Third edition sees 3,200 runners participate
Spring Live Active Run 2012 is where my love affair with running began. It was a mere 5km for me but I had trained like it was a full marathon. I remember running the entire route time and again as I had absolutely no confidence in myself. I was over-weight and lacked stamina even for such a short distance. Since that run, which turned out to be much easier than I had thought, I have gone on from strength to strength. Last year (click
here to learn more) I managed to get my PB of 2:30 there. I make no secret that I train for the full marathon, so it was a pleasant surprise to run faster than I usually do. This year I had no plans to PB since all my training runs have been for endurance. However since I did follow the wonderful pacers from the
Hornbill Pacesetters Running Club, I managed to go at a considerably faster pace for the first 17km. My plan was to start slowing down at km14. I followed and chatted with George Chapman (Malaysia's newest Marathon Maniac. Click
here to lean more) and Justin Yeo, the 2:45 pacers. Then I caught up with the 2:30 pacers and chatted with Shannon Bala (another Marathon Maniac, click
here to learn more) and Desmond Sahathevan.
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| My first official run |
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| Skipped 10km for the second edition |
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| Our pacers from the Hornbill Pacesetters Running Club |
This year I was early for the run and was able to snap away. The loud music and funfare of last year's event seemed to be missing. Even the crowd that gathered seemed to be more sedate. I took this as nerves for when the show of hands came for first time 21km runners many hands shot up, including yours truly, who got catcalls for it too. Several runners came up to me to say they read my blog. Thank you to the female Ekiden runner who shouted, "I am from KL. I read your blog," along Jalan Astana, that helped more than any energy gel could. By the way I only took one gel at km10. Since I wasn't going all out didn't feel it was necessary to take more. I ran with two hydration bottles out of habit more than anything else. These were filled with Gatorade, since I prefer that to the carbonated isotonic drinks provided. I must say the early going was great. The weather was nice and a cool breeze blew throughout. In fact it was ideal conditions for a fast run. It was nice seeing so many familiar faces. Where I got the chance I chatted with a couple. Nice to see how well some of them did too.
There was no untoward incidents when I ran. The pacers did a fine job in keeping the runners around them informed of the conditions ahead. In fact at times I thought they did a better job than the other personnel on the road. Things always gets interesting when the 10km runners converge with the 21km at the Old Court House area. That is when we are faced with the 'bouncy' runners and the walkers. My favourite are those who dash off and walk and then dash off again. Well it's all in the spirit of fun. They too are enjoying themselves. When we hit Sekama Road we met up with the 5km runners. So the road does get a bit crowded with runners and walkers. Half the road is closed along this stretch. I usually like to make a great finish for the cameramen. Luckily for me a nice action shot was captured. My thanks to Hobart Kho for that. I have posted lots of pics belong. Most of which are from my camera. The rest are from my friends: Azizul "Selfie King" Razak, Teresa Attley and Olivia Jikus. I will add more pictures when available.
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| Oops! I ran it again. |
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulation Chong Kir Jui, one of our Kuching runners who ran his first ultra at the
Back 2 Endurance Ultra on the same day. Kir Jui ran 71.3km in 11 hours 44 minutes. In fact he went on to finish 16th! That is a wonderful achievement for someone doing a 12 hour run which involves 2.3km loops. I would have gone loopy if I had done so. Hopefully many more Kuching runners will join more such runs in the future and bring home the knowledge gained to help our other homegrown talent. The
Kuching Marathon will be held on 17th August, so many of the runners running the
Spring Live Active Run will be participating in our newest event in the city too. Hopefully the lessons learned during this run will help them run that race too. For those who still have the running bug, there will be the
Momentum Run Series 4 on 12th July. It will be a night run. The distance will be 25km. There will also be a special finisher t-shirt for those who complete that run.
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| Chong Kir Jui holding up his silver trophy |
Now we get to the Spring pics...
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| Running couple - Wong Mei Foong and Johil James Marop |
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| Mike Cheng, Wilson Ng and Gabriel Frank |
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| Mike, Gabriel, Muhammad Ariff and Nasa Zaidul |
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| Chan Thian Siang and Mary Anne Hendroff-Chapman |
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| Alexis Ngui and his son Adam |
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| Marie Albert and me |
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| Anthony Huang and me |
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| Daljit Singh, me and Arturo Rangel |
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| Arturo and Alana with Azizul |
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| Ready to run |
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| Azizul Razak and me |
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| Happy faces galore! |
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| John Lonhienne (open mouth) part of Ekiden winning team |
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| Teresa Attley and Donna Drury Wee |
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| Snack time! |
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| Julia Kew, teacher and mother of four, makes top 50! |
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| Many happy runners... |
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| Teresa Attley with Nasa |
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| Nasa finishing with Banu Taz |
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| This is a very interesting pic... |
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| Am not going to name names here. Just too many! |
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| They said they read my blog |
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| Race Director of KM: Philip Chua |
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| Evelin Ruman with her daughter Jasmine, and Nasa |
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| Lina Khoo ran her first 5km at Spring |
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| Beauties who run! |
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| Even the youngest join in too! |
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| Olivia Jikus collects another top 50 finisher |
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| Nasa with Cornelia Tan |
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| Daljit with his lady |
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| A jubilant Julia with Nasa and Reuben Su |
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| Me with Alexis Ngui |
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| Alana Radford wins the women's 5km. DBKU Mayor in pic too |
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| Leo Bean goes by many names. His team won the Ekiden relay |
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| Me with Chen, my favourite running docter |
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| Nasa reunited with her gang who ran at BIM FM |
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| Liked the cute cat ears! |
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| Mr Wong Chen Yi (KMA President) and Mike Cheng with me |
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| The Kong sisters sandwich! |
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| Ekiden 3rd: Carolyin, Lei Pang, Fizaly and Saurubi from KL |
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| Seldom use anything but my name... So this is rare |
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| Three years worth of Top 50 finishers - Olivia Jikus |
The selected pics below are from the collection of photographer Shamsuri Sahari. Those interested in getting higher resolution pics can email him at shamsurisahari@gmail.com
