PPES-Uniten Charity Run- first race report..tadaa..

When our friends announced that they were getting married on the 26th and alang-alang I'll be coming to KL, I decided to kill two birds by searching for any races scheduled in KL/Selangor that weekend.
Ye la kan, these areas banyak je races in between.
And so I found out about PPES-Uniten Charity Run on the 25th. Wah, great! Sabtu lagi. Boleh daftar last minit pulak tu.Then I found out that my brother in Bangi would be available to babysit our kids the morning  of the race.
Canteeekk.

I told my brother we would be running in Uniten's campus and asked him whether it would be hilly.
" Taklah, flat je kat sana." Confident je mamat tu cakap.

So we arrived at 7 am. Masuk entrance gate saje dah naik bukit. Pastu turun, pastu naik. Huh, flat hapekebende.
After collecting our bibs, we warmed up a while to get our legs ready for the inclines.

Patah balik je kat mini stadium, banyak pulak umat dah sampai. Siap ada 3 bijik bas penuh dengan rombongan cikKiah. And a few foreigners who I assumed were students. Tambah best , ada jugak sesat sorang mamat afrika. Agaknya niat dia ikhlas tulus suci murni nak join race ni as a speed session kot because the organizers never offered any cash prize money.

Things started with a senamrobik session. Gelek kanan, gelek kiri, angkat ketiak, you get the picture.
Pastu bila matahari dah mula nak naik terik, maka segerombolan of runners went straight to the starting line only to be ushered back to the field because:
a. the main sponsor/donator was still giving his speech.
b. most of us didn't get our tags/rubber band yet.

We were let off at about 8 am, climbing our first incline. WW went blazing away and I didn't see him after the airhorn was err urm..horned?
He was on a personal mission to better his 5K timing. I was on a mission to keep anything below a 9 minute/mile pace.

Ok, I get it if people scrunch up their noses when I tell them I'm doing short-middle distances nowadays. Takde challenge la, katanya. Apa barang, katanya. But you know what, it's a different kind of tough.

In a 5K race for example, when you run in your 5K effort and not your usual LSD pace, it gets really hard when you start to sweat like an animal, have labored breathing and your heart feels like it's about to pop out of your chest. It's worse when your legs feel suddenly weak and your stomach is cramping and you look at your watch and it shows that you're not even into half of the distance. But you can't slow down, not significantly, or your pace will go all over the place. You think, "Why the heck did I sign up for a fast race?" and you want to stop at that water station at the 3rd km but you don't want to lose your stride. So you forge on, feeling that you'll just die if this race goes over distance but at the same time you try to calm yourself down saying that this will only last a few minutes rather than a few hours.
Eh ke orang lain tak rasa camni? Ke aku je drama?

Anyway, bila naik incline, rasa cam kaki nak putus. Bila turun rasa lega sket. Tetiba nun di kejauhan nampak cam ada orang buat latihan larian keliling padang. Aku pikir, apa kejadahnya depa ni buat latihan tengah panas-panas cenggini. Rupa-rupanya us runners had to go around an uneven-surfaced football field, siap berbecak lagi. Habisla kasutku.

Then keluar je field, masuk satu jalan ni. Lari punya lari, tetiba on the other side of the road nampak  mamat afrika lari dengan lajunyaa. Ok, so because more blood was flowing to my legs and heart rather than my brain, I actually thought he was in another race.  Then I realized we had to turn back.
Mak ai, mentalnya.

Masa dalam kesemputan memaintain pace la, aku berjaya meng-adopt seorang  pacer. Ke dia yang adopt aku? Ntahla, yang penting kami lari side by side dalam 1 mile lebih jugaknya. Berjaya jugakla taktik pacer angkat ni cuma aku takbleh borak-borak atau tegur dia sebab taim tu bernapas pun dah cam kerbau..kuhkuh.
Cuma dalam  a few metres nak abis race, tetiba ada membe dia dari tepi jalan bertindak sebagai race bunny dan berjaya membuat dia memecut laju di hadapan. Ciss, maka berpisahla aku ngan pacer angkat ku secara rasminya.
Pastu dah la taim tu route bantai kasik incline kaw punya, naik, naik,belok ,naik lagi  pastu eh, eh dah ada finishing line.

Semput la jugak. Tekak kering cam apa ntah. Nak telan air liur pun payah menyebabkan aku buat aksi retching yang memalukan.
Tapiiii..berjaya gak aku berterima kasih kat pacer angkat. Nama pun lupa tanya.

Yaa, kepada mereka-mereka yang malas baca aku membebel dari tadi dan hanya nak tgk taiming, dan dah jenuh scroll down, maka aku hanya menghabiskan konon 6K dalam 29'56".

"Wah, biar betik", kataku.Terbeliak bijik mata jap. Rupa-rupanya underdistanced in which it was only about 3.39 miles atau 5.45 K.
But hey, still able to stick to mission with 8:50 min/mile on an incliney ( as if there is such a word) route despite having an average pace in the first two miles of 8:30 min/mile ( semput le tew)
Wah, JJ dah semakin teknikal nampaknya walaupun takdela sehebat mana.. haha.

WW also berjaya dalam misi. Reached the end of the line in 24'16" and secured the 15th place for Men Open.  Achieved his PB in 5K with 22'10" . Even popped a blister running barefoot at that pace. Adoi.

Ok la, dipersilakan layan gambar.

 Goodie bag cam beg doraemon. Macam-macam dapat. Baloi RM15

  You gotta hand it to these Uniten kids organizing this race. They were polite, extremely helpful and a fun bunch of people.  

His and Hers..eh cam tuala lak.

Wah, nampak tinggi la pulak. 

 Medal guna istilah omputey gitu. My daughter kept insisting I took 5th place. Dapat apa extra? Dapat voucher kasut Newton RM100.

 WW received a smudged medal. But dah dapat, alhamdulillah je la kan?

Sekian, esok keje.