King of Kg Kemensah 2016 - The Virgin Real Trail
This has to be one of the highlights of my running career. If we can call it that.
I was contemplating whether I should join this earlier on. I had doubts over the distance (never tried a long trail before, the longest was less than 10). There seems to be no one to join. I would have to end up on my own. Registered myself anyway in the end, since the fees had gone up and it looked like there were many take ups. Lucky, after I registered, hubs was interested as well, so we both registered. It was just a short term excitement as not long after that, hubs would have something on that weekend and had to pass the event. Lucky there was the bibs to sell page. I got a buyer almost immediately. At cost price. There was also another bad news as well. The event would clash with the postponed Superheroes Race 2016. We were so looking forward for the race this year, since we had such good time last year. First, the race was moved to Matrade instead of its original location in Bukit Jalil. Then, it had to be postponed to a later date since it clashed with another event in KL. Then it had to coincide with this King of Kg Kemensah event. What a bummer. In the name of the kids, hubs decided to rush his plan, and reach home for Superheroes Kids with the kids. It was supposed to be a divide and conquer event as well. But somehow, it was just not meant to be. The race didn't start how it was scheduled. and when my family reached, they race had started 15 minutes before that, and they were not allowed to run. Double bummer. Alhamdulillah the hubs and kids took it fine, and I managed to start and finish my race soundly.
Back to KOKK. It was another solo mission. Which I never seemed to mind now. No friends to go with. No one to hang around with. No biggie. I bumped into few familiar faces at the start. One of them was my school senior, who joined with her husband. And of course, the meetup with the iron lady of Malaysia's Women's Running, Karen Loh herself. She was so friendly, she was there just to help out and wanted to ensure that runner's well being was well taken care of. Runners are all selfless people like that. At least to most.
On nutirition, since it was a pack week, with less training and preparation, I had less to prepare for this as well. I brought my gels as usual and due to the lack of preparation, and hubs not being around in the weekend, I totally forgotten what I should actually be eating. I just had 2 pieces of bread and maybe coffee. I think. Usually, I would always ensure that I consumed some VCO, and sweet potato and coffee. All are energy pack food and energy boosters. But I didn't that time.
The race started on time. There was some officiation form some officials, which I never knew who it was until the event finishes. It was non other than Azmin Ali himself. So good of him to come at the wee hours in the morning (well, 7.30 is considered very early for an official event). Once I started, I got a call from hubs about what they had with their race. Lucky he was taking it well. They went to footie instead.
I was not at the lead pack. I knew there was no point being there. I was very pessimistic about this run. I was back from the business trip the week before. I reached home only late Saturday night. So Sunday run was definitely off the table. Then I only had 1 week to train. And of course, being in race week, I can never ramp up the training. Mileage from the week prior to the race was If my timing wasn't too bad, that was already good enough for me.
The tracks were quite slippery, due to the cleared path from the ATV activities. Luckily I managed to hold my balance quite well. I must have did quite ok with the yoga and the strengthening. This is the my important observation about the trails. Balance is the key. And of course, if it seems too steep and slippery, sometimes jumping over and had a quick one touch on the ground is much better than the seems to be secure slow and right footing.
There was small water streams, which didn't bother me much. Until we reached midpoint, where there was of course a wide, long and deep river crossing. It was not too deep, but enough to wet you to the knee at least. That is considered deep enough for me, in my first try to the real trail participation. But the water was oh so clear and cooling. Very much the same kind where people go for picnics. But of course, there was no picnicers there.
The crossing was enough to cool your body down. And this is another interesting findings about the trail. 1st, it was the balancing act, then now, the cooling atmosphere and the cooling water streams. Then the route led us up to an incline. Which was quite decent. I started to get the hang with trails where no inclines is big enough. While getting up, the faster runners started to make its way back. There were a bunch of ladies in front of course, even more added the reason not to hope for anything. There were kwailos even. Quite a few of them and quite surprising given how low profile this event was. At the end of the incline, there was a U-turn, which of course led us all the way back.
I was almost neck and neck with another lady. I knew she was quite competitive herself and may hoped to not letting me go pass her. I did anyhow in the end but gave a comforting feedback that she could catch up with me later on.
I caught up with few guys and there was suddenly a dog following us. And the dog stayed on, and I had to find solace from the guys. Lucky, the guy was there. I always have this issue with dogs. It was quite a while until the dog finally decided to let us go. We then reached the tarmac, about 2 km towards finishing line. Upon reaching the non-trail path, I hit into the 3rd finding about trail. The thing with trail is, no matter how tough the terrain was, it was not an all out, go as fast as you can, tempo like run pace. You need to instill patience and when the going gets tough, you slow down. With only few kms to go, I found the tarmac to be even tougher than the ups and downs of the trail. The flatter it is, the more reason you need to keep on, and has no excuse to stop and walk. I passed Karen Loh, who was walking towards the finishing line and cheered that I was the 5th girl. Still, it didn't occur to me that I would be getting any decent position.
So I kept on, with whatever that was left in me. I saw the finishing line in sight, and decided to give my last push. Upon reaching, I was given a tag and it read:
It was surreal. No. 3 means podium position. And it came as a complete surprise. And it was for the trail. And I was not supposed to even join this. And it paid me back well. And the guy whom I seeked solace from the dog from was nearby during the prize giving. And he had helped to snap my photos. I was totally on my own. And it didn't even bother me one bit. I left right after the prize giving. Had RM 150 prize money to treat the kid. Especially when they didn't even get to run their race.
Alhamdulillah for the opportunity. It was a fantastic opportunity. Never had I imagine that I can even be quite decent in this. Running gives back, what you put in. There's no uncertainty here. Only the love in return. And I then found my soft spot for the trails.
