Pacemakers Anniversary Run 2006

When: 3rd June 2006

Where: KLCC Park

The latest Pacemakers Anniversary Run 2006 ("PAR 2006") took an interesting format. Unlike the previous 2 runs, this particular edition took the format of a relay. The total laps to be run was set at 8; Each team were designated 4 runners, each of slightly differing abilities. Each runner was to run 2 laps. It was all in the name of fun, and what the Pacemaker captain Ronnie See would term as "Der Spirit of Der Pia"- loosely translated to mean "The spirit of running ALL OUT". I'm reminded of a quote from the late Steve Prefontaine when he said "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift". Coincidentally, I was (partially) living the life of Prefontaine (i.e. partying to the wee hours of the morning notwithstanding, waking up early in the morning to run). Although I was running the PAR 2006 on Saturday morning, on Friday night I had to attend my wife's friend's birthday do at Zeta Bar, at the Hilton in KL Sentral. So there I was at Zeta bar from 1030pm onwards, having some drinks and enjoying the music. I managed to slip out unnoticed (probably because the wife's friends were already pretty inebriated at the time), around 1245am. By the time I finally hit the sack, it was about 130am. Set my alarm for 6am.

The song "True" from Spandau Ballet woke me up at 6am. You see, I had set the alarm tone on my handphone to be that song so that I'm woken up "gently". I hit the snooze button on my phone- or so I thought. Evidently I had hit the "Stop" button instead, so that the alarm would not ring again after the set time of 9 minutes. After lying in bed for a while I woke up only to find that it was already 640am- YIKES! I jumped out of bed and got myself ready.

A strong cup of coffee later, I was out the door. The song by LL Cool J featuring JLo was blaring from my car stereo. I love that song! It was certainly a good pick-me-up and gave me the impetus to run hard. Still, I wasn't too confident because I didn't feel I was in good enough shape. I had only started running "seriously" again in the last month, and the workouts at Lake Gardens have been rather topsy-turvy- good on some days, bad on other days.

Arrived at KLCC park around 715pm. It was good to be at the park which gave me so many good memories. The whole PM gang, our runs together, the bench. Sigh, when will I ever get to run there with the gang again?

Sentiments aside, I headed to the large group who were converged at around the 700 meter mark. The usual faces were there- but it is as if I haven't seen them in ages. Ronnie, Newton, Jamie, DK, Kevin Chow, the Penguins, Rachel, Cheong, Sim, Rohaizad, Jason, tey Eng Tiong, Kenny Tan, Khoo Yit Kiat, Ah Toh; practically everyone were there. After exchanging plesantries, I got into my running gear and did some warm up around the track. After the briefing by Ronnie, it was time to start the race.

I was in a team called "Der TNS Team" comprising Newton, Jamie and Cheong. We didn't have any specifc race strategy or plan- we were just there to have fun. Fun aside, our only strategy was to try to cover our designated 2 laps as quickly as we could. We were dressed in the Nike 15k 2004 vest, which was predominatly blue in colour, with some yellow colour around the shoulder area, down to the armpits. The following were the order of runners for Der TNS team- Cheong, Jamie, Newton and myself as the last runner.

The race started around 740am. By the end of the 1st lap, you could tell that the runners are really giving it their all. Our first runner, Cheong, was also hammering the pace! I'm not sure if he set a PR for his one lapper but he certainly looked like he was flying. It was then that I started getting concerned about my pacing. I have not run in KLCC park for some time so it was hard to gauge exactly how much effort I should put into each lap. So I started doing some strides, and though of running alongside Jamie (when his turn came up) just to get a feel of the pace.

Cheong arrived at the exchange-of-baton point, and his face showed it all- he was suffering. Next up- Jamie, who zoomed off. I decided to run the other way round of the KLCC track,i.e clockwise, and to tag along with Jamie around the 200 meters mark.

Having checked my watch, I knew that Der TNS team was about 1 plus minute behind our nearest "rivals", the Penguins.

So arrived Jamie at the 100 meters mark, and I ran alongside him. Man, he was really flying! At the completion of the lap, I asked for his time- 5:20 something, if I remember correctly. I thought to myself, "ok, now I know how much effort I need to expend for the 2 laps".

By the end of his 2nd lap, Jamie looking ragged (for obvious reasons) passed the baton to Newton. Once again, Newt was flying. By the time he passed the baton to me, he looked like he was crying! His face really looked that way.

So off I went. Although I had lost all hope of catching up on the Penguins, my plan was to gain around 30 seconds on them. When I started the run, I could see some 160 meters away that Eric (the final runner for the Penguins) was being paced by his 3 other teammates. I ran as hard as I could, and by the end of the first lap I was starting to suffer. Nearing the end of the first lap, I asked Jamie what my time was- 5:15. Sweet! I knew I was running at a decent pace. Still, onto the 2nd lap, I was starting to feel the pace and wondered if I could ever catch up on the Penguins. I trudged along, suffering until around the 100 meter mark (when the track is just downhill all the way towards the finish line) when I saw the Penguins around the 200 meter mark. I then got a 2nd wind and started flying. Past the 200 meters mark, I was rapidly gaining on them. I managed to overtake them around the 250 meter mark. By now, my breathing was laboured, my legs were stiffening, my body rebelling against my willpower and heart. I gave it one last all out push to the finish line.

Having completed the 2 laps, I was breathing very heavily, but felt a sense of satisfaction. I immediately checked my time for the 2nd lap, which was slower than the 1st lap, but still not too far off, the time being 5:28.

Der TNS team managed to finish in 6th place (out of 9 teams), which was excellent.

Trophies were handed to every team, with the main sponsor Tan Sri Rohaizad handing out the trophies. Der Young and dangerous team won the race. For more details, please visit Ronnie's site.

It was a well organised event; simple and sweet. Whoever came out with the ingenuine idea of using fax rolls and spraying it silver in colour as the baton, I salute you. I had absolutely no idea! I thought it was a small metal baton.

The runners hung around for a while after the race, chatting. It was a great way to spend the morning. I felt so alive again. I realised how much I missed the camarderie-ship of the runners.

By 10am most of us had left the park.

I took Jason to the KL Sentral LRT station on my way back.

On a sad note, Chen (PM8) is down with dengue. I wish him a speedy recovery. Certainly, all the runners would know that Chen never gives anything less than his best, so Chen if you're reading this, Der Spirit of Der Pia is for you. Get well soon!