Sunday - Long Run at Bukit Aman

On Saturday, I SMSed Jamie and told him I would be joining him on Sunday morning at 5.00 am for a 23 km run. But later Yong asked me to join for a 20 km run at 6.00 am. I decided to cancel my e run with Jamie and the other runners and instead would be running with Yong. Yong and I had talked about running together on Sunday. This run at Bkt Aman would only be the 2nd time I''ve run this route.

On Sunday morning I left Klang at 5.05 am. Near Dataran Merdeka, I had to make a detour because it was closed for the Hong Leong charity run. As I drove past past the court, I noticed a 7 Eleven store. I stopped by to buy a Snickers bar.

I reached Bukit Aman car park at 5.40 am. There were already ten cars parked in the area. The 5.00 am runners had gone. Over the next 20 minutes, more runners turned up for their morning long run. I waited in the car finishing off the Snickers bar and 500 ml water. Yong showed up just before 6.00 am.

At 6.05 am, we started our run. A few other runners behind us overtook us up the Bukit Tunku road. I thought they were running too fast for long run. Just 50 m in front, a girl wearing a white vest was running steadily. Yong and I mainained our distance behind this girl. This early part of the route was quite dark and I hoped our presence would give a sense of security for this girl. I must say it is quite risky for women to run alone in this area.

We soon came to the Jln Duta. A dangerous section to run on a narrow run with traffic behind us. We speeded up the pace here to minimise the time spent on this road. We had to go past the road barrier and got a bit lost. Fortunately, Yong asked the girl the way to Sri Hartamas and we followed her. As we got through the barrier, we saw Jamie who shouted there was a gap at the barriers. With him were several others who I did not recognised in the darkness.

The next section was the a series a inclined roads leading to Sro Hartamas. Yong and I maintained a steady pace uphill, occasionally one of us lead while the other followed. We came across Tey and Jason.

Sunrise was appearing as we running towards the Sri Hartamas shopping centre. I was breathing quite hard running up these hills. The areas certainly looked different in the light of day. The last time I was here it was pitch black. The area looked quite swanky and I now understand why when anyone says he/she lives at Sri Hartamas, the thinking that he/she is somewhat loaded.

Eventually, we reached the Petronas petrol station. Ichecked my watch - we had run 62 minutes. At the station, I bought a 500 ml Gatorade while Yong had a 350 ml Gatorade. We lingered for a 2-3 minutes outside the petrol station. I could see runners running along the road.

We started to run again at a slow pace and chatted about the upcoming races. The route back was considerably easier. Again we saw Jason and Yong asked him on how far he was going. Three fingers went up - 30 km.

After some time, a older runner joined us . 62 years and still kicking. Hopefully I wil still be as vigorous when I reach that age. We ran together while exhanging our running experiences. Past the Bukit Tungku and the bomba station, we ran smack into a massive crowd. The Hong Leong runners completely filled up both lanes of the road. We tried to keep runnnig but there a high risk of collision and eventually we had to walk. Our companion seemed to be well known as greetings were exhanged between him and runners in the crowd.

After some time, we managed to escape the crowd and reached Jln Parlimen. I ran uphill at a hard pace and stopped a the traffic light. We walked back to Bukit Amam car park.

At the car park, I came across Li Sar, John and his wife. There were many others whom I did not recognise. After thanking Yong for his company, I left at 9.00 am.

This is my 2nd run on this particular route. What was suprising is how I was able to tolerate drinking relatively little water - only had 500 ml.

This route (double hill) is an excellent place to build up strength. I think I have to find a similar route in Klang and Shah Alam.

PS : I also ran another 6 km this evening in Klang with Kong.

This week's mileage was quite high - 61 km. I haven't run this kind of mileage in two years.