Malaysian Unity Run

Event No:    43
Event Title:  Malaysian Unity Run
Event Type: Run - Road
Category:    10 Kms - Men - Open
Event Date: 12 Dec 2015
Location:     Taman Wetland, Putrajaya

When I first came to know - Ultron is the official apparel sponsor for this event, I just waited for Ultron to open up the sponsored slots (haha). 

When I saw them calling for Team Ultron, I took my time for responding, I was in two minds whether to go for it or just leave - as on the same day evening I have an Ultra Marathon "MKH Kajang 12 Hours International Walk". However, I decided to take part and sent in my entry a day later and was selected to represent them for the event "Malaysian Unity Run".

I take this opportunity to thank Ultron for giving me a splendid opportunity to represent them yet again in an event. Earlier to this, I had the privilege to represent Ultron in their previous events.

Below is the squad for Team Ultron representing in the event.

After the photo session, we gathered for a quick warm up session, it was me again to take up the session, with few moves, forward and side lunges, bending, twisting I quickly completed the warm up session. As soon as the session is done, we were called to gather at the starting line.

The team scattered while gathering at the starting line. As communicated, the flag off took place at 8:00 AM sharp. The first 1 Km was a normal road then started an unexpected path - more like a trail with lots of stones, pebble, and gravel all thru the course. After crossing the 2.5 Kms mark there was no proper signage between the intersections and we lost the route (not once but we did ran the wrong route twice, which costed us an extra 3 Kms). We enjoyed the route miss with a nice selfie.

Finally, we managed to find the right path and continued our run and then we came across the 3 Kms mark (by the time our GPS was already showing 5.8 Kms). Thinking that we might see a water station at 4 Kms mark just continued with a slow pace; unfortunately we saw the water station only after 5 Kms mark; sad to see - they were only serving water and no isotonic and no medics available at the station.

The route still continued with stones, pebbles and gravel - went in a wrong shoe, as the organizer never mentioned about this in their website / facebook page. Continued with the run after quenching the thirst, to my astonishing there were no more water stations till the finish line - very badly organized. Cannot expect to stay hydrated for 5 Kms with the kind of weather in Putrajaya.

Finally, made my way to the finish line and immediately grabbed one 100 Plus and a Milo to recover from my thirst. Stayed there for an hour to relax myself and to meet and greet my fellow runners.

Overall with few technical glitches the race was organized quite well. Enjoyed running in my Ultron Champion Tee and meeting the Ultron crew and other Ultron Ambassadors.

Thanks again to Ultron for giving me an opportunity to represent them again.

Forest Trail Run

Event No:    41

Event Title:  Forest Trail Run

Event Type: Run - Trail + Road

Category:    9 Kms - Open

Event Date: 6 Dec 2015

Location:     Taman Botani Kepong, FRIM

It was a challenge for me to find the location when I went to collect my race kit, Uber person take me to FRIM (I thought, the place is very near to it). We couldn't find it and then he decided to check with the administrative building and a lady there explained him on the way. We started back to the location and it did take quite a time to find it - at last we reached the place correctly. Asked my Uber person to wait so that I can go back home with him.

When I collected my race kit - not bad - I see a lot of goodies inside the race kit along with a beautiful Compressport Event Tee. Visited the stalls there and bought few gels and pre and post race recovery products. There was one more stall where they were selling SIS, I have never tried their products before - so, thought of giving it a try; took 5 Gels and 2 post recovery packs. I tried to remember the route back to home so that it would be easier for me to guide the driver on the race day.

I was pretty tired on Saturday - Participated in two events one in the morning (Roentgen Run - 8.3 Kms) and one at night (Ice Watch Light Up the Night Run - 10.5 Kms) by the time I reached home on Saturday it was almost 11:30 in the night. Had my bath and then went to have my dinner, if I skip it then it would be very difficult for me to take part in this event, by the time I tried to sleep it was almost 2:30 AM, just before going to sleep I have kept all my running gear ready; for the trail run I decided to run in my NB 1080 V5 instead of Adidas Boost.

