Happy 15K Trial Run

PACM organised a trial run this morning on the actual route of their upcoming 15K race in 2 weeks time. It is to enable the participants, especially the public to familiarize themselves with the hilly course and its environment.

Reached Bukit Aman car park at 6.00am and found a limited empty lot to park. After a short briefing by the PACM ex-President, Mr Wan and a group stretching session led by KK Onn, the 100-odd runners from all walks of life were flagged off at 6.30am sharp.

I had an easy start. From behind, I could view the crowd of runners bouncing off the road of about 70-80 metres long was simply spectacular! It's kind of the King of The Road feeling.

After running for 5 minutes, I finally saw Wai Mun who was surprisingly fast at this early stage. My beloved wife cheered me on. Well, I just couldn't let her down, could I? I increased my tempo a little and caught up with Adam. Then came the first hill at the Bank Negara and I paced with Kenny Tan. Kenny had just came back from Acheh doing some volunteering job in this Tsunami worstly-hit town.

Then came the second hill - a long, steadily incline and winding road. Conduct a breathing and leg cycle check. Superb! I think my hill work-out has bore fruit. This time, I caught up with Chee Chung and Lisa. I cruised awhile together with them.

It's show time! We reached the steepest hill or better known as Double Hill. Again, I attacked the hills and surprisingly, I felt good and strong. I quickly grabbed hold a bottle of water at the water station near the Bukit Tunku roundabout. Then, it was down hill all the way till the main road of Wisma Tani.

I still felt good, probably due to the cool and wet weather. On the flat road, I tried out my striding and it was perfect! I maintained the same stride until I reached another hill which we usually call The Monkey Hill. Amazingly, there were no monkeys this morning. Maybe they were still soundly asleep. "What a cool morning, you silly runners!" if they could reply me.

Upon reaching the Monument, I made a right turn heading towards the Seri Carcosa hill. As the pavement was quite slippery, I ran at the brink of the road. My alertness was at all time high as I reminded myself what happened to Jenny.

Feeling pretty relaxed and strong, I surged up the Seri Carcosa hill. At the end of the hill, I made a left turn into the Lake Garden. Saw Jason Tiang and his Jr jogging. Jason told me I was the number seventh runner. I gave him a smile. Inside my heart I knew it wouldn't be that easy on the race day. Thank you, Jason for your encouragement.

Finally, I made a right turn into the last hill - the Deer Park hill. I was so focus that I had no time to look at any of the deers. Turned left at the gate and headed straight to the car park.

My time was 1:13:38 and I am looking forward to dip below last year's time of 1:10 on May 22!