PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Recently, at a road race in Selangor, one of our members broke her arm when she fell after being pushed at the start. This will always be a problem as long as participants want to rush. All too often I have seen runners going to the front, and once the race starts they will run very fast for 100m, and then start walking and blocking the other runners. I find it hard to understand the logic of these unfit runners who obviously did not train or do not appreciate the need to prepare for a race.

Perhaps it is part of the Malaysian mentality where people jump queues or park illegally just so that they can be nearer to wherever they want to go. I have seen parents holding young kids at the front of a start, not realizing the danger if they fall and get trampled on. We try to put up signs for our events to segregate the runners to "elite runners" and down to "fun runners". Unfortunately there are still some who do not read signs or choose to ignore them.

Managing Events (Vest sizing)

One of our biggest problems in event management is the vest sizing. We have not been able to find a formula for the quantities for the different sizes. I have looked at past records and tried to get an appropriate percentage allocation. Unfortunately, there is no pattern. For example, at the recent New Balance Pacesetters 15km 2007, there was a huge demand for men's S and M, and for women's S and M (almost 50% of the total). Previously, the demand was for L. As it takes at least two weeks to make and print the vests, we cannot cater to the requests from all the participants.

Another reason for this situation is the late submission of entries. Perhaps we have to seriously consider closing the registration three weeks before the race (regardless of number of entries received by then), as this would give us time to make up for any shortfall in the sizing.

Also, at the New Balance Pacesetters 15km 2007, we had about 40 goodie bags containing the finisher medals stolen as we were giving them out at the finishing point. It is sad that such a thing can happen, and it means we have to take extra precautions to prevent this from happening again. An alternative is to do away with the goodie bags.

Volunteers

The above were the negative aspects, now the positive ones. It has never ceased to amaze me the way members come forward to volunteer their services in running our events. Surprisingly, there were non-members too who became volunteers. It must be said that volunteers do not get paid (otherwise they won't be called 'volunteers'!) or get reimbursements of any sort. They only get a t-shirt to be worn on race day, and breakfast. Yet they wake up very early on a

Sunday morning and work with enthusiasm until noon.

This club is special in this respect, and I hope the tradition will continue for a long, long time. In a country where people are increasingly getting more and more selfish, it is heartening to note that there are still nice people around!

A special note: He is not a volunteer and has never volunteered, and yet at the end of our events, he can be seen quietly picking up the rubbish and generally cleaning up the place long after everyone has gone home. He has never asked for anything, not even a t-shirt, and I must admit rather shamefully that we have never given him anything. This I intend to correct very soon!

His name? Phua Kok Hua, #2304.

This world needs more people like him.

The Future

The club has reached another crossroad in its life at the age of 23 years (the club celebrated its birthday on 20th May, the same day as the New Balance Pacesetters 15km 2007). We are at our limits in terms of organizing large events, marketing, publicity, sponsorship, etc. There is a possibility that the club will be helping to organize events for other organizations. At the same time we have to organize more events for our members, like breakfast runs and trips to holiday places. To do these things we may have to tie up with some organizations to manage events in a more professional way, and at the same time to do it on a larger scale. Perhaps on-line registration and payment, database preparation, timing chip, etc.

Our capabilities, I believe, is for events catering to no more than 2,000 participants. Anything more and we need outside help or full-time event management staff. It is something we have to look at in detail in the near future, and the task will fall on the current executive committee to choose which road to take at the crossroad.

We will not rush it, but the goal is still the Pacesetters Marathon.

Thank you all for your support. Whether as a volunteer or as a participant, it is greatly appreciated.

Setting the Pace Together

Munning Jamaludin

New EXCO Lineup For 2007/2008

Members of the new PACM 2007/2008 Exco are: (seated, from left) Vice President Francis Toh, Secretary SH Tan, President Munning Jamaluddin, Treasurer Foo Sook Ying, Vice President Rustam Affandi Zaihan; (standing, from left) Asst Secretary Jagathasan Naidu, Committee members Michael Gan, Sonny Ng, Tan Pek Moi, Alan Ho and Aplaidoo Rama Nayadoo


We serve, we sacrifice so others can run ... PACM turns 23

The Club turned 23 years old on 20 May 2007. A cake-cutting ceremony was held at Padang Merbok after the NB-PACM 15km run.

WAN TRUE PACESETTER'S TALE
By Wan Yew Leong

My Senior Veteran Running Group

Since my retirement from PACM in March 2005, I have been socializing with a small group of PACM members that I used to service personally as we all run in the morning at Bukit Aman Car-park. They are Chai Weng Moon, Dr. Tan Tah Ming, Ngae Koh Hieng, Bruce Wun and Chua Keng Huat. As most of us are no longer very competitive in our runs except for Ngae, we make it a little more interesting with a handicap system with side bets thrown in. The incentive is a good lunch somewhere on Saturday once a month. I suppose this is a great way to keep us motivated in these events, run, have fun, go holidays and have a good lunch. All six of us are rather different in our approach to running, Ngae, Dr. Tan and Bruce take things to the extreme, still doing Ironman, triathlons and marathons. Bruce is still trying to run as many marathons as he could. Chai and I are more sober, we stick to a given routine of 30km a week over 5 mornings. We intend to keep fit and stay injury-free. Our maximum is 21km (half marathon), about 5 half marathons in a year. Chua does irregular training but would come for certain races. Somehow we gel together with the common passion for running, good company and good food once a while. We started the year with a celebration lunch at the Chinese Food Village at Imbi Area for a roast goose lunch, compliments of Bruce for losing his bet with Dr. Tan at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. Through these regular lunches, we discover quite a few good eating places through Dr. Tan and Chua. The best we have been so far is at Langat Seafood And Beer Garden, Lot 100, Jalan Sungei Sop, Batu 14, Pekan Hulu Langat, Selangor. (Tel:03-9021 7215/6, 019-228 6037). Well, this column could well develop into a Where to Eat Column over time!

The senior veteran runners (standing: Chua Keng Huat & Wan), (seated: Dr Tan, Bruce Wun, Chai Weng Moon Ngae KH) enjoying their roast goose lunch

First Choice Family Driver

Now I feel that I have sort of driven from the fast lane into the slow lane, still driving forward but at a much slower pace that I am comfortable with and very relaxing. I think this is a great feeling about leaving the rat race at this stage of my life as I am turning 50 this year. I should be enjoying life at the pace I am comfortable with. I should not have too many people telling me what to do but I do what I like and enjoying it. During the 8 years that I was very busy with work and leading PACM, my wife Clara played the main role in managing the needs of our 4 teenage kids. Now she got a lot busier in her job and also more active in social work as the Secretary to the Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur. We sort of reversed our role since last year - I immediately became the first choice driver in the family. These days, my duties would include taking the kids to tuition, karate, volleyball, basketball, guitar sessions etc. As our four kids have diverse interest, it can be a demanding task to attend to each of their needs. These duties while time-consuming, come with benefits. I get to spend more time with my kids, talking to them when they feel chatty in the car and getting to know them more. These days, teenagers listen to their friends more than to their parents, able to spend more time with them reverse this probability. I can't claim success here yet but now I have the time to invest with them, I stand a better chance to succeed. In 3 to 8 years time, they are all adults and such opportunities will not be there anymore. I hope I could shape their character in some meaningful ways before they reach adulthood.

