Friday, April 29, 2005

More Write-Up About Jenny's Accident

Runner badly hurt in hit-and-run

BY AUDREY EDWARDS of The Star, 28 April 2005

PETALING JAYA: She is among the top marathon runners in her senior-veteran category and has taken part in many marathons.

But now Jenny Lim Kui Eng lies in a hospital bed with broken pelvic bones after she was hit by a car early Thursday morning as she was training for a 15km run next month.

The 47-year-old was found unconscious on the road by a driver, who took her to the hospital.

“I am trying to be strong and to keep my spirit going. I have not cried yet because I just cannot accept what has happened.

“I cannot believe it. But what is done is done, as long as I have my life back. If I cannot run again, then I will walk.

“I will train my children and give what I have learnt to them,” she said yesterday from her hospital bed at the University Malaya Medical Centre.

Her other injuries include concussion, leg injury and bruises on her face.

Lim said she was still unable to take solid food because the right side of her face was still numb.

Her left leg is in traction and she has yet to undergo surgery, as doctors are fearful that she might be suffering from internal bleeding.

Lim had taken advantage of the public holiday last Thursday to go for a “long run” from her home in Section 17 here to the Hartamas area. She had started her run at about 6am.

“I needed the mileage because I was in training. I did not even know that I was knocked down. I just got up in the hospital and found them pushing me into the emergency room.

“I have always been very careful. And my t-shirt and shoes were white. I hope some eyewitnesses will come forward. If the person who did this has a heart, he should come forward, too,” she said.

It is believed that the accident occurred after the flyover at Phileo Damansara on the road leading to Hartamas.

Her 47-year-old triathlete husband, Lee Woon Khow, is upset.

“Why does it have to happen to good people? I have trouble sleeping because I keep getting up thinking about her. I cannot believe this has happened,” he said.

Stanley Ngooi, Lim’s colleague and fellow marathon runner, said the Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia was raising funds for Lim, as she did not have any medical coverage or insurance.

“We at the office are also trying to piece things together and find out what happened. We want to give her moral support,” he added.

Eyewitnesses can call the nearest police station or Lim’s office at 03-7880 7312 (Sheena / Stanley). Those who want to donate to Lim’s expenses can call Pacesetters president Munning Jamaluddin at 019-274 7433.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Saved By Lightning

Coach Chan wanted us to run 5km. So we did and my time was 21'53" or an average of 4'23" per km. At the end of the 5km, I was quite tired and wondering if I could push further in the next routine of 400m x 4 with 2'20" interval. We managed to run 1 lap and then the lightning struck! Coach has to call off the training immediately. Thanks god I was saved!

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

24-Hour Walk Is Back!

The 3rd Malaysia International 24-Hour Walk will be held on September 18 and 19 at the Outdoor Theme Park, Genting Highlands. There will be 3 categories - i) Men Open ii) Women Open & iii) Team event.

The team event which is new, comprises of 2 men and 2 ladies. The 4 competitors will take turn to race with the SAME chip.

The registration fee is RM60 (if register before Aug 1), RM80 (before Aug 18) and RM120 (before Sep 12). Refundable deposit of RM50 for the chip is to be paid together with the registration fee.

Top 20 in the Men and Women Open will receive cash prize from RM200 to RM6000 (T&C apply) and Top 5 teams will receive RM600 to RM3000. Medal will be given to participants who cover more than 50km for Men and 35km for Women. Participants who cover more than 162.5km will be awarded as an "Malaysia Centurian Club".

Go for it and you'll be surprised to see so much limit your body can take you to! Contact cbkhoo@hotmail.com for the entry form.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Be Alert While Running

Yesterday afternoon, while resting from the morning's jog at Lake Garden, we received a shocking call from Lee Siew Kheng saying that our top marathoner, Jenny Lim was knocked down while running and was being hospitalised. Details of the accident can be found at http://carboman.blogspot.com.

In the same afternoon, we visited her and to our relief, she was alert and spiritually strong enough to face the ill-fated incident. She was so eager to start running again! According to her doctor, her pelvis is still breeding. As such, she might need more blood. We urge whoever who wish to donate blood, to do so at the University Hospital for her replacement. Any blood type is acceptable.

Jenny is going to be bed-ridden for sometime and requires the adult diapers to do her business. As an active person, this is going to be quite depressing for her. Let's pray that she is strong enough to go through this difficult period. Also, wish her a quick recovery and hope to see her back into running again very soon.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Corpse or Cops Run?

