Race pack

Collected my race pack this afternoon thanks to CP.

It was a disaster for the organiser.

First it rained just before noon when most people take the opportunity of lunch hour to go and collect their race pack.

Then they were hit by power outage. The LAN system is out and no one could collect their pack.

When we (me, CP, Ravin and Devan) reached the collection area, it looked like the queue for full marathon category is fairly empty. However when we approached the counters suddenly there is a lady shouted at us said please queue from back there.. Really can't understand the pure kiasu attitude..

After queuing for almost 20 minutes and the system is still down, we decided to walk to Masjid Jamek for lunch.

When we came back 30 minutes or so later, the electricity has been restored. It was still a long and slow queue in front. I waited in the queue for another 15 minutes before decided to leave because I've to catch my next meeting back in office. I passed the authorization letter to CP who helped to collect my race pack.

Overall the initial impression of the organiser is really bad. I hope they improve tremendously during the race day. Otherwise I'm really worry they might run out of water supply for the slow marathon runners like me.

Other than that what's in the race pack is also quite disappointing. ¹running vest, ¹tower, ¹powerbar, bibs, runner's guide, a bunch of promotion leaflets and nothing else. I was hoping for more since this is such a big event compared to others.

Ready or not...

I've decided to turn up for SCKLM marathon event regardless of what's going to happen. At the very least I will be there to support my friend - CP, who is going to run his maiden full marathon.

So far I'm confident of running at least 10km with a very slow pace. If fortunate I might be able to last 15km or 20km. If I manage to get to 25km mark then I will likely to walk the remaining 17km. BHAG... My Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Hehe :)

This is definitely not a glamorous way of finishing the 1st marathon but who cares..

Meantime I need to find a cap or maybe a hat with umbrella on it to shield myself from the extremely heat from 9am - 12am on the race day. I have calculated it will takes between 6.5 hours to 7 hours for me to finish. All preparation must gear towards heat management... unless it rains..

Other than that I need to bring my knee protector, sloan cream, emergency numbers and other medical supplies just in case..

May the force be with me on the race day...

Happy father's day

Photo of my sons in the bath tub. My elder son tried to run with me once but he gave up after 600 meters and had to be carried home:)

I try to do a long run this morning without any specific target just to see how far I can go. Unfortunately the knee pain came about after just 7km. I continue to run-walk-run for another 2km before called it a day.

I've stopped running completely whole of last week to rest my knee and at the same time to recover from the cough. Looks like the knee will need more time to heal. It could take months I guess.

Took me around 10 weeks to heal when I injured the metatarsal bone on my left foot in a futsal match last year.

No races for the next 2 months since I will not be able to do long distance run for a while.. Or maybe I should take up sprinting again:)

Bad luck hit twice

Apart from the knee problem that hit me out of no where, I was down with minor lung infection in the last 2 days. It must have been the haze and viruses around the office.

With this my slim hope of turning up for SCKLM is almost buried. Just not enough time left to train even if my knee can take it.

Anyway I plan to resume my running routine with short distance run until my knee is fully recovered. I might not make it this time but I have committed to another marathon run in November. Plenty of time to train for it so I have to take it slowly this time to not repeat the same injury problem.

It's 2 more weeks to go for my friends who will be running their 1st marathon: CP, KW and Ravin. All the best to you guys.

Not good

I failed my 15km attempt today. The culprit is the left knee again. It gives way after 4km.

Next stop is Dr. William Chan's office..

An uphill battle

This week my running program is even worse than the week before. I only managed total mileage of 29km with longest distance of 10km.

I dare not over stretched and had to stop the run every time the pain on my left knee started with level 1 or 2 pain.

Good news is I'm now able to do at least 9 or 10km run before the pain starts.

My plan in the next 21 days before the SCKLM is to do a run on alternate day to give my legs some rest time in between. I'm still hoping to be at the starting line of this event if things progress as expected.

With the alternate day plan, I hope to be able to catch up with a 12km run tomorrow (8/6), 15km (10/6), 18km (12/6), 20km (14/6), 22km (16/6), 25km (18/6), 28km (20/6), 30km (22/6) and taper with a 6km run on 24/6.

25/6 onwards will be carbo loading days to fuel up for the 42km run.

By the way, I'm supposed to see a sports doctor on my knee. I know what the advice would be and decided to skip it until end of June.

Wish me luck all my friends... :-)

The boys are enjoying their Sunday

There is a nice water park at my housing area and it's only 100 meters away from my house.

Our swimming class was cancelled because the coach is sick so we decided to bring the kids to the water park to enjoy themselves.