Spring Cleaning, Self Development & Shelf Development

Besides focusing on my family, I have also done some very serious spring cleaning in my house, I have 27 thick files on PACM that I accumulated in the last 8 years, plus piles of papers, reading materials all over the house. It was so bad till I couldn't even trace my income tax receipts for allowable deductions! I bought a book titled " How to simplify your life" by Tiki Kustenmacher. I find it very informative and the first lesson is to sort out your office and your house of clutter. I have not succeeded yet but I have thrown out plenty of stuff and have reorganized my SOHO (Small Office Home Office) that I foresee I am going to use very much in the years to come. Many of my PACM files I decided not to keep ended up in Munning's office or Francis Toh's storeroom. I have started looking at the bookshelf of books I have acquired but never got round reading. My wife have this comment about my book-buying habits, "People buy books for self development, you buy books for shelf development"……sarcasm I have to live with. Recently, I listed down the books I bought in 2006 and make a resolution to read them all before buying the next book. I intend to keep learning on matters that interest me such as multi-media. I find that my kids are great with the computers but rather impatient teachers. Who would not be if the student is an old dog that is slow and clumsy with his fingers! Nevertheless, this old dog has learnt some new tricks with the multi-media. This is necessary as I am the proud co-owner of a running website! Which brings us to the next subject in this column…...


Wan flanked by Kim (left) and Joseph after their first 20km race

RunnersMalaysia Beginners' Running Program

This program was started on 6th May 2006 to help individuals who wish to run but did not know how and need some help. It was loosely based on the Beginners' Program by the New York Road Runners. We got off to a good start with 12 turning up for the first session but the attendance started to dwindle. The extended haze period did not help either. Jamie and I were rather disappointed with the small turn-up and we could have given up with the program. We get a number of calls from the inserts in the Star Weekender once a month but the turnout rate from the callers was rather poor. I guess getting up on a Saturday morning is still an issue with most people who are not converted runners yet.

We get more disappointment when some gave up easily and stop turning up thereafter. However, we do have a few successes and they went on even to share their stories in our website. Two of these successes were Chong Ting Chow, a PACM member and Peter Kuan, a 46 year old engineer. During certain Saturdays when the turnout is poor, I do sometimes question myself as to whether we could sustain this program, given that only two of us are pushing it. Luckily, my good friend, Chong Ting Chow stood by the program and gave his full support week after week. The program got more consistency in December 2006 when we started to get a core group of 15 as regulars. Since the Star published a write-up when the website was launched in March 2006 we have been getting a consistent attendance of between 10 and 20 each Saturday.

I wish to emphasize that RunnersMalaysia is in no way a competitor to PACM. It is not even a club, it is just an information portal to support running. On the contrary, we complement PACM by introducing running to the public with the Beginners' Program. We encourage the beginners to join PACM once they are more involved in the sports.

On 5 May 2007, we celebrated the first anniversary of this program and now we have a database of more than 45 who have been running with us on a regular basis. We have since added brisk walking articles and linkages to our website (www.runnersmalaysia.com.my) to disseminate the needed knowledge. I like to call on all PACM members to spread the news about our program to friends who may be interested; every Saturday morning, 7.30am sharp at Bukit Aman Car-park (Distance 3.4km or 4km).

Their First 20km Race

This year my participation as a runner in the GE30km has added meaning, first I am able to migrate from Race Director to a runner in the 20km category. To make my participation meaningful, I am guiding two young runners, 16 year old Joseph Cheah and Teh Seok Im (Kim as we call her). Joseph is eager to take part in some run but there was no event available when I met him. On my suggestion, he signed up for the 20km version of the GE 30km 2007 on the same day I signed up. Kim is a new comer to running.She started about 5 months ago on her own as part of her employer's Staff Wellness Program, a program to encourage the staff to challenge themselves to get fitter and healthier. After running on her own for a few months, she joined our Beginners' Program in December 2006. I found that she was very fit for someone who had started running for just a few months and suggested that she run the 20km version of the GE 30km. After due consideration, she did sign up for the run and as a member of PACM. I must qualify myself here as I normally do not encourage any new runners to do too much too soon, a statement that was drummed in by Dr. William Chan. After having convinced Kim to try a 20km race, I was obligated to guide her through. I told her to join me for the next 3 Sundays for the long run, one more 10km, then two 15kms and we would be ready. Kim was extremely disciplined and punctual, and I knew she was ready and she had the capability to finish ahead of me.

She completed the race in 1 hr 52 mins 4 secs, placed 9th in the women category, a great achievement for a first-timer. Joseph found our pace a little too slow right from the start and went on his own pace. He finished an incredible1hr 40mins 27 secs to place 18th. I completed in 1hr 54 mins 58 secs, placed 63rd and I am extremely satisfied with my results. My little project is done and I look forward to be able to guide them in more ways. Needless to say, I feel great about the event. The police did a fabulous job at the Jalan Duta crossing, my main safety concern as the Race Director last year. It feels so great to be able to run at the club event for the first time (Mizuno Wave Run 2006 which I took part is not considered our club's event).

Wan Yew Leong
wanyewleong@gmail.com

Kenyans Rule at NB-PACM15km Run
By Tan Swee Huah

The fifth edition of the New Balance Pacesetters 15km Run 2007 held on Sunday 20th May attracted 1571 registered participants, the largest number recorded in the history of this annual event organized by our club. The challenging Double Hill route did not deter the running enthusiasts. The top five winners of each category were awarded New Balance product vouchers.

There were 141 foreign participants. The spread of international communities, including those residing in Malaysia and Singapore, is quite impressive; Runners included Americans, British, Burmese, Canadians, Cubans, Danes, Dutch, Filipinos, French, Germans, Ghanaians, Indians, Indonesians, Irish, Japanese, Kenyans, Nepalese, South Africans, Spanish and Venezuelans.


Trophies galore

This year, two special runners from Penang joined this race. They were Visually Impaired (partially sighted) athletics Muhammad Amir Teh Husin Teh and Ramesh Rao Chinaya competing in the Men Open category, running side-by-side the normal runners. They were assisted by the national coach for the Malaysian Paralympics Council, Penang guiding them on a motorcycle.
The event was flagged off by Kenneth Chim of Stream Enterprise (M) Sdn Bhd at 7.00am sharp. Leading the pack were fast runners from Kenya who swept all top five places for the Men Open category.

It was a sea of maroon as runners wore specially designed maroon-coloured running vests provided by New Balance. There were no losers as every runner who finished the race within the qualified time received a pewter finisher medal.


An all-Kenyan affair; with Kenneth Chim of Stream Enterprise (left)

This year's event is a little different in that a charity 5km fun run was incorporated into this run. The Charity Fun Run was a run within a run, held side by side with the New Balance Pacesetters 15km Run. It started outside the Padang Merbok car park half an hour after the main run started. Souvenir T-shirts were sold at RM30 and proceeds from this Charity Fun Run will go to the Kiwanis Syndrome Foundation, a non-profit organization which supports children with Down Syndrome.

After the race, runners were served a hearty breakfast comprising watermelon, bananas, nasi lemak, porridge, tau foo fah, and cendol. The Milo-Man was on hand to distribute delicious Milo drinks to runners. The PowerBar stall was doing brisk business giving free endurance drinks to tired runners. Runners were also treated to Fitnesse breakfast cereals with fresh milk.


