Between CCU, Sundown & Wedding

I am mesmerised, battered and wasted all in the same day. Things were in place as we concluded another weekend warrior episode. The somber moments, the suspense, the cheers of happiness, the agony, the courage and last but not least, the tiring and fatigue Monday.

As I left for my hometown on Thursday afternoon, I've decided to bail out from Sundown for family priorities. Dad was still in CCU when I arrived at the hospital that evening. The gloomy moment just touched me and seeing him lying on the bed, depressed and helpless was heartbreaking. With my borther's wedding coming at the same weekend, I knew that dad is fighting to be strong and praying hard he could join. I was half wasted that night from the travel and other wedding chores.

Friday morning, dad was so determined and had his final say to go home despite doctor's advise. The discussion was one sided, I had to understand his feelings of being a father at whatever the risks may come. Mom agreed. Dad was glad from the look of his expression and excitement. Welcome home. However, I kept on monitoring his condition at home throughout the day and he was still weak but glad to be with the family and relatives for the wedding.

Saturday morning, sister and me went shopping for dad's rest chair. He needed one especially when he can't really survive the mild chest pain now and then during the night's sleep. That was when I asked my sister the gold question, "Is it OK for you if I go to Singapore?". With a bit more comfort words and logic thoughts, I was smiling from ear to ear for the remaining hours. Of course I had a word with wifey the night before about it.

The wedding reception at bride's place was felt like forever as I kept on counting the hours. Dark clouds and thunder thomping made this restless heart even more discomforting. My good news going to Sundown was well spread by now when I received a message from Nik. We were planning to drive in together with Det and Alwin. Both of them arrived at my place a bit later and we fetched Nik for Singapore at almost 5.00 p.m. I was a bit curious at Nik's hidden agenda at the first place. He was restless about reaching the starting line before flag-off. He even got dressed in the car along the journey. All I can thought of, he planned to run with Kash with Shaqi's 42km bib, but not throughout the 84km! Crazy feat but it was simply courageous. I'm wordless to describe it.

Fortunately the journey was well navigated and it took us about half an hour with smooth traffic across CIQ and reach the venue at merely a few minutes before ultra flag-off. Nik dashed off to collect his bib from Kash's brother, Azam while the rest of us parked and hurried ourselves to the starting line. We met Hailmi, Zaki and the rest of Chap Ayam Runners and they were totally glad to see us - talking about seeing familiar faces in peoples' land. Then we went looking for the ultramoms. Just slightly ahead towards the starting gantry with tiny nervous looks. They can only wave hands with the loud drums and emcee speach. A few hundreds I guess, chasing their glories.

The rest of the Sundowners took refuge at a chosen spot behind the stage. Syah was desperately looking for a time for a nap, he looked groggy. Yim, Det, Ijam, Ziff, Nadia, Alwin, Zaki killed time chatting away until the next flag-off time for half sundowners at 9.00 p.m. and full sundowners at 11.59 p.m. A little bit later, Det, Alwin, Zaki and me decided to look for dinner. We took the shuttle bus to Pasir Ris and caught by surprised by the longest queue to board the bust back to Changi. Had a quick bite and desperately caught a taxi back to Changi just in time to be ready for half marathon flag-off. There was only Alwin and me and couldn't find Ijam, Yim and Ziff among the huge crowd. Took us almost 5 minutes to cross the gantry.

It was my first time participating in Sundown and running in Lion City. The crowd was totally huge. For the next 5 km, I can only zig-zagged through it, struggling to maintain a good pace. It was a bit warm exiting the Exhibition Centre but cooling as we head towards the first u-turn. Only after 10th km Alwin and me managed for a breather when we overtook hundreds and hundreds. The road was flat as a pancake and straight as an arrow. The thundering sound of jet engines along the route kept us entertained. I only managed a few peeks at Cathay Pacific and a few other airline logos that I have no idea of.

