Double Trouble - Morning & Night Running Session

Well, I followed Hubby with his gang on Saturday morning for a trail run. We woke up bright and very early (as SK can attest to, LOL), send Son to school first; as he had a Saturday extra classes in preparation for UPSR and then only proceeded to make our way to the RV point.

28K of 14K ascent and another 14K descent and we were done by 3.00pm, hiking for 7 hours. The 7 hours included an obligatory pit stop to eat Nasi Lemak, of course! Hihihi

Rested and waited for the others who did a farther hike to regroup, enjoyed Maggi served at a stall and Teh Ais along with some "mata kucing" before making a move home.

We didn't linger long because we needed to get ready for another run and this time, it's Energizer Night Race which was held at Dataran Merdeka with the 15K starting off at 8.00pm.

The road was jammed yesterday so it took us a while to get to my FIL's house to shower and fetch Son. We didn't have any time to rest there so it was arrive, shower, get ready, drive to Bangsar LRT where we parked our car, had a light dinner before taking the LRT to Masjid Jamek station. Met a fellow runner who was having his dinner there too! :-)
40min to flag-off and already runners are queuing in front of the starting line. Talk about enthusiasm.
Some chose to relax first before the run
Dataran Merdeka was a hive of activity. Energizer Night Race certainly had no expenses spared to keep runners entertained and also provide amenities to us runners.
Some super energetic people can "warm-up" here. Not me! Miahaha
A big hit before the start of any races is of course - the toilets. Great that the organizer had plenty of mobile toilets put up, even along the route.
With one of the volunteers at the event. Plenty of them and all are GREAT and helpful.
Met fellow runners and shamelessly barge my way into their photos! Muahaha. I love this photo, I look small. HAHAHA
Photo credit : Gme
and pretty soon, it was time for the gun off for 15K.
I started way at the back and walked about 100m to reach the timing mat after the gun off, taking 2minutes to do so. Yeah yeah, very anal of me to state this. Hehehe

The crowd was so big, the start was slow as many were just walking, talking, looking for GF/BF to hold hands, pose for photogs etc. It turned into a standstill reach the tunnel in front of Dayabumi and continued to be so for about 700m. 700m of shuffling.Woohooo...

So decided to have it easy first and even chatted with a couple of runner friends while we were on the move.

Would've thought the crowd would disperse accordingly after the tunnel as we're running towards Jalan Kuching but there was way too many walkers and way too many runners who didn't seem to care about bumping into other runners as they weaved through, probably as they were chasing for that podium placing. *snort*

My first 3K was a slow 26min, then picked up a  bit for another 3K at 25min then slow again at 26min as I looked for water at KM6.5 water station. Horror upon horror, the water station ran out of water!!! 

I could probably lasted another 3K without water but the thought of the possibility of the next water station running out of water made me felt down.

Credit to the volunteers, they were still "keep up the good job. There are more water at the next water station" and I was like a grumpy monkey and told one of them "no thank you. No mood to run already". Huhuhu Sorry adik. Akak was grumpy sikit that time.

A fella offered a half-full 1.5ltr of mineral water as I bumped into a runner and a gulp of water completely changed my mood. Bid adieu to the lady and started off for a trot again. How a sip of water can absolutely can my mood. What la...

The next 3K split were 24min then 23min. Faster a bit lah compared to the first 9K. Helped by the many downhills we experienced.

Bumped into another runner (who is a Race Director for a big race in Malaysia) and said hi before taking off. He actually followed my pace and told me that I'd be his pacer. Hahaha. Yeah, until we reach the flat route at the roundabout near Bank Negara. I told him I plan to run slow there and he went ahead.

I hadn't hope for a fast finish but as I progressed along, I thought that it'll be good if I can make it in 2hour 08min. I finished a bit slower than that but it's OK.

There were shortcomings in the race but overall I did enjoy myself. That's what matters to me. ^^

Some point forms :
The Not-So-Good
  • Water station. I think the volunteers just couldn't cope with the mid-pack and back-pack runners. Faster runners didn't have any issue with the water stations. First WS ran out of water completely but you can still see runners who managed to get them, running holding 1.5ltrs mineral water bottle. Second WS on the bridge was too crowded and poor poor motorists had to wait as traffic was turned into a standstill as runners swarmed towards the WS situated on both the left and right side of the road. Not enough cups again and runners resorted to drinking from the 1.5ltr bottles and share them.
  • 1.5ltr bottles of mineral water and 100-Plus bottles can be seen left along the route, placed near marshalls or at the ENR sign boards for other runners to drink from.
  • Too big of a crowd for the route causing a massive human jam all through the route. It was especially crowded the first 8K for me. 
  • Runners completely disregarding their own safety as they approached Bukit Tunku area and running completely oblivious of incoming cars coming from the opposite way.
  • Runners completely disregarding being courteous to other runners. I know, I know. It's a big crowd so bumping into people was inevitable. But some could exercise some restraint when passing other runners. Oh by the way, if you're not gonna run faster than me for more than 2 sec, don't overtake me then slow down immediately in front of me. Huhuhu
The nice and novelty
  • Running in Kuala Lumpur at night and having a stretch of road closed. Pity though, even with road closure, it barely able to cope with the HUGE amount of runners participating.
  • Running along a road one normally would do in the morning instead of night. Yeah, it was kinda nice. HOT and HUMID, totally different from morning run which is usually nice and refreshing but it's an experience.
  • Easy 15K route. Like really. OK lah, I wasn't fast but trust me. Route was quite easy.
  • Cheerful volunteers who didn't hesitate to encourage us runners.
  • Very efficient distribution of headlamps and afterwards, the medals and snack packs.
  • Evian mineral water for finishers. EVIAN!
Rants and grumbles
  • Leng lui at KM7.5 water station; I don't care how pretty you are but if you want to drink from a big bottle of 100-plus and not gonna finish it, please refrain putting your mouth to the bottle. If I want to share your saliva, I can just opt to kiss you lah. Hmph
  • Walkers starting from KM1 onwards, please have a heart for us who were actually trying to run instead of sight-see leisurely. I understand you want to pak-tor also that night but seriously???
  • Headlamps are supposed to be worn on the HEAD! I dunno why some choose for it to be an accessory instead. By putting it on your arm, wrist or waist, turning it on and flashing a bright light to the runners behind you, you were blinding us not helping us to see the road! Don't need to use, don't waste the battery lah. Do what I do. Switch it OFF, moron.
Wah... this auntie so angry pulak. MUAHAHA