A closer look at the birthday cake

The prize presentation to the top runners followed after breakfast and rounding up the race was the much-awaited lucky draws. Lucky runners walked away with prizes sponsored by New Balance, Milo, Polar and The Himalaya Drug Company.

The finale to the event was the 23rd birthday celebration of Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia which fell on 20th May. Members gathered round President Munning Jamaludin who made a wish for the Club to grow from strength to strength, before cutting and sharing the birthday cake.

Random Shots!

The fun run begins

Sorry, we don't accept credit cards today

Lian Bee Hoon getting her prize from Kenneth Chim of New Balance

Crowded start

I believe I can fly!

Face of triumph

Orderly and patient queue

Mak cik nasi lemak

Bonding Run at Sabak Bernam
By Wan Yew Leong

Having a breakfast run at Sabak Bernam was an idea conceived a few years ago when I was still the president of PACM. The kinky issue then was the lack of proper accommodation for the outstation members. I did negotiate once with the local rest house to block book certain number of rooms but the bureaucracy and the uncertainty puts me off. Both Henry Chua (former group leader) and Tan Swee Nel, the current group leader were repeatedly reminded whenever I meet them at various runs. When the notice went out that we are having the Brooks Bonding Run this year at Sabak Bernam, I was the first to book 4 rooms.

I feel the Executive Committee's present strategy of getting the smaller area groups to host the bonding run is a good one. Last year, the Klang Area Group did a fabulous job in organizing a good run at Klang. The benefits coming out of such an arrangement is that the host group would mobilize all their members to put up a good show. A lot of leadership was demonstrated and everyone puts in effort in making it a success. I can see and feel the energy in both these runs. Towards the end of the run, the whole Sabak Bernam Group went on stage to take a photograph and that's the whole team that worked hard in making the event a success.


Tan Swee Nel & Munning gunning off the run

The road to Sabak Bernam

I have never been to Sabak Bernam before, but read about it during my student days that it is a coconut producing area. I drove past junctions along the roads to various places in Perak that point towards Sabak Bernam but never have a good reason to visit the town. We drove out of Subang Jaya on 15 April 2007 at 2.30pm with Jason Thiang and Rustam following from behind. We have decided to use the Guthrie Corridor instead of following the map posted by KC Leong that suggested we use Klang Town/Kapar way. Shortly after our turn into the Kesas Highway, we lost Jason and Rustam. After a short call discussion between my navigator Chai and Jason, they had to figure out how to get there. The Guthrie Corridor is an efficient way to avoid the Klang/Kapar congestion and before long we got to Ijok, the town that few people know till the current by-election. After Ijok we went to Kuala Selangor, famous for its fireflies. Beyond Kuala Selangor, it was an easy drive as the roads are now two lanes, both sides. We got there before 5.00pm, the earliest group to arrive and met Tan Swee Nel at the entrance to the Tokong Thien Hock Kong, getting the venue ready with banners. The temple is an excellent choice for the event as the compound is large enough to gather 300 runners.

The hotel we were putting up, Siang Nong Hotel is within my expectation as I had done plantation audit during the eighties and have stayed in similar shop-house type hotels.
It was a little getting used to by my children. We have to buy bath towels and drinking water for our rooms! That night we had our dinner at Restoran Kuang Wah, No 1, Jln Enam, Bagan (Tepi Laut) 45300 Sungei Besar (tel 012-203 5097). While the food is pretty cheap by Kuala Lumpur standard, it did not wow us. We later found that Sungei Besar has better accommodation than the Siang Nong Hotel we stayed in. Along the way there are also some home-stay facilities. The group from FRIM stayed at Sungei Besar.


Wan with wife Clara, daughters Stephanie and Adeline

Refreshing suburban route

The Sabak Bernam group walked the extra mile by inviting residents of Sabak Bernam to join the event. More than 200 residents and together with about 70 PACM members from Kuala Lumpur made up a total of nearly 300 runners - a great effort for a small town like Sabak Bernam. I think it is an excellent local event as a small town like Sabak Bernam is unlikely to have many sport events of this scale. The two routes (9km and 5km) were logically charted that took us out of the town shortly after the start. Most of the running was done within palm oil estate and kampung area, a refreshing change from urban Kuala Lumpur. The route was well marshalled by the volunteers and the local police was there to manage the traffic. While there was no water station in the 9km route, there were marshals in their motorcycles with bottled water.

I caught up with my eldest daughter Adeline who did the 5km at the last 1.5km. She told me my youngest daughter, Stephanie, aged 12 had gone ahead. I ran on trying to catch her before the finish line but she was nowhere to be seen. So I waited. Almost everyone came in and she was still missing. I got worried and went on stage to make an announcement. Still no sign of her and by then I was very worried. Suddenly, we saw her trotting in looking tired. She ran the 9km route by mistake, after following another young runner! Not bad for a computer nerd who never exercise. As a family, we started to enjoy the rest of the morning having coconut drinks, soy bean milk, soy bean curd, nasi lemak and fruits. A good portion of the temple ground was shaded by the stage building and most runners were sitting down, enjoying the morning while the lucky draw was on. We had more than 100 items donated by the very generous local individuals and businesses. Each runner got a pair of Brooks socks and a 40% discount coupon to buy shoes at the Brooks shop in Kuala Lumpur.


Fresh coconuts to quench our thirst

Family Fun

An event like this does not cost a lot to organize as compared to competitive road races. It brings out the family together for a nice morning outing. The local host demonstrated their organizing ability and along the way built up an execution team. I hope the Kuantan Group can do an event the second half of this year, something similar without the frills of a road race. Kuantan Group has a proven track record, having organized 3 events, 21km, 12km and 10km. Of the 3 events, I enjoyed the 12km Kuantan Nature Run the most even though it was the smallest of the 3, with only about 120 participants. I recall we ran through the ocean front with the sea to our right, then the kampung roads and finally the jungle stretch. Breakfast runs are a lot more fun for the whole family. This is the type of events that parents can introduce the fun of running to the whole family. Running clubs must bring in the family elements in their runs where possible and the picture Chan Wing Kai took for my family tells a thousand words of a family driving all the way from Subang Jaya for a weekend together, taking part in a fun run. Along the way I discovered that my youngest daughter can complete 9km without training! I shall get her to join my Saturday morning runs after her UPSR.

On the way home, we contributed a little to the local economy, buying back some mangoes and papayas. We passed through Ijok again and saw the massive campaign in the by-election with all the posters and banners up. On behalf of all the members from Kuala Lumpur who took part in the Bonding Run, we thank the Sabak Bernam Group for their wonderful efforts in organizing the event. I always need a good reason to go places, taking part in a run is always a good one and it need not be an international class run.


Old buddies running together


Mother and child bonding

Fragrant nasi lemak waiting for hungry runners

Fun-filled Annual Dinner
By Tan Swee Huah

Three hundred and fifty Pacesetters members and family members came from as far north as Penang and as far south as Johore Baru and they all converged at the land of the Wild, Wild West in Kuala Lumpur! Big Chief Tony Quay, resplendent in his feathered crown and his painted upper torso, was the most revered and popular man of the night. It was PACM's 23rd Annual Dinner and the Grand Ballroom of Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur was magically transformed into the land of the wild, wild west by Tammy Lim and her creative team.


