Putraja Night Run (PNR) 2010

Believe it or not, I entered myself into another run. This time it’s a 7.7km tread (2.3 clicks shorter than the first event I participated in: the 2009 Standard Chartered KL Marathon).

The original plan was a bunch of us were supposed to be taking part, but somehow ‘registration issues’ caused everyone else to cancel so I was left to run alone… at night… in Putrajaya. Thanks guys.

I got some comments about entering the 7.7km which is sort of a downgrade to the 10km I ran previously. But this is because of the simple fact that there wasn’t a 10km category in this event, and I don’t think I’m ready to do a half marathon just yet. (21 kms… are you mad?)

So yeah, there I was on a Saturday night, quite nervous as I didn’t know anyone there and I was about to run 7.7kms at night in a city that I’m not too familiar with. Plus with the little training I had before the event, I was also worried about being able to finish the job!

But all my worries were washed away as soon as I arrived to Putrajaya. This city is truly beautiful. It kinda reminded me of D.C. But as soon as night fell, the city turned even more majestic and spectacular than any other city I have ever seen! (Sorry didn’t carry a camera thus no photos only file pics – go see it for yourself!). I was excited to see the rest of it up close… and that pretty much alleviated most of my nervousness.

The event started with full and half marathoners being flagged off first, as usual. Everything seemed pretty smooth. I noticed some of the 7.7km runners milling around at the back of the full and half marathoners, so I went ahead and chilled there. But the funny part was that the sound system wasn’t that great so when the half marathoners were flagged off, the back end didn’t realize it! They were still chilling at the back and had to be chased down by the organizer marshalls! To add to that some of the 7.7km runners thought the gun shot was also for them so they started to run together with the half marathoners! Again, the organizers had to chase them down and asked them to turn back! Damn funny la I tell you.

Anyway, it turned out that the 7.7km and 5.5km runners were supposed to be flagged of on the other side of the road. So since me and a bunch of others were on the full and half marathoners’ side, we were also chased down by the marshals to change lanes.  (It sure seemed like the marshals did a lot of chasing that night. Hehe)

So yeah, after standing at the starting line for like half an hour we were finally flagged off. The run itself was pretty uneventful except for the fascinating views of the Putrajaya skyline at night. Our route took us down the road from the Palace of Justice, all the way down to the new condos being built then across the bridge to PICC and back down to the main road for the finish. The track is a bit tougher than the KL marathon thanks to the hilly Putrajaya Terrain. And I never realized that the bridges there were THAT high. But it was all okay la.

Unlike the KL Marathon 10km, there was no digital timing for the 7.7km category in the PNR. So once the runners crossed the finish line, there was no way to tell his or her placement except for doing it manually by lining up the finishers (and obviously, you had to time yourself lah). So after finishing I had to join a loooong queue until they handed me my final result. But I did catch some runners of the same category bypassing the queue all the way to the front. Some of those, the marshals caught, some they missed. So some ended up with better results even though they finished behind me! This was one of the major minuses of the event and probably the only thing I would complain about.

It turned out that I was 335^th out of about 2000 runners in 41 minutes (wooohoo!!!). I was happy with the result although it could have actually been better if they had properly administered the finish line. Anyway, I still got the finisher medal (400 or below) and the certificate which was my target. To be honest, I was starting to doubt getting them midway of the run at the rate the others were overtaking me. Still can’t figure out how it happened. Hmmm… (wondering who were those people I saw… hehe)

The best part is that after finishing the run, I successfully gained back all the calories lost thanks to the slice of pizza and muffin from the snack pack provided, and by downing 6 glasses of oh-so-delicious iced milo and 3 glasses of 100plus. They went down like shots. But seriously, PIZZA?!! Anyhow, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life!!! I was absolutely famished!!

All in all it was a lot of fun. There’s still more room for the organizers to improve but overall they did a fantastic job. (The snack pack, end of run drinks, and drinking stations along the route were definitely better than that of the KL Marathon, I hope StanChart takes note).

