Energizer Night Race 2012 15K

I jumped on an Air Asia flight from Penang to Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning, took a Taxi to Rumah Putih B&B, about 20  min from the LCCT terminal of the KL airport, Nice place, perfect for an overnight, run by two really nice folks, James and Jo Needham. Got myself settled, got some lunch and took a siesta. Caught a Taxi to the Sepang F1 track for the race and had the opportunity to see friends Bee Hong and her husband. Got to see my friends from Brooks Malaysia also and then found Andrew Loh, Chun How Lee, and later found Lim Guan Choon and Khoo Siew Swan, Most of them did the full marathon, except for Khoo Siew Swan, who i think placed well in the women's division of the 15K. This race made me nervous from the start...usually races don't make me nervous...for years I let people shoot small frozen pieces of galvanized rubber at me at well over 75 miles an hour, and liked it...so running has never made me nervous. I always knew that if I prepared and trained I would be fine...for this...I had not trained properly. Now a bit of back story on this race...last year this race was a disaster, i heard from people who ran it and read on line that there were near riots by competitors who were cheated out of medals, not enough water, staff who seemed to care less for runners...it was just a poorly run affair. With the energizer name in front of it though, the people were heard, changes were made and i have to say with everything i read and heard about last years affair, This one was over the top good!!  Excellent staff presence, good crowd control, each race went off on time, numerous watter and cooling stations around the course and lots of people to cheer on the runners.

L-R Andrew Loh, Chun How Lee, Aung Moe, Me

Lim Guan Choon and Me.

                                                                                                    

from R-L Alex Ong, Aung Moe (3rd placing), Chun How Lee, Bee Hong Ewe,
Debbie Chinn (1st placing), Andrew Loh, Me.

My concern was if my leg would hold up over a 9+ mile distance...i had not done a training run of that distance, I have made it through a 6 without a struggle, and an 8 that was a struggle...so this was a concern. I started well and my pace around the F1 track itself was really good. I wanted to hit 4 miles in about 35:00. I was able to do that with my 4 mile at 34:38...then, the hills started, and after that they did not stop, and my leg was screaming. I hate to admit it...I had to walk a few times...I am embarrassed to say that, especially when this was only a 15K. It does give me an idea as to where I am in my recovery though...no where near being prepared for a race of 9+ miles. I was able to make it across the finish line and did cramp badly at the end. I took advantage of some ice at the medical tent. the final mileage was about 9.6 miles and my final time...i hate putting this in print 1:32...I have not run a race that slowly since I started running in 2008...I was not ready and it showed. I finished though and for now, where I am in my recovery, its good enough. I really need to find some pictures of the actual race as i have been looking at my stride on the pictures i have, and its bad...not enough leg swing...I'm shuffling more than running and I wanted to see if the same was true in this race. The Taxi was supposed to pick me up at 11:30pm following the race, but the security was not letting anyone into the venue, only out. So i walked down to the main road at the entrance, hoping that the driver would be waiting there...no such luck, so then phone tag with James from the B&B and the driver started. so there I am standing in the medium of the road waiting for a driver that I don't know will come, wondering what i will do if they don't show up...eventually it got worked out, but 11:30 turned in to almost 1am...that was really the only snafu in what was otherwise an awesome experience. I will run this race again, and hopefully next time I will run it better. Loyal reader, Run Happy!!

Annual Round the Houses Relay

Another Sunday and another race! So this was a fun concept and something i have never done before. A relay. It consisted of a team of 8 runners, each running 1.5 miles along a simple loop, beginning at the Penang polo club. According to one of my friends in I-run  Mrs.Ding Ding Heng, this is a race that has been going on since she was young, so there is some deep tradition with this particular event. I was placed on a team and although I did not know any of my teammates, except for Mr. Steve Baron, it was a good chance to meet some of the I-run people that I had not met. I figured that even though my Hansons training had me doing a five mile easy run today, this event was too much fun to pass up, and i really wanted to see if i could do a sub 6:00 mile, especially with only 2 real months of running since being cleared by the doctor. Well to be honest i pulled it off with a 10:57 finish time for 1.57 miles, it was close but i did it, (6:58 pace) and it feels good.