King of Kampung Ampang Trail 2016
Date: 10 April 2016
Venue: Kg Ampang, Ampang
Distance: 18.3 km
Position: 3
Official Time: 2:28:52 hrs
Personal Time: 2:28:51 hrs
Pace: 8:08 mins/km
I was contemplating whether I should join this earlier on. I had doubts over the distance (never tried a long trail before, the longest was less than 10). There seems to be no one to join. I would have to end up on my own. Registered myself anyway in the end, since the fees had gone up and it looked like there were many take ups. Lucky, after I registered, hubs was interested as well, so we both registered. It was just a short term excitement as not long after that, hubs would have something on that weekend and had to pass the event. Lucky there was the bibs to sell page. I got a buyer almost immediately. At cost price. There was also another bad news as well. The event would clash with the postponed Superheroes Race 2016. We were so looking forward for the race this year, since we had such good time last year. First, the race was moved to Matrade instead of its original location in Bukit Jalil. Then, it had to be postponed to a later date since it clashed with another event in KL. Then it had to coincide with this King of Kg Kemensah event. What a bummer. In the name of the kids, hubs decided to rush his plan, and reach home for Superheroes Kids with the kids. It was supposed to be a divide and conquer event as well. But somehow, it was just not meant to be. The race didn't start how it was scheduled. and when my family reached, they race had started 15 minutes before that, and they were not allowed to run. Double bummer. Alhamdulillah the hubs and kids took it fine, and I managed to start and finish my race soundly.
Back to KOKK. It was another solo mission. Which I never seemed to mind now. No friends to go with. No one to hang around with. No biggie. I bumped into few familiar faces at the start. One of them was my school senior, who joined with her husband. And of course, the meetup with the iron lady of Malaysia's Women's Running, Karen Loh herself. She was so friendly, she was there just to help out and wanted to ensure that runner's well being was well taken care of. Runners are all selfless people like that. At least to most.
On nutirition, since it was a pack week, with less training and preparation, I had less to prepare for this as well. I brought my gels as usual and due to the lack of preparation, and hubs not being around in the weekend, I totally forgotten what I should actually be eating. I just had 2 pieces of bread and maybe coffee. I think. Usually, I would always ensure that I consumed some VCO, and sweet potato and coffee. All are energy pack food and energy boosters. But I didn't that time.
The race started on time. There was some officiation form some officials, which I never knew who it was until the event finishes. It was non other than Azmin Ali himself. So good of him to come at the wee hours in the morning (well, 7.30 is considered very early for an official event). Once I started, I got a call from hubs about what they had with their race. Lucky he was taking it well. They went to footie instead.
I was not at the lead pack. I knew there was no point being there. I was very pessimistic about this run. I was back from the business trip the week before. I reached home only late Saturday night. So Sunday run was definitely off the table. Then I only had 1 week to train. And of course, being in race week, I can never ramp up the training. Mileage from the week prior to the race was If my timing wasn't too bad, that was already good enough for me.
The tracks were quite slippery, due to the cleared path from the ATV activities. Luckily I managed to hold my balance quite well. I must have did quite ok with the yoga and the strengthening. This is the my important observation about the trails. Balance is the key. And of course, if it seems too steep and slippery, sometimes jumping over and had a quick one touch on the ground is much better than the seems to be secure slow and right footing.
There was small water streams, which didn't bother me much. Until we reached midpoint, where there was of course a wide, long and deep river crossing. It was not too deep, but enough to wet you to the knee at least. That is considered deep enough for me, in my first try to the real trail participation. But the water was oh so clear and cooling. Very much the same kind where people go for picnics. But of course, there was no picnicers there.
The crossing was enough to cool your body down. And this is another interesting findings about the trail. 1st, it was the balancing act, then now, the cooling atmosphere and the cooling water streams. Then the route led us up to an incline. Which was quite decent. I started to get the hang with trails where no inclines is big enough. While getting up, the faster runners started to make its way back. There were a bunch of ladies in front of course, even more added the reason not to hope for anything. There were kwailos even. Quite a few of them and quite surprising given how low profile this event was. At the end of the incline, there was a U-turn, which of course led us all the way back.
I was almost neck and neck with another lady. I knew she was quite competitive herself and may hoped to not letting me go pass her. I did anyhow in the end but gave a comforting feedback that she could catch up with me later on.
I caught up with few guys and there was suddenly a dog following us. And the dog stayed on, and I had to find solace from the guys. Lucky, the guy was there. I always have this issue with dogs. It was quite a while until the dog finally decided to let us go. We then reached the tarmac, about 2 km towards finishing line. Upon reaching the non-trail path, I hit into the 3rd finding about trail. The thing with trail is, no matter how tough the terrain was, it was not an all out, go as fast as you can, tempo like run pace. You need to instill patience and when the going gets tough, you slow down. With only few kms to go, I found the tarmac to be even tougher than the ups and downs of the trail. The flatter it is, the more reason you need to keep on, and has no excuse to stop and walk. I passed Karen Loh, who was walking towards the finishing line and cheered that I was the 5th girl. Still, it didn't occur to me that I would be getting any decent position.
So I kept on, with whatever that was left in me. I saw the finishing line in sight, and decided to give my last push. Upon reaching, I was given a tag and it read:
Alhamdulillah for the opportunity. It was a fantastic opportunity. Never had I imagine that I can even be quite decent in this. Running gives back, what you put in. There's no uncertainty here. Only the love in return. And I then found my soft spot for the trails.
King of Kampung Ampang Trail 2016
Date: 10 April 2016
Venue: Kg Ampang, Ampang
Distance: 18.3 km
Position: 3
Official Time: 2:28:52 hrs
Personal Time: 2:28:51 hrs
Pace: 8:08 mins/km
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