The running crowd was as bored as a dead person, nothing like running a race in KL where we have runners shouting jokes around, familiar faces and friendly marshalls. These guys were like being paid to take the task. Ain't they supposed to enjoy the run? Weird though. The marshalls were so full of excitement compared to the runners. At 16th km I decided to push the pace where running space was a bit more ample. Took the chance to clock pace calculation at every kilometre. It was an average of 6.19 until the last 2 km when I was already feeling bored. That one took me 7.00 min/km. Met Hailmi and Zaki at km19 exchanging supporting words as they almost completed the first loop of 42km. I can't stand the remaining stale air and boredom at the last kilometre which I decided to just gave the final dash till the finish line. Emcee was shouting my name! That is rare - appreciate it though. One could not felt better and feeling appreciated.

I don't know whether it was a PB or not cause I lost count of my half marathon attempt. However, the run was great despite some pains in the legs here and there - that's what I get for pushing it. The clunking medal collection and bananas and hydrations were smooth. Met the rest of the guys at the spot and more kill time chats and watching Marathon Movie on the big screen. At 11.59 p.m., it was Syah, Det, Nadia and Zaki to take the stage for full marathon flag-off. I was too battered to escort them to the starting line as I just sat there and wave them the final wish. The next hour, Alwin, Ziff and me spend chatting about more running stories and get to know more about each other. Truthfully, that was the longest chat with Ziff despite the few times we met before. The first ultramarathoner crossed the finish line at the 6th hour. Amazing!

Alwin and me hit the shower and were rewarded with a soothing warm one. I kept it flowing as if it was therapeutic enough to nurse those sore muscles. I was limping as if I just completed a full marathon distance. Perhaps that was the outcome from no run on weekdays and battered self from travelling and less rest. Drove out to towards Pasir Ris for some solid food at a Shell station and slept in the car for the remaining hours at the carpark, though cramping stiff legs on and under the dashboard was a bit tricky at times. We woke up at 6.20 a.m. assuming the full sundowners had crossed the finish line. Progressively they arrived but I missed Ian when he decided to leave early. All full sundowners completed awesomely. Congrats guys. Gathered some infos about our ultra friends but we couldn't stay till the end of the story since I had to rush back to JB for the wedding and Det and Alwins' bus. Met KA and Kak Jenab at the spot and chatted for awhile.

With some poor navigation from fatigue minds, we managed to reach Woodlands and crossed the Causeway just in time for the bus schedule. I continued home for the wedding hiding my tired self and expecting a flu coming from the sore throat. By the time the wedding was over, I had to crash myself for a nap before the next challenge - the drive back to KL. It took me 8 hours, not because of long weekend traffic chaos but simply due plain fatigue. I stopped for an hour of sleep at every rest area. Arrived home just in time for wifey to send daughter to school for her exam. Phew! I will never attempt this again.

Wishing for a great sunrise

It is now certain that I have to say goodbye to Sundown and wishing a great sunrise and awesome days ahead. At this juncture, a not so promising news hit me without further hesitant for bailing out.

It was Sunday morning when I was nursing my recovering legs from 30k lsd the day before while checking on blogs and updating. It was 6.30 a.m. A phone call from a family member addressing a news that dad is being hospitalised due to heart complications. The morning freeze stung me for a moment, clueless of what just hit me? Stay? Or go back to hometown? I've decided for the later. Reached JB at 12.30 p.m. fuelled with a litre of hydration and few trips to PLUS toilets. Straight to Sultan Ismail Hospital.

It was a sorrow sight to see dad in the hospital pyjama sitting on the bed helplessly. He was never been warded throughout his life. Talking about health concious, this is the man. Eversince he was diagnosed with diabetes 17 years ago which was right after his pension, his diet took a drastic change. From sugar and coffee lover, to old plain brown rice and wheatmeal breads. An old health dictionary was his companion at low times.

A year ago, mild chest pain started arising at times. He finds difficulty sleeping soundly at nights having to sleep-sit sometimes. The courage to survive the pain ended last Saturday when he can't bare the severe pain. He was referred to the hospital. After lengthy interviews with a few doctors about his history, family records, etc, doc theoried it was a mild heart attack. I left JB back to KL on Monday for not to leave my family unattended and got the news later in the evening that dad was transferred to CCU.

Tuesday, I was wasted from the journey to and fro, especially with webheaded condition. I was thankful that work didn't add to the pain. Came evening, another update from my sister - dad collapsed while returning from the loo and heartbeat stopped for a few seconds. That took me in a whole. With brother's wedding moving on in the weekend, things will have to be altered. I'm going down again with family tomorrow to be by dad's side. I could only watch from across the strait wishing beautiful friends a great Sundown race and a promising sunrise for days to come.

