Jog For Hope 17 July 2011

Only found out about this event on the Monday of the week itself... Sounds like a nice cosy event, so decided to join since I would be heading to KL over the weekend.  Downloaded the form, filled it up, paid via internet, then submitted via email.  A confirmation email arrived on Friday, so we were good to go! Then Jason Loh told me he'll be taking part too!  haha, will be good to 'see him' zooming ahead!

Got up at 5am on Sunday, looking forward to the fun run. Left home at about 6am and drove to Sri Hartamas, taking us only about 15mins.  Parked at Hartamas Shopping Centre at a cost of only RM1 and walked 1min to Taylor's College Sri Hartamas, which would be the event site.

There were lots of participants/volunteers present, but i guess the main bulk weren't here yet.  We received our bibs & t-shirts very quickly by just quoting our receipt numbers.  After keeping some of the non-essential stuff in the car, we returned to the college again to deposit our bag.  Fortunate to bump into a few familiar faces, e.g. Jason Loh, Khoo Yit Kiat, William Chin, Jessica Tang, Barry Lee.  But most were young students :)  We were amongst the older generation.

Since we had lots of time before the flag off at 8am, Yeehua & i went for a short jog as warm up along the hilly Sri Hartamas road.

About 15mins before flag off, we went to the start line to wait.  There weren't any cones nor was the road blocked, so vehicles could still drive past. Fortunately that road wasn't that busy with traffic, so it was acceptable, but participants had to be careful.

The race was flagged off at about 8.03am.  I was standing a few rows behind, and a  lot of students were in front of me.  So it took some time to overtake them, taking care not to be 'pushy'.  Only after about 400m then was it less crowded and i could run 'free'.

Had ran this route before, so was quite familiar.  And being familiar means knowing how challenging it is.  Peppered with slopes, it was quite a tough one, yet fun.  Quite a number of water stations, but didn't stop at any.  Saw Jason Loh's friend ahead of me about 100m.  And spotted Barry Lee ahead too... wow, i've never been able to see Barry just ahead of me.  On the upslopes, i observed i would close the gap with Barry, but on the downslopes, he would increase the gap.. then just outside Taylor's College, my gap was closing on him and we were heading for our final 4km. He would keep turning back to look & see who is behind him :)  Soon after the final U-Turn, i was gaining ground.. and occassionally, i called out to Barry to ask him to keep going.  As we headed up the final upslope (quite a long one), i finally caught up with him.  Ran with him a short while before i decided to switch on my Power mode and surged ahead towards the Finish Line.  Fortunate to cross the Finish Line just before Barry.  I enquired about my position at the finish line counter, and the young lady told me i was 2nd!  Wow!  I can't believe it!  Jason Loh must have finished 1st!  And he did it in 34mins plus..and me?  38min 3 secs!  My Garmin showed 9.2km, not 10km, so not a 10km PB for me.  But well, the most important is i enjoyed it & it was great to see Barry in action.  The experience is much more important.

Went to collect my goodie bag, which was filled with quite a number of useful stuff, such as Shampoo, Bodywash, Chewing Gum, drinks, etc.  Rarely seen such useful goodies, though i don't really bother what's in goodie bags.

Yeehua came in about 50mins & she won 5th placing!  Congrats to her!  Now both of us have to wait for prize presentation.  Meanwhile, we took photos & chatted with our friends.  Then observed the speeches, lucky draw, prize presentation to 6km, speech again, and finally presentation to the 10km open category, Females first, then Males.  Congrats to Jessica Tang for coming in Champion for Ladies (45min plus) & Jason Loh for Males (34min plus), Barry Lee 3rd, Khoo Yit Kiat 5th.  Each of us had a chance to go on stage to receive our Medal & special Certificate (only for top 5).  So now we have the limited edition medal & certificate, inscribed with our position/category.  Additionally, the top 3 would receive a RM100 voucher for use at Bodytone, a 45min PowerPlate session with a Personal Trainer, a Quantum Bracelet, a Bodytone measuring tape & a Bodytone carrier bag.

From Left: Jason Loh, me, Barry Lee

Finally it was over at about 11am.  We then happily left Taylor's College and we look forward to next year's.

For more pictures at the event, CLICK HERE
Jog For Hope Website