KL GE Pacesetters 30km on 21 Jan`07 (Sun)

Pre-race
Heard good review of the Pacesetters 30km run from DR and DO -- so many SgRunners signed up way in advance. Thanks to sotong, shutelup, freddy n renoh for the logistic support -- to book train tix, coach tix and hotel. While most of the group were taking the Friday overnite train to KL, 5 of us (LaoKaYu, fennel, George, tktan and me) opt for 2-way coach and set off for KL on Sat morning 7.30am. We took the Transtar First Class coach(16 seater) for the first time -- very impressed with the spacious seat, large personal LCD with wide selection of video on demand(VoD), meal served on board etc. With one toilet break, we arrived in KL at 12.30pm -- wow, that's fast and I had yet to finish my 3rd movie! P.S. Had breakfast of Thai Chicken Noodle @ Golden Mile Complex while waiting for the coach.


We walked from Pasarakyat Bus Terminal to Coronade Hotel in Bukit Bintang -- as the rooms were not ready for check-in, we left our bags @ the hotel and went to Lot 10 food court for lunch. Had hot plate yee mee and cold 'liu wei' dessert -- my yee mee had the same taste as tktan's "bee che mak" coz the same multi-purpose sauce was used. After lunch, we returned to the hotel to check in and went shopping @ Sungei Wang. Came back empty handed -- by then, the hotel lobby was crowded with many SgRunners -- waiting to collect the race pack from IMD's wife, Yee Hua. Everyone exchanging tales of train/coach ride and what food they had makan so far. Wah, my number tag is D911 -- nice! DO came by to strike a deal with me -- if he win any prize, he would give 100% to me; if I win any prize, I would give 50% to him. I readily agreed coz there was no chance of me winning any prize with so many fast runners :P This race was juz one of my LD training runs for Nagano Marathon in April :)


My sailing buddy, SL, had moved to KL and we arranged to meet up for dinner. tktan joined me and we took the LRT from Bukit Bintang to Hang Tuah (wow, the LRT was packed to the brim!) and transfer to Star Line to Sri Petaling where SL came to pick us up. Boy, it was pouring elephants and pigs! Due to some construction work near the train station, SL had some difficulty getting over. Well, we finally got into her car and she drove us to her apartment 20-30min drive away. Her husband. Yoo, is a rafting guide and he was out on a rafting trip. We had a good chat while waiting for her husband to come back and join us for dinner. But he was held up and unable to make it for dinner. So SL drove tktan and me to a nice local Chinese restaurant where they frequent. We had a yummy spread of ABC soup, steamed African fish (Teochew Style), house specialty beancurd and stir fry veg -- thanks to SL for giving us a treat (all these cost RM35 only)! Met up with Yoo at their apartment -- we had not met for 2 years! In the mist of catching up, we watched an action-pack video of his rafting trip. As we had to wake up early for the next day's race, SL sent us to the train station ard 9pm. Hope to meet up with them when they visit Singapore soon :) By then, the rain had stop and the train ride back was nice with view of the skyline. It was 10pm when we reached the hotel. After a hot shower, I packed my race gear and zzz at 11pm.


Race Day
Woke up at 4am and ate 2 raisin buns with water. Rub deep heat on my feet, shin and ITB. Went down to the lobby at 4.45am where the shuttle bus was waiting to send us to the start point. The bus journey was full of laughter -- everyone was in a fun and relax mood. First thing we did after getting off the bus was to head for the toilet. After a group pic and deposit my bag, tktan and me went for a warm-up run followed by stretching exercises. We reported to the marshalls, received a colored band and moved closer to the start line. The run flagged off promptly at 6am. Had a slow start due to the crowd -- managed to move ahead and settled in my cruising pace. Weather was cool and cloudy. tktan, who was strong in running upslopes, took the lead and soon I lost him in the crowd. At first, there were street lights and I could see with my prescriptive sunglass. As the run progressed, some parts of the route was not lit and became pitch DARK to me -- had to remove my sunglass and ran like a blind mice :( Slow down considerably for fear of stepping into pot holes. As warned by IMD, the terrain was hilly with slopes after slopes. Thanks to NUS Hill Run, I tackled each upslope slowly and "flew" down each downslope. Drank at every water station with half cup of water and half cup of endurox. At strategic point, we were handed colored bands.