Chasing the rain clouds

It may sound a bit like a song title from The Carpenters. Truthfully, the moment was plainly awesome. How I wish all running friends were there to get a taste of it. Old goat here can only bragged about the week that was and the steps put apart towards the weekend great getaway with the usual Geng Kaki Lambung.

(1) Old goat is tired and wasted from the non-running days before the weekend.

(2) Old goat can only dreamt of having the perfect evening weather to run. Weather was kind only in the morning when Old goat can only manage a short 70 metres walk to the Taska and back.

(3) Old goat's weekdays run were a goner.

(4) Old goat can only managed a core workout doing pilates on the motorbike through the morning traffic.

(5) Old goat squeezed in upper body resistance workout jamming the front brakes and hanging on to the handlebar five days a week two times a day. Threw in calf workouts from the rear foot pedal braking.

(6) Old goat stayed below the weather for three days with "selsema kambing" and sore throat followed with irritating coughings.

(7) Old goat was awarded with tight deadlines at work with bitchy boss breathing LT rate on his neck.

(8) Old goat can only held on to the weekend group LSD plan to motivate himself to survive the remaining days.

(9) Old goat with four other handsome buddies attempted 30km LSD from Lembah Kiara to Bukit Aman and back. The clan was rewarded with a perfect overcast, perfect "lambung sessions", perfect pace & stayed in a pack throughout and a perfect storm at the last 5km. Not forgetting the perfect watermelon as post run reload thanks to Shuk.

(10) Old goat addressing his most gratitude to fellow running buddies for the perfect moment.

(11) Old goat swigged in Carl's Junior double punch in replace to the traditional daun sireh as post run meal.

Post run meal...wordless

Kill 'em all - Metallica (NB15 Version)

The podium finishers wannabe

Pardon me for the entry title. I'm not trying to address it in a brutally manner or being 18SG but this one should go like a mission or something i.e. Operation Delta Force or in Malaysian version - Operasi Tenaga Delta or terbitan Delta, Longman or maybe Fajar Bakti? Nothing more than a "short" race story of mine having a twitch with the approach in grasping a better timing - trailer macam gempak.

There you go, another NB15 done. Twice already since I started last year. This year PACM also decided to shift the venue from Tapak A, Lake Garden to Padang Merbuk. I wonder why? Perhaps there's more privacy and less disturbance to the public as compared to Lake Garden. Parking wise, same issue la and lately cars broken into are nightmares for each runners attending races here. Yim had the issue again within six months after his first. Sorry bro.

As usual, I opted to rempit to the race since it's in KL. The best way of course. Hit at the exact spot besides the starting line. Det parked next to me. Women's category was about to start and our arrival made me a bit clumsy to change into running gears next to hundreds of ladies. Aiya! Act selamba je la. Julie call out to me exchanging stories about belated friend Ngae - he passed away the day before. Heard it was from brain tumor that had him since a year ago.

Then another lady runner threw me a question about the Gatorade drink I held in my hand. "What's that? Is it supposed to make you run faster?". The Gato was in a small bottle I loaned from Det. I guess she was thinking it's a mixture of super duper fluid that can change me into Mr. Flash! "It's Gatorade la. Cannot go faster, you need to train for that but it helps you with hydration and electrolyte...". Before I could finish, she dissappeared into the jestering crowd and ready to rumble. Or was it due to me starting to bore her?

Made my way into the Men's crowd pulak scouting for familiar faces especially fellow bloggers. The heat and adrenalines went wild when suddenly some latecomers from the Women's Cat passed through. We were shouting and cheering to every one of them. Some responded like they were casted for the morning show and some looked like they were gonna explode and cry. Hehe! Funny la. Eventually Yim, Det, Shuk, Nizam, Ijam and Zairin were in the group. Only Nizam and me were sailing the Black Pearl - pirates remember? Aye aye Captain! Zairin seemed so determined to nail this race, which explains the registration I guess. A few of us wearing the Project 84 t-shirts were in the middle of a sea of light green vests.

