LSD of 20km

Note: photos were not successfully attached in this posting despite numerous attempts.

It was a good weather this Sunday, 25 June, at 6am. You might ask how I knew that it would be good weather. After half a year of concurrent training on intuitive weather forecasting amid training runs, my primitive or instinct capability was to look at the sky and gauge the amount of cloud visible from the faint tint of light. So, in the absence of cloud, it should be a good weather.

Does it occur to you that it was cool yesterday evening caused by cloudy weather in the morning and raining in the afternoon? I was like “hate it or later love it” with the weather. When it rained during training runs, it caused inconveniences. On the other hand, I would have more things to write. After all, blame it on the weather would be quite a safe topic to write.

The Pack

This morning, joining us in the run was Jason Chin. He is tall, handsome and not dark. He has done five marathons and he is preparing for the Penang Marathon on 30 July. He intended to run 30km today while the rest of us ran only 20km.

Leading the pack was Patrick, who clocked in 1 hour 44 minutes in last week’s PJ Half Marathon to earn him the Distinction Finishing status in that race. Having him as the pacer would mean we have to run very fast. According to his standard, running fairly slowly by him was considered fast to us.

Following his pace, he has us panting and puffing for the first five kilometers. Yes, since it was a training run, we chatted while we ran. Since the conversation must go on – much like running even in the rain – the verbal communication was affected. Many a times, we have to repeat what we said in order for the messages to be understood.

It was quite a big pack: Meng, Weng, Jason Chin, Lim and Chong, a few other runners and yours truly. We were still running in a closely knitted pack while we tackled the uphill run near Bank Negara LRT station. That reminded me of the New York marathon race where the elite runners would run in a group testing one another’s capabilities. Or possibly, get the drafting advantage (as in cycling race) to reduce the air resistance.

Returning from Sri Hartamas, I saw Vivian Law was running alone and turning into Double-hill route at around 7.30am. I could have gone straight and returned from the way we came. However, I decided to return via Double-hill route to accompany her.

From the conversation, she sustained injury at the sole since the Kuching full marathon in March 2006. She has to cancel the participation of other races until there is improvement in recovery.

By the way, LSD is an acronym for Long Slow Distance in running. I do not know who coined that acronym. I would think SLD – Slow, Long Distance – would sound better.

Back at Bukit Aman Car Park

There was an extraordinary level of activities at the car park this morning – noticeably an increased in number. I saw groups of runners excitedly conversed with one another. A few were showing excitement of the number of events that will take place in the next few months. At the same time, they showed disbelief that four events were clashing with one another.

There were quite a number of forms been distributed at the car park this morning. Other than the booth manned by Jenny Lim, there was another booth promoting Chicken Run. I heard one of the guys said, “… after you have completed your registration form, we can even go to your house to collect it.” That was excellent service. Please do not interpret the implied message which I did not mention here.

Here are the running events for the month of July:

2 July – Ipoh Half Marathon

16 July – Seremban Half Marathon (good news – the Malaka Marathon has been postponed to a later date. Please refer to Pacesetters web site, click Events Calendar for more details)

23 July – 6th Pacesetters Track Meet at Selayang Stadium

23 July – Klang 10km and 7km Run

23 July – Port Dickson International Triathlon (22 July is for Sprint Event)

23 July – Chicken Run 3.5 km at Bukit Jalil Golf & Country Resort, Kuala Lumpur

30 July – Penang Bridge International Marathon

30 July – Duathlon Series #2 at Putrajaya.

So, on 23rd of July, a runner is torn between more than two (lovers) running events.

Conversation with Lim and Chong

I have a chat with Mr. Lim and Ms Chong. Mr. Lim was the lucky guy in the lucky draw who won an apartment in the PJ Half Marathon two years ago. Talking to me made me feel lucky too.

Ms. Chong showed admiration as to how I could manage so many activities in Pacesetters and Toastmasters. Among other things, she commented that the performers in my upcoming comedy drama are above 30 years of age. So I said that while we were in the twenties, we were focused in our career and looking for girlfriend (or boyfriend). When we were in the thirties, we realized that certain statistics should not have been increased was shot up – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hyper-tension, etc. That prompted us to join Pacesetters Club. On the other hand, we should be shooting up the corporate ladder but that was slow in forthcoming. That prompted us to joint Toastmasters Club to improve the communication or public speaking skills.

Lunch

It was most satisfying to be able to complete the 20km training run. With that, I rewarded myself to a hearty lunch of nasi kandar at the Di Kayu Penang Nasi Kandar at USJ with added rice, together with a big glass of teh tarik. Yeah, this is life.

By KC