Didn't spot any distance marker and kinda of running @ smell flower pace. Had company of same few guys -- overtook them @ downslopes and they overtook me @ upslopes. Was calculating the distance based on water stations (supposed to be at every 4km mark -- erhmm, I took 1h 22min for 12km (must have ran super slow in the darkness and at the upslope). Then I saw the runners in the opposite direction -- consoled myself that the half way mark should be near. KPO and searched for familiar faces at the runners on the return leg. Spotted Kumaran, teelee and DO and gave them the thumb up. No sign of my running buddy tktan -- maybe I missed him among the runners. Where is the U-turn point? The road was never ending... Then saw the sign "water station 100m ahead", picked up speed to grab the drinks. Collected a color band and asked the marshalls what was the distance -- 2 of them replied in unison "10km more". Haa haa, I had miscalculated the distance all this while - felt a sudden spur of energy and picked up pace, YEAH! Saw many SgRunners (BR, fennel, roentgen, shut, tigger, hohorunner, JT, gentle etc.) on my way back -- gave them all a thumb up. Then I heard IMD calling out names from behind -- shouting encouragement at the same time. Soon he was beside me and encouraged me with "good pace" before running "leisurely" ahead. IMD became my target and kept him in sight at a comfortable distance.

Overtook some runners and an Ang Mo greeted me with "Good morning! How are you doing?". I replied "Great. Keep going! We are almost there!". Saw the back view of Bee (she was running 20km and walking up the slope) -- gave her a thumb up as I ran passed. As I entered Lake Garden, heard a familiar voice calling out "Doreen, I am coming from behind" -- tktan caught up with me and asked me to chiong to the finish line. Hey, thought he was infront of me (found out later that his left knee hurt @ the 4km mark and he stopped to ease the pain)! I was conserving my energy for the final sprint till I see the finish line. Saw Ripley(SgRunners photographer) and gave her a broad smile with Victory sign. YES, saw the finish line 50m ahead -- widened my stride and dashed thru the finish line (kickjazz was snapping pic at the end point -- thanks!). Hurray, completed 30km in 2h 45min(unofficial) -- under my target of 3 hours!

Post Race
Was given a number card "14", returned the colored bands, collected the finisher's goodie bag and t-shirt. My shoulder blades cramped up and tktan helped to relieve the pain with shoulder massage. DR and Freddy came over to ask whether I was ok. Luckily this time was not as bad as SCSM06, the cramp subsided soon. Met DO and told him that I dun have prize to share with him :( He gave me an ice cream as reward for running so hard :) tktan and me then stationed ourselves at the milo van and gulped down 2 cups of milo and endurox each. Went to collect my bag and we did warm down stretch by the lake. We returned to the makan area and joined the rest of SgRunners. Everyone did well to meet the cut off time. I drank a bottle of water mixed with Recoverite, courtesy from George. There was a sumptous spread of food -- dou hua, fried bee hoon, nasi lemak, chendol etc. I had a bowl of dou hua while tktan ate dou hua and nasi lemak. Not sure whether it was the dou hua or Recoverite, I had stomach upset -- thanks to tktan for giving me his last supply of toilet paper.


We took a ride with the Safra runners to KL city and walked back to Coronade Hotel. After a quick shower and pack our bags, all of us checked out at 12pm. As we were catching the 3.30pm coach, we opt to have lunch nearby -- in case of rain. So 9 of us went to Secret Recipe @ Lot 10 -- tktan n George had lamb stew; fennel, Ripley, run3, LaoKaYu, babumouse had chicken chop; ronnie had fish n chip; and I had vietnamese beef noodles. After lunch, we walked over to MacDonalds -- I wanna get the Spicy Beef Foldover (craving for this since KL Mizuno Wave Run last year!). The coach ride back to Singapore was smooth except for a brief traffic jam -- reached Singapore @ 9.30pm. Oh, we took the premium class coach(37 seater) back -- definitely less spacious, smaller LCD and no VoD, but still good as the massage functions was great and a meal was served on board.


Water station 1 : 27:48min
Water station 2 : 29:56min --> 59:45min
Water station 3 : 24:25min --> 1h22:10min
Water station 4 : 26:55min --> 1h49:06min
Water station 5 : 26:55min --> 2h16:01min
End point : 29:48min --> 2h45:49min

P.S. A very fun weekend with lots of laughter and cheer. Ran with no expectation at a smell-flower pace. Enjoyed the hilly terrain and seeing so many familar faces along the route. Weather n traffic control were superb! Hope to do the same at Nagano Marathon -- enjoy the sakura and beautiful scenery while not being chase up the bus :)

Distance : 30km
Time : 2 h 45min
Avg pace : 5:30min/km