Men's Health Women's Health Night Run Putrajaya, 30 July

BACKGROUND

The popular Men's Health Women's Health Night Run (MHWHNR) is back this year and promises to be bigger and better than last year (read the report of the inaugural MHWHNR 2015 here) according to the organiser. With title sponsor AIA Vitality, this year's MHWHNR is the biggest Night Run series in Malaysia, and the largest multi-location night run covering Penang, Putrajaya and Johor. The Penang edition was successfully held on April 2 and the one in Johor is scheduled on January 7 next year.

This year there are three categories each location: 12km and 21km competitive running and a 5km fun run. Each location has its unique color theme - orange for Penang, red for Putrajaya and blue for Johor. Runners who have entered the Men's Health runs in the past can expect attractive goodies bags and lots of freebies at the Race Village. Another exciting feature in the MHWHNR this year is the trifecta medal that will come into form after the individual medals have been earned at the three locations and placed together.

The Putrajaya crowd easily outnumbered the 3,500 participants in the Penang edition. I entered the 12km Men's Open category. I ran in the same distance last year.

PREPARATION

Men's Health and Women's Health teamed up with its fitness partner, Fitness First and set up a Run Club since March this year. Named the FF RunClub, the club has been organising sessions which include running clinics and strength and conditioning workshops by highly qualified professionals. This was a great initiative by the organizers to help registrants of different abilities to prepare for the race.

As a member of the club and a registrant for the run, I joined the RunClub and attended a few grueling sessions of dynamic training under Ahmad Fadly. Those 45-minute sessions were the longest 45 minutes of my life as I had to do a series of lunges, planks, crunches, jumping jack, burpees. Seriously, it's hard work! I felt sore all over my body the next day in my butt, thighs and abs..  The running clinic was conducted by one of Malaysia's fastest marathon runners, Edan Syah. Learning to train smart is key to being a good runner was the most valuable tip I got from this talented runner.

Strength and conditioning sessions with coach Fadly

Running tips by coach Edan - running vest courtesy of Fitness First

PRE-RACE MATTERS

Race kit collection was held at Tropicana City Mall Petaling Jaya on 23-24 July for those who registered online at RunnersAsia (formerly HooHA! Asia). According to my sister-in-law, the process went smoothly. Unfortunately, my kit was not ready to be collected on the designated race pack collection days. I was informed by Mongoose Publishing just a day before the weekend for race pack collection that I would not be able to collect my pack at Tropicaa City Mall. This, I was told affected registrants that went through Fitness First for registration (delay by Fitness First which caused a delay in handing registrant name list to the printers was cited as a reason). Understandably, I was anxious as I know that things can go wrong if race packs were handed out on race day. From my experience, major running events do not allow for race pack collection and I can see why. Read on.

RACE DAY

So I arrived early on race day to collect my race pack in the Race Village in Putrajaya Presinct 3. Just as I parked my car in the car park area of Perbadanan Putrajaya (Putrajaya Corporation), the weather took a turn for the worse. The sky was dark and large clouds moved towards me. Before I knew it, rain started falling in chaotic drops. Umbrella in hand, I scampered to the Race Village. I found the race pack collection booth and headed straight to it. Standing in line with raindrops falling from the umbrella of the person onto me was unpleasant, to say the least. When it came to my turn, I presented my identity card to the volunteer. After a quick check, she handed me my race pack. But just as I was about to leave, she asked me to go to the information counter to activate my timer chip. I thought I heard her wrong, but she answered in the affirmative when I repeated what she said by rising my intonation to make it into question. There was a long queue at the information counter and there were other runners who were standing in line because of t-shirt size issues, runner info not found, etc. The queue hardly moved after 5 minutes. The rain showed no signs of relenting and after a few minutes standing in line, the rain started to come in buckets. Pellets of water were spitting on my face, my tee and my socks! I was a little dismayed by this point so I went to the counter for bulk collection and asked the volunteer to "just scan the timer" for me. She obliged. I thanked her and left the scene.

The rain subsided around 7:30 pm and I headed back to my car to change into my race running tee and put on my race bib with the activated timer. Luckily for me, I brought along another pair of socks. It's unthinkable to run with wet feet from the starting line. After wiping myself dry with a face towel, I felt a little better and  was ready to go back to the race village. My running club team mates planned to meet at 7:45 pm for a group photo before the 21km flag-off at 8pm but unfortunately, I reached the meeting point just before flag-off, by which time my running mates had gone to the starting pen.

Meeting point for my running group

Runners coming in droves to the Race Village after the rain

Title sponsor booth

Moongoose tent

Next Women's Health Cover Model

Adidas offered RM30 vouchers for finishers

 
AND THE RACE BEGAN......

