a cool running attire :P

The run for me started out with a medium speed dash the moment the starters gun went off cos I knew there would be an incline about a kilometer or so away. I wanted to be ready to attack the incline as my mantra is, the faster you get the hills out of the way, the better the race will be :D Besides, I like attacking hills and resting on the downward stretches. That way, I can run at a faster pace on the flats.

Overall, it was a good race for me. While I may not be as fast as I was in my youth, I still broke my own personal best time crossing the finish line at 57' 14", taking off a full 2' 45" from my last 10K run which was the Nike City 10K run way back in October.

The only sad part about the race was the very few participants that took part. Wifey and me have been to quite a few races this year and they all had loads more participants that it was awkward seeing the very sparse crowd at this event.

The very few people at the event ...

I blame it on the fact that there was a lack of coverage for this event. Wifey only found out about it at the very last minute and being running fanatics, we just had to take part. Anyways, this was our last race for this year and we're already looking forward to a few races next year :D

Oh and I must say that I totally detested this FTAAA official who was blaring away on the microphone thinking that everyone there were total idiots. I don't even want to bother talking about her! She made my blood boil.

My finishers medal :D