Finally race day has come, got up at 6:00 AM and called for Grab Car (lucky to get one at that time of the day). Fully prepared for my 2nd Trail Run Event (First time in FRIM's). Reached the venue by 7:30 AM - this time I got the place right, no mishaps. Started with my body exercises before the run to make sure my muscles are relaxed and flexible enough to take on the trail.

Sharp 8:00 AM, as announced the flag off for the 9 KM category (Men & Veteran) happened. The first 600 - 800 Meters was a normal tar road and from there the actual trail was started. OMG it started straight away with a huge elevation, the maximum elevation we gained was 335 m. The up hill was so crazy and it was for about 2 Kms distance straight. I couldn't take it up more and started walking in the half way to finish climbing it (when I think of the 16 Kms category where they have to do the same loop twice - I can't imagine, luckily I haven't registered for that category).

Then we continued with the traditional FRIM route with few up's n down's through out the trail, the route had lots of pebbles and few places it was even muddy, there were two water stations in the route which served cool and refreshing 100 Plus along with mineral water, pretty well organized by the event organizer - no shortfall of the things. 

When I reached the 6 Kms mark, I tried the new gel (SIS) - I thought it would taste just like any other gel (Hammer, Powerbar) but to my surprise it was not. The taste of the gel is a little blunt and even it was no so sticky, it was more like a gel with more water base. However, it got dissolved into me very quickly and there was no need to take water after taking this gel unlike others.

The last 2.5 Kms was again a normal road which went thru a lake - nice and beautiful and the road finally leads to the finish line. People welcome with Drums and applause and there were cheers all around. I crossed the finish line in 1:14:11 with an average pace of 7:58 M/Km.

The 9 Kms finisher medal along with certificate was given after the finish line and it lead to the food station, where they served Soy Milk, Water, Banana, Water Melon & Malay Traditional Food Nasi Lemak, 100 Plus, Gardenia Bread and Cool Ice Milo. What else is needed after a tiresome trail run. 

Had a banana and few pieces of water melon and then stopped to stretch back my muscles, calf string, hamstrings, and other muscles to make them relax. Met few people and then followed with my routine of taking selfies.

Overall, the organizer did a wonderful job by arranging the event with all the specified things, event marshals were guiding us all thru the route, there were enough route directions, enough water stations and the best part lot of refreshments after the finish line.

I would like to thank the organizer for the wonderful event and definitely I'll take part in their next event in 2016.

Ice Watch Light Up The Night Run (IWLUTNR)

Event No:    40
Event Title:  Ice Watch Light Up The Night Run
Event Type: Run - Road
Category:    10 Kms - Men - Open
Event Date: 5 Dec 2015
Location:     Plaza Shah Alam, Shah Alam

The Ice Watch Light Up The Night Run (IWLUTNR) is one of it's kind of event organized for the very first time in Shah Alam. To cater a variety of runners they opened the event with two categories - 5 Kms and 10 Kms, which caters to all sorts of runners from Elite to casual.

The event organizer chose "Plaza Shah Alam" as the starting / finishing point for the event, the stage and the start / finish line were well decorated with colorful lights n balloons. One of the good part of this event is they have pacer service for the 10 Kms participants ranging from 9 Min to 7 Min per Km, which you'll hardly see for a fun event.

To add some curiosity and to grab more participants - they introduced a free Ice Watch give away contest for every successful 6th registration - I'm one of the lucky 6th person to get a free Ice Watch (felt so happy seeing my name in the give away contest).

As communicated at the time of registration; the event tee was not by Compressport instead they changed it to Ultron later (communication was sent out to the participants on the change) - the quality of tee is pretty good with new design material and standards by Ultron (I'm pretty happy with the tee provided by Ultron - thanks for the micro dry technology).

I was a bit tired with an event in the morning (Roentgen Run - 8+ Kms at Bukit Jalil) and later in the day went out to collect my race kit for the Sunday Morning Run (Forest Trail Run, FRIM's). But, I never gave up to participate in the event.