I always want to do better but sometimes its the little victories that give you motivation to continue. today i felt like I won one, even though the team came in 5th out of five, it was a great effort by everyone, and I-run as a whole had another great showing, especially the I-run ladies! I-run took 8th and 12th out of 19 in the Men's open category, a highly competitive grouping.  1st and 3rd in the women's open category, some great runners in both of those groups, congrats ladies! 3rd and 5th in the Junior Veteran category, again some great runners in both groups, if i do say so myself and 1st and 5th in the Senior Veteran group, congrats gentlemen, Well done all I-run runners, no matter where you placed! The event was well run, especially attempting to run a relay on the road and not a track. This group of organizers seems to be in charge of quite a few races and they always do very well. So to sum it up this was a fun run, challenge completed, and good friends and good times is a great way to spend a day.

Team Blue

Next week its onto KL and the Energizer night run...15k of pure brutality...I only hope i dont DNF...not sure if i am ready for the distance....wish me luck loyal reader, and most of all RUN HAPPY!!

Botanical garden training.

So its a Thursday evening in penang. I have not been able to do morning training all week, as Brenna is on school holiday, so I have had to wait for Roxanne to get home in the evening and then go. Its so much hotter and the breeze that makes the morning run so nice is gone. When I saw that the running group was doing a training at the botanical garden in the evening I figured I would join in. From home to the gardens is about 2 miles and since my required run was only 3 miles I figured that would be good, get in a bit of extra mileage and have a good training....you know one of these times I am going to be right, this time I was wrong, again. The training was TOUGH, as the gardens are hilly and the group ran a good majority of the run in the grassy areas. I am not quite ready for hills and the uneven surface of a grass track was not going well with hip felexors that are still in recovery/strengthening mode. the two mile run to get there was not helping either. I was good for maybe the first mile, mile and a half and then the cramping started. I was able to stretch it out a few times, but by the time the group finished what was probably 4 miles...I was done. My 3 mile requirement turned into 6 miles of very difficult and challenging work. The group was very supportive, which is appreciated and I would have liked to have had a better showing, but recovery is recovery and sometime I have to accept what my body is willing to give me. I have determined that I need to static stretch more than I am. I need to begin to lengthen some of these muscles that knot up when overly worked. Penang has its share of great runners, hopefully before I leave I can be included in that description. For now though I am happy to be running in Penang, great, good, bad, it does not matter...Thanks to Mei See Chin for the push to keep going, Ah Seng (I think) for pushing me at the end, Tan Cheng Jin for the pacing at the start, and of course Mei ling for the photos. Everyone else was great also, and a special thanks to Phua Chin Eng for the ride home. there was no way I was going to be able to do another 2 miles home, just sayin! So on the running scale of places to go the botanical gardens gets a 9, its beautiful, I saw parts of it this time out that I had not seen before, its challenging, lots of inclines.I would give it a 10 if not for the monkeys...finding yourself in the center of a macaque turf war is no fun. Run Happy!

2 month anniversary.

It's been two months since the doctor cleared me to run and since that time it's been an exciting and sometimes frustrating time. It began slowly with 3 mile runs, and now I can manage 6 miles, but not well, my hip flexors seize up at about 3 miles and I have to stretch or walk it out, but that is a far sight better than sitting doing nothing or laying in bed. For almost 8 months that was my situation, other than the time on the crutches. I am happy with my progress, but I am still impatient and want to be back where I was, now. The two months have included two races, the first was the Merestas Desa, which was a 6k, and a tough one to boot, very very fun!

The next one was Malakoff. a 7k road race and that one went pretty well. I had a time goal in mind and actually came within a minute of achieving it. That was a good race, with all things being equal. I am now up to running 5 days a week and although my hip flexors don't like it at times. it generally feels good. With more races coming up, and having just begun my Hansons training it should get better and better. Run Happy!