Flagged-off about 10 minutes later and I was already running alone at the back from the group. No one was insight. A glimpse at the HR showed 91%! What's that?! Was it the initial hill or the jitters that made it jumped? HR dropped to 70% as we turned into Istana Selangor. Phew! Saw Haza by the corner and addressed my morning greet to her grey pants X) and stayed focus to maintain the HR towards Tugu Negara and into Jalan Parlimen. Nizam and Ijam were beside me.

First hill at Commuter Station, gradual incline with a slight radius- neglectable to most Bukit Aman - Sri Hartamas weekend warriors. Flew by like the morning clouds. Chewah! Caught up with Det, seemed still adjusting his pace. A smirk crossed my cheek for a "lambung". Hehehe. Right infront of new Bank Negara, we made our attendance noticeable in the middle of a serious morning crowd. Yells and jokes flew around, fast one which ended less than 3 minutes before we were gulping to see the next long granny after first WS. Det and Ijam stopped for their drinks but mates of Black Pearl don't deserve any, so we continued cursing the incline.

A guy overtook me in the middle of the granny which I think caught my attention with his so un-matched attire. Nothing uncommon actually but the white headband like runners wear in the 70's and a pair of three quater tights with green race vest just hit me and IT overtook me right in the middle of a climb. That was so not cool. It was so irrational of me but I was deliberately creating the issue just to pace him throughout the climb and show him who's the champion - talking about short term goals in races eh? Get one, kill one - every step of the way. As we peaked, I was hoping that he gave way for the descending part upon hearing his laborous breathing. Good chance dude! Go for it. Increasing my stride slightly downhill towards the mouth of the dragons.

Double Hill in reverse is rare but PACM really loves this place. It never bore you even once. Always with the tweeting sound of escalating heart rates in sync with the birds. Melodious enough to enjoy the killing hills. Time to shut off the striding posture for a while and swing the arm as I place my feet on the wall one in front of the other. Next target, a quite familiar figure. I noticed this chap from previous races. My best bet, he was my junior in secondary school. Placing myself a few metres behind him throughout the monstrous climbs and way down to rumah P.Ramlee junction.

Slightly made way towards him from behind, shoulder to shoulder and in a rock kapak tone I asked, "Bro, tanya sikit". He seemed surprised and confused - of course la suddenly a stranger approach you right after Double Hill. "Kau dulu budak E.C. eh?"  Thats stands for English College in JB. He nodded and with second look at me, he knew that I am a familiar face. "Aku Rahimi. Ye la kau E.C. jugak kan?" Something like that, I don't actually remember that quick and short conversation but a silaturrahim was bonded in this run. I am thankful.

I don't intend to stay long so I waved to him for my departure. Slightly regretting, now I have to leave him and keep on striding or he'll catch up and that would be a bit embarrassing. Hahaha! Karut! Anyway, the Tijani stretch was a bit of my favorite during LSDs - flat, cooling, shady and a short steep climb smacked at the end of it. Good chance to throttle a bit more. Then I saw Nik Arief - possible new target. He was in the middle of a good pace. It took me a while to slowly closing in from 200 metres to 10 metres - from Mahameru bridge to Sekolah Arab. I never did caught up with him but it was a good pacing. He stopped at the WS but yours truely still hanging on to the Gato.

It was the second round for Jalan Sultan Salahuddin - 70's White Headband granny and this time I have a few Mat Sallehs to tease, three of them. One at the front was shouting for the other two to tag along for the final push to Padang Merbuk - my guess was two more kilometres. Hurdling the climb, they went up the peak and descended to Mahameru. I was nowhere to have any intention to cast my final line at this juncture though. Passed by the marshall with the roti horn and another playing to an ununified music - a short gesture to them trying to be friendly. However, there at the bottom of the Jalan Parlimen incline, perhaps a click away to finish line, I saw my catch. The Go Zone theory I read recently was put to test. These foreigners had slowed down for the climb and some opted to walk. Yeeha! Way to go bro! Slightly increasing my stride at the climb and swooshing by them with a ticklish heart and a smirk. I was juggling between finishing strong, surviving this last 500 metres and yelling to myself  "Why is it so long la?".