Impressive back-drop

First up was a ten-course dinner of "cowboys cuisines" served by waiters donning fiery red PACM scarves round their necks. While members were chomping down cowboy cuisines, videotaped activities and races of the Club for the past years were screened. Members shrieked in delight when their faces and antics were spotted on the screen.

Big Chief made sure his presence was felt, moving from table to table and obliging countless requests for a photo with the Big Chief.


Door gifts for all

President Munning Jamaludin took the opportunity to introduce and parade on stage the new Executive Committee for 2007/2008 to all present. The new Exco was elected at the Annual General Meeting held just before the annual dinner.

Up next was the contest for the Best Dressed Male/Female according the Wild, Wild West theme. Uncle Hooi Siew Wing swaggered his way while twirling his pistol into the hearts of the judges and won the award for the male category. Khoo Joo Ean charmed the audience with her beautiful presentation of Pocahontas and emerged the undisputed winner of the female category.


Sportsman/Sportwoman 2006

The highlight of the event was the presentation of awards to deserving members. Fong Thong Lim won the award for Sportsman of the Year while Hayley J. Holley clinched the title for PACM Sportswoman of the Year, the most coveted awards of PACM. Loyal members present at the dinner who were pioneer members holding membership numbers of below 0200 were also honoured. They were Tammy Lim, Lim Yoke Fooi, Lee Keng Boo, Ooi Eam Giap, and Hooi Siew Weng.

To round up a fun-filled evening, lucky draws were held. About fifty lucky members went home with prizes sponsored by Nike, Mizuno, New Balance, Milo, Pacesetters members Francis Cheng and Tammy Lim. A big thank you to the generous sponsors.

Thank you all for your presence. See you at our Annual Dinner in 2008….


Best-dressed man and lady

Big Chief Tong

Sahara Desert CHALLENGE
By Ngae KH

Year 2006 started normal for me, beginning with the KL International Marathon. Then things started to pick up after that. I did climbing and trekking every week with my buddies, from Bukit Irau, Bukit Angsi to Mount Kinabalu. I also did the 100km charity run in July organized by the Subang Jaya Buddhist Association.

After completing the 100km charity run, fellow Pacesetter Dr Tan Tah Ming (DT) mentioned that he had decided to do the Marathon Des Sables (MDS) 2007 the Sahara Ultramarathon in March 2007. I thought he was kind of crazy! I was then in the triathlon circle and I met Simon Cross from UK who did MDS in 2006. After a long talk with him over his experience and after visiting the organizer's website at www.darbaroud.com, I was inspired and felt I wanted to accompany DT in doing the MDS. When my regular supporter John Tan from Foto-Zzoom Sdn Bhd heard about my intention, he said he would financially back our venture. That lifted my financial burden somewhat.


I am King of the sand castles ...

After deciding to do the race, we started to plan our training in August 2006. Our main focus during training for MDS was to build up endurance by jogging and walking up to 8 hours a day with our backpack filled with bottles of water. We built up the weight we carried over time. I started with 7 kg load and over the months, increased the load to 15 kg. This would be the weight we were expected to carry in the Sahara Desert.

We were also advised by Simon Cross to bring trekking poles to Sahara. This turned out to be one of the most valuable advice. We did all our training sessions with the trekking poles. We were to discover later in the Sahara that walking in the soft sand is rather like skiing on soft snow. With the trekking poles, I reckoned up to 20% of the load can be transferred from the legs to the arms. (This was particularly significant towards the later part of the day when our legs were tired and we had to scale those steep sand dune slopes.)

During the training, we identified the main problem we faced was the persistent ache at our shoulders after a few hours carrying the heavy backpack. The shoulder would be sore the next day. There was no solution. We just had to learn to bear the pain. At the early stage of training, my skin on my back also suffered some abrasion from the long hours carrying the backpack. Meanwhile, DT was testing out the plasters and compeed ( a special anti-blister plaster) during the training runs.

For me I was not so concerned about blisters as I normally run barefoot. Now however, I had to choose a pair of shoes to go into Sahara. After checking out the shoes in the New Balance shop, I decided to use a pair of trekking shoes. Though they were much heavier than running shoes, they were much more solid in construction.

As agreed, Hospis Malaysia would be the charity associated with our participation in MDS 2007, Hospis Malaysia arranged for us to be interviewed by NST and on NTV7. Our Pacesetter friend Tey Eng Tiong who is with the Chinese paper Sin Chew Jit Poh got the metro section of Sin Chew Jit Poh to run our story. These media exposure allowed Hospis Malaysia to capitalize on our participation for their fund raising.

On 17th March, DT and I were sent off by our friends and family at around 7.00 pm at KL Sentral. Many pacesetters members in their yellow tee shirts, staff from Hospis Malaysia and a group from my sponsor Foto-zzoom (M) Sdn Bhd were there. Our spirit was certainly lifted by the support and well wishes from all these people. After the handshakes, hugs and photograph taking DT and I went through the entrance at 8 pm to take the KLIA Ekspres. After all the noisy send- off, it suddenly felt so quiet and lonely as we stepped onto the KLIA Ekspres. "No escaping now", I told DT and he replied something like "two fools on the way to ultimate suffering" or something like that.

We flew out of KLIA just before midnight. After spending 5 days in Paris, we met up with the race officials at 6am at Charles De Gaulle airport and flew to Quazazate Airport in Morocco. We landed around noon and were taken on a 7-hour bus and army truck ride into the bivouac site in the middle of the desert to have dinner and to spend the night at the bivouac site. (Note: bivouac is a ground-hugging tent erected by the desert nomads. It is built very low, to avoid being blown away by the strong desert wind.)

Good morning, Sahara Desert!

The morning of 24th March was the first morning we woke up in the Sahara. It was sunny and windy. The wind was pleasant even though the sand was blowing all over the place. After breakfast, we went to the race secretariat to submit our medical certificate and finalise all administrative details before collecting our race packs.

In late afternoon all competitors gathered for the welcoming speech by race director Patrick Bauer who spoke in French, with English translation. An official demonstrated the deployment of the emergency flare. Dinner was at the camp kitchen. Again it was cold and windy. Everyone savoured the dinner as it would be the last decent meal for the next 7 days.

DAY 1: 25/3/2007 (Distance 29.3km). We were up by 5.30am to put on the running attire and plasters on our feet. At 6am, the local workers who were the Berbers tribesmen came punctually to remove the bivouac. We collected our first water rations of the day and cooked our first breakfast in the desert. After breakfast, we packed everything into the backpack and proceeded to the start line. We were flagged off shortly after 9am. The Eurosport helicopter swept low over us to do the photo-shoot of the start. DT and I were the last two out of the starting line. We wanted to do slow and easy for the first 3 days in order to gear ourselves up for the long leg on the 4th day. After a while I started to overtake people and went ahead of DT.
Throughout the day, we crossed a variety of terrain, including stony plain, dried riverbed, sand dunes and small hills. Even though the dunes were mostly bare, at certain stretches, we encountered carpets of yellow and lavender-coloured flowers at the base of the dunes. The sky was a brilliant blue. I finished together with a UK competitor at around 4pm.

