The hills of Shah Alam (KOTR 2009)

Nisa and I got up at about 6am for the KOTR 2009 at Shah Alam. We stay some 15min away so we didn't have to get up earlier. As we were about to leave the house, Jamie woke up and proclaimed he wanted to come as well! All our morning runs are sans Jamie because he's way too young to come along except on a stroller. He was crying a little when he relented and said he would stay home to watch cartoon until we returned.

We did everything right preparing for this run. We scouted the route, just so we would know it without marshalls. We checked out the route for hills..and yes there were..

I arrived Shah Alam stadium just on time and position myself under the starter's gun. And off we went!! I stuck with the main body all through to Concorde Hotel and only started improving my position as we turned into Raja Muda. The main body was going along pretty briskly up to Concorde and although I deliberately paced myself slower, I think I took the hills up to there a little too quickly. On the return leg, the hills started showing up in all their glory and it was tough. Just as I crested one, and made my way down, another loomed. And there were plenty of them to last all through the 11k.

Kiara is short, brutal but quick; the hills of Shah Alam are something else. The first one right out of the stadium is the most daunting, only because I took them too quickly. I realised the gradient when I was returning (and all of this in the last km in..so what a bloody slog).

The run ended with all of us going through the stadium tunnel to emerge onto the track..I am an Olympian suddenly!!

I now know why some shoes are racing flats..because they are meant for flat roads and not hills!! The Lunar Trainers are not true racers but coming down the hills, I felt I did not get enough cushioning. Maybe they were too minimalist and the lack of structure meant the absence of support all round. I should have used my Asics trainers but every race brings its own lessons.

The hills made this one tough run but this is why Nisa and I did it:

"Izzit Daddy and Mommy go running so there is a medal for me??!!"