I signed up for the Klang Pacer Club 19th Aniversary Run (7 km) five weeks ago and have been worried about it ever since. The reason? I have to run it during the fasting month. I had justifiable reasons to be anxious. My training during the fasting month has been pathetic; basically 2 km twice a week. On 7 November 2004 I had to run 7 km.
I am glad to say my worries turned out to misplaced. I started Sunday morning with a bun and mini chocolates (Snickers and Mars mini bar) . I decided to skip fasting for the day. Drove to Klang stadium reaching it at 7.00 am and noticed the club members were already warming up. The run started at 7.15 am with about 50 runners. Most were Chinese, there were six Indians and the sole Malay rep. - me.
The route started with an uphill run along the Sultan's palace. I ran behind three female runners for "motivation" purpose. After a while the pace was just too slow, so I overtook them. The next section was on the main road - nothing much here; I paced along with two other guys. At the various junctions, there were Klang Pacer members showing the correct turns.
The next section was on the roads in Taman Sri Andalas. I dropped off the two other guys who I was pacing with and latch on to another guy. I paced with him for about 2 km until we hit the final 1 km. The final 1 km was mainly an uphill run to a hill overlooking the Sultan's palace.
At 8.00 am, I reached the finishing line on top of the hill. Got the finisher medal and went for a drink. Food was plentiful for the runners - nasi lemak, mee goreng, sandwiches, fruits, jelly etc.
This run gave me confidence for the 21 km race in Singapore. Despite little training over the past 3 weeks, I was still in reasonably good shape. I completed the 7 km run in 44 minutes. This was equivalent to 63 min. for 10 km which I was sure I could do better as I only put in 80% effort for the anniversary run.
After Hari Raya, its 3 weeks of intensive training for the Singapore 21 km race.
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