Day after the 7Km Run of the 2006 KL Marathon....

Reflections

Hmmmm....I survived the run. Not bad considering that I have not run for quite a long, long, long time...and all I managed was to put in some "practice" runs in the gym & around the office a week before that.

The Day
Got up at 5.20am as I needed to pick Josh's fren Keen Wai and then set off to pick Josh (he stayed overnight at his best fren's place). Discovered that the highway leading there was closed (for the full marathon) and we had to detour to Pantai before reaching Taman Desa. As we set off we discoverd we had not prepared properly....gosh we were hungry. Fortunately Josh's fren Foo Seng had some bananas......good source of energy.

The Race
Soon it was time to start off from Dataran Merdeka. Agghhh...too many people infront, just had to let the crowd run first and started a steady (old man talk) pace. Strangely stamina was not an issue (probably becos of the slow pace) but the tightness/pain around the left ankle and ahhemmm...the bladder gave some issues. Well, mind over matters....there will always be something that will not be right with the body when you run these races.

First milestone after Dataran Merdeka....Pudu Jail. Sweats, pain,burning heart, pumping lungs, a full bladder & NO finishing line in sight....but I must go on....loh behold I reached the Lot 10 junction. Still a long way to go....shall I stop or go on?!! I must continue (my surname is Hum, you know.....) and finally around Sheraton Hotel, Jalan Sultan Ismail (maybe with another 3 or only 2 km to finishing line) I had to walk to ease the pain. Walked briskly for 200 metres and started running again....strangely the pain went away. Smooth running after that and soon it was the turn to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman....and loh....from far I see the tallest flagpole in the world (the most beautiful sight). I preservered and continued running, finished the race and survived.

The Reward

The reward.....nasi lemak with curry chicken and plenty of sambal with a hot cup of teh tarik with Josh and his frenz.

Josh, Yih Hon (Josh's best fren) & me after the race and before the
glorious nasi lemak!!

Hiking in Pat Sin Leng

We went hiking in the Pat Sin Leng Country Park today. It is called the Pat Sin Leng in Cantonese which is translated to the "Eight Immortals" because of the eigth peaks.

Although we all think that HK is a concrete jungle, this is not so. About 60% of the territories is park land and there are many trials. The Pat Sin Leng is part of the Wilson trial that stretches from HK island to the New Territories to the border with Shenzhen.



There is a surprise diversity of flora in the Pat Sin Leng Country Park. Some of these are shown on the right. To view pictures of Kam Kwi and me, visit my blog

HK Marathon 2006

Ran in the 10 km race at the HK Standard Chartered Marathon last Sunday 12/2/06. There were about 20,000 runners for the 10 km race in several groups. I ran in the Master group (used to be called the veteran for the oldies). It was quite an experience to run with so many people together - for mutual encouragement. I did a slow jog and finished in 1 hour 06 minutes. Luckily no injuries or mishap. Unfortunately 1 runner (of the full marathon) collapsed half way and died in hospital 2 days later.

My wife ask me why I took part in this 'hazardous' activity? I don't really know but it may have something to do with getting old? As Onn Keong said getting to 50 makes him want to do things faster; many more things to do. I suppose joining the race is same. I want to take on new challenges while I still can. It would nice to hear from others what challenges they have taken recently.