Due to traffic glitches, I reached the venue at 7:55 PM and the flag off time for the 10 Kms category is at 8:00 PM. Hardly, I had time to warm up myself. I pushed thru the crowd and tried to make my place near to the start line; as communicated the flag off happened around 8:00 - 8:05 PM.

Running with Pacers was my mantra for the day, after seeing the pacer service. I chose the 7 Min/Km Pacer and tried to run along with them, few times I crossed them and few times I bumped with them, at few places when I tried to catch up my breath due to overrunning I fall behind the pacers.

The route was pretty well organized with route marshals (few places they were not present and running with the traffic made us feel pretty hard). The route started at Plaza Shah Alam and went thru Seksyen 5, 6, 3, 11, Shah Alam Mosque and thru some residential areas and finally ended back at Seksyen 9 "Plaza Shah Alam".

The water stations were placed roughly at 3.5 Kms and 7 Kms points - they served the water in bottles instead of traditional paper cups (much appreciated) and at 7 Kms they served isotonic drinks along with water.

Most of the route was flat except few uphills at around 8th Km mark and 10 Km mark near to the finish line. The last 1.5 Kms we ran thru the traffic and it was not pretty well managed by the marshals (felt a bit worried to run with the traffic), other than this particular place; rest of the route was organized pretty well.

Even though I ran for 8 Kms in the morning, I did able to cross the finish line in 70 Minutes, last 1.5 Kms I was not with the pacers though. As soon as we crossed the finish line, I saw a pretty big queue and wondered looking at it; understood that the queue was for Red Bull (hahah). Collected my finisher medal along with a banana and a water bottle (not to forget Red Bull as well, but I haven't collected mine) to quench my thirst and post race recovery.

Only at the start and finish line there were lights to light up the night, but rest of the route it was pretty normal, I thought the race will be similar to "Electric Run" with few surprises - but there were none and they have only provided two glow sticks as part of the race kit.

As soon as the run finished, I was waiting in the pretty long queue to collect my Ice Watch, there was no choice given to us for selecting the color - they gave me a pink color watch, luckily I was able to exchange with a fellow run for an yellow watch.

Before leaving the place went and met the Ultron team - 'Vincent' who was representing Ultron in the event, had some quick chat and took some photos and then moved on from the venue.

Overall, the race was organized pretty well; even though it was their first event. Hope next year they will come up few more surprises and better lights along the race route.

Thanks to the organizers for the event which was well organized in all the aspects of the event. Will look out for their next year event to participate.

Putrajaya 100 Miles - Ultra Marathon

Event No:    38
Event Title:  P100 (Putrajaya 100 Miles)
Event Type: Ultra Marathon - Road
Category:    52 Kms - Open
Event Date: 28 - 29 Nov 2015
Location:     Taman Seri Empangan, Putrajaya


First, I wanted to congratulate myself for signing up and finishing this race well before the cut off time of 15 Hours in my first Ultra Marathon Event. 

I never thought I can go for an Ultra in a very short span of time, I came into the world of Running in the month of March 2015 with the event "Run with Certainty" which is just a 6+ Kms Charity Run. I was fascinated of running from there on and till now I have never looked back in participating events over the weekends.

I feel proud to represent my country 'India' thru this event. I'm the only Indian participating in the event. Even though I chose the last category of the race which is 52 Kms - I still feel good about myself as taking up a good amount of distance for my first ever Ultra.

At the time of registering for the event, there was a small doubt in my mind - whether I can do that distance; as my longest distance before this event was only 25 Kms. But my mind said "No Turning Back - Just Go On", I just went thru the details of the event and chose the least distance category - 52 Kms and registered myself for the event. After registering for the event my mind was boggled and it was always in two-minds. 

I was participating in most of the events (weekends) distance ranging from Fun Runs to Half Marathons, even on 28-Nov morning I have participated in SKM Fun Run in SK Bukit Cherakah; the distance was close to 6 Kms. I was representing Ultron as one of their brand ambassador for that event.

Being an expat I have very little clue about the race route, even though the route maps were provide much in advance. I studied the route maps but couldn't manage to find the right direction in few junctions; luckily the race went on in waves so there were runners to catch up with.