Upon entering Padang Merbuk, I heard a loud laborous breathing distance away behind me. My tiny feeling says, those guys ain't giving up and perhaps they shuddered after being lambung-ed - perasan pulak gwe. The horrific melody closing in at the last 5 metres and this Mat Salleh overtook me like a school kid chasing a lolly-pop. I obeyingly gave way considering my status quo which perhaps he deserve a tiny little face plant just right before the gantry for being so arrogant.

Straight to my bike for more Gato and wondered around the venue for friends and chats. Second silaturrahim was made here. Met my cousin, been awhile after her marriage - four years? Perhaps she preferred to stay below the radar. Her hubby ran the NB15, that's great. Running and jejak kasih seems to be getting along quite well. I was shouting to an old friend while having nasik lemak (thanks Shuk for the coupon) moments later. He used to be a rugby player but now a runner and a mountainbiker! That is way out of line. At least we are talking the same wave length. And guess what? Happened to be, Rahimi my school junior is Det's cousin! Aiyo! Very close cousin, the one that you can smack on the head and remains cool. The WORLD is just awesome. I stayed for the remaining moments until the crowd subsided at the starting line with Det, Haza, Kash, Rais and Farid CAR. The ultramoms were talking logistics and I chipped in some ideas - mostly nonsense.

A race is still a race, but at this juncture, short races like this seems like a great slot for a runners' get together. Ain't it beautiful? Well, closing in on the race timing - which was my initial things before drifted away with the Operation Fajar Bakti, I clocked a handsome improvement.

The bold and the beautiful

NB15 2009 (38 y.o.) - 1:29:24 P5:58

NB15 2010 (39 y.o.) - 1:24:42 P5:34

NB15 2011 (old goat already) - 1:15:00?

Today is Fourty Two

Oh! I just saw the countdown clock. Numbers are simply awesome at times. Another 42 days for the third 42km run in two years. I don't know whether I can nail this one but a different agenda helps me resisting the panic climate. I think I trained hard enough, even squeezing a training run is hard already. Getting the perfect evening weather was also a bit tricky at times. You just can't beat the odds.

Almost a month ago I've signed up for the race. This time it is no ordinary race for me. I'm running for a cause. I knew that with a bit of approach and a lot of training, I could pull this off. It had been a month already and I am emotionally touched everytime I looked at the donations. The world is still full with loving and caring people. To all my dearest friends, you guys are totally awesome. I am just a tool, a medium carrying a subservient message and I am totally proud to have people like you as a friend. Thank you all and I trust that the people in need will have their highest greatfullness to each and every one of you.

Eventually I guess, running itself will bring us to a different level of perspective to the world around us. If I used to feel sad about overweight people, now I don't.  The majority of them are simply ignorant to people like me. They chose their own path. If all the running events and races all over the country ain't good enough to draw people to start a healthy life, what else can we do?

Eventually I guess - again, we just had to do it for them. Show them a clear message and we are running with that message. I will keep on running like a crazy bugger on weekday evenings in my little kampung and I know that it's quite an impression for some. Yeah, I am giving them that message if you know what I mean. Run! Buddy! Run! Run over that fat. On weekends we kampung boys will try to gather more people to join our geli-geli runs. We have a nice neighbourhood, why can't we enjoy them with our feet on the asphalt rather than throttling the gas away?

Eventually I think, I will keep on enjoy running because I don't simply have the strength to beat my first timing. Hah! Have a jolly good run - forever.

Justice is served

Never a night running attempt felt so simple and flawless - for me definitely. Adding to the anguish, the venue itself - Putrajaya. Climate doesn't help either - humidity high. Cool breeze ain't making it easier also, since it speeds up the lowering of oneself's body temperature from our excessive sweating contrary to warming up the running muscles which we needed to. Complaints, complaints and more complaints. That's because I'm still having the cranky feeling and a bit sleepy. And yet I knew I had mapped a repeat of the 11.3km running route and successfully clocked 25.4km - as scheduled (short of 600m though).

