MDCC NYE Fun Run
So, as mentioned in the 2014 recap before, the above was the final race that we had for 2014. Didn't consider it as a real race, as it was a race with the kiddos. But it was a good enough race to deserve a quick update here.
Mutiara Damansara has been 1 of the favourite spots for New Year Eve (NYE) celebration. We never joined any, once married and with kids. With the associated traffic jam with the celebration, that makes it an even big no. So this year is an exception. I think this is the first time that they organised a running event here. Being able to introduce the kids to a new atmosphere of running, which is the night run, and with medals for everyone, who would want to say no.
The race pack was collected 1 week before. We picked it up after our Gasing hike. I like the way they organised the race pack collection. Very organised and generous. We got free kids' entrance to Kidzania even. The Brooks race tshirt was also just as nice. at RM 40 for a couple of an adult and a kid, it is indeed cheap and generous.
I was working right until 31st December. That left me a limited time before race time. Lucky everyone was also on holiday mood. Despite my plans of leaving office slightly earlier, I was still one of the last person to leave the office. The traffic back was surprisingly fine. Given the NYE coming and the upcoming long breaks, it was quite odd.
I only had the time to organise the shirts and race bibs upon reaching home. Then only I realised that they are giving away torchlights as well. Another point of generosity here. This means another thing as well, we had to leave slightly earlier to pick up the items. We are very much the JIT type. if the race is going to start at 9, we can even reach there by 8.30. Even then, that is still considered very early. With the item to be picked up, we then had to reach maybe around 8? The info says registration starts from 7 even. We had the kids have a light dinner, knowing full well that they would be grumpy out of hunger before the race even start. And we managed to leave the house at 7.30. Traffic is the main concern here. As it turned out, the traffic was again, not too bad. It was congested alright, but that is always the case with the area. So to have a smooth traffic and reaching the venue around 8, on a NYE, it was a huge blessing.
While getting our torchlights, they were also giving out running ponchos and helium balloons for everyone. Another generosity point as well. Balloons was limited however. So being the considerate us, we just took 3 for our family, one for each kids. Qaisar would be delighted with the helium balloons. Must reserve one for him.
It was a confined starting area, right in front of Kidzania. But cause the number of participants was quite limited, it was controllable. Having reached the venue quite early, we had to wait quite boringly there. There was no proper effort to separate out the different category though. So family fun run could have joined the 5km competitive run. And if that was the case, it is of no good to anyone. The family fun run may have to take the longer route. The competitive runners would be bothered by the slow fun run runners. Stampede can even happen. And participants for the competitive run can be really competitive. since few strong regular runners were seen as well. One of them being The Marathon Orange. But for us, we waited for our time to come and started off at the stipulated time.
We were wondering how would they manage the road closure for the race. Mutiara Damansara is a heavily congested area. With kids participating, I was hoping that there would be proper road closure. It was closed alright, but only to a limited extend. It was closed only along the Tesco, leading towards the Petronas junction, after which, cars were allowed to pass by. for safety we had to run on the pavements. Being with the kids and in the dark was not helping at all. Until we crossed over to the housing area of Mutiara Damansara. That gave us quite a car traffic breather. But it didn't really save us from the human traffic. We had to weave around as well, even with the kids. There were still cars passing by, despite minimal. So we were consumed with managing the kids' pace, the incoming cars, and the human traffic. After the Mutiara Damansara neigbourhood path was clearly, we had to merge into the main road again, which was busy with traffic, right in front of the Curve. To make matters worse, we had to cross the traffic. There was police traffic manning the road alright, but we still had to be wary ourselves. Traffic is always an issue with races in major cities nowadays.
As for the kids, they did great. They managed to slow down now. But Qaid likes to huff and puff sometime through the race and I think it's just making him lost his energy even more. Qays was good, he talked less and maintain his pace and wasn't playing much. as we merged into the busy road, I was speeding up with Qays, overtaking people and grown ups one after another (there were way so many walkers). One of the motivator was there was another little girl whom we had constantly pace along with, and she was slightly at the front. So I asked Qays to overtake her, and he took up the challenge. We sprinted at the final stretch, even the guards were worried how we sped up, in case there were incoming cars (that's how bad the traffic was). And Qays finished first before Qaid. There were only minmal walks throughout the run. It could have been avoided even, but I didn't want to push the boys too much. But they have definitely grown so much throughout the year. The first long race was in Milo Breakfast Day Run 2014 and we had to piggy back them. This time, they were mostly on their own, running with a decent pace, sprinted at the finish, overtaking many others. A lot of improvement for them. Towards an improved Fitfam
Mutiara Damansara has been 1 of the favourite spots for New Year Eve (NYE) celebration. We never joined any, once married and with kids. With the associated traffic jam with the celebration, that makes it an even big no. So this year is an exception. I think this is the first time that they organised a running event here. Being able to introduce the kids to a new atmosphere of running, which is the night run, and with medals for everyone, who would want to say no.
