Did she really do that?

Today, I was inspired. And got a wee bit jealous.
A colleague of mine showed me a blog of this girl she knew, who finished her first marathon in 3:16. She was a normal person who self trained everyday. Entered small races and got PBs along the way. I was like in awe. Were she to race locally, she would have bagged the top 5 placing. Unfortunately, she ran her marathon overseas, which means you can only get a podium finish if you score a sub 3.

And I was instantaneously inspired. From feeling lethargic and actually malas tu run, I felt I wanted to run off my fever.

Okay, maybe a sub 4:30 can't be achieved this year ( wei, tinggal berapa hari je lagi da bulan Disember), or next year, or possibly the year after that but someday I will achieve it. And even thought right now, my head is filled with things to do at work, meetings, Chiam starting school, Adik starting pre-school, the in laws coming over, this and that, this and that, this and that, I am not deterred.
I will do this some day.

I really don't mean to sound pretentious. I swear I don't. Don't misjudge this entry. " Eleh" some may think.
Because I truly believe a 4:30 marathon can be achieved by anyone, a normal person like you and me who really, really put their heart to it and with their training.

And with that, with my stuffy nose, and 10% of fever, and phlegm-my  cough, and the clouds casting funny dark shadows, I went for my evening run. Who cares if it's just 3.1 miles.
It's a start.

Macam Robert ( bak kata Dato' Ct)

I hope nobody gets offended but this is effing hilarious.



Okay, stop sulking. Don't give me that.
You know you wanna laugh.

What's Next

Morning, peeps.
Phew, what a crazy weekend.
Guess what?
We moved! For the 2nd time this year !
Yep, had to do it all over again. And you betcha it was tiring. And not to mention emotionally and mentally draining.
Nope, I will not lose my running route. We just moved one house away. Haha.
Our previous landlord announced last month that they wanted to move back in the house so what were we supposed to say, kan? Through the help of our dear neighbors, we were able to seal the deal with the owner of our current house, who initially had no plans to set this house on lease. Thank God.
And although, it is just one house away, we had to hire a whole lot of people to clean and angkut-angkut our stuff. Then we had to rearrange the whole mess back up again to make our new house home. The silver lining to all this is, we can declutter our junk and start anew!
Banyaknya exclamation marks in this entry. !  ! ! !

So as a breather, I went for a celebratory run this morning. My other half couldn't take the day off. He has to work through the week - dental screenings for new recruits. So it'll be a busy week for him. I sent the kids to the nursery and ran. And boy , did it felt goooood. FYI, I haven't been running since last Monday's measly 3 miler on the thrillmill (due to this moving business) and to have my legs fatigued, chest heaving and my face burnt in the sun, was pure satisfaction as weird and ironic as it may sound.

Anyway, as this evening will be the starting of the Muslim New Year, it got me thinking on my future plans. Most of this year was dedicated to my work and running. Next year will all be about family. My eldest will be in standard 1 and the second will enroll in toddler kindergarten. They say this will be the real beginning of the super mommy year. My friend once forewarned me that I'll permanently have this chant echoing in my head ,
" Pick up, drop off, do this, do that"

But, yes, there is a but, I won't forget about running. Next year I will go on a mission to better my middle distance timings. A marathon is fun to be in but my God, looking back, sometimes I loathe the training for it. I don't mind the daily runs but sometimes the 18-20 mile LSDs are too much. The early mornings! Post run head ache( sometimes)! Getting back to the kids at 10 or maybe 11 am! . Getting tanned! Argh

 I will try, repeat , TRY to only enter races with the relatively small numbers such as 10K, 12K, 15K or the most 21K. Because I truly believe, to achieve a better marathon timing, I will have to somehow achieve better  half marathon or middle distance timings. Once I achieve this, my marathon LSD will be done in  a relatively shorter time ; less distress and drama for me, and more time with the kids.

My next run will be Valdor 11K Run in Penang. Valdor..doesn't it sound so grand? Macam one of those characters from Lord of the Rings ( which I slept through half of the movie). Or one of Voltron's nemesis. Anyway, I read from Run.mix.burn that it's a well planned race and most important -post race food!

     

 Adakah ini Encik Valdor?

atau inikah Encik Valdor? 

Now, if only I can hand in the borang before the closing date and train for it. Hmm..