But no lah. Despite its shortcomings (which I hope the organiser take note off and get the technical race director to take note of the shortcomings and weaknesses), I had a fun night. A fun, sweaty night. I sweat more while being stuck in the tunnel than running for 2 hours. Hohoho

Of course I also should have been prepared for the items that I ranted above when I entered any big name races. Especially one that is the biggest night race in KL. Kan? 

Oh yeah, while I was out "enjoying" my 15K run, Hubby and Son ran 5K that night. *clap clap*
stinking up the LRT after the run with a whole lot of others.
Took the LRT to Bangsar Station where we parked our car then off we went home.

I was still pretty much energized and my feet was feeling OK that night even after doing an accumulative 43K in one day (28K in the morning and 15K that night) but I made myself sleep at 2am as both Hubby and I needed to wake up early to go to the AK Balloon 5K Run at Avenue K.
Treated this as a recovery walk so we just walked slowly and enjoyed the morning in KL.

Running with fuschia balloons. So cute, right? ^^

Didn't linger here also as we need to get ready and visit friends for Raya open house later. :-)

Comments

  1. LOL at the rants and grumbles! xD

    Yep, running with those balloons are indeed cute =)

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    1. Cute right? Aden should join with you la! :)

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  2. The building in the 1st picture is nice...

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    1. That's Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, a historic building.

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  3. You guys are really like energizer bunnies. ... can never get tired! Morning run 20km+ then at night run 15km then morning another 5km. I pengsan already. ... the evening my run of 3k already makes me so happy. ..lol. likes your rants!

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  4. Hi Lina!! Its me your lost but loyal subbie ^_^
    Firstly Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to you and family. Im sorry for the late greeting but hey Raya kan sebulan hehehe and terribly sorry for the lack of visits. Its been a mad and tiring time for me. What with family visits and then Isabella kena hospitalised time 1st week of puasa due to viral infection and now sorting & packing our things. We are leaving Kuala Lumpur end of this month, moving to Siem Reap Cambodia next. My husband and a friend of ours are now running a boutique hotel there. Hubby has retired from work last July.

    Wow I am so super impressed with you and your hubby. Well done. If that was me, im already kaput just doing 1km ..my energy level is so low heheehe running with fuchsia balloons are so cute, that must be such a lovely sight to see all those balloons ..where was the route?

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    1. You're leaving KL already? We haven't met up yet!

      All the best to you and hubby there, dear.

      Give Isabella a kiss from Auntie Lina.

      Take care.

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  5. My friend was there for the 15km energizer run...

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  6. another friend also ran but didnt say she masuk how many km

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    1. how come you no join oso with her? :P

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  7. so big crowd....like SCKLM leh..

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  8. hahaha.....as for LRT :p expected la....

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  9. Two runs in a day? ***pengsan*** But most importantly you had loads of fun. Too bad that some things were not so fun hence the ranting hah..hah...

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    1. There will be good things. There'll be bad. Rantings to release all. Hahaha

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  10. Huhuhuh...we decided not to run, since it coincided with our housing area Raya potluck Not easy to meet (most of) the neighbours in one occasion :)

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    1. Ala...

      Tapi true that... priority. Neighbours pun kena kenal jugak. :)

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  11. definitely a very eventful Saturday for Mak Glam!! two runs in a day.. one in the morning and another at night.. all i can say is "FUYOH!! MAKCIK NI MEMANG HEBAT!!".. get me to run in one race, already killing me, not to mention two and in a single day!! hahaha.. but i guess Mak Glam sure had lots of fun~~

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    1. Get me to the gym, I pesang pulak cannot lift the weights SK can lift. LOL

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  12. look at all the happy runners, they sure were excited before then run, motivated during the run and contended after the run.. and stinking up the LRT?? hmmm, strange, i didn't see runners in the LRT at all on Saturday?? probably by the time i was in, all had already gone home, muahahaha!!

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    1. Most balik around 10.00pm. You were in town so late? Wahhhh enjoying Saturday night, eh? :)

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