Briefly about me

Welcome to my blog! This blog is primarily about the sport I have come to love- running. Yup, you read that right- “come to love”. You see, up to 3 years ago, I regarded running over 200 metres as an anathema. How things have changed since. It started out fairly innocently- trying out brother’s Nike Prestos by jogging around my neighbourhood, urged by Jeanne. Running once a week progressed to twice a week; then three times a week, and so forth. The first running book I ever picked up and read, in 2002, was Amby Burfoot's book. That was pretty much the catalyst that really got me into running; I was running around KLCC park for 30 minutes at a time, about 5k each time. It has been a gradual progress since- the first time I ran 10k was at KLCC park, and I was sooooo tired, but felt a sense of achievement.

Gradually, I increased my mileage, running on the average of 6km a day until I was confident enough to run my first race in 2002- my “home” race, being the MPSJ 10k. I completed the race in 51:56. I didn’t run in any more races after that- I continued running for another year until I was comfortably running close to 70 k a week. I ran the MPSJ 10k again in 2003 (my second race ever), this time completing in 50:45.

2004 was a good year for me- I decided to enter more 10k races, sometime from August onwards- I started out in the Klang Quarter marathon, where I completed the almost 10k course in 42:11. Then came the MPAJ run, where I ran around 49:00. Thereafter came the Adidas King of the Road in September, where I ran around 48:30, and met a whole bunch of new friends- Ronnie, Jamie, Azwar, Kenneth, Andrew, Bernice, Rohaizad, Newton and so forth. From then on running was no longer a lonesome activity. Over the next few months I started running with the group known as the Pacemakers (of which I’m proud to say that I’m now a part of) at KLCC park, and also joined Ronnie and Azwar for their speed sessions at Kampung Pandan. Since then I think I’ve improved tremendously- I strongly believe that the Pacemakers have helped me understand the physiology of running better, when to run hard/easy, speed work, long and tempo runs, and so on. More importantly I enjoy the camaraderie and rapport among the runners- like we are part of a special group. With that, many of the workouts don’t seem so tiring anymore. Long runs and speed work are definitely better enjoyed with fellow runners. Running the 20ks at Bukit Aman, starting at 6.00am was definitely made easier with my friends.

Since then I have met more runners- all of whom share the same passion for the sport- John Tan, Adam Loh, Cheong, Sim Boon Haw, Kenny Tan, Jason Lim, Ajeep, the group at Kampung Pandan- I’ve never made so many friends in a short space of time! And of course how can I forget Coach Chan Chee Seng- what a man. Dare I say that he is the Bill Bowerman or Arthur Lydiard of Malaysia. He coaches the group of us at Kampung Pandan every Tuesday and Thursday, not for a fee- but for the love of running, and desire to see the average runner improve his times. Always approachable and willing to dispense advice to runners of all abilities.

I’ve also run in my first ever PJ Half Marathon, where I ran around 1:35 (if I’m not mistaken) for the 19.5 k distance. That gave me the confidence to try the 21k portion of the Singapore Marathon, which turned out to be my last race of 2004. I completed the course in 1:36.53.

My first race of 2005 was the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon. That race report will be out soon.

Well, that’s a little about me.