Ok, I'm off to reignite the inner princess in me ( which has been on snooze mode for the longest of time) by catching Rapunzel in 3D. Hey, Ian, did you know that we have a movie theather here in Taiping. No, not the old one yang tayang cite Tamil je next to Taiping Medical Centre. And new modern one.
Gasp!

Zero Week ( Entry basi)

I'm kinda not happy with my running or rather, lack of running lately. Zero week has come and gone swiftly and according to plans, I'm supposed to return to my normal running routine sans the looonggg LSD weekends.
But by the looks of it, I may temporarily return to the thrillmill as it rains here, heavily EVERY evening.
It's all sunny , loodeedoodee doo but then at about 4 ish pm, the sky will suddenly open up and it will not stop pouring till the day's end.
But I guess, I shouldn't complain much. My marathon is over and I'm only running for the heck of it.
Until my next race, that is. Hee.

Here's some pic from my zero week. We went on a tiny cuti-cuti makan-makan. I'd love to set up a foodie's blog like KOG but when it comes to taking pics of the food at an eatery, I always shy-shy cat one.

ayam penyet - sambal pedas gile

st. cinnamon- my favourite

the best goreng pisang in Taiping- seriously

sinful nasi goreng kampung- tapi sangat settap..haha

air amra- kusyukkk dan masyukkk

the best burgers are the local ones ( provided they're Ramli's)- sangat sloppy dan menjilat jari

oh, noww I remember why I'm so anal on running post zero week. 

must.lose.extra.weight.

Oh and, konon sebagai hadiah ( konon) for our marathon. Jeng jeng

his and hers - okay, the purple one's not new, but the stand is.

goreng macam nasik goreng kampung.

Sekian, terima kasih.

pebim doplohseploh, cerita satu lagi

Daha lama gila dah rasanya aku tak menulis. Bukan apa, malas takde masa nak update. Lagi pun rasanya takde apa yang menarik nak cerita.

Hari Ahad aku lari maraton Jembatan Pulau Pinang. Aku rasa persediaan untuk event ni memang agak bersungguh-sunggh jugak la. Gila apa tak bersungguh kalo dah sampai training memalam buta, sebelum subuh, tengah panas, bulan posa, hari raya.. Orang kat tempat aku ni pun agaknya dah boleh cam dah kot aku ngan bini, the looney couple.. heheh..

Target aku untuk PBIM 2010 ada 3. A: sub-4:00, B: sub 4:30, C: sub-5:00. There, aku dah bagitau dah. All my previous race results points that I can achieve sasaran A tu, provided that I did proper training. Dan waktu training pun kebanyakannya, >90%, aku buleh buat ikut pace dan jadual yang telah diset. Yang tak dapat ikut sebab life got in the way atau pun mungkin masa tu hari bodoh aku.

Tapi apa boleh buat, aku cuma mampu merancang, Allah yang menentukan.

Untuk dapat maraton sub-4, strategi aku cuma perlu maintain average 9:05/mile pace all the way, no time-banking, with gels every 6 miles. And that's exactly what I did, up to mile 17, kemudian semua neraka pecah keluar..

Mile 1-7: semuanya berjalan lancar. berjaya kontrol tak start laju sangat, lari ikut pace seniri, tanak lumba ngan sesapa pun, cuma lumba ngan diri seniri je. Macam biasa, sampai je kat tempat volunteer, aku ucap terima kasih.

Mile  8-16: dapat kejar pacer untuk 4:00 kat awal mile 8 tu. kira ok la tu, on target la kununnya. Pastu cadangnya nak maintain je la ngan pacer tu. tapi aku perasan kan, geng pacer 4:00 ni (yang lain aku tak tau), diorang suka surge, pastu slow sebab nak minum, pastu surge balik untuk build time cushion kot, pastu slow lagi. Laju, pelan, laju, pelan. Pacer guys, even pacing laa.. kesian kat orang yang ngikut korang tu. Masa ni moral masih tinggi lagi. Lepas U turn kat tol pun masih steady. Hollered at bini at the other side of the bridge around the 13 mile point. Tengok dia lari pun steady je, kira ok jugak tu. Pastu merge ngan geng 21k, busy la sket. Tambah pulak tengah naik bukit kat tengah jambatan tu, pace terpaksa la dislow kan, tapi aku dah expect dah.. no big deal la. Angin sejuk sudah datang membelai, aku dengan peluh-peluhnya, lagi la tambah sejuk. Rintik hujan pun dah mula terasa. Bajet ujan la kejap lagi.