Would definitely be joining again next year. Who knows, I might be fit enough for the half marathon then… NOT!!!! hahaha 

Eating Healthy?

I’ve been trying to lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle since last year. It’s not been easy but it’s progressing so okayla. Am quite happy with where I am right now. Although it’s nowhere close to where want to be.

The biggest challenge of getting there for me is the diet. I’m not very disciplined when it comes to eating… and I don’t deny that I quite often fall of the diet bandwagon with the mamaks and mom’s food etc. But when I’m in the office or roaming around town, I find it really hard to eat healthy in KL. Sure there’s always healthy food around but it’s just too darn costly!

For example, at lunch last week in my workplace cafeteria, I had 2 pieces of fruit, a diet coke and a yoghurt..and it cost me 6 bucks. The thing that really ticked me off was the guy in front of me had like rice with the curry and the chicken and the veggies and fried egg some more… with his teh ais, it cost him RM4.70! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! The amount of food he had was three times more filling (at least) and twice as heavy! And he paid over a buck less than me! It’s just ridiculous!

The other thing that annoys me when it comes to healthy food choices here is Salad. As soon as the word ‘salad’ appears in the dish, the price increases. And this is only because the perception of ‘salad’ being a type of ‘Western’ cuisine!!! C’mon people. Vegetables! Its supposed to be cheaper than your Nasi Goreng Seafood or Maggi Goreng! But nooooo. Because it’s a ‘SALAD’ kena la mahal kan.. Western… have to be something special.

I wonder how long it will take before the whole food scene in Malaysia (and maybe asia) will placate that of Europe and US where healthy choices should be similar if not cheaper than regular food. I mean, veggies and yoghurt and dairy products are almost free in the western world. Why is it such a big deal here? We don’t have to import anything too. Just sell what we have here!! Is that so hard?

Sigh.. all this ranting is making me hungry… time for a burger…

Bienvenue en France!

Oui Madame, Monsieur. Once again I’m here in France. Give me two more trips and I can start my Green Card application and change my name to Pierre.Yes, thanks to my day job I have to attend another meeting here and this time dead smack in the middle of winter. Of course I’m not complaining as I really do love winter. It’s much preferred than the constant heat and humidity back home. At least I can do more walking here. If only I had the time to do it.

Arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday and it was completely covered in snow. I was pretty sure that we were going to be delayed flying out of there today to get to Toulouse. But surprisingly the airline pulled through. And for the first time ever, my flight had to undergo de-icing!

For those of you who think de-icing involves a cake, or if you think that the aircraft in this picture is on fire, you might be interested to know that it’s not. It’s basically a bathing session for aircraft during winter months to melt the ice away from surfaces. So it was exciting as it’s my first de-icing (sounds wrong) and it was kinda scary because being the paranoid that I am, I started wondering what would happen if they were to miss a spot…

Anyway, I brought my camera this time so managed to get a few nice shots off of the Toulouse skyline, albeit it was constantly raining, freezing rain.

So yeah, some of the photos were damaged by the raindrops. It was too cold for me to take of my gloves and actually work on the F and SS. Ape ape lah. As long as I got some shots of Toulouse in case I won’t be able to come here again.

I can’t really pinpoint what it is, but something about the natural light effect on European brickwork creates brilliant scenery. But I don’t seem to have found effects like these in Asian cities. Is it the light? Is it the building material? Is it the temperature? That would be an interesting study methinks…

Anyways, there’s really no specific point to this entry, except for enlightening everyone on where I am. It’s probably a form of alleviation of my homesickness, and the amount of stuff I’m missing this time. Still can’t believe I’m gonna miss Love Classifieds again! I’ve always wanted to go to Damai Laut to check the place out. And I just haaaad to go away when LC goes there! Some other time I guess.

Y’all have fun now… and stay safe!