NB 15k

This is the inaugural 15k event hosted by PACM. This event has been graced by many title sponsors and this year's was New Balance. As some of you might know, this is my first event and I have been training pretty hard but had to succumb to an injury I picked up erlier this week. I thought I would never run in this event but I manage to get enough rest (and not being able to train) to overcome the injury.

I picked Meng, my training partner who lives in DJ, @ 5.45 a.m. He was not ready and his mum was awaken by my incessant ring of the door bell. He eventually got out of the house 10 mins later and we were off. Parking was a commodity that morning. The Bukit Aman carpark was FULL and I had to weave my way in the darkness of morning to secure a parking spot in the park. The roads in the park are pretty winding and one has to be careful when driving with only your headlamps.

The park was already abuzz @ 6 a.m and there were throngs of people walking, chatting and warming-up. We walked around and met up with Ronnie and wife. I left my bag with her and Meng left his @ the baggage section. I did some slight warm up with Meng and entered our pen. I was feeling sluggish coz the only 'productive' run I had was on Monday and that was it. I did some short runs on Friday and Saturday and this did not really help.

The gun went off on time and as usual, everyone was cheering. You can really feeling the excitement in the air. From my pen, I looked up the hill and saw Ronnie speeding off. Whoa!, this guy must be really gunning for it. The route was the usual double hill route but there is an additional twist to it. For one, we had to start from the park and its a uphill task and two, we had to finish it with another hill route (Sri Carcosa). This route is fairly difficult to run due to fact that you have to face multiple hills along the way. I was planning to do a sub 1:20 for this run but I restrain myself coz I did not want to injure myself again and so I took a more conservative approach to just complete the run.

I was running pretty comfortably until the Kenny Hills section where Meng shot off. My leg turn over was slow and he took the opportunity to over take me. Tey, our 'official' photographer was everywhere along the route snapping pictures of us. I manage to evade him on one occasion and he lashed out @ me with some hokkien/mandarin expletives (hahaha..nice one). I have to really give credit to this guy for his contribution and commitment. He made sure he ran ahead of some of us so he could take pictures of us in full stride. I salute him for this.

I running very comfortably all the way till the descending section of the warriors monument. From the junction onwards I picked up my pace and raced towards the finish line. My pace and breathing was manageable unlike track sessions. When I crossed the line in 1:25, I was still feeling fresh but was darn thirsty. I caught up with Meng who was 1 min ahead of me. His legs were tired from the hills. I already told him @ the start to take it easy coz the route will be hilly but he did not expect the route to be so taxing.

We got our Recovery drinks and headed to look for the rest of the 'gang'. We had a fun time catching up with one another and had a wonderful time taking pictures together. Jessica was the 'model' everyone wanted to be snapped with. Well, some of us were being held back for some unfortunate reasons and some of us wanted to take but did not have the guts to walk up to her. Hahahahaha.....u guys know who you are.

My legs are feeling fine but I'll be resting them for track session this coming week. Hopefully they'll not give me any problems. If everything's fine, I'll be back for a revenge next year and hope to secure a good time. Till then, its training and more training.