Some of us accepted Kash's invitation for a Sundown simulation. Well, it was pretty much seemed like the most of us. OK, I think it was the whole of us and mostly from the running blogs. Some are my regular LSD buddies which includes the Orang Kampung themselves i.e. Det and Nizam and the rest of Geng Kaki Lambung i.e. Nik, Shuk and Syah. Ian managed to join eventually, perhaps rerouting his tight schedules. Yim, Crushio and Ziff were there also - very enthusiastic runners. For the first time, I met Ijam, Rayzeef, Zaki111 and Khairul Anuar - there you go, mother of all links. With Kash as the celebrity for the night, we have fifteen plodders ready to rock the world. Oh! Not forgetting, we have Sharafi from CAR as well, while Imran just sat on the sideline observing - like a coach. Ooops! I missed another ultralady in the making - Haza, dropped us a Hi! at the start line, giving consent for the miracles to come. Appreciate the courtesy.

We looped twice the route and regrouped at Palace of Justice (PoJ) everytime we completed each. First loop was rather fast for some, perhaps due to the excitement having to run with an awesome crowd. Second loop was slower, perhaps being wasted from the first one - always never learn from the lesson la dude. What la? Everything turned discreet. We can only hear the stumping from each other's steps and labouring breath. Attempting the PICC incline was like the day the earth stood still. Shuk and me conversate occassionally, trying to keep the souls awaken from being drifted with the chilling wind. Nik vanished out of nowhere along the stretch to PICC only to be told later that he was being zapped from cruising ahead and opted to pace with Ian instead. We were scattered within seconds and minutes of each other but still visible due to the thousand miles straight route. The second regrouping resulted with more bailing out. A handful of us decided to push a bit more completing a 25km mark - that would be another 2.5km to go. With passionate buddies around, the feat was always possible. It was great.

Another recipe for night running isn't complete without a teh tarik session. For runners whom just completed an LSD, this would be a feeding frenzy. Everybody digged in at a mamak in Precinct 9 except for a few whom decided to call it a day and left straight home.

Aie wrote from his graphic novel "Sebuah perjalanan takkan lengkap tanpa berbekalkan secubit perjuangan". Nice.

When the midnight shift is over

Saya sepasang kasut

The Pirates - Me, Zairin, Aik Liang & Junifer

Remember my previous snippet about the boy whom was explaining to me about a pair of Adidas shoes? It really does teased my sense of humour till now when recalling the phrase by phrase coming out of his mouth. Perhaps he was still new with the job. Looked like just finish school. Here goes. "Ini kasut baru Adidas. Kasut ini ada tapak getah. Tali juga cantek. Dalam ada lapek. Tengok dia punya cushion, tebal di depan dan belakang". OK. That was enough to take me back to my genre about completing an essay in school days. Ammah! i.e. Normally the popular ones was "Aku sebatang pen". Why la? Perhaps it was the only object visible while trying to squeeze all those points and sentences from the brain to the hand. Cool eh? Talk to the hand!

OK. Sunday was an eventful one. Not so la but having to meet up with lots more friends was enough to make my day. After the toss-ful (defined "lambung"), LSD on Saturday, I was bouncing all over the place throughout the day - that explains the very long entry. I was so excited that I decided to run the Firefighter Run 2010. Det was delighted upon knowing the decision though I did not sign up for it. This was my first "pirate" run. Perhaps should sign up for next year and secure a place for the 100 medals provided. Any other junior veteran up for the challenge?

Since it's at Dataran Merdeka we decided to just bring our motorbikes. There you go, two runners-rempit thrashing through Loke Yew in the crack of dawn. The closest parking secured and we were welcomed by the usual KL race atmosphere. All the familiar faces stretching, warming up, catching up for updates and photo shots. Det placed himself inside the gantry while I joined Zairin and his friends chit chatting at the sidelines. Runners were flagged off and when Det yelled to us "pelari haram jom masuk", we joined the party. - hampeh lu Det.

I only managed to greet salam to Kash and Ian - lama tak jumpa ni. Kash seemed cheery and she shared her 50+ km night simulation and yet to get a sleep. Pergh! Talking about human power and survival instinct. Wishing she have her confidence now. Kash informed me that Shuk and Syah were already infront. I waded myself through the crowd together with Azman and Zaidi, talking about Adidas customized shoes - I am in shoe hunting remember?