DAY 2: 26/3/2007 (Distance: 35 km). We were flagged off at 9am. We went through some hills and flat stony plains. At 29km, we had to ascend a steep black slope 300m high with sand piled up against it almost all the way to the top. Due to the weight of my backpack, I climbed with great effort. For the final stretch of the steep ascent, the organizer had fixed rope to the side of the rock face. Holding onto the rope, we negotiated the narrow ledge and finally made the summit. After that I descended the hill on the other side by a narrow rocky valley with almost vertical sides with huge rocks threatening to fall at any time. In the valley, there were many flowering plants. The last 2 km were up and down sand dunes and I reached the bivouac site at 5.30pm. It was a hard day, considering the many steep slopes that we had to climb. As the sun was setting we quickly cooked and ate our dinner and tucked ourselves in. One of the bivouac in front of ours collapsed during the night due to strong wind.


One of the many hills the runners had to climb

DAY 3: 27/3/2007 (Distance: 32.3 km). After flag off at 9am we started with climbing some small hills and then a long 10k trek across a stony plain. I saw some small spiraling column of sand which appeared and dispersed at random as we approached noon. I also saw a grave without any marking near the trek. After crossing the big plain, we passed through a rocky pass and came to a small pump in a small settlement. This would be the only settlement we pass through throughout the entire duration of the race. There were some date palms and goats. The local people cheered us on. I finished around 4pm.

Some blisters had formed around the sides of both my feet. Fortunately they
were quite small compared to the big nasty ones on the other competitors' feet. At night, while getting ready to sleep I felt a throbbing pain in both my big toe nails. DT gave me painkiller to relieve the pain.

DAY 4 & 5: 28-29/3/2007 (Distance: 70.5km). There was an extra long pre-race briefing in the morning. The race director stressed on the importance of safety during the night while the participants crossed the desert to the next bivouac site 70.5 km away. The qualifying time was 34 hours. DT and I had already decided to continue through the night so that we could use the whole of next day to rest. After a long day of trekking the desert, I reached Check Point 4 at 42km just before 7pm and put on my extra layer of clothing, had my dinner of dried fruits and nuts and energy drink. DT did not show up. So I decided to move on to next check point located at 52km to wait for him. Walking in the dark in the desert was a whole new experience. I had a LED headlamp which illuminated the path to take. I could also see the laser beam in the sky originating from CP 5. The competitors were really spread out. I followed the footprints and the laser beamed from CP 5 and also the compass. I reached CP 5 about 9.30 pm. My feet were sore after battling the desert ground for the last 12 hours. Looking at the competitors resting and sleeping at CP5, it was tempting for me to do the same. I had some dried fruits and nuts and rested a while to wait for DT who came in about half and hour later. It was a long, cold and windy night as we trudged the last 18 km through the tough desert terrain together. DT ran out of food on the way and I shared some of mine with him. DT and I crossed the finish line together after 19 ½ hours at about 4am.

Masak-masak in the Sahara

As we completed the 70.5 km through the night, 29th March became a rest day for DT and I. It was a hot sunny day in the bivouc. I went to medical tent to take care of my feet. In the late afternoon we were called for special announcement at the centre of the bivouac site. The race director Patrick Bauer announced that in the early morning, a French competitor Bernard Julé had died at 5.35am in his bivouac. A minute's silence was observed in the bivouac and sadness permeated the air.

DAY 6: 30/3/2007 (Distance: 42.2km). The course was mostly on undulating and gentle terrain, sandy in some part and stony in other part. I enjoyed the run, despite the pain in my big toe nails. I finished in 6 hours 58 minutes. (That was 15 minutes faster than my marathon in Singapore which I did with the backpack). That night, the organizer flew in an opera group from Paris to entertain the competitors at the bivouac site.

DAY 7: 31/3/2007 (Distance: 11.7 km). During the daily pre-race speech by the race director he informed us that about 30 competitors had retired from the race thus far. After that we were flagged off and everyone started off with great enthusiasm. It was a straight course, half of which was stony ground and the other half sand dunes. I was kind of missing the desert already so I took my time. About 100 meters from the finish line, I took out an empty water bottle and collected some desert sand as souvenir of my trip. The finishing line is at a small tourist town Merzouga. The locals and families of competitors lined up
the last few hundred meters to cheer us to the finish.

I then crossed the finish line together with a short but stout 67-year old French competitor with upturned moustaches. He gave me a bear hug and 4 pecks on my two cheeks!! That is the French way. At the finishing line we were garlanded with a medal each and given the lunch pack and finishing t-shirt. We were than directed to the row of buses waiting for the competitors. It would be another 6- hour ride to the hotels at Quazazate before we flew back to Paris the next day.

Warm welcome for our heroes

Some interesting facts:
o 727 competitors finished MDS 2007.
o 29 others started but did not finish and one participant died.
o Total distance covered: 243km
o My two big toe nails turned back and are now gone
o The battery of DT's new camera went flat on the first day in the desert!

How we fared:

I wish to record my gratitude to the following people:

" My wife and children for supporting me in this venture;
" Mr and Mrs John Tan of Foto-zzoom (M) Sdn Bhd who funded my participation in the MDS and made my participation possible. They have consistently supported me in my charity events over these years.
" My fellow Pacesetters and Hospis Malaysia who saw us off, accompany us all the way in spirit and welcoming us home. Reading the encouraging emails while we were in Paris and in the desert really made a big difference.
" DT for his idea of doing the MDS in the first place, which influenced me into doing it.
" Simon Cross for his encouragement and his invaluable tips.
" The Japanese, Koreans and our Hong Kong friend who took many pictures for us throughout the MDS.

Last but not least, I thank God for the wonderful injury-free experience DT and I had in the MDS 2007 and for us to be able to do something for Hospis Malaysia.


The Malaysian flag flying in the Sahara Desert

A Very Scenic Xiamen Marathon
By Moira Toh

Led by Hoo Ching Tai, a group of 19 runners Pacesetters registered for the Xiamen Marathon in various categories. This turned out to be, in my opinion, the most scenic run in the world. Our trip to Xiamen also comprised a tour of the nearby counties and provinces which surrounded Xiamen. Xiamen is an island and a port with an international airport. There are daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Xiamen and the flight is about 3 ½ hours.

On the morning of the race on Saturday 31 March 2007, the weather was cool and the sun was beginning to rise at around 6am. The run would start from the International Convention Centre, about a half hour's drive from the city centre where our hotel was located. We were ferried to the starting point by a chartered bus. The atmosphere at the starting point was "charged" with the arrival of some 25,000+ runners with patriotic music blaring from the loudspeakers.


The beautiful & scenic White Highway

At 8.00am sharp, we were gunned off, all at the same time! The initial 15km part of the run was along the highway leading into the city centre. The first 5 km of the highway was lined with greenery and manicured plants with pretty flowers. It was flat, flat, flat which was a wonderful way to start off the race.

The amazing thing about this run is the great turn-out by local supporters. Thousands of supporters lined the route to cheer the runners on. Friends from the Xiamen University which is located along the highway shouted encouraging chants of "Chia yiew! Chia yiew!" which literally translated means "add oil! Add oil!" but of course it means to "push on!".

