MPIB 12K Run 2012

4.:30am : *alarm rings* Shut up! It's Sunday, I want to sleep!

4:35am : I must be insane to wake up so bloody early on a Sunday.

4:40am : Maybe a shower will wake me up.

5:15am : *while driving to race location* I should really get my head checked.

6.:45am : Tell me why I'm doing this again?

7:10am : Here we go, let's get it over and done with so I can go home and sleep.

Kilometer 2 : Ahhh, this is the life ...

Kilometer 5 : I love these hills. When's the next race already?

Kilometer 8 : What? We're almost finishing? But I'm enjoying this.

The finish line : Phew, that was fun! I can't wait for the next race!

And that pretty much sums up how every of my race mornings start ... hahaha! The worse part is the waking up, but once you start running, everything else is forgotten.

It was pretty much the same scenario as the above for this morning's MPIB run. Wasn't really intending to run this race initially but ran it as a show of support for Jamie who was one of the organizers and it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable race.

Got to the race a little bit early cos of the parking limitations in that location. The wife, who was sitting out this race accompanied me to be my pom-pom girl ... hahaha! We took a slow walk to the start line and was immediately greeted by an interesting Chinese number from the speakers. The crowd was already building up by then which made the atmosphere all the more exciting.

The race start was staggered with the women running first, partly due to the limited and narrow space at the start I would presume. But it did give the men legitimate reasons to be chasing women ... LOL!

Met up with Kah Yen before the start and we headed to the start line chatting all the way. I wouldn't have known it was race start if he didn't tell me cos I didn't hear a single gun, horn, whatever. My whole initial plan was to do a safe race and take care of the legs which wasn't fully healed.

Took off with a really slow pace, not that you could go any faster cos of the number of runners all clogged together during the start stretch. Besides, it was an uphill start and better to take things slow. It took a while before I could get into a steadier pace somewhere around the 2nd kilometer when there was more space to overtake.

Caught up with the tail end of the women runners just before hitting the first incline which I was all prepared for even though I didn't recce the route this time. Thanks to Kah Yen for the warning about the challenging inclines littered through the route.

My mantra for the day was 'if there is an up, there is a down' and it worked fine with me charging up the hills and resting on the downward stretches. Besides I didn't want to risk running downhill so fast cos they were kinda steep, one misstep and you'll end up badly bruised. That strategy worked pretty good so much so that I could do much faster on the flats.

By KM4, the legs were feeling great, no tugs of pain were apparent and I decided that I'd take on a bit more speed after the 6k mark. The hydration stations were spot on. That helped cos I could speed up a kilometer before the stations and know for certain I could quench my thirst. Unfortunately the hydration stations were a little undermanned as I had to wait for water to be poured in the cups at two of the stations. Not a big deal but could be better.

I was thoroughly enjoying the race with no pressure whatsoever since I had no targets to be met today. By KM5 I was beginning to recognize the route from previous races I ran here and that made the run so much easier as I knew what to expect at every corner. Picked up the pace in the second half of the race and was enjoying the race so much that I was waving at all those rich people's barking dogs at the Bukit Tunku section ... hahaha!

Saw Yim at the 10K mark and called out to him this time. The last race I was too shy to call out to him :P I was still pretty fresh by this time and decided to charge back to the finish line and came in with a decent time of 1:05:57, not my best 12K time (actually the route was more like 11.5K) but am pleased with the run for the simple reason my injuries didn't recur :D

I wonder if I should ask for payment for these modelling jobs ...

The race was overall a well organized one, except for the undermanned hydration stations. Kudos to the organizers for a job well done. That's what you get when you get runners to organize a race. The route was challenging but scenic and well shaded. The mix of difficult terrain with easy downhills balanced out the race nicely.

The cops were having a field day issuing summonses to people parked by the road shoulders which I thought was a tad bit unfair but then, some of these cars were really parked too haphazardly to the point of disrupting traffic. Remember to come early and get proper parking next time people. You don't want to run a beautiful race to only come back and find a summons waiting for you, right?

With the race over and done with, I'll be taking a week's break from running to completely rest and heal these overused legs. As much as I hate the idea of no runs for a week, I'd rather be running pain-free. For all of you who ran the MPIB this morning, good job and congrats to you guys.