The Animazing Race - Report

SSPCA 10km Run

The Animazing Race on 12th October was something I really looked forward too. Maybe not for the run itself. Had run part of the route during my LSD last Sunday so was quite familiar with it. The nice thing about charity runs is seeing so many familiar faces and also all those new faces who don't usually participate in such events. The turn out for the race was a bit disappointing even though many had registered for it. I don't want to speculate why this is so. However am always happy to see runners proudly sporting their race t-shirts and bib numbers.  The grizzly veterans chose to wear their own drifit tops.  Yours truly is a sweats heavily so no cotton for me even on a fun run. Have had enough torture wearing cotton without even running.  Went early for the run to pass the last remaining race pack to one of my running buddies who I knew could win it.  Yes the mere whiff of free entry into the upcoming Penang International Bridge Marathon for the top 3 finishers had made things even more interesting...

Since it was open category running I just took it upon myself to have a good time.  When I run with camera in hand that means I just want to have fun.  Finished my final training run before I get serious next week in 1:12 which was much better than I expected.  In fact I was saving my legs for climbing Mount Serapi the very next day.  The climb consists of 5km up and 5km down.  It's just a road but can be very slippery when wet.  I went up in 1:27 which was a PB of sorts for me.  Going down was a tad treacherous but managed it in 53 minutes.  It's a wonder I didn't hurt myself.  However nothing beats the thrill of going downhill at speed. By the way the mountain is only 890m high so it isn't really a challenge.  But I am a heavyset person so going up is always hard.  Was using a hydration pack filled with 1.5L of isotonic drink too.  Running whether on a straight road or on a mountain is very addictive.  The hardest thing for me is to not run three days in a row and to remind myself I have a real race next week and don't want to get injured.

As for the Animazing Race, the results were as follows: For the Men's category, the winner was John Lonchienne, Mohamad Ajwad Morshidi came in second, and Kaliani Rajamanickom.  As for the Women's categpory, I was won by Eng Sia Jin, with Tang Sii Eng and Hii Yieng Nyuk coming in second and third respectively.  

Abdul Aziz, Karen Than, Nasa Zaidul

Meeting up with friends

Veterans and newbies together

Me and John Lonchienne

Christopher Sia, me and Reuben Su

The pink rabbit guy 

Some fast runners here

Kaliani Rajamanickom and me

Albert Tan and daughter

Lots of cops making our run route safe

Paced Brenda Eu who was running her first 10km

First water station

Even more cops and RELA members keeping watch

Second water station

Cops posing for me

Nasa happy to finish ahead of the guys

Winnie Tan, Caroline Ling and Bernard Lee

Wendy Ng, Brenda, me and Nasa

Camera hogs we be

Aziz and Karen 10km virgins no more

Me flanked by Brenda and Karen

Leo Bin (5th place) and me

The top 5 finishers

My race kit

The Wiggle Waggle Walk

Came back in the afternoon to watch the owners walk their dogs around the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), where the whole SSPCA event was held.  Was surprised to see quite a number of dogs that needed to be adopted.  Their handlers really had good bonds with their charges.  Dogs being dogs decided whether they wanted to go or not.  Some didn't even move while others just shot off like a bullet with their masters in tow.  The dogs came it all sizes and it's always nice seeing how much their owners pamper them after the walk.  Some dogs even refused to get up after the exertion and lapped happily at the water provided.  I took as many pics of the dogs as I possibly could.  I was a shame that nobody brought cats.  I was told that cats could participate if they were kept in their voyagers.  That meant it was up to the owners to walk really fast.  However even though I am the proud minder of a couple of cats I dared not risk it with many so many huge doggies around.  That night there was the WAG concert. I was just to zapped out to go even though I had tickets for it.  So there aren't any pictures of that event here.

Looking for any interesting pets?

I know there are people out there who craved even more exotic pets.  I like snakes and played around with a tiny albino King Snake.  It can grow up to a meter but is non-poisonous.  Let me tell you when out of it's container it can really move.  Look at the pics below and see if you can spot even more familiar critters... Being a cat lover I cannot keep any of them as I know what will happen if these creatures escape from their cages.  So I only enjoy them like this.  It's nice to see that such exotic animals are available in Kuching for a price.  I hope to visit the pet shop again soon to play with them.