The green-lined highway soon (at around the 8km mark) connects to the most spectacular part of the run which is the "white highway", so called because this part of the highway is elevated from the sea and the railings are all painted white with white lamps illuminating it at night. It also fronts the beautiful Gu Lang Yu island ("Tidal Drum Wave Island") which is a small island opposite the main Xiamen island. The great thing about running on a highway is that it is 2- way traffic which means we were able to see the elite athletes and our friends on their return journey. The disadvantage of a highway that offered great and unobstructed views is that there are hardly any trees to provide shade from the sun (or rain).

The "white" highway then (around the 15km mark) leads to the roads of the main city centre which goes through the busy city district filled with sky scrapers and modern buildings. After some meandering, the main city centre is a straight road lined with longan trees that was going to bloom very soon - the straight road reminded me of Champs-Elysees in Paris except that the blazing sun reminded me of the Sahara desert! Nonetheless, the supporters were still lining the streets in full force which is such an encouragement to the tired and weary!


A group photo in front of the starting point

The city centre was where the half marathon ended, and where I finished my race in 2 hours 29 minutes. The full marathoners would retrace their steps by making a U-turn of sorts and going back the same route they had entered the city where they would finish their race at the starting point at the International Convention Centre. At around 10.30 am when I finished my run, the sun was raging and the temperature had reached about 28-29 degrees Celsius. Blazing sun plus no shade is a lethal combination. Water supply at the various water stations as I noted were already quite limited and there were still hordes of runners yet to come along. My fellow Pacesetter Amelia told me after the run that she suffered due to fatigue, compounded by the fact that water stations ran out of water for runners who had come in a little later. She had no choice but to pick up bottles with leftover water to quench her thirst. Temporary relief came in the form of some nuns offering her tea. Amelia almost gave up but soldiered on to complete in under 6 hours to earn her well-deserved finisher's medal.

The Xiamen marathon is a run offering spectacular and breathtaking views and the supporters all along the route makes the effort worthwhile. Well done to all our runners, especially those who completed the marathon under the blazing sun.

Comments on the race
1. The starting time is the same for all categories and not at staggered intervals so watch out for stampedes.
2. Spitting is to be expected and the challenge of every runner is to successfully dodge it!
3. Water stations are not adequately stocked. No food or gels are offered. Toilet facilities are limited.
4. Any tour schedule prior to the marathon should be short and easy before the run to avoid any fatigue during the marathon OR alternatively, marathoners should run the marathon first and thereafter proceed to tour.

Wet, wet Port Dickson Half Marathon 2007
By Lim Pueh Tian

God must have a great sense of humour on this April Fool's Day. He sent pouring rain, strong wind and flooded roads to the PD Half Marathon runners, all the way, non-stop, from start to finish. And then, with a twist of fate, it was sunshine and blue sky right after the run was over!

What? Port Dickson Half Marathon 2007
When? 1 April 2007 (Sunday); 7:00am
Where? Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan

We checked into Sunshine Bay Apartment on 31 March, the evening before the run. It was sunny and hot. Blue skies and everything nice. Kids were playing at the beach. Couples were frolicking in the sea. Who would have thought a storm was brewing in the distance? The day was kind of relaxing - watching people from the balcony while reading my most favourite magazine in the whole wide world. I could get used to this.


Rain, rain go away, come again another day ...

The race kit collection was held at the beautiful Admiral Marina and Leisure Club. Apart from the race kit collection counters, there were few promo counters - Penang Bridge International Marathon, Powerbar, Brooks shoes (very good discount on running shoes) etc.

We arrived at the starting point after a 10 minutes drive from our rented apartment. Cheesy dance music was blaring from the speaker. There was a guy, supposedly was the aerobic instructor, tried very hard to coax the crowd to join him for a warm-up session. Too bad for him, hardly a handful moved their butts. I could feel tiny drops of rain falling. Not a good sign. "Please do not rain", I prayed.

Unfortunately, my prayer went unanswered. The sky started to pour at around 7:00am. It poured and poured (cats, dogs, mice and I think you could insert some donkeys into the expression too). I was running for shelter while the half marathoners were let off despite the rain. Kudos to the organizers for starting on time.

As the rain got heavier, I decided not to go ahead with the run. I could not risk catching pneumonia with so much to do at work. Anyway, the finisher medals were limited for the 11km category, so the motivation factor was washed away completely with the rain (pun intended).

So I headed to the car and drove to the half marathon turning point to take some pictures and to cheer on our fellow runners. The rain had no intention of stopping.


I am running in the rain, just running in the rain

What started as a half marathon had turned out to be a big wet t-shirt competition. You know how wet white T-shirt cling to the skin, right? It was rather fun watching people in their wet t-shirts running their butts off in the rain. Too bad my camera was wet and I was not able to capture the spirit of the competition. My camera went kaput here. The aperture could not close properly.

Anyway, most of the runners I talked to enjoyed the run despite the rain, the flood and the strong wind. Some even risked being blown away by the strong wind. You know how skinny a runner can get, right? There were dangers too especially from the traffic and flooded potholes.
No one complained about the lack of water station. Who would since they can get abundant supply of all natural "sky juice" by just opening their mouth while running?

Overall, I enjoyed the trip to Port Dickson very much despite not participating in the race. I will do it next year and this time around, I will be ready with a water-proof camera.

For more stories and amazing photographs by Lim Pueh Tian, do visit his blog at: http://runwitme.blogspot.com.

Running the New York Marathon
By Hayley Holle

I ran the KL marathon in March 2006 and used my time to automatically qualify me for a place in the 2006 New York marathon. New York must be one of the most popular and over-subscribed marathons in the world. As soon as I got my guaranteed place I started training for New York as I really wanted to give it a good shot and hopefully get a personal best.

New York, New York!

Due to a huge twelve hours time difference, I arrived in the USA a full five days before the big day (5th November 2006) to try to overcome the time difference and to get used to the cold weather. Everyone was raving about how great the weather was, but I found it freezing compared to the warm climes of Malaysia!

In the days running up to the Sunday race I was kept very busy by lots of relatives and friends who I haven't seen for years. I started getting quite worried that I was racing around too much and getting over tired when I should have been resting and stretching. I also did a thorough tour of the specialist running shops in New York city and enjoyed talking to well qualified and experienced sales people/runners who gave good advice on shoes, socks and strategy. So, should you be in NY, please visit the Jack Rabbit Running Store on Union Square!

Two days before the imminent big day I went along to the Jacob Javits convention centre for the official NY marathon Expo to collect my running number, shoe chip, obligatory bus ticket, goodie bag and clear personal items bag for marathon day. There were literally thousands of people there and the atmosphere was amazing. Adidas, Nike, Brooks, Asics
and all the big sports companies had stalls. The best was the Polar Watch stand where I took all 3 of my watches and had them serviced free of charge.

I started carbo-loading in earnest on Friday - not hard to do in the USA! Bagels, pizza, pasta, and muffins - I ate and ate!

Marathon Day
























I am ready for the NY Marathon

Even though the marathon did not start until 10:15am, I set my alarm clock for 5:00am. This gave me a chance to get dressed, have some breakfast (another bagel!), start putting on all the extra layers of clothes to keep me warm until the beginning of the race and get myself out onto the cold, dark street to find a taxi to take me to the New York public library. This is where I had to pick up the specially designated buses to ferry all the participants to the Verazanno Bridge - the official start of the marathon. The next couple of hours were actually really stressful. Firstly I could not find a taxi anywhere, the streets were deserted except for other marathoners looking for taxis. 5:45am: finally an empty stretch limousine ended up taking pity on a few of us and gave us a lift!