I reached the venue around 8:45 PM with the mandatory gear list; I was wearing my favorite Adidas Boost Shoes along with Puma Shorts and Tights. Once I went to collect my race bib, the organizing team checked the mandatory gear before providing the race kit. The process went on very smooth. Collected my race kit and as usual went to capture few selfies. 

For hydration, I carried a 1 liter bottle in my backpack and a 300 ml handheld running bottle, carried 2 Power Gels and 1 Power Bar with few Vita C chew-able tablets, for visibility carried Nathan Blinker, Head Lamp and a reflective vest - OMG I never ran with these much of gear - few times in the course I felt very uncomfortable, I think I have to get used to this as I have more Ultra's coming up in December 2015 till May 2016.

Now coming to the most important part the flag off, just like any other race - there was briefing about the race route, rules, check points etc., the flag off started at close to 22:00 hours with 75 kms in waves of 20 runners. I was in the 5th wave for 52 Kms. Just before the start we had a wonderful group gathered in a gorgeous picture.

That's me in the 5th wave all set to start with my running, started tracking my run with two different apps - MiCoach (by Adidas) and Nike+ Running.

The route has 3 check points for 52 Kms category, Start (Taman Seri Empangan) to CP1 (Nusa Perdana) the distance between them is 10 Kms. Next is CP2 (which is actually CP1) we have to go further 5+ Kms from Nusa Perdana and take a U-Turn back to Nusa Perdana which then becomes CP2, the third one is CP3 which is at 26 Kms mark - Taman Cabaran where we have the first timing check (half way distance for 52 Kms category). From there back to CP2 --> CP1 --> Finish (Taman Seri Empangan).

There is always a possibility of taking shortcuts, and cut short the distance between CP1 and CP2 but none of the runners deviated from their ethics (that's why we call ourselves as runners with integrity). 

I have only one thing in my mind, which is to go in a steady pace till the first half of the race - 26 Kms mark, I have reached the mark in 4:34:40 which is way less than my normal pace. I haven't tried to run hard and rush for the finish. I stopped at CP3 for about 40 minutes to relax and refresh my body and to charge my mobile n headphones (love music while running).

Once, my body is relaxed n refreshed started my way back to the finish line, on my way back I have not passed by any runners till the CP2 checkpoint, in one of the intersection I was about to take a wrong route, but one of the runner who has dropped out of the race guided me in the right direction. While reaching back to CP2, near Air Sukan Komplex "Rany Tan - Photographer" was waiting for the runners to capture their beautiful memories, thanks to Mr. Rany Tan for the wonderful pictures even at that odd hours in the night.

Reached CP2 and went further till we have to make a u-turn back to CP1, but this time no one around near the u-turn place; went there saw the board and turned back to CP1. By the time I reached CP1 it was almost 6:45 AM in the morning. Waited there for few minutes refreshed myself with ice washing my face and massaging my calves and shins. Had few pieces of watermelon along with water & dates (nicely organized by the team at every check point); there was always plenty of them and no shortage of items in the checkpoints.

The final lap CP1 to Finish line is almost 10 Kms, really tired running, walking, jogging all thru the night covering a distance of a full marathon. I felt crazy and the timing for the last 10 Kms was the worse recording till now in my running diary. I met three other runners with whom I covered around 6 Kms distance and once I'm near to Putra Square increased my pace and moved ahead of them to cover the final 4 Kms.

Finally I was about 1 Km far from the finish line, suffered from severe cramps in both the legs, but I kept moving on and once I was able to see the finish line (500 meters ahead) I started to run towards it, people welcomed me with applause when I just crossed the finish line. I was in mixed feelings - heart was in tears and mind was in joy n filled with happiness. I felt myself proud to finish my first ultra event in about 10:47:17 of time.

I thank the organizers for the wonderful route, guidance, markings at major intersections, detailed route map and arranging all the necessary things at every check point, they really deserve a big applause, Kudos to you guys.

If ever I get a chance I'll definitely participate in this event in 2016 and will try to take up the next challenge may be 75 Kms or 100 Kms.

See you guys again in Water Gate 16 Hours Event in 2016.

