Past 2 races

Nike 10K KL City Run

This is the 1st time, if I remember correctly, that a race in Malaysia being sponsored by Nike. Nike, despite it's claims as the #1 running shoe maker in the world, has never been actively involved in any running activities or the running fraternity in Malaysia. Most of the races in the country are being sponsored by New Balance, which is actively involved with Pacesetters Malaysia. Adidas have the King of The Road (recently known as Adination), Mizuno also have sponsored the Mizuno Wave Run for a good few years now, Newton & Brooks have also entered the fray. Why ? I dun really know why. That is why, if U ask any runner, seasoned ones especially, REAL runners dun wear Nike. They wear everything else BUT Nike. Me included.

So when Nike decided to have the KL City Run at 10/10/10 recently, the response was overwhelming. Proly becoz of the t-shirt they're giving away (worth at least RM99.90 retail), or the chance of running in the middle of KL (not a new idea, the SCKLM & Pacesetters have been doing it for years)... but more than 5000 runners signed up. So much so that it made the other running event held on the same day, sponsored by Brooks, looked like a local neighborhood jogathon.

Anyways, I've always liked Nike running apparel, although I dun own any of their running shoes. I've got 3 Nike running tees, a couple of Nike vests, a couple of socks, & 2 running-specific caps. I hv running shirts from other brands as well, Adidas, Brooks, doRunning.. but they dun quite match Nike in terms of comfort & lightness of the fabric. The Nike 10K running shirt is another addition, to pay RM50 & get a shirt of that quality is a good investment I guess. A new concept intro'ed by Nike is to print our race numbers on the t-shirt itself. This is an ingenious concept for 2 things : U MUST use the shirt for the race, which ensures uniformity, & there's no tedious bib to pin to the shirt. Great job !!

Well, I've been targetting to break the hour on the road for this race. It was really boosted by my fine performance during the Newton 12K. So I've set a target of getting 55 mins, which means I've to run below 6:00/km pace. I set my Polar at 5:30 - 6:00. But the build up to the race wasn't anything to shout about. I couldn't do kilo repeats more than twice (I threw up on the 3rd rep) & I felt really, really slow.

The race started late, at 7:15. I've earlier set up a meeting with Low Yat.net runners at 6:45. But I got to the start at 6:55 &I thought I was running late edi. The good thing was that I get to start from the front, but the downside was that I had to warm up right in front of the monstrous speakers they've put up nxt to the start line. I can't hear right from my right ear for days after the race.

I was going comfortably at the 1st half of the race. But I felt slow. Really slow. The route was flat except for the short trip on the AKLEH. But I couldn't pick up pace. My Polar was beeping slowly, a sign that I was below my target pace. My morale was further battered when I reached the halfway point, & my Polar which was set to record auto lap every 5km, showed 31 mins... which was well below my target pace.

But I continued to press on. After AKLEH the route brought us down to the tunnel next to the Tabung Haji building. This is certainly a surprise. While the tunnel is less than 300m long I think, it was made hard by the traffic that got stuck in it. The tunnel was filled with smoke. Maybe if there was no traffic it would've been easier.

When I got out of the tunnel the marker says there's only 500m left in the race.. & my Polar read 52 mins !!! I was really surprised !! But I didn't check the distance on my Polar, I just pressed on. I hit the line at 55 mins !! Mission accomplished !! Or was it ?

My Polar recorded only 8.8km. But most other forumers claimed that their Nike+ GPS device recorded between 9.9 - 10.1km distance. Well, I hate to put an asterisk nxt to my PB, but I guess I've to accept it. I need to train more, no doubt. But come to think of it, it had only been a month after Raya. So I shud be happy with the way I ran & the time I got. I need to build on this...

Livestrong.

(next... Mizuno Wave Run)