After passing Tijani 2, I decided to push my pace a bit. Considering yesterday's long-slow-distance menu was extracted from Hal's, perhaps a combo with runners'world 10k TT might do me some good. Legs seemed pretty much energized. In front of hockey stadium I caught up with Zairin. He was walking with Aik Liang while enjoying a cup of "pirated" drink. A shout of "lambung", he decided to join me. Aiya! I regretted my invitation la pulak. When he noticed my pace, he seemed excited. Lucky we had the Jalan Duta killer climb to slowdown but not until we reached the descending part. We were still chatting though I find it a bit arduous to complete a three-words sentence. So I went "huh!?!"and "hmmmph!"at times when the going gets a bit tougher.

The climb up the ramp to Jalan Parlimen was another crazy feat. He was pacing me and amazingly I managed to catch up despite my blinking heart rate. This was where we caught up with Det. "Common pelari halal! Let's join us for the last push!" - lambung balik. Hehe. The three of us were running like mad towards Bulatan Dato'Onn while having sun rays blinding our sights. Det slowed down at Padang Merbuk when his HRM screaming like a bomba siren. Zairin was pushing harder and I was struggling to tag along. Crossing Bulatan Dato' Onn, I asked to confirm where to finish? On the padang or at our motorbike? Since we don't deserved any medals, certs nor drinks, we gave the final dashed to where we started earlier. Crazy buggers. We Hi-5 each other for a great run. I knew he was happy too. Thanks dude.

Packed up and left for Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa at Kampung Baru with sunny side up and sambal sotong. Ammah! We haven't completed our mission for Sunday morning cause the next agenda was to continue with shoe hunting. We were the first to enter Adidas Pavillion and Stadium that morning I guess. Asking like mad about the customize shoes offered by Adidas. Too bad the time taken to complete a pair will miss the KL-Marathon date. It's cheap though if you have the Adination Passport - 50% off! OK, no luck with Pavillion. Throttled on to Asics in Berjaya Times Square. Very the generous discounts for old models. I was shaking already when the SA told me they have my size. Aiyo! Want or not la dude?! Where on earth you can afford to grab a pair of Asics at this price? It's GT 2130 somemore! Got Editor's Choice every year for each of it's siblings i.e. GT 2140 (2009) and GT 2150 (2010). What so great about this shoe? Beats me but I had a pair way back in campus life and it stayed loyal throughout my classes and my evening runs - undeniable. Now I got lambung-ed by the Myanmar SA pulak. She was friendly enough to convince me to buy. What the heck? Once offered, twice shy somemore ke? They offered a 30% off but this dude wanted more. Pushing my luck, I asked for 35% and include in some courtesy jokes. Voila! Det, let's go home before I changed my mind.

You complete me

From shop to screen to miles

Introducing Geng Kaki Lambung

Miles after miles. Those were the key to everything. As I stood in front of the mirror staring blankly what's inside, I haven't got the slightest idea that I've commited myself into another eight weeks training program. Well, the dice was rolled and hopefully I won't miss a turn or go straight to jail. With more friends logging in more milage and blogging in their magnificent entries, the running atmosphere suddenly arises fresh like never before.

To make up to the increasing adrenalines and miles, I took the liberty to take the day off on Friday to bring me closer to the starting line. It was another way of indulging myself away from stacks of workload especially when next week is meetings' week. Argh! Hated it. Anyway, with pay cheque cashed, it was the right time to secure myself a passport for Sundown trip. Visit to the immigration was smooth and in two hours I was proudly a Malaysian passport holder. Watch out Sundown, here I come - for half marathon only la. Hah!

With the luxury of time, I secured movie tickets for the whole family. Ironman 2 in the evening - the only available seats. Forget about night shows - full house. This means I have to fetch Amir, rushed him for bath and early dinner within the 45 minutes window. I'll come back to Tony Stark's legacy later, perhaps a mini review.

The next most important agenda was to visit Athlete Circle to get a replacement battery for my HRM. Psychologically, I just need to train smart and safe - biological clock ain't ticking the same way 10 years ago, right? Got it replaced and a visit to this kind of hangout won't be complete without some extra cash to spend. Aiya! Was eyeing the Spibelt and had thought about it before. Yim's review was cool. The SA convinced me that I won't have any bouncing issues, especially when I have car keys and phones during training days & gels on race days.