This month we had few hilarious running races happening in Klang Valley - the Goat Run, the Cops Run and even the Corpse Run!

Yesterday, Wai Mun and I took part in the Corpse Run or officially known as Jogathon Warisan 2005. The starting and finishing was at the famous Thean Hou Temple - the place where we did our marriage registration. That explained why we chose to run in the race instead of the more-glamorous Larian Mesra (Cops Run) which was also held on the same morning.

My initial target was to be among the Top 20 runners and qualify for a trophy. However, after seeing so many good runners, including the ever-fast Indians, I knew it would be much tougher than the original plan!

Therefore, I started faster-than-normal upon flag-off. It was then followed by a steep downslope, a right turn and a Double Hill-like incline. At this point, I was still pacing with the Indian girl who won the Women Category. Upon entering the grave yard area, the pace took its toll on me and I have to slow down a little. I managed to catch a glimpse on Chen, one of the Pacemakers, some 30 metres in front of me. Thereafter, he could no longer be seen. The Indian girl also left me.

There were so many ups and downs, left turns and right turns! As it was only a poorly-maintained single-lane tarmac road, occasionally we have to slow down to avoid the on-coming cars and road-side praying ceremonies! In one part of the race, we were required to do a cross country, off road run by zig-zagging around the graves! Poor "people"!

Another unique part of the race was we were needed to collect 5 different-colour of rubber bands at five check points. As we know, runners will usually grab and go. No time wasted. How would the organiser expect us to grab a tiny rubber bend at a split second! Personally, I almost missed taking one.

Back to the race. With almost two kilometres to go, I finally found my rhythm. What a slow starter I was! I increased my pace at a downhill and caught up with an Indian guy in my category. I just aimed at him as it was not a good time to overtake him on a very very steep slope, kind of running at the hockey stadium slope.

After the slope, I ran my heart out and overtook the Indian guy to the finishing. I was ranked 17th and my time was 39'31.92" for the 9km course. Average speed was 4'24" per km. Wai Mun came back with a 5th position with a time of 45'19.68".

However, my day was ruined when the official result came out. Apparently there were four participants who were faster but did not collect all the 5 rubber bends. They were re-instated from the earlier DQ after their complaints. So, officially I was ranked 21st, just one rank below the Top 20 and I have to go home empty-handed!

Disappointed but life goes on!

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Recovery Run? Hard Run?

Today's weather was excellent - cool and wet, thanks to the heavy downpour just one or two hours ago.

Reached KLCC Park at 6.30pm. Our regular gang, ie Justin, Dr Jamie, Rohaizad, Yong, Li Sar and Kenneth were seen running laps after laps. Then, the speed demon, Ronnie appeared with his wife. After a light stretching and a short pit-stop, Ronnie and I started our journey - a supposedly easy 8-lap recovery run!

We started off very comfortably with a time of 7 minutes for the first lap. The second lap was still alright with 6'41". Then, from the third lap onwards, the pace was getting faster and faster and the stride became bigger and bigger. However, we were feeling good and not tired at all. At the start of the final lap, Ronnie made the first move to accelerate. I followed closely behind him. I told myself to stick to this speed master as it's not everyday you could follow so close to him with his kind of pace. Just do it even if I have to black out in the middle of the run. Hard as we run, I could feel the pain in my heel at the third quarter of the lap. We ended the final lap with an amazing time of 5'22"! Bravo and thank you to Ronnie.

Here's the lap time and split:

1) 6'59.86 >> 6'59.86
2) 13'40.43 >> 6'40.57
3) 20'02.50 >> 6'22.07
4) 26'14.58 >> 6'12.08
5) 32'19.11 >> 6'04.53
6) 38'19.56 >> 6'00.45
7) 44'10.91 >> 5'51.35
8) 49'32.66 >> 5'21.75

Total mileage = 10.4 km
Average speed per km = 4'46"
Average speed per lap = 6'12"

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Astonishing Ten

Started at 5.35pm. As time went on, it was getting hotter and hotter. Sun light got through in between the cloud and "landed" on my face. Excellent! I should be getting a good tan as the grand prize.

As usual, we runners always invite the attention of the onlookers of either the locals, tourists or even the sweeper of the Park. Not sure what's in their mind - admiration, jealousy or amusement of the thing we do!

Just stay focus on the task on legs although the mouth was crying for water. In slightly more than an hour, the mission was accomplished - I've completed 10 laps of KLCC Park in the seasonal best time of 1:02:55!