Mile 17: And then it rained, HARD. Struggled to keep pace. Pastu ada aura nak kejang perut ngan peha. Rasanya buleh shake it off bila turun jambatan nanti. And I was wrong.

Mile 18-26.2: Turun je jambatan masuk highway Jelutong, itu kejang perut sudah mari. tapi takleh lawan aku punya kejang kaki. Frustrating gila! Cemana nak cakap ye? I didn't bank time. Aku tak penat, tak mengah, tak semput. Tapi cuba la sedaya upaya pun, tak buleh jugak nak lari setapak pun tanpa otot peha tu mengancam untuk tarik betis sampai tersimpul buku sila. Maka bermula la death march aku sampai ke habis. Aku jalan kejap untuk ilangkan cramp. Lepas 1-2 minit jalan, aku try lari balik. Tapi setiap kali aku lari, paling jauh pun setengah batu je, mostly lagi pendek dari tu. Itu cramp just wouldn't let go. Pace jangan cerita le. Bila berlari 13 min/mile, bila berjalan 20 min/mile! Air pun dah tak lalu minum, pisang pun tak lalu makan dah. Itu la dia ceritanya sampai ke habis. Lebih banyak masa berjalan dari berlari. Bila lari je cramp tu menyerang dari peha turun ke betis sampai la ke jari kaki. Buleh berjalan-jalan pulak cramp ni ekk?

Masa berjalan ala zombie tu perasan la a few fast guys yang aku perasan selalu buat sub-4 (ada yang sub 3:40) pun berjalan gak. Makna kata bukan aku sorang je la yang kena geget ngan zombie ni.. Sesungguhnya aku memahami perasaan diorang. TENSEN SIOT!

Ingatkan dari bulatan Queensbay tu sampai ke tamat buleh lari, tapi tetap kantoi. Berjalan kejap. Nak habis sub-4:45 jugak. So dari traffic light ke garisan penamat aku belasah struggle lari.. Kalo terpaksa merangkak macam dalam video ironman tu pun gasak la.

Dan aku berjaya habiskan dalam masa 4:40:35 (chip time). Habis je suda ada datang aura mau pitam. Aku terus carik railing barrier nak support badan. Ada sorang budak St John tanya "Encik ok ke?". Aku tak sempat nak jawab terus dia letak aku kat atas kerusi roda pastu sorong aku pegi medical tent.

Sampai kat medical tent aku kejang lagi. Geng medical kat situ baringkan aku kat atas stretcher, tanggalkan kasut pastu letak la ais kat kaki. Sebenarnya aku takleh nak pikir clearly masa tu. Diorang tanya sakit kat mana pun aku kena pikir dulu baru buleh jawab. Ais punya ais, aku pun kata dah ok kot dan mintak nak kuar. Diorang tolong aku berdiri dan aku pun ngan pening lalatnya pegi tunggu bini kat finishing line. Pastu decide nak gi amik medal dulu sebelum aku terpengsan kat situ. At least dah amik medal dah. Kalo pengsan dulu kang, medal abih plak.. hahaha..

Lepas amik medal je baru nampak la bini aku dah beratur kat situ nak amik medal gak. Ok la tu, aku pun dah ada aura nak muntah gak. Berapa banyak aura daa.. Aku pun dah start wheezing dah masa tu. Kitorang duduk kejap. Pastu bila dah buleh bernafas macam biasa dan paksa diri minum milo, pegi tengok khemah makanan. Serius cakap, aku apa benda pun dah tak lalu dah masa tu, nak muntah punya pasal. Kaki pun dok kejang lagi, tapi perut dah tak kejang sangat. Ingat nak balik umah terlentang je.

Sampai je umah, memang terus baring. Dapat gak lelap dalam sejam. Dannn.. aku muntah. 2-3 kali.

Looking back, aku sebenarnya dehydrated gila-gila punya waktu race tu. The signs were all there. Chills, cramps, disorientation, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, super dark urine, among others. Bini aku kata mata aku sunken gila, pastu ada black rings macam panda bila aku bangun tido tu. Dia cuak gila. Taim dinner aku paksa diri makan extra, walaupun tak berapa lalu. Bila aku timbang badan lepas dinner, aku hilang 4 KILO dari berat pre-race! Itu timbang lepas aku dinner tu.. Kalo timbang immediately lepas race mau lagi parah. Hambik, kalo tak gila lagi tu tak tau la. Alhamdulillah tak jadi apa-apa yang lebih teruk.

