Energy Efficiency Run 2013, The Season Ender

The Energy Efficiency Run 2013 this morning officially marks the last race event for me this year. And what better way to end the race season for me than take part in a 'free' running event. You don't see many of these nowadays. In fact you don't see any free events at all.

Signing up for this was a last minute spur of the moment thing. It was in fact with the urging of one of my clients, the FTAAA, that I signed up for this as a show of support to them. I don't really run 5k races, not worth my money if you ask me, what with the exorbitant race fees these days but the Energy Efficiency Run happened to be a totally free event with no sign up fees.

First time ever standing in the front row at the start ....

I was kinda surprised that there actually was someone organizing a race with no race fees. And I was even more surprised to find out that they were giving away a race tee (Brooks), a finisher medal (a little of an overkill for a 7k/5k event, but a very nice touch) and a goody bag.

With the 7k open category all filled up, I was left with only the 5k veteran category to sign up for. I wasn't thrilled to be waking up so early and driving all the way to Putrajaya (the race location) just for a 5k race but heck, it was free anyway.

The wife (my very own personal cheer squad of one) and me headed to Putrajaya kinda late, with only 20 minutes or so to spare for race start. This being a very small scale event (personal estimate of 600 or so runners), I decided to stay under the radar and dress as inconspicuously as I could to remain incognito. It kinda worked cos no one recognized me with my cap on and a plain white regular round neck tee :D

Trying to blend in ... maybe green would have blended better with the surrounding grass ...

I was also expecting not to see many regulars there but to my utter surprise, the who's who in speed running, the likes of Sheela Samivellu, Moey, Murali, Yuan Yu Fang to name a few, were present. In fact, the runners in the veteran category were all the regular fast crowd of people that I knew I was going to be smelling their smoke and probably end up last.

The race started on time with the 7k flag off followed by the 5k category 15 minutes later. I had no plans or strategies. It was just step on it and hope for the best. Ok, I did secretly want to break my best 5k time of 24 minutes and the route look nicely set up for such a feat.

Moey, as speedy as always ... God, I love the color of his Skechers GOrun Speed!

The gun went off and off I went. This was where I screwed things up. I ran off like a jackrabbit on steroids, hitting a pace of 3:30, yes, 3:30 in that first 1k that I was puffing and panting like a beached whale (do whales even puff and pant?). That ruined everything.

Note to self: 'You are not an elite runner, Nick and you never will be, so try not to act like one and start slower in future!'

I had to slow down considerably by the second kilometer and bring my pace down to something more realistic. But by then, I already had the wind taken out of me and suffice to say, no records were broken today. I even walked for a bit at one point (in a 5k race, Nick?!!). Aside from that, the run from that point on was just routine. I crossed the line a little disappointed with a time of 25:20.

Almost there ....
Pic courtesy of Lina

The wife was waiting for me at the finish to greet me with the words, 'what took you so long?' ... LOL! Headed off to pick up the goody bag and tee and then headed back home right away. Didn't stay around to mingle with anyone.

But overall, for a race that had no race fees, it was pretty well organized with a nice, big and heavy finisher medal, a dry-fit (or whatever they call it) Brooks tee and a bag full of goodies that include a RM120 Brooks voucher at that. For a free run, I'd say they're VERY generous. Good job and congrats to Suruhanjaya Tenaga for organizing this and hopefully we'll see a repeat of this next year. A thank you also goes out to the volunteers and the FTAAA for their part in making this a pretty enjoyable run.

My loot ...