Asha: Week 14

Did one run this week, as it was a rest week after the 7k run...

Total distance: 1.52km
Time: 15 mins
speed: 6.08 km/h or 3.8 mph

Should be back to training some time next week for the 10k after a short break... :D Hope everyone else's training's been good!

Graveyard run recap

Finally got some time this week to write up about the 7k run...

So, it started with me getting up at 6.15am (after a night of restless sleep lasting about 3 hours) and arriving at the race venue by 6.35am (after the blunder at Jalil, I became paranoid)... Sis and brother dropped me off and walked around the place and waited for the rest... Got a call from Waiz and went down to meet Waiz, Xiu, John and John's sis, Rebecca...
Then, the loooong wait began... After hanging around for a while, it was warm-up dancing galore!! :) Most of the people were pretty gung-ho about doing the dance (including John and Waiz's hilarious interpretations... hehehe...)...

After a restless wait till 8am, there was a sudden rush to the starting line for the 7k.. Xiu and I waited together somewhere in the middle of the starting line group and waited for the blowhorn...

Then, we were off! This time, I was able to pace myself from the start.. Some people shot off, of course.. Managed to pass some of them a few minutes in (when they got tired... hehehe...). Was weird running down the road I have been taking for eons to get back home.. but was a nice feeling :).. Continued running till I arrived the graveyard enterance... Was by passed by some school kids... Hahaha...

From the graveyard entrance, I started running slower cuz it was getting slopey... Took short breaks in between... The graveyard was really nice... very serene... And it was my first time in a Chinese graveyard, so it was interesting to see what it was like... However, I was wondering whether it was ok for us to run over some of the graves at some points... :/

The first part in the graveyard end and I was getting pretty thirsty at this point and was tempted to stop and buy from a person selling water by the side... It was really really hot! But, I pushed on and went on to the 2nd part of running in graveyard... This one was a little easier (initially that is)...

While running downhill at one point, some dude saw me running and yelled "Gambate!".. Hahaha.. Then, came the toughest part of the run! A freaking steep uphill stretch... I walked up this part... Then, joined the the main road and made my way to the final stretch... Got to the final stretch, passed a whole bunch of people (around 30-40 of them)... However, was forced to stop by the traffic police and the all the people caught up.. :(

Jogged/walked my way to the finish line and got ambushed (and shoved) by Waiz... hehehe... Did better than I expected... Target time was around 70 mins.. Finished it in 66... Hoorah! :)

It was a fun race, with some interesting elements thrown in (the dance shall remain in the my memory forever... hahaa...) Will be probably try and join next year's one... :)

Looking forward to the 10k... Should be a bit of a challenge for me... :D

Asha: Week 13

Only did one run for Week 13 (the week before the 7k)... The week of the 7k run I was down with food poisoning, so I rested till the 7k run... ;)

Week 13

Distance: 3.13km
Time: 33 mins
Speed: 5.690 km/h or 3.557mph

How far can you go? :P

Heheheh~ added up all the runs i've had since we started.....total milage atm lets me go from my house to port dickson (assuming it's remotely possible to run in a straghit line...hahahah~)

John : Week 13

Hmmmm~ how's everyone training been going? Havent been hearing much from anyone... :P

Just one gentle recovery run for me this week~ ;)

Total distance : 2790m
Total time : 19 min
average speed : 8.8kph/5.5mph

Larian Kubur : Extended Writeup

*edit* grp pic added. Taken from xiuli's facebook. :P

Bit of run background...seems the thing's been around since bout 2001. It's one of those runs where they dont really keep track of placings beyond the top 30 so it's tough to know how well you did. Luckily enough it seems that they use the same distance and route each year so a bit o digging turned up some times that can roughly be used to estimate how well one did. These are placings and times from 2006 that i dug up from personal blogs. :P

*edit* : Top 30 qualifying time this year was 30'50......damn....need to buck up for future runs...bah~ +P

Men open 7k
1st 29:03
2nd 29.15
8th 35:10
15th 36:45

Women open 7k
2nd 42.xx
3rd 42.56

Seems rather clear that this year's pool was more competitive. Dont see any african runners in the 2006 top listings but there were a bunch this year. =\. Run experience follows!

