I tried a new technique last weekend in participating in the circuit run at Lake Gardens organised by Ambank in preparation for the KLIM. It was quite a fun event :
1) It had a slow slacker attitude to starting times (it started around 715am instead of 7am)
2) There was a leisure approach in signing up on the spot, and for FREE too
3) Unlike warning from a friend that previous circuit run in Taman Titiwangsa was crowded and disorgnised, this was fairly crowd free - I guess there must have been two reasons - it was Cap Goh Mei (15th day of Chinese New Year), and also it was a longer run - it was 2hrs for half-marathoners and 3hrs for full marathoners. Apparently this was more than the race distance for some of the folks!
Whilst the course was scenic, the slippery tracks left a little to be desired. We ran slowly the first round and came immediately upon a casualty who had tripped and hit the rocky pavement near the children's playground. Apparently later read that this turned out to be one of KC's friend. Hope he is ok - it is indeed unfortunate that some of the folks really race each other, the slippery track on downhill parts and also the criss-crossing through various areas can be really treacherous.
I employed a new technique in this "training" run - chit-chatting with others. For the first two rounds it was with my fellow colleagues, then we tried to pose for photos during strategic spots for photographers, and then I slowed down and an retiree came ambling by with steady pace - and I ended up chatting with two different persons on two rounds - taking away some of the boredom of just plodding along!
The other technique which is more fun during races is to focus on reading people's shirt backs - some of the newer vests have no logo or slogans at the back, but the traditional t-shirt fellas always have some cool phrase -
"Smell Victory" - Mr Yellow Shirt plodded coolly by, and I was thinking, smell sweat ....
"If you can hear voices at the back, this means you are not last" - My colleagues' baby blue Nike teased us, and made us quiet when we were following her ....
"Ngombe" - Mr Kenya number 1 - who swept past us 2 rounds = my 1 round - everytime he swept past, there followed a Japanese and a couple more guys further back, only in the 2:20 mins + do I see he was slightly out of breath but the legs were still steady like a rock
Then there were the characters -
"Mr Heavy Footsteps" - Stomping through steadily was a man with very heavy footsteps but steady and fast - it sure is killing his knee, I was thinking
"Mr Photographer" - Whom I learnt later is Tey, who gamely took photos of nearly everyone he knew and did not know
"Mr Sponge Squeezer" - The guy handing out sponge squeezes every round (hopefully they were clean) - he did not have much business however... these participants must be really kiasu to not slow down!
The post-mortem of this really fun outing to exercise was unfortunately a robber broke into my friend's car during the run and stole one of the guy's bag - causing a big havoc to the owner having to report losses, all over a good morning's run. What a spoiler....
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