Shape Night Run 2011 – race report

Ramadhan Greetings

Salam and greetings !! 🙂 This time pakai font warna meghah pulak.. haha..amacang?! Puasa tak tu? Harap-harap okay dan sejahtera hendaknya to all of you. Now, I know most of you are in the Ramadhan ‘mood’, I guess. But nak cerita sikit about the recent Shape Run in Putrajaya.

I was actually invited by the organizer to participate as ‘media’. Thank you to Jaclyn and team for the invitation. Free entry for the 12.3km, VIP pass for parking , and..oh yeah, collected my race kit before the run itself on the stage in front of the VIP tent. I didn’t participate last year, but I came to support friends and snap some photos. This year, Shape Run is a week after Port Dickson Triathlon. The timing is just nice for me to run my last race before the fasting month. There was no specific training for this run, as I have been recovering between races,(the last one being Port Dickson Triathlon) plus the on and off again fever and flu.

To The Front – well, nearly..

I am not sure how many thousand runners were there at the start line but what I know was that there was quite a large number for the 12.3km as it is generally do-able for most of the runners [hence ‘runner’].I entered the cage, slipping and making may way to the front, but only manage to find a comfy spot around 10 meters to start. God knows how many hundred people were ahead of me. Hihih. I wasn’t planning to run fast, and thought I should just take it easy for that night because I was cycling in the day, and have another ride the day after at Hulu Langat. Then again, one of the reason why I bothered to slip my way to the front (well almost) is that I don’t have to waste energy or time zigzagging my way as much as I would have if I were to start from the back.And I know my pace won’t cause me to be trampled by the stampede behind be. Tuh yang tiba-tiba jadi semangat nak lari laju skekk..hihi..dah alang-alang duduk depan tuh, laju sikit lah. So there, how our mind can play games on us. Have fun with it while you can, and I did at Shape Run !

The 12.3km Route

The route ; Palace of Justice, Seri Gemilang Bridge, PICC, back on Seri Gemilang Bridge (around 4.8km at the end of the bridge), (yeah, up that short hill), left into Lebuh Sentosa passing the beautifully litted to Seri Saujana Bridge (the steel, ship sail like bridge). The run along Lebuh Sentosa (that long flat stretch between Seri Saujana Bridge all the way to the Lebuh Sentosa – Persiaran Barat junction where runners turned right is around 2.5km. Turned right into Persiaran Barat passing the 3rd and last bridge during the run — Seri Wawasan Bridge before turning right again as runners hit the main boulevard which connects PICC to the Putrajaya Mosque, passing the Ministry of Finance building on our right (..pause kejap..,I deeply wonder how many runners that night are from Putrajaya…)… Then left in to Lebuh Ehsan, and then right into the back road behind the Immigration Department and Palace of Justice. The road lead the runners back to the finish line in front of Palace of Justice. Distance 12.3km.

Here are a couple of photos of the first 2 bridges I mentioned , just in case you were too focused on the run to check out the magnificent architecture in Putrajaya.

The Fun & Happy Run

There were around 3 water stations if I was not mistaken, at the 3km, 6km and 9km point. I had a bottle of water before the run (just plain water), no gels ! The water stations were efficient during the times I passed them. I stopped briefly at each ! I had a brief (but stabbing) intercostal pain between the 7-8km when I was in the zone pacing it up — I slowed down a little..and stopped at one point near the timing mat before the Persiaran Barat interjunction. Recovered and then got back to running..slowly.. before recovering and deciding to hitch on the next Rawalpindi Express (thanks to a guy who passed me) before Seri Wawasan Bridge. I continued with the pace before letting the runner and go, and continued with the pace before I had the pain. Over took some ladies, and guys.. and some more ladies as we neared the last turn into the boulevard. Finished with a sprint — drama betol kan.. and came in 20th ! hehe.. Happy I was. Timing 1hr 7mins 🙂 yeay. A quick shout out to all my friends who I saw and met at the run. Nice to see you guys! 🙂 Let me quickly list a few; Lynn Guan, Pat Ee, Uncle Oliver Ker, Chew from Kuantan Pacesetters, Tan Wah Sing, Yusran, Nik Raiha, Azri, Zulhassan, Shahrudisah, Hanafy, Yim, Awe, Jess, Pui San, Karen Loh !! 🙂 and the rest of you. Keep on smiling, keep on running and you sure will keep on rockin’ 🙂 Peace !

To the organizer, marshals and volunteers (not forgetting the ever cool MCs from FlyFM, two thumbs up all was good. I have only 2 things to mention here for the organizer ; 1) You guys might wanna review back the registration fee…A bit on the high side…Running used to be the most affordable sports for Malaysians. We don’t want that to change that, do we..?   2) Increase security at runners’ parking area.. the numbers of organized running events are increasing..and so are car smash incidents — by irresponsible and desperate people… Have police/security to patrol the designated areas. Running events are being targeted by these thieves.. and this should  not be allowed to flourish.. ! And runners should also take precaution too by not leaving any valuables in the car. Better still, just leave them at home. Running events have luggage drop areas where you can leave your belongings. Either that or keep it with a friend or family member who is there at the run to support. The last thing(s) you want to leave in your car are things like..handphone, iPads, cash,… not even your carbon and flashy bicycles ! Okay, enough of the ramblings. Need to tee off to la la laaaa land now. Tidor time..! I have a special video for Shape Run 2011. Scroll down to view !!