Been sleeping at 6am for the past 2 weeks or so so i just couldnt go to bed early. Ended up sleeping at 5 and getting up at 6....hahahah~ felt relatively rested...changed...ate chocs....woke up sis....headed to meet waiz and xiu who were dropping by to pick us up....was a little worried that we'd be late (turns out later that fear was very much unwarranted!).....got to the carpark....walked over to the field where everyone was gathering...meeting up with ash on the way....

got there at 7....to hear the same announcements over and over again...."no more registering! wear the damn shirt! Don't litter! Put your sticker on! Dont lose your coupon or we'll refuse to give you a bun!".... =P....after a bit they started with the opening....dull speech (brought back memories of high school assemblies)....opening ceremony.....then.....dancing time!....a guy came on stage to lead us all in a warmup...rather...memorable one... =P...tis difficult to describe but i shall try....clap clap...kay yow! shout...obscene looking hip thrusting gesture to the right while shouting "oof off" (apparently the feet were doing stome stuff i couldnt see from where i was standing)...obscene looking hip thrusting gesture to the left while shouting "oof off"....spin hands by side of head like a mad man....the other side....repeat ad infinitum.....amusing dance that served as the source of many jokes later.....i propose we have it as our group cheer!...hahahaha~

All this went on for bout an hour so we got to the line at 8....racing mind mode....go!....(me, ash and my sis tracked the route the night before so we knew what to expect)....nice level wide 1.75k stretch first.....africans and rather fit indian runners leading already....tons of runners dashing like mad...didnt bother matching since i knew the pace i could keep for the run....pace pace pace....reach the first "marker" the cemetery entrance....from here on the route was mostly upslope downslope....the final one being a rather long upslope....the cemetery itself was really beautiful tgh...clear air...blue skies....stillness...lovely place to run....started overtaking most of the sprinters on the upslopes....overtook some runners that i didnt expect to be able to pass....no sign of the africans tgh...ah well...someday.....heheheh.....singled out 3 runners that seemed to be at a similar level of fitness and set beating them as my race target.....run run run....3 of us playing the overtake be overtaken game....was keeping a steady pace tgh, they were the ones speeding up and slowing down.....knowing that the track after the final upslope was mostly all level i walked the final bit of it gearing up for a fast run once over the slope.....over the slope!....fast run time....

Rest of it was pretty much textbook running...fast pacing till the final k....fast dash to the finish line....didnt manage to make the cut for the top 30 this time....ah well... =P....final time 38min....

Hang around the line....sis was the first across....33-34 minutes (5k)....xiu li next at 50....waiz at 57....then ash at 67.....we didnt stay for the ceremony tgh....went off to breakfield for a pork noodles breakfast....joked and talked till we parted ways....got home typed the brief report...and went for a nap~






All in all...a rather fun run....:D...will defintely be in for it again next year if I'm still about....heheheh~

and finally a quote from waiz about the run...hehehe~...

Graveyard Run

Whew~ Just got back a bit ago from it all...will post a longer detailing after a nap....brief report....we all finished...none with medals sadly.... =P ...the track was pretty good, quite a few slopes..straight line distance is 6200 so there should be about 800m worth of "hidden incline" in the track...not very hidden when you're running it tgh... :P...total distance 7000m~

times follow

John : 38 min, average speed = 11kph/6.9mph
Xiuli : 50 min, average speed = 8.4kph/5.2mph
Waiz : 57 min, average speed = 7.4kph/4.6mph
Asha : 67 min, average speed = 6.3kph/3.9mph

my younger sis ran the 5k...her times follow. :P

Becca : 33 (34?) min, average speed = 9kph/5.7mph

will upload pics and a vid or two as well as elab more on the track, the xp and dancing fun!...hahahaha~...i'm sure the rest of the grp'll also be sharing theirs too soon... =D