Kota Kinabalu

We took a much deserved vacation which meant a few days off from my newly begun Hansons training schedule. For an obsessive Virgo like me that was tough, so to balance it out I felt i had to get in a run. Our final destination was the "Borneo Rainforest lodge" in the Danum Valley about two hours outside Lahad Datu. I figured while there I would have little chance to run and with as much hiking as we planned to do, I may not want to anyway. So for the day and a half we were in Kota Kinabalu I decided I would follow my schedule and run my required 4 miles on Sunday morning. Getting out from the resort was fine, and thanks to the concierge I was able to locate a nice park with some loops, it was a bit boring but served its purpose. I also discovered that KK was a bit hotter than Penang is and that 4 miles was a bit tougher. So with that we were off to Lahad Datu, and the Rainforest Lodge, which was amazing. although no running was done there was a great deal of hiking and this video shows one of the roads that i considered running, but there was so much mud that it would have been very difficult.

We got back to Penang on Friday night and I texted my friend Thuan and he was going to get in a 10K run on Saturday so i figured I would join him and at 52:20...it was not a bad little run. My Hansons requirement for the day was 4 miles and that was done in 33:10, so the split was not great but not bad either. I am still consistent in my times and that is the goal at this point is consistency. So another long run tomorrow and then hopefully, I can get my runs in next week with Brenna being off from school. Run Happy!!

Malakoff 7K, Hansons Distance Project and "you got a point there!"

Malakoff 7k, the second race on my "comeback tour". It was not too bad, but I do find myself regretting not going for the longer 17k, I think that is my competitive side though rearing its ugly head. This was a pretty good race, despite the problems i had heard with last year’s contest, this one seemed well run, and well attended, I mean we even had Kenyans (I say we like I am now a Penangite). I started well despite some foot soreness, and some lateral hip pain. I decided to do this race wearing compression shorts instead of my normal Brooks running shorts, mostly to see if it would help with the hamstring cramping I seem to get right around 3 miles. I got a ride to the venue with my friend Sunny Ng. This lady is one heck of a runner. Let me for a moment pontificate on Mrs. Sunny. Ok so she is a sub 7:00 miler easy, with the heart of a lion. She demonstrated both her running ability and her courage in this race particularly. I watched her cross the finish and as usual, 2nd woman finisher in the 17k overall and 1st in her age group, a much younger Kenyan woman came in ahead of her. She collapsed on the pavement, quickly removing her shoes, it was then that I saw her heel/ankle on both feet was ripped up and bloody...I have seen male and female runners bow out for less. Even experienced runners can make poor equipment choices and I think Sunny would be the first to say that she wore the wrong shoes. Anyway to be in as much pain as i am sure she was and run the kind of race she did...BRAVO Mrs. Sunny you are a credit to the sport (thanks for the ride too!)! So back to my race which I am sorry pales in comparison but is something for me to build on certainly. I was able to pace with my friends Chun How and  Kho Ko King which is a total bonus for me because they are both fast, Kho has those long legs and is just a really good natural runner and Chun How is just a freak (in a good way). The guy is a 1/2 ironman finisher, 100K runner, ultra runner in perhaps the best physical condition of any human being I know and these guys hooked me up with a great pace through more than half the race. I was doing well, feeling great and then with about .20 miles to go my right hamstring just seized up. so I stopped (dumb) and lost about 30 - 40 seconds...That is what lost me my goal time of 35:00....I ended up at 36:00 flat. Not bad for only two months of running. Ended up seeing most of the I-run folks at the race, and had a great time as usual. The fellowship of running is so much like the locker room for a hockey team that it’s a very comfortable place to be!

So my Hanson's Distance Project training began today with a quick 2 miles. The start you off slow, but only two days a week off, and then incrementally increase mileage, throw in some speed and strength work and hopefully I can hit 1:35:00 in the Half Marathon in July, maybe even 1:30:00 which would be a real step up for me.

I saw a comment by a running acquaintance on a social networking site. He was responding to some complaining that local runners had been doing following the Malakoff race this weekend. Now the first 4 male placing in the open 17k division were taken by Kenyan runners, (who in turn won most of the prize money) by a significant time difference. The 4th place Kenyan runner did the 17k in 56:56, the 5th place Malaysian runner did it in 1:02:55...that’s a 6 min cushion...that’s a significant margin. Now I gotta say I could not come close to touching those times in my lifetime, with that being said, my acquaintances problem was that people were complaining rather than using it as a motivation to train harder. I agree in principal, however, localism, for anyone who ever surfed in California and Hawaii sucks. I just think in our technology driven world, is there really any such thing as local anything, anymore. Do I agree that races held in Malaysia especially the smaller ones should have a local division, sure, but why?? If your only reason is to give local runners a better chance to walk away with a check, that defeats the whole purpose of equal competition, doesn’t it?

