I am Back!

“R-i-n-g …” the alarm clock triggered, interrupting my dream. While I was still in my slumber, I ran my hands along the table next to my bed, trying to locate the alarm clock in darkness. In the moment of vagueness, I thought that why the alarm triggered so soon – I still need more sleep.

The model (Weng) - showing the new Pacesetters T-shirt

I have not been waking up at the unearthly hour of 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning for a long, long time. So, this morning, it is time that I resume running at Bukit Aman area to gauge my fitness level and also to test run the Adidas Response CSH 16 classic running shoes by courtesy of Adidas Malaysia. I did not call any other runners in my group other than Weng.

I arrived at Bukit Aman car park at 5:55 a.m. to find that the car park was almost 80 % full. With the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon soon to be held on 30 March 2008, it was indeed a peak time for training as the Chinese New year loh sang and yum seng were over.
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Back view of T-shirt

I always feel good to be able to stand tall at the Retaining Wall of Bukit Aman – the starting area for all great training runs. It is good to be back! For the past one year when I was undergoing recovery for my right heel, I have been visualizing it at times.

Starting Area

I met the following Pacesetters runners at the starting area: John Tan, Tai, Patrick, Jenny Lee, PK Chan, Munning, WanYL, Kim, Lok and many others.
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The new Pacesetters T-shirts were snapped up within minutes

Mr. WanYL, Past President of Pacesetters Club, said that most of his friends and business associates who are at his age do not run anymore except him. And they are quite surprised that Mr. Wan is still actively involved in running.

I was running with AngCK. He was running with a group of Pacesetters runners from the Permaisuri Group. They have their daily training runs at the Permaisuri garden while reserving the long runs on Sunday morning. It was indeed a good idea. Possibly, the Subang Jaya Group (I am from there) runners could do their long runs at Bukit Aman area on Sunday morning too.

Yes! It looks good

While running at a comfortable pace and conversing with AngCK, running was much easier and the uphill run after Bank Negara Malaysia was overcome with ease. At the junction to Double-hill (10km route) I bade him goodbye while he continued with his journey en route to Sri Hartama (20km route).

When I was running at the peaceful neighborhood and greenery of Double-hill area, I reckon that it is worth all the effort to wake up early, drive 30km to Bukit Aman and run there.
Michelle Tan - Ran the GE30km Run 2008 recently

Back at Bukit Aman Car Park

One of the attractions of running at Bukit Aman area was to meet runner’s friends. Since we share common interest in running, runners click very well. Among others, they were John Tan, Daniel Tan, Chooi Lin, Tammy, Christopher, Jimmy, Michael Lim, Fikri.

I met Michelle Tan and Ashley Lim, both girls look good in the photos taken by Jason Lee while running in the GE30k Run and KL Towerthon Challenge 2008.
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Lee and Daniel Tan - Delivering a riveting election ceramah? ... :-)

The most popular greetings to me were: “Wah! Have not seen you for a long, long time”.

While the most popular reply from me was: “Yeah! I have not been setting foot here for one year. It is good to be back”.
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FiKri - doing warm-down exercise after the run ... matching red

The Club President, Munning, took out some new yellow Pacesetters T-shirts of quick-dry material selling at RM 15 each. It is value for money, better than the conventional cotton type. They were sold out instantly. Munning said more stock shall be available next Sunday morning.

While talking to Christopher, a few of the runners were looking at my shoes. Presumably, they already knew that I was testing the new adidas running shoes.
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John Tan with the new road racing bike (Lok in yellow)

I later chatted with John Tan, who bought a brand new Scott road racing bicycle a day before. It was a stunning black ‘stallion’ (or beauty) lined with red, much to the admiration of other runners.
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Favourite stall for runners at Bukit Aman

I later went for a teh tarik drink - my favorite beverage after a long run - at the stall nearby when most runners have left. Sitting there alone reminded me of the happy days chatting happily with the other Penguin Runners after the training runs.

To be continued… The report on Adidas running shoes

Written by KC