H.A.W.K. Run

Event No:    36
Event Title:  H.A.W.K. Run
Event Type: Run - Road
Category:    12 Kms - Open
Location:     Wisma Putra


Last event on the weekend in the B2B2B2B running - Two events on Saturday and two more events on Sunday, covering a total distance of around 32 Kms for the weekend.

The event took place in Wisma Putra - Taman Wawasan, Putrajaya, there were no delays in the flag off time, as announced it started exactly at 5:00 PM. I've reached the venue at around 4:55 PM and started hardly got time with my warm up and started my run with little warm up. 

The course was inside Taman Wawasan - Park, we need to do a loop of 4.2 Kms * 3 Times totaling to a distance of more to 12 Kms. There was a checkpoint to mark us for each loop. Ther were some issues with the checkpoint in the first wave happened in the morning and they are good to learn from their mistakes and rectified it for the second wave. 

Even though the event fee is RM 70, they couldn't manage to provide timing chips, quality number bibs, and isotonic at the start, checkpoints and finish line, which is a common thing runners expect when they pay a entry fee of RM 70. The bibs provided are small tags which needs to be stick around the wrist, which was not comfortable with few runners as they keep falling down.

The route was quite good with ascents and descents, one hill was crazy and have to do it three times as we ran the route in loops. Encountered rain in the last loop and I have stopped at a water station which is close to the finish line which is 1 Km from it, waited there for around 15 minutes and when the rain came down to little showers increased my pace to go thru the finish line.

Overall, enjoyed the event with mixed feelings. It was for the first time I was running in that park.

Larian Gegar - Half Marathon

Event No:    32
Event Title:  Larian Gegar
Event Type: Half Marathon - Road
Category:    Half Marathon - Men - Open
Location:     Kompleks Kolam Renang, Universiti Malaya


My Third Official Half Marathon in Malaysia.

The event took place in Kolam Renang - Universiti Malaya, there were no delays in the flag off time, as announced it started exactly at 6:00 AM. I've reached the venue at around 5:30 AM and started with my warm up, suddenly heard the count down for the race, immediately ran to the starting line. 

It was quite dark and place has no lights when the people gathered before the flag off, the volunteers managed with their mobile lights.

One of the best and painful route I have ever ran -  5 killer Hills * 2 loops totalling to 21.5 kms.. feeling too tired n at the same time too happy for setting up yet another personal best for Half Marathon.

Made some personal bests

Half Marathon - 02:28:06
Fastest 1 KM - 00:03:42

In the end, it was a memorable and beautiful experience to participate in this wonderful event. Looking forward to take part in their next year event (if I'm still around KL).

2XU Half Marathon

Event No:    28

Event Title:  2XU - Half Marathon

Event Type: Half Marathon - Road

Category:    Half Marathon - Men - Open

Location:     Kompleks Sukan Air, Precint 6, Putrajaya

My Second Official Half Marathon in Malaysia.

It was around 4 AM in the morning, I got up and was waiting for my regular Uber Buddy - Shaz. He was right on time, picked me up at 5 AM in the morning and started our way to the venue. The place is well lit by lights and the sounds of the runners have filled the place with energy already.

As usual what you expect from a great organizer, the flag off for 21.1 Kms was bang on time. The route was pleasant with blue skies and nice breeze - though it became hot as time passed by.

As stated the distance was not exactly 21.1 Kms instead we have extend and stretch ourselves for 1.5 Kms more to reach the finish line. 

At Km 17 I think, my left knee started to pain and was not able to bear it took time and started to walk for few kms with sprinting, but that didn't help. Finally completed my race in 02:49:02 as tracked by Adidas Mi-Coach.

Made Few Bests although had a knee cramp

According to Mi-Coach (Adidas)

Longest Distance (So Far) - 22.74 Kms

Longest Duration (So Far) - 02:49:02

Most Calories Burned - 1468 Calories

According to Nike+

Fastest Half Marathon - 02:35:01

Longest Distance (So Far) - 22.6 Kms

Longest Duration (So Far) - 02:46:25

Most Calories Burned - 1420 Calories