Next stop, Brooks outlet at The Curve. Item in the list, a pair of tights - long ones. Det and me been talking about praying facilities for KL-Marathon. Obviously enough, there won't seem to be any designated spot provided. Studying the map concluded the best chance would be around kilometer 4 to 5 which brings us to about half an hour to 45 minutes into the run. I am not leaving another sarong for this one considering no mosque or surau around Jalan Syed Putra towards Seputeh. Never mind, the homework will be done progressively.

Another hunting agenda was to window shop for a new pair of trainers/racers. Though I had all the options gathered from web reviews and such, our market is predicted to have surprises - normally depressing ones through my preceding experience. The harmony of visiting these shops was never disappointing with shoe talks and advises from the SA - though I smirked sometimes with their personal reviews. Like for example, I was grasping my share of hysterical laughter when one guy was telling the whole story about a pair of Supernova Glide - of course the shoes have rubber soles, what do you expect? A plastic one?! It took him a whole five minutes to end his prologue chapter and I was discomfortly holding my patient not to smack him with the blown rubber soles XD.

As ancipitated, I walked home empty handed. No size for Adizero Aegis which went with a generous 30% off. No size either for Supernova Sequence. Crazy steepy pricey with Nimbus 11 and also not my kind of color (alasan). Not so cool feeling with the new Adizero Tempo 4 - soles a bit stiff which means less flexible for forefoot take-off - wow! I almost sounded like a shoe tester pulak. Did I get that right? Or was it the other way round? Never mind, I just dislike the feeling. Anyway, the hunt will continue and I will keep it posted when I meet the sole of my life ;)

Back to Tony Stark. The movie seemed alright. Nothing to be kecoh about except when Amir shoved me with his elbow holding his excitement when Tony suited himself into the armour from only a high-tech suitcase. That part was awesome. It brought me back when I met Optimus Prime for the first time in the alley - all those small small things moving around becoming one mother of all robots. Remember? - talking about the kid in me. The rest of it was about Tony's little crisis having paladium toxicating his blood. He went nuts, the extra mile from his normal arrogant talks. He even got Rhodey and Pots so mad - that's what Tony is for, right? The villains were pretty bad themselves, each with their own share of beating Ironman clunking here and there with loads of BOOMS! and BANGS! They had their chances only that the final collision was way bit too short - just like Part 1. Anton Vanko a.k.a Crimson Dynamo or was it Whiplash? was defeated in less than 3 miutes knockout! What was that? It could be better, say having Pepper Pots as ransom for example. Last but not least, never ever leave the movie until the last scroll. I knew they had something up their sleeves. And it did excites me till the parking lot explaining to Amir what is the project in the making. Brace yourselves superhero fanatics. It's gonna be big. Giler kentang!

Wow! That was a hole in one. Phew! OK, enough with the indulgement and escapades. Saturday morning was dedicated for LSD with buddies. Lots of things to catch up eversince we left the teh tarik table in Cyberjaya a month ago. Imagine that. A month of no LSD. The usual otais of weekends' long runs - Nik, Syah, Shuk and Det. Five was enough to get the fiesta going. Pace was magnificent, enough to get everybody together in a pack to and fro. Chats were amazingly full of jokes, nonsense and tickling moments. Yep, Geng Kaki Lambung is here to get yourselves enough boost for a sense of humor.

We managed to log in about 23km, thanks to Nik whom was handling the steering wheel with Matrade and Sekolah Seri Hartamas incline in the tulips. I faithfully obeyed to the menu. For the first time I had my Adizero CS for a 20km-ish run. It turned out to be alright on my feet for the two hour plus except for a tiny discomfort feeling once arrived at Bukit Aman. Perhaps the less cushioning and support it provides. All in all, the run made my day. I was smiling for the rest of the day during the afternoon nap and my iron-board surfing session later in the evening. I even treated myself with Ella, Peter Pan and Hujan during the session. Pace was similarly awesome like the morning run - 5 minutes/school uniform. Had it done with 3 pairs altogether. Hah! Beat that.

So much with the flying on top of the world in an armour suit and a pair of Adizero CS, I'm gonna treat myself with a 10km Larian Bomba tomorrow at Dataran Merdeka - pirate version. It should be nothing more than a geli-geli run for recovery and locking in the milage. My weekend was great, alhamdullillah. Hope yours too.