 I have run in many events in Florida, both big and small, and they are often won by "non-locals". Has any one of those race directors ever decided to have a local only division?? No. I might be comparing apples to oranges, but dig this. I have a friend his name is Marc, he and his wife came to Florida as ex-pats from Belgium, a few years back. Now Marc was a runner his whole life, and for a good majority of races he would win the whole thing. Did I complain that some cat from Belgium was winning everything? No, I wanted to train with him. I even had him pace me to my fastest 10k finish ever (43:00 flat). I could appreciate what it took to make him that good and I wanted to emulate that, not complain about it. I think this area is just not used to this influx of foreigners at their once local races. Others of us have experienced this for years and see it as a fact of life; you either except it or go back to "soul running" and don’t compete. I think the Kenyans have made it clear that they are here to stay and are not going anywhere...can you out-train them?? I don’t think so, I think they were born with loads of natural ability and with training it just gets better. Should you just give up then?? No way!! I mean we once thought a 4 min mile was impossible. i truly think a sub 2 hour marathon time will happen in our lifetime and I feel a Kenyan runner will be the one to break it. This year’s Olympic Games will provide the proof. If the Kenyans walk away with gold, silver and bronze in the marathon, then there you have it. The very best athletes from every other nation, with top notch training and coaching, could not do it. Does that mean the Kenyans are not beatable? NO Way!!....Just remember every sport has had its stereotypes, and every sport has also had people break those stereotypes, and usually it was with a combination of training, heart and desire. So do not give up and do not despair, your local races might be overrun with foreign talent, but homegrown talent is still talent and lets all hope it rises to the challenge.

Dilemma or Devotion??

When your wife says you have too many shoes, you know its a fact. I really do have way too many pairs of running shoes, and the problem is...I feel like I need to order at least two more pair...so it begs the question...dilemma or devotion??



