World Tourism Day Run 2004

This was a low profile run - there was hardly any publicity in the newspapers. You could always tell a low profile run from a high profile by the warm up session. There were no high powered aerobics team from Team Reebok or Nike. There were no girls wearing shirts to ogle at , sad to say. Instead there was ONE lonely fat guy wearing a white T-shirt and blue track-bottom pants. I guess he must be from the tourism ministry. Do some work -out ministry guys - lose them bulging stomaches!

I woke up at 5.30 am and considered not going to the run, just continue to sleep. But willpower prevailed and after finishing the essential activities, started from Klang at 6.00 am. Parked at the G.P.O - it was still dark at 6.30 am. Decided to sit in the car and hope I did not fall alsleep.

By 6.45 am , it was getting lighter. Time to make the move to Dataran Merdeka. Walked with a group of 15 boisterous students from Sek. Men Jinjang Utara. Upon reaching D.M. noticed the kandang (barriers) were prep and ready to hold us "cows wearing T-shirts and shoes".

Started to look for familiar faces. There were some runners from Klang (David) and Ronnie of course. Most of the regular runners were not in the race. But I did see Yufang - the top Malaysian walker and runner. She has very nice and shapely legs unlike the flabbly legs I often see at the Klang Stadium. The rest of her was in good shape too.

The fat ministry guy started the warm-up session at 7.00 am. I did'nt participate; the exercises seemed to be especially boring - YAWN. A group of 100 or so police recruits robotically mimicked his movements. Why can't the organisers find someone who is familiar with aerobic exercises ? Instead we get a boring warm-up exercise which is typically served to VIPs , datuks and Tan Sris during "Rakyat" exercises shown on TV.

Thanks goodness the race started on time at 7.30 am. Everyone seems to running at breakneck speed. By the round about , I was pretty much running at the back. I knew better than to speed up too fast on this route , the hills will come soon and defeat the foolish runner. I ran this route during the Olympic Run and finished badly - 45 minutes and had to run-walk several times.

The hilly sections soon came and I maintained a constant pace. There will be no run-walk for me this time and no problems running the uphill sections. After 41 min. 30 seconds, I crossed the finish line. Got a cert for the effort but missed out the medal for the first 50 runners.

At the drink station, I met John. He finished in 37th position with a time of 34 minutes. I figured, the 50th runner (cat C) would have to run in about 37 minutes. **##^ - its tough to get medals for races in KL. Also met other runners from Klang; David finished in 51st position - too bad, missed a medal by one. Took some photos with Ronnie and drank some more 100Plus.

Signed up for the Siemens 10k run on 28 Nov. 2004. Went home.

Race highlights:-

1. Finally met the elusive Chin Tuck Meng (A0078).
2. Seeing and ogling Yufang.
3. David is faster than me ever since Ipoh run, he has improve a lot. He is following my training tips.
   If only the teacher could follow his own advice :-(

Race lowlights:-

1. The warm-up session - boring and uninspiring.
2. No MILO served - this is an unforgivable omission for a race .
3. The cool music band - proving old dudes can still rock.

My next race is the Bidor Run (14 km) om 3rd October 2004. Have a booked a Hotel in Tapah as the hotels in Bidor are fully booked.