Lebih kurang macam ni la rupanya. I kill you!

The day after the run (Isnin), other than lenguh kaki macam lepas long run, surprisingly I felt fine. No aches, no problems going up and down the stairs, no nausea, appetite back to normal.

Apa yang aku belajar? Salah aku la beb. Weather and terrain is definitely out of my control. But for the things that are within my jurisdiction, aku rasa ada tiga benda yang menyebabkan aku tidak mencapai A target:

• Dehydration. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb mistake. 
• Tak biasakan diri ngan gels, thus causing GI distress. Masa training aku guna 100+ ngan roti krim jagung je untuk long run.
• Long runs yang too slow for me (negligible factor. ni tak kesah, bini punya pasal. really glad to help her blast her target).

Feel free to learn from my mistakes. Hope you guys achieve whatever your goals are. Nothing substitutes real, consistent training. But watch out for injuries.

Hiatus perhaps?

-wan won-

PBIM 2010- Blood, Tears and Joy ( macam bagus je)

Hi kids..
My legs hurt and I think I'll develop a couple of black toes but otherwise I'm super.
I had a great morning running in Penang and I love almost every moment of it.
I have to get this written down ASAP because I'll be a wee bit busy this week and the longer I put it off, I might end up not writing this at all..heh heh.

Macam biasa le ekk? Point form is fine kan?

Pre Race

• We spent most of the time trying to get some sleep in the car. I got 1 hour. Hub got none.
• Went to the starting line at about 15 minutes before gun off. Chatted a bit with Ijam. Couldn't locate KakJune and the gang,
• Starting was quite slow as there is an increase of full marathon participants ( >1000) this year. Had to pujuk myself not to weave in and out to conserve energy. Cheyy. 

 Totally misjudged the bib. I thought it would be lunyai at the end of the whole 42K but it survived even the heavy downpour

 Mile 1-10

• I always have problems with stiffness of my left leg in the beginning of runs. This went on for like 4 miles and almost felt painful but luckily it went away.
• Saw Pui San and said hi. She was running with Mo Maniac and some other friend I don't know.
• When we got on the bridge, I was hoping it would be windy like last year but it was freaking hot, man. And it was worser on the first incline. That stretch seem to go on forever. Got my first gel out, my first experience with the apple flavoured kind. Tasted like medicine-yuck. Telan je la.
• At the middle of the bridge we went downhill. At first I soared down, but after a bit my legs got tired and I couldn't wait for the route to get flat again.
• To get me through to the first end of the bridge, I paced with this crazy guy wearing a baju melayu. Didn't get to catch his face though as he was in front of me all along. But we managed to exchange some remarks. He commented my red shoes and I commented his attire. Funny guy even farted and hooted about it. But I lost him at the turn around. 

Mile 11-15

• While running back on the bridge after the toll area, I saw a distance marker stating that it was already 20.3 K and I glanced at my watch and saw my timing was 2:03. Aik, biar betul. Laju la pulak. Just as I was about to go to perasan mode, I noticed Lillac showed that it was only just 11 something miles which is about  only 18 K.. Cis, penipu punya marker.
• I commented to a Sabahan girl that it's unusually hot that morning and that it's supposed to be cool and windy on the bridge. Me and my big fat mouth. Right after the 13th mile, it started to rain- HARD. It pelted heavily on my face and I was like, " Ouch, ouch, ouch" but shut up when people around me looked weirdly at me. 
• Only after a few seconds, I was drenched inside out. My whole attire felt heavy, my shoes were like blocks and I couldn't see a thing in front of me. Plus the wind was blowing hard against us runners. And the fact that at exactly that time, the FM route merged with the HM route didn't help either. 
• I trudged ahead with poor vision, but then suddenly I saw pacer balloon floating in front of me so I followed the balloon to get through the crowd. But that wasn't long because it was a 4.5 pacer baloon. Tak larat aku nak ikut all the way.