The 12km race kicked off a little earlier than 8:30 pm (8:23 pm according to my Garmin). I stood fairly far back in the pen with a total of 4,000 spirited runners. It a difficult to navigate my way through the obstruction of fellow runners. After four minutes, my timer chip was duly activated at the starting line. The weather was nice and cool at 27 degree Celsius after the earlier rain. The breeze from the lakes were grace notes to the normally hot and humid weather in the other night runs I have participated in.

Wefie in the race pen is a must

There were four hydration stations the last of which offered Lucozade. They stations were adequate and evenly spaced. The volunteers very supportive and encouraged to keep going.

I noticed a brass band right after the first kilometer. It was a tune familiar to me but I can faintly remember it. I'll hazard a guess it was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by the Four Seasons. But what I do remember with astonishing clarity is their sound made the atmosphere alive and I soaked it in.This is what I love about running in events. The atmosphere! And then there was a drum band with the creative way of bring water barrels to life in kilometer two. Boom, boom, boom! If their upbeat tempo and explosive energy did not get one moving, I don't know what would.. I zipped past them and raised my hand to acknowledge their lively presence and sound.

Traffic control was fairly good although at one point there was a motorcycle that came from the opposite direction where the road is closed to traffic. The route is hilly in parts, with a maximum elevation gain of 60m and total elevation gain of 137m.

Some paths were eerily dark. I was worried that I would trip over something and fall. The caution with which one traversed dark paths of the course would have slowed down a runner inadvertently. Perhaps the organizer should have advised to bring along a headlamp.

This time the ramps and hills were my friends, not my enemies. My hill and strength training had paid off; where I was defeated in the past, I managed with a slower pace and smaller strides on  those elevated paths.  Surprisingly, I felt good at the last station (kilometer 11) where I felt completely out of sorts last year - picked up my pace as I approached the finish line. I even managed to do a sprint in the last 500m which was nice as it's a flat course along Persiaran Perdana.

Apart from the niggles in my problem left ankle in the first two kilometers, I generally enjoyed running this route again in Putrajaya.  Overall, I was satisfied with my performance in this year's MHWHNR .

I crossed the finish line at 1:13.

Medal earned - check out the sweat

With Asics Relay teammates Azwan and Noah

Fariz and I have a big goal for next week.. Watch this space

Finisher medal in red for the Putrajaya MHWHNR

Summary

Things I liked about the event:
- Race Village with lots of fun games, challenges, prizes and freebies
- Fitness First instructors leading the warm-up sessions
- Celebrity DJ's (Natalie and Mark)
- Live performance by the brass band and drum boys
- Friendly volunteers
- Goodie bag
- Stylish finisher medal

Things that could have been improved:
-  registration fee (sharp increase compared to last year's)
-  lack of information to registered runners before the event (the race pack collection on race day was a big mistake)
-  poor co-ordination of pre-race events (cancellation of a running clinic which was postponed earlier due to poor weather disappointed many who signed up the FB page)
- use of plastic cups at hydration stations instead of more environment-friendly paper cups
- no medic station noted in the course of the race
- no kilometer marker throughout the race
- insufficient signage to guide runners
- dark paths posed a risk to the safety of runners

Would I run it again next year?
Yes. And I don't have to wait a year to run in the Johor edition in January 2017.

Official results:
Gun time: 1:13:13
Net time: 1:09:51
Rank: 177 out of 2290 (in my category)

Blood Runner in Putrajaya

To those of you who read my teaser posted on July 30, I'm here to tell you that I completed the Blood Runner in Putrajaya on July 31 and survived to tell the tale..

The Blood Runner is a werewolf-themed urban obstacle night race, promoted as Asia's first by the organizer, Switch Strategies. Set in the popular venue for night race events, Putrajaya, the race involved 10km of running on trail, road and pavement. Along the way there were obstacles that required participants to carry, jump, climb, balance and scramble through the streets of Putrajaya. 

I ran in Wave 7 (10:30pm) along with my friend Ainal. We were flagged off around11pm - the delay was due to poor weather conditions earlier. I found out later that there were celebs among the 5000 runners on that night. 

The first obstacle involved carrying water drums for a distance of 200m. The one I carried weighed a tonne; I quickly realised that I finally understood what it means when people say they feel the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Immediately after the first obstacle, the night was more of a personal hell than a fun-filled playground. Exhausted and running on low energy, I wondered how I would be able to pull through and the thought of letting the werewolves bite me seemed exciting to me, until it occurred to me that I had my energy gel with me. I brought two energy gels with me to heed the advice contained in the race guide. I gulped down my first High5 energy gel and almost immediately felt its effects. Recharged with a new lifeline, I was ready to take on the next obstacles..

The other obstacles surprisingly, were less tough for me. They involved crossing a series of tyres, climbing over some truck tyres and jumping over a wall. I conquered those. And I picked up pace in my run...