My shoe clock

Now my wife will tell you that I am a "gear head" and I have always been that way, as an Ice Hockey goaltender I was always tinkering with my equipment and rushing to buy the newest thing on the market. I think that translated to running. I started with board shorts a T-shirt, cotton socks, my Timex watch and a pair of New Balance shoes that I  picked up at Marshall's (for those of you that don't know, its an off-price clothing store). When running got more serious I went to a local running store "Feet First" (awesome shop by the way) and got fitted with a pair of Brooks Glycerine 7's. That was the first shoe I ever raced in. I was wearing Mizuno running tops and shorts, I still had my trusty Timex though. Since then I have gone to wearing only Brooks gear, and have become an "Ambassador" for Brooks Running as a "Brooks Fanatic". I wear a Garmin Forerunner 305 (which I love by the way...despite the fact that it looks like I have a small laptop on my wrist) and have a plethora of assorted running gadgets for different things, all of which I am sure I could NOT live without. The shoes however have been a bit of...well lets say...an issue. Like I said, I started with the Glycerine, and then committed the sin of sins and moved away from Brooks to Mizuno. I think it might have been the Mizuno "Wave Rider 12", anyway that lasted all of 6 months and a severe IT band problem, till I was back to Brooks. The Launch was my next shoe..Let me tell you, birds sang, clouds parted, dogs and cats got along, a politician told the truth...you get my drift,  it was magical! I have been with the Launch ever since and Thanks to Brooks Running for never changing anything but the color (the orange was great). In the shoe clock above, the Launch is at 11:00 and 12:00. 11:00 is the common black color and the 12:00 is the updated blue...there is a really cool orange color now that I just have to have (but don't really need).The launch is a true neutral shoe with a small amount of cushioning, a 10mm heel to toe drop and they are fairly light at 9.1 oz for the men's size 9.  Once I began to get faster and participate in more races a friend suggested looking into a "racing flat" ...ok time out for a minute. I need to talk about the minimalist/barefoot craze that has seized running and impacted the shoe market, big time. I am no expert let me say that right up front, but when I hear about someone moving from a motion control shoe, because they were told they "over-pronate" (don't EVEN get me started on the over-pronation/under-pronation marketing scheme) to a minimalist shoe makes me cringe. I went from "neutral cushioned" (Glycerine 7) to "neutral" (Launch) to now running "second days" and races in minimalist shoes. (mostly because I am still in a recovery phase from the hip fracture)There must be a progression, in my opinion, or you are going to damage a muscle system that has been taught over months and possibly years to respond to  running a particular way. Moving to a minimalist shoe without that transition, you may run the risk of a number of issues, stress fractures, calf, anterior-tib and hamstring issues, as well as a number of possible foot problems. ok time in....so "racing flat" that turned me onto the Brooks T-6, now I have a ton of racing pictures in that shoe, mostly 10K's. I love my T-7, and,when it went from the T-6 to the T-7, very little changed. The new red color is cool and the new neon yellow is even better (another must have but don't need). To explain the T-7 is easy, true racing flat, 11mm heel to toe drop and a super light 6.0 oz for the men's size 9. The T-7 is located at 10:00 on the shoe clock. At 1:00 and 2:00 are the Brooks green silence. my new favorites. The orange and red are the older color scheme while the all blue version was a web only model and is no longer available, they have a new Java/Stone model which I also want but don't need. I think I have already talked about these in an earlier post... the cool thing about them, recycled materials and water based adhesives. At 3:00 and 9:00 are the two newest additions to my shoe quiver and also to Brooks running. The "Pure" line. I have the Pure connect at 3:00 and the Pure flow at 9:00. The Pure Connect would be a go to shoe if not for the overly tight heel cup, for me, it rubs at my Achilles and no matter what kind of sock I use it still happens. I will continue to try and mess with them though and maybe after some wear they will soften up. The Pure flow was a try, based on advice I got from my fellow Brooks fanatics, who also had problems with the Pure connect heel cup and moved to the flow and loved them. I am now one of those people. I love the flow, I would use it as an everyday shoe, and will once I have gotten my muscle structure in my right leg healthy.The original green color is great, but I am wanting the blue color that has been released since...I also don't need them (Damn!). The last pair of Brooks shoes on the shoe clock are my Cascadias, I think they are the Cascadia 6, they are a neutral trail shoe and I have used them in Maine on some of the Acadia National Park trails and love them, they are lightweight at 12.2 oz and have a heel toe drop of 11mm. The last two shoes on the shoe clock are not Brooks shoes, and to be honest, I do not wear them often. They are the Saucony Kinvara 2. I bought them, because I loved the Kinvara. The problem is, that Saucony updated the Kinvara 2 and although everything I read said the changes were minimal...I disagree. The toe box is much narrower on the Kinvara 2 and they seem stiffer in the forefoot than the Kinvaras were. This shoe was great to mix into my Brooks rotation to extend the wear of my Brooks shoes, I am hard pressed now to even put them on for a run...I will use them at the gym though...The ladies love em!! or maybe they are just pointing and staring at the old, balding white guy...never thought about that....anyway.
Now loyal reader it falls on you to decide, with only two feet and 7 days a week to run, I feel that a shoe for every day is more than appropriate. This demonstrates my devotion to Brooks running and their dedication to making great shoes for runners. It also speaks of my devotion to the sport I love. There is a valid health reason as well, insuring that my feet are always lovingly caressed in a well conditioned shoe, I ask you, is this a valid health concern or the ravings of a nut? You also must consider, "Is this a serious dilemma", are you reading the blog of a man gone totally Imelda Marcos for running shoes? A man who is so totally obsessed with matching his shoes to his running attire that he must have every color shoe Brooks produces, for every shoe he uses. Is this man's belief that the more awesome the color the more awesome you run, really just the delusion of a guy who knows that people really are saying..."He is really slow, but he looks fast."
Its up to you...
For me..I'm going to go sit with my shoes....