Allianz Pacesetters 4 x 3km 2014 : Race Report

The Allianz Pacesetters 4 x 3km run was not something I initially planned to run. An invite by Wan Yew Leong, the race director, looking for runners to run for a few corporate entries under the Kiwanis Corporate Challenge category saw me signing up for it.

What? No medal this time?

It was after all for charity and Christmas is just around the corner, I'd better do something nice or it'll be coals in my stockings for sure. With Zane, Evelyn and Julie also taking up the offer, team 'No Worries' was formed. The team name wasn't coined up by us, mind you. If it was up to us we would have labeled ourselves team Makanthon, cos all that we had running through our minds prior to race day was nasi lemak!

Team No worries

Before I go any further, I'd like to thank the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation for graciously letting us run for one of their corporate donors. We were glad to play a little part in helping your organization in what little way we could.

Come race day, we were there bright and early at 6am. Actually I conned the rest of my team members to be there bright and early though. Since I was team captain, I had to be there to pick up the team baton but heck, since I had to be there early, I might as well make everyone else join me ... hahaha!

Where's the finish?

The wife and me arrived at Padang Merbuk to find Julie already there with her two adorable twin bodyguards. Zane and Evelyn came along shortly. The wife decided to tag along and ended up being our personal luggage and storage person cum photographer :D  We were all in good spirits even though it was a short distanced relay race. Our topic mainly centred around nasi lemak, nasi lemak and more nasi lemak.

The crowd was a nice manageable number. I like small events like these cos everyone seemed to know everyone else. Even for a small charitable event like this, there were quite a few elites present. Of course, it was quite clear cut on which team would be the champions. The elites started their warm ups while we looked on in awe. Even for a short distanced run like this, they were so committed whereas we were just hanging around looking sleepy!

Surprised but happy to get this.
Pic courtesy of Evelyn

Soon it was time for race start. Julie took the first leg, followed by Evelyn, Zane and me anchoring the team for the final leg. I wasn't exactly happy that we would be running uphill for the start. It would have to be a fast start and the inline wasn't an ideal way to do it on. But it had to be done, no amount of whining was going to change that.

Having run that route practically every weekend during the MPIB clinic sessions, I was all too familiar with every inch of the route. Everyone did a great job with their respective legs, no doubts about it and soon enough I spotted Zane on the downhill stretch heading to the baton hand off area. Got into position for the exchange and it was time for work.

Even with an initial plan of taking the start slower, the legs decided to rebel on my earlier agreements with it and went into full speed. Speeding up an incline is normally suicidal but heck, this was just 3k so I should be able to recoup some rest at the top. Just as I headed into the turn towards the istana section, I took a 150 metre breather before continuing as quick as my legs would allow. Keeping the pace under 5 minutes, I was soon enough heading back into Padang Merbuk. 

Our claim to fame!

I was bushed from the effort but when the officials put a placing tag over my head I was bloody surprised and all the tiredness disappeared. Damn, we had just made it to 5th place, the final placing for a prize! We ran our hearts out but none of us expected a placing. I was grinning from ear to ear looking for the rest of the team. They had done a great job in their earlier legs for this. Kudos guys!

None of us could actually believe we got 5th place. Even ET Tey could hardly believe it and said 'What? Got only 5 teams taking part, ah?' ... hahaha! In true fact, we couldn't believe it ourselves either. But we were happy and weren't going to let anything dampen our short moment of fame. 

I couldn't join the rest of the team after the prize giving for the nasi lemak session as the wife and me had to head back cos we had a lot of stuff that needed to be done for the day. I hope you guys ate an extra plate or two of nasi lemak for me. With that, it's time to taper before I head off to tackle my final 42km for the year next week.

Once again, thank you Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation for the opportunity to run for you guys. This one's for you and the No Worries corporate team we ran for!