Hi peeps! Just finish cleaning the dust and spider
webs from this blog. Surprise it is still here. Hehe!!
With the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 next
week, the crowd is expectedly smaller in this race. It was the first race for
me for the year or two years I think. Hehe! It was the Reebok ONE challenge; an 18.95km run with 9 obstacles squeezed in between in Putrajaya. Race plan was to
try to run non-stop and tackle all the obstacles.
The race was started a bit later
then 6.30am starting time. I started somewhere towards the end as I knew I do
not have enough training and I do not want to get dragged by the fast speed
front pack runners right from the start. This being the first time I am running
in Putrajaya, I never expected it to have so many slopes, which by the end of
the 9km initial run; before the start of the first obstacle I have passed by
quite many of the runners running ahead of me earlier.
I always love hill but I think I am a better
downhill runner now as the past one year I have been practising it so as not to
get injured again but… going uphill… I think I need to start doing something
about it.
Approaching the first obstacle, which was hidden after a corner, I met Nick who was with the Orange man during this Challenge simulation run. It was a downhill and he seems to slow down a bit and I wonder why but very soon it seems rational as the first obstacle was right there which was a task of carrying a 15kg sand bag for a distance which felt like 40 meters with the first half going up a slight slope.
Next was the monkey bar, which was just around another corner. It was a short one I would say so no problem hanging like a monkey to go through it even with slightly sweaty palms.
Next up after like two minutes of running was the orange/white barricade that you normally see on the road or construction site. Three rows of it put as a hurdle and there I was jumping over them imitating the hurdler... I wish I looked so. :P
After that was a steep climb on the tarmac and guess WHAT? The next obstacle - the anthills; six of them are right there half way up the incline. Two in one obstacle, I got to say I love the organiser for this one. Those anthills are pretty high and I think it is around 6-7 foot and steep too that I need to sprint up to get over it. Here is where I think I need to get some sprinting work that I have neglected back into my run. After that I went on to finish that steep climb which my run felt like a crawling.
Right after that was the trail run which I love most as it was all downhill hence I was charging down at my full speed.
The tyres speed challenge is up next and you will not like this high knee speed stuff right after the downhill run and some more it was arranged in a "U" shape so you basically need to do a U-turn in this challenge. Few are walking but being the playful me, I went through it like a rugby player doing the speed drill.
The second last challenge was a 9-foot wall if I was not misjudging its height. One step on the step around the hip height of the wall and jump up to grab the top of it and off I went to the other side of the wall. Not long after this obstacle that I was over taken by the first female runner that started like 10 minutes after the men were flagged off. Shame shame...
Then, I went on running expecting the last obstacle, which was nowhere to be seen. Run and run I went for about 4km but this whole race distance of 18.95km being my single longest distance run non-stop this year, it was not easy. Finally, at about 200-300 meters from the finishing line, two of those Hilux like trucks parked back to back and you need to climb up the back of it from the side and jump off another side. They should have put some mud with worms and leeches in the back of the truck to get a little screaming effect and we would look like it was a tough race going towards the finishing line. Hehe!!
To me, this event is more of a running race than an obstacle race. With regards to the organisation, I am not someone who join races year round but in my opinion, it was a very well organised race with plenty of water stations (six of it - a bit too many I think) and aid stations located as planned with cheerful volunteers and also the marshals at every junction and corners. Two thumbs up for the organiser. However, the obstacle can be a little tougher. Do not underestimate us runner. Hehehe!!!
Approaching the first obstacle, which was hidden after a corner, I met Nick who was with the Orange man during this Challenge simulation run. It was a downhill and he seems to slow down a bit and I wonder why but very soon it seems rational as the first obstacle was right there which was a task of carrying a 15kg sand bag for a distance which felt like 40 meters with the first half going up a slight slope.
Next was the monkey bar, which was just around another corner. It was a short one I would say so no problem hanging like a monkey to go through it even with slightly sweaty palms.
Next up after like two minutes of running was the orange/white barricade that you normally see on the road or construction site. Three rows of it put as a hurdle and there I was jumping over them imitating the hurdler... I wish I looked so. :P
After that was a steep climb on the tarmac and guess WHAT? The next obstacle - the anthills; six of them are right there half way up the incline. Two in one obstacle, I got to say I love the organiser for this one. Those anthills are pretty high and I think it is around 6-7 foot and steep too that I need to sprint up to get over it. Here is where I think I need to get some sprinting work that I have neglected back into my run. After that I went on to finish that steep climb which my run felt like a crawling.
Right after that was the trail run which I love most as it was all downhill hence I was charging down at my full speed.
The tyres speed challenge is up next and you will not like this high knee speed stuff right after the downhill run and some more it was arranged in a "U" shape so you basically need to do a U-turn in this challenge. Few are walking but being the playful me, I went through it like a rugby player doing the speed drill.
The second last challenge was a 9-foot wall if I was not misjudging its height. One step on the step around the hip height of the wall and jump up to grab the top of it and off I went to the other side of the wall. Not long after this obstacle that I was over taken by the first female runner that started like 10 minutes after the men were flagged off. Shame shame...
Then, I went on running expecting the last obstacle, which was nowhere to be seen. Run and run I went for about 4km but this whole race distance of 18.95km being my single longest distance run non-stop this year, it was not easy. Finally, at about 200-300 meters from the finishing line, two of those Hilux like trucks parked back to back and you need to climb up the back of it from the side and jump off another side. They should have put some mud with worms and leeches in the back of the truck to get a little screaming effect and we would look like it was a tough race going towards the finishing line. Hehe!!
To me, this event is more of a running race than an obstacle race. With regards to the organisation, I am not someone who join races year round but in my opinion, it was a very well organised race with plenty of water stations (six of it - a bit too many I think) and aid stations located as planned with cheerful volunteers and also the marshals at every junction and corners. Two thumbs up for the organiser. However, the obstacle can be a little tougher. Do not underestimate us runner. Hehehe!!!
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