A Virgin On The Run

A race virgin that is. ^^

So, I went and entered myself to KLIUC Unity Run and ran 10K last Sunday. It's my preparation before running in the way bigger race of the Putrajaya Night Marathon in October. I figured I'd do well  by getting a taste of road races by joining smaller ones first before going head first into big ones. This race was actually the third race I signed up this year. The first one being the Putrajaya Night Marathon on Oct 15 and the second one was the Pudu Charity Run on Sep 25.

I relinquished photography duties today and  handed it over to Zaini and he as always did a great job capturing the moments!

 Starting line for Men & Women Open

Before the start of the race. Still got time to clown around. Gosh! My "perut buncit" is so obvious here. ^^! 

 and the mayhem begins!

I tried to keep my pace steady and tried not to run too fast too quickly seeing that this was my first race. I mean, I'm not aiming for a personal best just yet. The aim for me joining this run today was to get a feel of a race and I got that, getting elbowed and all by those too excited at the starting line. Anyhoo, whatever time I did today will already be my personal best in a race for the time being. xD

My observation for this race, cars were still speeding past us runners and there were runners who seem to have nary a care about traffic when they tried to overtake other runners. Imagine how unsafe it was to run in the outermost lane which was open to traffic and have a speeding car coming behind you. @.@

It was a bit getting used to having to maneuver my way around runners who like to sprint as suddenly as they stopped, right dead in front of me seeing that I always run alone and at places that are not crowded with runners before.

I also observed around KM4 or 5 a few lady runners "cutting short" their route by a few kilometres by just jumping lanes instead of running the loop. Nice going, ladies! NOT! 

Zaini told me that there were a few "girls" who ran in the Women Open category who arrived amongst the Top 5 whom didn't seem like they did any running at all too. Was it the case? Or were they just too bummed out to run the distance? They were walking around with their medals so I supposed organizers acknowledged them finishing the race.

Me, at the last couple of kilometres and going uphill, yet again. The route was sure an undulating one, and I am appreciating the Mines inclines I faced each weekend running around the neighborhood. Between KM6-7, that "abang" wearing track pants (the one in the left) were pacing with me and we ran side by side for almost 3K.One would've thought we were in the race together seeing that we even matched our stride. Kakaka

Something funny happened when I overtook one "uncle" towards the end of the race. Once I overtook him who was walking; he started sprinting in front of me. He didn't run fast for long because I'd overtake him again and there he went, sprinting off again. I guess he "used" me as a tool to boost up his stamina. Cannot lose to this chubby woman, right? wakaka

Fuh! Fuh! I picked up my pace thinking that the finish line was just a few hundred metres away but it turned out we had to make another KM round the bend or something before getting to the finish line. The sun was too hot by now!

Medal collection time. I didn't realised that my Nike+ Sportband was still counting my mileage and timing when I was at this table! Too excited finishing to press stop, I guess. LOL The "pakcik technical" was remarking - "alahai, lenggang lengguk jalan ambik medal". Yahaha

My first medal in almost 20 years! And my first ever medal in my first ever road race. Best part of this race, while top 50 finishers receive medals with placing, all runners do get a finisher medal. Love these small races.

Maybe I would've fared better in placing if I entered the Women Veteran seeing that the age for Women Veteran was 36 and above. Heh heh