Next part of the course was a trail run. I never knew there exists a forest in Putrajaya and running in the forest at night was frightening. The Petzl Tikkina was a great help for me to avoid running into other participants, many of whom had slowed down due unfamiliarity with the trail and the fear of running into a werewolf. Their howling of those creatures were enough to send chills down one's spine. But I was focused to pick up my pace and catch up with the runners in the earlier waves. It was a perfect chance for me to run pass the walkers, so I switched to the high intensity mode on my headlamp and shouted, "Excuse me, passing through".. It worked! Fabulous!

The next obstacle was the sideways wall climbing challenge. Judging by long queue and the number of participants instructed to do air squats as penalty for failing the complete the challenge, I knew I needed concentration, endurance and coordination to overcome this obstacle. I quaffed the second energy gel and got myself psyched up for it. And man... I got through it successfully - with a few cuts on my forearms, but it's no biggie.

One part of the course was in the basement of a car park of a complex and it was here that I finally came face to face with two werewolves. These werewolves were in high spirits and excited to see the participants. When I passed them, they gave me a high five! The creatures (or actors) were there to provide a feel-good factor and they certainly delivered. 

After the brush with werewolves, the obstacles that greeted me next were more challenging. There were the balancing beams (I failed this), monkey bars, the climbing over a net mounted on a bus, and more climbing - on inclined planes with holes in them. And then there were the jumps over the M Walls - the joint surfaces were narrow and I heard a few participants fall (big thud.. ouch!) Hope they're were OK to carry on. The M Walls featured again at the end, just before the finish line...

And then I saw the giant werewolf float in the distance and I knew that I have all but completed the run...

I gave a high jumped, reached for the fangs of the werewolf float, feeling fantastic at having completed the inaugural Blood Runner...

Nett time: 1:56:33

Overall ranking: 303/1984

Gender ranking: 277/1319

A video posted by runwitme (@runwitme) on Aug 1, 2015 at 6:02am PDT

A video posted by runwitme (@runwitme) on Jul 31, 2015 at 9:27pm PDT

Shape Night Run 2015, 11 April

 The time is 8:25pm. Together with 6000 participants of the Shape Night Run 2015, I am waiting anxiously for any updates from the race director. The race was supposed to have been flagged off at 8pm. 

I arrived at Precinct 3 early on race day to visit the various booths set up by the sponsors.  It was a nice and sunny day, and the atmosphere merry. I noticed an overcast sky while taking snapshots of the pre-race activities and wished it would clear later. However, the weather took a turn for the worse around 7:10 p.m. Rain started pouring from the heavens with lightning and thunder, causing anxiety amongst  the attendees who ran helter-skelter for shelter.

 

From the Shape booth where I collected my Shape goodie bag, I quickly made a detour to the Colombia Asia medical tent for shelter.  I stayed there for about ten minutes and when the rain eased a little, I made a dash across to the Auditorium Sri Cempaka. Uncomfortable in wet socks and shoes, I sat myself down in the main hall of the building, removed my shoes and socks and hoped that the weather conditions would improve. Soon after, I fell into a strangely contented state of crowd watching. The various antics of fellow runners entertained me. First, there was the hopeful group whose members diligently did their stretches, ready to sprint from the starting line if they found out that the race would go on. And then there were some who were clearly daunted, as they lay on the floor wondering when they would be able to collect their finisher goodie bags, abandon the run and go home.  Others were engaged in inane chat in an effort to while away time while anxiously waiting for the official announcement from the organizer.

Shape Night Run in its 8th year

A man came up to me and offered his opinion. “Race is going to be called off.” I responded with a smile but could not hide a trace of disappointment on my face at his suggestion. Another lightning spread across the night sky and I knew deep down inside that he was probably right. But then, there wasn’t any official announcement, just yet.

A volunteer comes to the hall entrance to say that the race shall go on at 8:30pm subject to weather conditions; if the weather worsens or lightning persists, then the race would be canceled.  The rain is all but gone at this point but there’s definitely lightning in the sky. It’s still up in the air whether the race will go on.

Posing just before the rain

Rain, lightning, thunder…. Please ago away.

A crowd started gathering at the goodie bag station. 
Time:8:40pm 
Weather: Showers with intermittent lightning. Impression: It’s over… We can all go home! 

And then suddenly I heard music on the speakers and the reassuring voices of Ivan and Zher. They thanked the runners for their patience, commended them for their bravery, emphasized safety precautions and announced what most of us were desperate to hear - the race would go on! Yay! I quickly checked my bag and went along with the ecstatic crowd of runners to the corral. The crowd cheered as soon as the guest of honor completed her speech and flagged off the race around 8:50pm. It felt like we had already surmounted a hurdle by defying the elements by being out there running in the rain…

I sprinted from the start, reeling from the exhilaration of being given the chance to run in this race (It’s the 8^th Shape Run and my first time participating in it).  There were puddles of water everywhere on the course, some of which further soaked my already wet shoes.  I responded by running in small strides and a moderate pace. But to my surprise, my Garmin Forerunner 220 recorded 5:04 min/km at the end of the first km. I continued to gain momentum and was able to go sub-5 mins in the 2nd kilometer.