Here's the lap record and split time:

1) 6'57.40 >> 6'57.40
2) 13'16.81 >> 6'19.41
3) 19'35.82 >> 6'19.01
4) 25'51.55 >> 6'15.73
5) 32'06.82 >> 6'15.27
6) 38'17.53 >> 6'10.71
7) 44'29.94 >> 6'12.41
8) 50'44.67 >> 6'14.73
9) 56'57.99 >> 6'13.32
10) 1:02:55 >> 5'57.13

Total distance = 13km
Average speed = 4'50" per km
Average lap time = 6'18"

Friday, April 08, 2005

Stalker !!!

Have you been stalked before? I hope it'll never happen to you.

Remember the Brazilian marathon runner who was leading at the Athens' Olympic Games before he was pushed to the roadside and cost him the Gold medal? Ever heard of some celebrities who have been stalked and their privacy being intruded? Yes, that's called stalking and unbelievably, it happened to me this evening!

As usual, I drove to Lake Permaisuri and parked my car near the Cheras Football Stadium. Immediately, I noticed a skinny and lanky Chinese man in his 50s, wearing white singlet and dark short and carrying one old and torn black umbrella (it was drizzling at that time), was walking towards my car. Then, he stopped and stood in the middle of the road while waiting for me to get down from my car. I stared at him from inside my car. He looked at me and then walked to the back of the car, pretending he was stretching his ankle. As I refused to get down, he walked away and then turned back and waited there.

Worrying that the guy may harm me or steal my car and whatever in my car, I decided to park somewhere else. This time, I parked at the entrance of the Stadium. As I got down from my car and changed to my running shoe, I noticed this same guy driving slowly in his old, white Proton Saga and then parked some 10 metres away. He just sat inside his car. This time around, I was very annoyed and felt like confronting him. Then I would have wasted more time (wasted 10 minutes already!) and could not log in more running mileage. In the end, I just drove away and changed my training venue to Lake Garden at Bukit Aman!

At my last glance, this guy got down from his car and continued with his pretentious and suspicious acts. What a scary and annoying experience!

Monday, April 04, 2005

An Easy Bonding Run

It has been a long time since I last ran side-by-side with Wai Mun. As there were not many lady runners this morning, I decided to keep her company and run at her pace.

We started off with the company of KC Leong (a.k.a. Penguin 1), his friend, Sam and Agnes Tee (the PACM's Sportwoman of the Year 2004). We chatted about running races. One of the interesting upcoming races is the UPM Run which gives away a goat as the 1st prize! Strange but it's true.

We parted at the foot of Double Hill. Four of them ran ahead towards Hartamas route while Wai Mun and I turned left to the Double Hill. We completed this morning exercise after another loop at the Carcosa Hill with a time of 1:30:35. Slow and easy.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

5 Laps at KLCC

Another day of nice weather but, hey! where is everyone? Expect to see Ronnie, Justin, Kenneth, Dr Carbo, Yong running at KLCC Park by this hour.

Initial plan was to run 10 laps for one-hour then pick my wife up from work. However, due to the traffic congestion inside the KLCC car park, whereby a good 10-20 minutes were gone, I could only have the luxury of 40 minutes to exercise.

After a quick light stretching, here come the record-breaker! It's me against TIME on the track of KLCC Park. We had a tough encounter and at the end of 5th lap, both were tired but satisfied! I clocked a SB time but still a long way from my PB of around 28 minutes.

Here's the breakdown:
1) 6'15.88 >> 6'15.88
2) 12'25.55 >> 6'09.67
3) 18'35.45 >> 6'09.90
4) 24'51.09 >> 6'15.64
5) 30'54.85 >> 6'03.76

Way to go, mate!

Friday, April 01, 2005

My prayer is answered! Thank you, GOD.

At 5pm, it was a bit cloudy and not very hot. And, most importantly, it wasn't raining! Yuppie x2....do!

By 5.40pm, I've already reached Lake Garden. After a short stretching, off i went. I managed to cover 3 rounds of the hilly Carcosa for a total distance of 12km.

Here's my timing & split:
1) 19'07.73 >> 19'07.73 (felt comfortable)
2) 37'36.70 >> 18'28.97 (struggle a bit)
3) 56'17.05 >> 18'40.35 (out of energy)

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I have not been running since Nilai 3 HM. How ah? Mileage zero but weight adds 2 kilo! Can not play, so can only pray, pray, pray....

"Rain, rain, Go away,
Come again on my rest days,
Little Johnny wants to run & play."