The race pack was collected 1 week before. We picked it up after our Gasing hike. I like the way they organised the race pack collection. Very organised and generous. We got free kids' entrance to Kidzania even. The Brooks race tshirt was also just as nice. at RM 40 for a couple of an adult and a kid, it is indeed cheap and generous.
I was working right until 31st December. That left me a limited time before race time. Lucky everyone was also on holiday mood. Despite my plans of leaving office slightly earlier, I was still one of the last person to leave the office. The traffic back was surprisingly fine. Given the NYE coming and the upcoming long breaks, it was quite odd.
I only had the time to organise the shirts and race bibs upon reaching home. Then only I realised that they are giving away torchlights as well. Another point of generosity here. This means another thing as well, we had to leave slightly earlier to pick up the items. We are very much the JIT type. if the race is going to start at 9, we can even reach there by 8.30. Even then, that is still considered very early. With the item to be picked up, we then had to reach maybe around 8? The info says registration starts from 7 even. We had the kids have a light dinner, knowing full well that they would be grumpy out of hunger before the race even start. And we managed to leave the house at 7.30. Traffic is the main concern here. As it turned out, the traffic was again, not too bad. It was congested alright, but that is always the case with the area. So to have a smooth traffic and reaching the venue around 8, on a NYE, it was a huge blessing.
While getting our torchlights, they were also giving out running ponchos and helium balloons for everyone. Another generosity point as well. Balloons was limited however. So being the considerate us, we just took 3 for our family, one for each kids. Qaisar would be delighted with the helium balloons. Must reserve one for him.
It was a confined starting area, right in front of Kidzania. But cause the number of participants was quite limited, it was controllable. Having reached the venue quite early, we had to wait quite boringly there. There was no proper effort to separate out the different category though. So family fun run could have joined the 5km competitive run. And if that was the case, it is of no good to anyone. The family fun run may have to take the longer route. The competitive runners would be bothered by the slow fun run runners. Stampede can even happen. And participants for the competitive run can be really competitive. since few strong regular runners were seen as well. One of them being The Marathon Orange. But for us, we waited for our time to come and started off at the stipulated time.
We were wondering how would they manage the road closure for the race. Mutiara Damansara is a heavily congested area. With kids participating, I was hoping that there would be proper road closure. It was closed alright, but only to a limited extend. It was closed only along the Tesco, leading towards the Petronas junction, after which, cars were allowed to pass by. for safety we had to run on the pavements. Being with the kids and in the dark was not helping at all. Until we crossed over to the housing area of Mutiara Damansara. That gave us quite a car traffic breather. But it didn't really save us from the human traffic. We had to weave around as well, even with the kids. There were still cars passing by, despite minimal. So we were consumed with managing the kids' pace, the incoming cars, and the human traffic. After the Mutiara Damansara neigbourhood path was clearly, we had to merge into the main road again, which was busy with traffic, right in front of the Curve. To make matters worse, we had to cross the traffic. There was police traffic manning the road alright, but we still had to be wary ourselves. Traffic is always an issue with races in major cities nowadays.
As for the kids, they did great. They managed to slow down now. But Qaid likes to huff and puff sometime through the race and I think it's just making him lost his energy even more. Qays was good, he talked less and maintain his pace and wasn't playing much. as we merged into the busy road, I was speeding up with Qays, overtaking people and grown ups one after another (there were way so many walkers). One of the motivator was there was another little girl whom we had constantly pace along with, and she was slightly at the front. So I asked Qays to overtake her, and he took up the challenge. We sprinted at the final stretch, even the guards were worried how we sped up, in case there were incoming cars (that's how bad the traffic was). And Qays finished first before Qaid. There were only minmal walks throughout the run. It could have been avoided even, but I didn't want to push the boys too much. But they have definitely grown so much throughout the year. The first long race was in Milo Breakfast Day Run 2014 and we had to piggy back them. This time, they were mostly on their own, running with a decent pace, sprinted at the finish, overtaking many others. A lot of improvement for them. Towards an improved Fitfam
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