Knowing the route worked to my advantage this time (check out  Mens’ Health and Women’sHealth Night run) as I knew when to expect the inclines and the flat paths. Conquering the inclines was still tough but I didn’t stop like I did three weeks ago. In fact, the inclines are harder to conquer when you have water squishing from you shoes every time your foot lands on the ground.  I knew it was hard to maintain a good pace, but I noticed that I was not just getting passed by others on the inclines - I was also overtaking a few tired runners and was able to gradually move up to the next pack at the 4km incline..

I struggled at the 8k incline but I did not  consider slowing to a walk like I did before; instead, I used the other runners to motivate me. I ran side by side with a middle-aged man, who appeared to me an experienced runner. I checked my pace on the watch and noted that it had dropped to 7:00min/km at that point. After the 'U' turn, I quickly regained speed as it was downhill from there and only about 2km to the finish line. From the U turn onwards, I managed to pass some of the runners who earlier overtook me. 

I exhausted all my energy reserve to reach the finish line at a pace of 6:30min/km.  There was no display on the clock due to the late flag off time and I forgot to stop the stopwatch on my Garmin, until I reached the goodie bag collection booth.  I have  a good feeling that my finishing time was around 1:04 – definitely a time I am happy with.

I believe that I’m speaking on behalf of all the other runners that we take pride in completing that night race despite the unfavourable weather.

Thank you to the organizers for the great racing tech t-shirt which was a godsend in the rainy conditions. I actually enjoyed this run because of the rain! As my friend said in his SMS reply to my complaint about Mother Nature’s ways that evening - running in the rain is fun and refreshing.

Running in the rain was certainly fun and the closest thing to play for me and I can say that I had fun sprinting, jumping, galloping, splashing and dashing to the finish line. It was a great feeling of amazement and satisfaction - running with the elements, under the night skies.

While I look at the bright red spots on my underarms as a result of chafing, (there’s an increased risk of skin chafing when running in the rain), I am glad that that is the only painful reminder of the event.. The Shape Run 2015 was indeed a pleasurable one!

Time: 1:04:19

Rank: 158 out of 1206

Men's Health and Women's Health Night Run

My running adventure has taken me to places far and wide but I have yet to run in Putrajaya. A popular venue for running events, the administrative centre of Malaysia provides a beautiful scenery  with its natural landscape and architecture marvels.

So when I found out about the Men's Health Night Run in Putrajaya which was returning in March of 2015, I was excited to be a part of it, not only because it's a popular event, but also I wanted to run my first night run and what better venue to do it than at Putrajaya? I learned that this year the Men's Health Night Run was renamed the Men's Health and Women's Health Night Run as it's an event organized by the established  Men's Health (Malaysia) and its new sister publication, Women's Heatlh (Malaysia), so that meant that this was an inaugural MHWHNR. I signed up along with 7,500 participants.

The flag off point was outside the Palace of Justice, which houses six Courts of Appeal, two Federal Courts and 20 judge's chambers. In short, building with granite finish is massive! It was smart of the organizers to pick The Palace of Justice as a gathering place as you, just like me would not miss it even if you have not been to Precinct 3 in Putrajaya.

Forcing a smile in spite of a toothache

This was a 12km run and not a particularly easy run for me, despite my recent accomplishment in the Nike We Run KL (21km). The route was challenging with undulating hills to conquer; there was a point (around 8km) that defeated me and I resorted to walking due those darn hills. As I struggled more and more to move, my mantra was put one foot in front of the other and keep moving, no matter what. I was aware that many runners were passing me by but there little I could do about it. I had my battles to fight - sore quadriceps due to over training the day before and a toothache which I thought was a case of dentin hypersensitivity (how wrong was I when I went to my dentist friend to discover a huge cavity in my upper left second premolar!)

Aspiring Men's Health Cover Model

The final 3km was the toughest part of the race as I think again I had used up all of my energy reserve in that stretch. As I continued to engage in self-pep talk. I saw the grand Palace of Justice in the distance to my right and a glimmer of hope came to me as I knew that the finish line was within reach if I could persevere.

I crossed the finish line at 1:10, totally knackered. And relieved that I was able to complete this challenging night run.

Postscript: Net time: 1:09:56  
Rank: 305 out of 2313 in my category
My tooth was restored with glass-ionomer cement and is pain free for now.