Mile 16-20 

• Turun je jambatan, I naively thought that the worse was over. I hastened my pace because seriously I thought the turning point would be at Tesco. Boy was I wrong.
• I've written down some posts ago that PBIM is a flat route kan? Well, I take that back. We had to go through 3 flyovers before the turning point tau. And we had to go over the same flyovers on our way back.With fatigued legs!.
• Saw hub as he was running the opposite direction. " Jauh lagi ke turning point?" I shouted from across the road. " Jauuuhhhh lagi". I thought he was kidding. Argh.
• Saw Kak June from across the street and managed to croak a hi. I planned to singgah at her kedai runcit on the way back but mysteriously, on the way back, I couldn't see her or her car. Pelik kan? And she SMSed me afterwards and told me she was there all along and missed me on my turning point jugak. Aik?

 Mile 20-26.2 

• On the turning point, I pujuk-ed myself, " Okay, only 6 miles to go ". It's so easy thinking in miles cause 6 miles seems so much less intimidating than saying " 10 K to go".
• I ran almost all the way from here with this boy from Ipoh. He told his friends I was his motivator. I kept him as a pacer. But it was nice to have someone to talk to , to get the miles go by.
• Sedor tak sedor, we only got 4 miles to go. I told Ipoh Boy, " Ok, 4 je lagi", kunun I was encouraging him la padehal tengah psaiko diri. At this time, I had to practically pujuk myself not to walk.
• Wei, the last 3 miles seem to go on forever. Tambah bila bertembung the 10K runners. Some were inconsiderate enough to go into our lane and made  us stop abruptly a few times to avoid a crash. Hey, I was tired, I got crancky, so I shouted " Tepi la!" at a few boys. Heh heh.
•  Ipoh Boy made a sudden surge at the last 1 K. Siot je. Haha. Tetiba je ada power to give a final kick.
• Last 1 K was pure torture, I was like " Where the hell is the finishing line?!". My tudung all kelepet from the rain, my attire drenched and I didn't care to smile or pose to any photographers because I know I look like a nightmare. 
• Finally crossed the finishing line at 4:51:52. Ni ikut Lillac la. Alhamdulillah.

Post-Race

• Spotted hub at the medal tent. Told me he had severe stomach and leg cramps and had to alternate walking and running right after the 18th mile. But against all odds, he was still able to complete his marathon in 4:40. So proud of him. He'll tell his side of the story afterwards in this blog. Tengok tahap kerajinan, katanya.
• I learned something new today. I never knew that rib muscles could get cramps. I coughed out loud to clear my chest and suddenly I felt cramps in my ribs and the pain was excruciating. 
• We lepaked and ate the post run meal in the car as it was still raining and our feet were still wobbly.
• Met Shahnaz. Cute gal. She's what I'll call a pocket rocket woman, so small but so fast.  
• Mom called to inform that the kids are having a tantrum so we had to head back early so tak sempat jugak meet the rest of RBUs and FMV. Next time , Gadget, next time. 

 The parking lot sudah macam bendang daa

 The jam to the ferry terminal.

 The medal. I wish it had a nicer color.

The finisher's tee. Kuning pun kuning la.

Damage done.

If you think this looks bad, try smelling it.

So all in all, PBIM 2010 was still a great race despite the weather. I had loads of fun but if you ask me, I don't feel like doing another marathon in a long time.Or is that the muscle soreness talking?
I'd like to thank hub/coach who endlessly encouraged me to train even on days I felt too tired for any letihan and to my parents for willingly taking care of the kids on my LSD days even though they don't get our craze for long distance running.

Congrats Ijam ,Yim  and others ( sape-sape saje la) for their sub 5 or any other personal achievements and thanks Zaki for cheering me on ( 2 times!) and bringing up my spirits while I was feeling a bit crummy at the time. You had no idea kan?
You guys exude awesomeness!

Sekianlah.

dag dig dug

Okay, on Monday I said I was less jittery.
Well, I'd like to take that back.
I'm a nervous wreck and it's getting worser in increments.
Like yesterday morning when I was dropping off the kids to school, suddenly I felt my heart fluttering. And I wondered, " Kenapa ye? kenapa ye?"
Then, I remembered the marathon. Then the flutters became palpitations and I had the sudden urge to go to the toilet ( okay, too much information).
I'm scared. But at the same time I'm excited.
Eh. macam nak kawin pulak.
Heh heh.

Good luck runners of PBIM. Let's all torture ourselves and wonder what we were thinking when we signed up together.
See you then.