Once at the NY public library, things got crazy. There were thousands of people trying to get on the buses. It was pretty well organized with plenty of volunteers getting the throngs into queues and then loading up the buses. I must have waited for an hour and a half before I managed to get on a bus. The atmosphere was fantastic and completely international. There were people from all over the world, France, Italy, Mexico, and Japan etc.
7:30 a.m: I finally got on a bus and sat right at the front. It was then a 45 minute drive to the Verazanno Bridge. I was grateful to be on a warm bus and not standing in the freezing cold any more, but I was starting to feel anxious about the 42k that needed to be run…

So finally I arrived at the holding area at the beginning of the race. It's a military training camp so it looks rather unfriendly. True to any race I have ever participated in, the lines to
go to the toilets were huge and everyone was complaining that there weren't enough toilets!! Some things are the same the world over!

8:30 am - still another hour and three quarters before the start. I really was feeling the cold so I tried to do some active stretching exercises with the Mexican girl who had been sitting next to me on the bus. Then we went looking for the UPS trucks to deposit our personal belongings. They were parked miles away and we had to fight our way through crowds of people huddling everywhere on the grass and mud trying to keep warm. I took off my thick outer layers and put them in my clear personal belongings bag. Just then I had the loud speakers announcing women's orange numbers (Me!) to get into position. I started shoving my way back through the crowds to get to the Orange start.

Now my nerves were really getting out of control. I was standing in a pen with lots of fit, fast looking women feeling daunted by the 26.2 miles ahead. We started shuffling along being lead to the beginning of the race on the Verazanno bridge itself. As I looked behind me, I could see a sea of people stretching out - it was a record-breaking turn-out for the marathon with 38,363 in the starting field.

It was nearly gun time. Everyone started taking off the rest of the outer layers. I stood shivering in the very cold 6 degree celsius windy air.

Off we go…

I was positioned so close to the start of the race I could see the elite men zooming off. The first few kilometers are crossing the Verazzano Bridge itself. The slope of the bridge felt mild in comparison to the many hills of KL where I train.

The miles began to unfold. We ran through all sorts of neighbourhoods and everywhere the streets were lined with people yelling their support, blowing horns, banging pots and pans. There were over 100 bands playing music along the route. It was incredibly uplifting to hear music and singing all along the many long miles. As I passed a church in the Bronx - a huge banner read "God Love Marathoners!" and a choir sang fantastic gospel songs. There were also hundreds of banners of personal support for many of the individual runners on the day.

We ran through some beautiful residential roads where people had brought chairs out onto the pavements and were watching the runners go by drinking cups of coffee. We ran through an area called Williamsburg where suddenly everything was written in Hebrew and orthodox Jews were spilling out of Synagogues and trying to cross the marathon route. It really looked like we were in Israel.

A souvenir of my personal best

At last the half way point! I was not feeling great. I felt very cold. I had kept my headband to cover my ears against the wind and a thick pair of gloves on all this time. The problem with the gloves is it was difficult to pick up the water cups. I decided to dump the gloves.

16 miles point and we finally crossed the Bridge to get into Manhattan. The crowds cramming 2nd Avenue were overwhelming. I was really beginning to feel a huge dip of fatigue, but the incredible support up this long straight avenue was truly inspiring.

My arms and legs were really suffering in the cold so I tried to run on the sunny side of the street. All of a sudden I heard a siren howling and a voice blaring through a megaphone "Out the way, out the way!" I looked over my shoulder to see Lance Armstrong powering along surrounded by his support team. I got into step with him and decided I wasn't going to move out the way! I ran with Lance Armstrong from mile 16 to mile 19, but I could feel I was really fighting to keep up. The cameras aimed at him and the media attention was very intrusive. It can't be easy being in the public eye all the time. As we reached mile 19 I had to slack off and let Lance and his team move away from me. What a shame!

Despite the wonderful crowds of supporters I really began to suffer. I felt that I was stiffening up in the cold. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot…

5 miles to go. We ran through the north part of Manhattan, the famous Harlem area. Again the neighbourhood took on a strong personality of its own. Black people lined the streets singing and dancing. "You go girl, you go girl!", yelled the big mamas, shaking their booty. The music was a godsend, somehow another 2 miles melted away.

The final 3 miles

We rounded the north Eastern tip of Central Park and ran all the way along the park past many famous museums and buildings. Unfortunately this long straight stretch is actually a very long incline. I was already exhausted, with my muscles stiffening by the minute and that long climb seemed to go on forever. The crowds were phenomenal as we cut into the park, "Nearly there!!" they screamed, "25 miles down, 1.2 miles to go" read the banners. The horns, bells, sirens and roar of the crowd pulled me over the finish line - 3 hours 2 minutes and 49 seconds.

I did it! The New York Marathon 2006 and achieved a personal best at the same time!

A Great London Marathon
By Alden Yap

After months of training, I was ready to stamp my mark at the London Marathon 2007 on 22nd April.

I left Cambridge for London a day earlier to collect my running bib and to find out the location of the start line. Collection was at the Excel London and start line was at Greenwich Park. How significant! What better place to start the race than at the mother of all start lines: the Greenwich Meridian Line! What is that? If you've been traveling in different time zones, you'd be told of the time in your location in the GMT format. So it's like GMT+1, GMT+8 etc. Malaysia's time zone for example is GMT+8. GMT being the Greenwich Mean Time, Great Britain is at GMT. As the name suggests, the dividing line is located at Greenwich!


Our London correspondent savouring his success

The collection centre was housed in this big exhibition centre at the Excel London, similar to the PWTC or KLCC Exhibition Centre in Malaysia. It was necessary for the huge turnout.

The organizing in Excel was absolutely fantastic. The flow of registration was an impeccable arrangement, from the point we collected our numbers to the point where we were officially registered for the race. I have loads to write about this, but that would warrant another page in Footloose.

After collecting the race pack, I headed for the start line to get a feel of the travel time that would be required in the morning. I went to Greenwich Park. Damn, I was glad I did that because I had trouble finding the red start line and it would have been a mess if I tried doing that in the morning. Also, it proved to be extremely useful in the end as I nearly missed the race in the morning, and I really mean NOT running the marathon.

Race day - 22nd April. I woke up at 7am to catch a train to Greenwich Park.

Marathon runners get to ride on the tube (train) for free. I was impressed they had such arrangements with the organizer. The organizers worked alongside with the Transport for London to make travel a hassle-free arrangement for runners.


The result of hard work, sweat & discipline

However, it turned out to be not so hassle-free, thanks to a technical glitch on the train line. A train broke down and this delayed the smooth running of the service. An announcement came from the PA system apologising for the delay. "This train will now terminate at this station. Passengers are requested to alight here. Please follow the route down at the pedestrian tunnel and it should take approximately 12 minutes to Greenwich Park." Oh, Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!! My worst fears had turned into reality! With so little time left, I had to walk to the park and this didn't include the time for me to change into my running attire!

