Run: SJMC Run [10km], 13 Nov 2016

214km
Challenge Series 2:  20km of 125km

Right in my backyard! I've always been wanting to give this a try, since it's right here in my neighborhood. But then happen and instead I kept visiting SJMC for other reasons and yada yada yada..

So finally this year signed up and ran the SJMC run. Last year it was up to 7km only, this year they expanded the route to 10km, alongside a 3km fun run event.

Race summary:

Pros

• Excellent management. Overall everything was carried out superbly. Great support from organisers and staff of SJMC.

• Location. It's nice running along familiar roads, and knowing how far to estimate distance since we know the roads like the back of our hands.

• Route and water. It was challenging with a lot of short uphills. Route was well managed with well-stockde water stations.

• Goody bag. Wow. Actual things in goody bag was something from runs of yesteryears, there were no runs this year that had a bag that deserved to labelled 'goody'. This one was packed with sponsor items and vouchers. There was a gardenia sandwich voucher to redeem after run, from the gardenia truck stationed. Sandwich was YUMMY. 

Cons

• No km markers at all. And this is the only con!

125km Challenge Virtual Run Series 1 - Completed!

194km
Challenge Series 1:  126km of 125km

Hurrah! Finally completed the first leg of the 125km Challenge Virtual Run Series.

Took me longer than planned, but yeay I did it. Gives me more confidence to further pile on the mileage and complete the other 3 legs of the series (and get my marathon training done too). For the next challenge I hope to log longer runs and finish the challenge in a faster time.

Challenge Kilometers

181km
Challenge Series 1:  113km of 125km

Just 12km more to go! I had targetted to finish earlier, before the Deepavali holidays but alas laziness and excuses were creeping in. After the HSN21 in early October, my running mileage has been a little slow building up. Then came the festive season and holiday in Langkawi so just more excuses.

Not anymore! I'm back to putting in more kilometers. Reminder to self : Twincity Marathon (and my first attempt at a full marathon) is just 65 days away. Time to seriously pile up the mileage. And panic.


Challenge 1 running log, so far

Sep 20: 5km
Sep 22: 7km
Sep 24: 10km
Sep 26: 4km
Sep 28: 7km
Sep 29: 3.5km
Sep Total: 36.5km

Oct 1: 7.5km
Oct 3: 10km
Oct 5: 5km
Oct 8: 21.5km
oct 17: 5km
Oct 23: 11km
Oct Total: 60km

Nov 2: 3.5km
Nov 5: 8km

Run: Jom Lari Run [11.5km], 23 Oct 2016

168km
Challenge Series 1:  100km of 125km

In five years of running, this is the very first time I signed up for a race just for the medal design. The cute pokeball medals keep reappearing in my facebook feed until I finally caved in. So cute!

Also the 15km would add on nicely to my 125km virtual run challenge. Usually we avoid smaller runs (from experince!) and those that are not near enough to be convenient. But the medal! So cute! And so I signed up..

Ughh. Should have heeded past experience - no small runs!

Race summary:


Pros

• Medal. The real thing it turned out as great looking as promo pictures. 
• Event photographers that actually uploaded their photos somewhere we could see.

Cons

• The race was cut to 11km 'due to safety reasons'. Bad!! We specifically drove out all the way to Setia Alam for a 15km run (and I really need those mileage for my virtual challenge). We would not have signed up for an 11km run, because this is what we normally run in our weekend training, in a nearer, better place.
• Terrible running route. We ran past construction areas and what looks like a sand quarry/factory. There was a 2km stretch of DUST ROAD. So we're running and kicking up dust, while choking on the dust of runners in front of us. It was horrible, we could not breathe well in this stretch. And it gave us irritated nose and throats for the next couple of days. 
• Hardly any water stations. I carry a water belt for this reason but my running partner suffered through the insufficient water stations. 
• And no water at finish line! What!! Exhausted runners coming in looking for water, only to be told there's none. There was no water to buy either. Pity the small kids who turned out for the fun run.
• Incorrect markers. Since the course distance was changed I had no idea how far actual finish line was. My gps watch was showing 750m short of km markers, and the race was supposed to be 11km (but turned out to be 11.5km). Which means at the 10km marker (9.25km on my watch) I guessed - wrongly - that there was 1km to go and did not take a chew blok. Which I should have, since it was 2km to the finish line and I would have been able to finish better, instead of walking, feeling pissed off and worn out the final km. 
• Toilets. Only rely on existing ones in MBSA building, of which only 2 is not clogged and usable.

Overall it was a sucky experience.  Please remind me this when I get the itch to register for a small run in the future! 

Thanks to my running partner for joining me in this not great run.