Klang 10k

Sunday, 31st July

I was gently awakened by the "polite" ring tone of my handphone at 530am. I didn't sleep too well and was contemplating not going for the race. Some 9 minutes later, the handphone rang again (since the alarm was set to snooze) and I decided to get off the bed and go for the race. I left the house at 6am.

I found a parking spot not too far away from the Klang track (I can't remember the name now) and to my pleasant surprise found that Jason and Jamie were parked right in front of me. After a brief exchange with them, I headed to the track.

To make a long story short, the race which was supposed to start at 7am ended up starting at almost 730am instead. Read Jamie's report.

When the race started, I saw Ronnie blasting off, as did Khoo Yit Kiat. As it turned out, Ronnie's early surge proved to be critical/decisive point which resulted in him beating me, Chen and Kenny.

I was locked in a 3 way battle with Chen and Kenny for most of the race. It was pretty interesting because each of us were taking turns with the "lead". Chen, despite his claim that he hardly slept the night before, was running very very well and Kenny looked very strong too, despite his recent return from Aceh (and not running much). Everything was fine and dandy until we had to climb up a flight of stairs which led to a pedestrian link to a flyover. From the hard effort I was running I had to practically slow down to a jog as I gingerly negotiated my way through the wet and puddled floor surface, which consisted of tiles measuring around 1 sq foot each. That really spoiled my rhythm.

Later came a steep 45 degree slope covered with grass. This seemed more like a cross country race. Once again, I gingerly worked my way through that slope. Chen and Kenny were far braver than I was.

Towards the end of the race past the Majlis Perbandaran Klang, Chen surged past me and I didn't respond. But I managed to maintain my position and completed the race in 43:28. According to Ronnie I finished in 53rd position, good enough for me to earn a medal.

After the race I saw Ajeep and we chatted briefly. We then headed for Bak Kut Teh but I had to leave fairly early because I had an appointment.

Next race- Putrajaya half.