How improper to remember my first marathon in London. Oh wait, London Marathon? Could I even make it in the first place? Time check: it was already 9.50am. The race was going to start in 10 minutes and I had not changed into my running gear! I spotted the baggage storage area and dashed to the place. I was holding the kit bag on one hand and another was taking off the layers, hopping and running and changing into my outfit at the same time. Thank God I had them on. I felt like a Clark Kent transforming into Superman. I handed my bag to the Damn! The "12-minute walk" turned out to be 25 minutes! As soon as I reached the red start line, the starting shot was fired. An oxymoron of calling it "perfect close call timing"? I was so near to missing the marathon. I didn't have time to do warm- ups, moisturise my lips, go to the toilet, etc; I just started the marathon. The start line was a long one. It took 10 minutes to cross the line and activate the chip.

Just when I was focusing on the people and the cheering, I spotted a "rhinoceros" in front. Not too far from Mr Rhino was Mr Scooby-Doo! Surprises came one after another; then it was Tinkerbelle, Borat, Viking, Darth Vader, a big Lucozade bottle etc running alongside! I just couldn't help but cheered them along. Cheering helped the breathing I suppose. I noticed I had less breathing difficulties when I cheered. Oh! There was also "Elvis Presley"! This somehow brought to mind the "Elvis" role that I played in the 2006 Pacesetters Annual Dinner. I could still hear the cheers of fellow Pacesetters that night ringing in my ears.

I particularly like the support shown from the local residents. I was touched by residents who roped in family members to support runners in different ways. Some kids as young as three were handing out jelly beans. Cute! Some gave oranges, some candies; a few others connected rubber hose from the gardens to spray on runners, a lot offered high-5s but most of them cheered, cheered and cheered. It was just magnificent.


Cute Vittel kids waiting to serve runners

I was never worried about the distance markers. It was in the English unit, miles. Markers were on gantries. Each mile was marked. A "Half-Marathon" gantry was also put up several metres after the 13th mile mark. After all it was 13.1-mile to a half-marathon. However, I noticed that the run up to the finishing line was marked in hundreds of metres instead of yards or miles.

Coming from a tropical country helped a lot, at least in managing cramps. I found the weather was hot, but still milder than Malaysia's. I guess Malaysians are packed with an extra radiator or convector in our body systems so we could handle the heat on that day. I didn't go through any of the showers unlike the
local runners. In fact, from past triathlon experiences, cooling the body with a shower was a bad idea. It worsens the cramp.

The drink stations deserve mentioning. All stations were clearly signed. As the race was sponsored by Vittel and Lucozade, the former provided water and the latter isotonic. Water was offered at every mile from the 3rd to the 25th mile. Vittel handed out water in 330ml plastic bottles with the top removed. I felt it was wasteful to taking only a few sips and tossing the bottle away, plus the fact that the bottles on the road were a hazard to runners. Good old paper cups are still the most practical, environmentally friendly and safe for runners.

I met a Pacemaker at the Tower Bridge. It was Quek Ai Ling, a keen marathoner from Singapore. I was not aware it was her until she called on me. Our brief conversation lasted a minute and then I lost her within the next in the marathon crowd!


The famous Buckingham Palace

Spotting the Embankment at the 25th mile mark raised my motivation level up 2 notches. I suppose this translated to a quicker pace. My time was 3 hour 52minutes then. I was contemplating whether to push for a sub-4 but the math did not make it look simple. I had to finish 1.8km in 8 minutes?? No way! But I pushed for it nonetheless.

When I saw Buckingham Palace, I knew it was near. Then I spotted "600m to the finish line". The countdown moved on to 500m and 400m and that was when I clocked 4 hours on the dot. A straight road after the right turn at the roundabout leading up to the finish line suddenly opened up majestically. I wished the Queen was watching from the palace. I knew I had moved over 4 hours so I finished off the remaining distance in a relaxed pace. I crossed the finish line at 4 hours 1 min and 50 seconds, my personal best for a marathon!

Crossing the finishing line was the best feeling ever in this marathon, probably because of the expectations and emotions that built up towards the race. I felt like I had achieved a great milestone in my running "career".

After crossing the finishing line, we were ushered to the medal collection area. It was where the champion chip was collected as well. The medal looked great but to us runners, it was more than a piece of metal. Whenever I look at it, I see hard work, sweat and lots of discipline!

I wouldn't regard the London Marathon a competitive race. In fact, I would advise prospective runners to not treat it as one or as seriously. It is really meant to be an entertaining, fun and interesting run. London being the Number 1 marathon in the world was certainly befitting. I would never trade an entry for the London Marathon for anything else.

Q & A on Sports Injuries
By Dr William Chan

Dear Doctor,
I have heard about you from a friend and now need to ask whether it is necessary for me to consult you.

Two weeks ago on Sunday, I sprained my ankle while playing basketball (landing on someone's foot and it caused ankle
inversion). I distinctly remember feeling a pop in my ankle at the time.

Now two weeks later, I am no longer limping and it no longer hurts when walking normally. But it still hurts when I try to
run. I usually run one 10 to 20 km on weekend, one short run during the week.

Do I just need to rest it more or should I go over to your place to get treatment? - Lee

ANSWER

Thank you for your email enquiry about your ankle injury. It is difficult to give accurate advice without a proper examination of your ankle and leg. Your history suggests a sprained ankle (torn ligaments) which usually takes 6 weeks to heal. When the ankle ligament has not fully healed, running will be painful. One cannot rule out fracture or small chip fracture without an x-ray. It is a routine to take an x-ray if the ankle bone is painful and hearing a pop sound at time of injury.

The treatment is short rest, ice, compression and physiotherapy. It is best you seek treatment and rehabilitation therapy if you want to speed up healing process and avoid long term complication. Stiff ankle, unstable ankle and weakness are complications which affect running in the long term.

You should not run until the ankle is fully recovered. Start slow run when there is full ankle joint movement as compared to good ankle, no pain and swelling. Resting and let nature heal itself may not be a good option for sportsmen.

Dear Doctor,

I am a 44 year-old lady and I weigh about 95 lbs.

I follow this regime:
5 days a week, 10 minutes brisk walk from office in Jalan Sultan Ismail to KLCC park. Then I jog 6 km at the park. Walk
back another 10 minutes. Walk up the steps to the office which is on the 15th floor. On Saturdays, I brisk walk and jog at
the Lake Gardens for one hour, same distance. Rest on Sunday.

Am I overdoing it? Some days I feel very energetic after the exercise; other days, not so good. - Lydia

ANSWER

It is difficult to give accurate advice without a proper consultation and with no knowledge of your sports and medical history.

You are exercising more than one hour per day. If you have no pain, injury or problem doing the amount of exercise you enjoy doing now, then you can continue. If your body does not feel good and tired, you may have overuse injury. You should reduce the number of jogs or have an additional day of rest. Try replacing your jog with one or two days of cross-training like swimming, cycling, gym or other sports. For health and fitness, you do not need to jog 6 days per week. I would recommend 2 short runs with one long run per week.

I am also concerned about the increased risk of injury to your knees on stair-climbing 15 floors five days per week over a long period.

Dr William Chan is the Consultant Sports Physician at Klinik Pakar Sukan, Subang Jaya. He is a keen runner who writes for an English daily as well as many sports-related websites. He holds several degrees and diplomas from Australian universities and institutions.

** Readers are welcome to send questions on running injuries to Dr William Chan at
spinesportmed@yahoo.com. Only selected questions will be answered.

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Date: 4 August, 2007