Multi Purpose Insurans Run 2012 Report

The MPIB run (or MPIR) held this morn 8 Jan 2012 was superbly organized, with plenty of water and 100+ stations, and a huge contingent of enthusiastic volunteers. These volunteers were constantly plying us with drinks, snapping photos like paparazzi (but nice paparazzis ya), and generally making sure all 3700 runners had the best race possible. The only thing they didn't do was help me to run this thing! (Read a volunteer supervisor Frank Chong's report HERE)

And oh my, the goodies - race kit had a whole box of Nestle Fitnesse Cereal (not those little dinky samples), good quality New Balance running tee, and 20&50% discount vouchers for New Balance and Sworke sunglasses (anyone want mine FOC?). Finishers race bag had High 5 sausage bun, water, banana and mandarin orange. We also had Nestle Tropicana Lime ice cream, and free flow of Milo, Nescafe, Fitnesse Cereal with milk, and 100+. The registration fee of RM48 (late bird) certainly got us a lot.

The 12 km race route included the 'Reverse Double Hills', which is supposedly 'easier' than the Double Hills. The route was extremely pleasant running, and throwing in the bonus hills makes it challenging and memorable. Now this is just a newbie's opinion (mine). I have taken part in only one running race here (the Putrajaya Night Marathon 2011), and was never much of an athlete back in school days, but I think it's fair to say the organizers put together a race that is going to be a staple 'must do' on the local runners' calendar in future years. Here's the route below:

November Notables and the Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2011

So, the last time I blogged was 29 Oct, 5 days before Spencer arrived in Malaysia for our 1 month adventure. November was just a really great month! How to do you condense a month's worth of happenings into a short blog post? Answer: You Don't. Heheh. You have been warned, this is gonna be a long post but this is my blog and I'm allowed!

Dedication
I'd like to dedicate this blog post to all my friends and family... and Spencer. Thank you for always being there for me. Love you all.

Pre-LPT Secret Training ;)
Quite a bit of what we did in November was geared toward the Laguna Phuket Triathlon at the end of that month. Neither of us had done a long distance triathlon before. The LPT calls for a 1.8 km swim, 55 km bike and 12 km run. Spencer has done a few sprints these past few years, is good on the bike and is a strong swimmer, but not runner. I took part in a few sprints this year, but had never cycled more than 20 km (blame my bike phobia!). So we went running to get him used to the heat. In preparation for the purportedly crazy hills on the cycle leg of the LPT, we also got some rides in: 25 km bike ride halfway up Genting Sempah, 35 km at Putrajaya with Raymond and Mich (thanks for the tour!), and 58 km at Hulu Langat with Yip (to whom we are forever indebted for loaning us his babies for that month, Thanks Yip!). The Hulu Langat ride was a huge confidence booster for me, because after that, I knew what 55 km feels like. Even then, nothing would have prepared me for the Naithorn Hills in Phuket... (more on that later). While Spencer and I packed our days with activities, we were careful to keep me to my sleep and diet regimen. Throughout Nov, I continued weaning off the hydrocortisone with no relapse.

Desaru 116 International Triathlon 2011 Race Report: My Mish Mash!

Dedication

For Mama

Pre-Race Training

Unfortunately, training wasn’t as much as I woulda liked. I had a relapse of my autoimmune condition early in Sept that left me quite weak. I readjusted my goal and training from trying to do well, to trying to finish. As I pulled out of the relapse, I gradually increased training, which was mostly done at home on my Pseudotrainer. If I could keep going for 2 hours, I would be able to finish the race.

Friday, The Day Before the Race

Port Dickson International Triathlon 2011 Race Report Olympic Distance

The Olympic Distance Event of the Port Dickson International Triathlon took place on 24 July 2011 at the Avillion Admiral Cove. This year – the 10^th year this event has been held – a record number of 1450 folks from 36 nations took part. I did the Sprint Distance the day before (Sprint race report here) and stayed back to cheer on friends and racers. Also I’m just a 'kay poh', and wanted to see if the PDIT lived up to its reputation as one of the best organized, most well-attended, and bestest, funnest triathlons in Malaysia! It does!

All photos in this post by Tey Eng Tiong. Thanks Tey! And a big shout out to Paul for helping fix parts of this post! Thanks Paul!

GO! Hong Kong's top triathlete Lee Chi Wo leads the men's 30-39 wave
while also making a fashion statement in his neon pink swim cap.

Ramping up the competitive field were a bunch of elite triathletes who had flown in from Hong Kong, Macau, Australia and the Philippines. There were 50 mixed-relay teams and 53 all male relay teams. Together with the almost 700 individual age groupers, standing on the beach that morning were over 800 people ready (or not!) to launch themselves into the Straits of Melaka for the 1.5 km swim. 

Among the youngest was Salman Ali Shariati, who at 11 years of age had already earned the title of Double Iron-Man (8 km swim, 340 km bike, 84 km run). Now at 14, he would be up against the 16-29 age-groupers. The youngest was Yeong Yik San, 11 years old, who hails from a family of triathletes (pic below). The oldest was 74 year old 15-time Ironman finisher Yee Sze Mun. Also incredibly inspiring to see at the start line was the one-armed Mohd Sabki, out to prove that disability is no barrier to participating in this endurance event (pic below). Then there were the age-groupers - the bulk of the participants - a colorful mix of first timers, veterans and people who come back every year to PD to meet friends, maybe improve on a PB, or just have fun and finish!

Port Dickson International Triathlon Sprint Race Report Result 2011 – A Perfect First Tri

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this post to good folk who suffer from Lupus (SLE, a chronic autoimmune illness), who face everyday the challenges related to their illness, and who continue to be productive and positive. They are among the unsung heroes in our world. For those of you who cannot run, this run was for you. 

Summary of Post

What coulda gone wrong didn’t go wrong. Everything that coulda went right, went right. Result: The most wonderful, perfect, first triathlon for yours truly.

Pre-Race

I went into this event with some worries because I was quite weakened from a relapse of my autoimmune disease two weeks prior. While I knew I would at least be able to stand at the start line on race day, I wasn’t sure if I could finish. I promised myself that I would be a responsible racer, and first, do no harm. I made peace with coming in last. I would savour every minute of this event.

A first triathlon – you only get one first time. I’m glad my Ma was there to share this experience (my support team & photog, thanks Ma!). 

What coulda gone wrong? Well, a gazillion different things from:

• ‘annoying’ e.g. forgot bicycle, to..
• ‘embarrassing’ e.g. faint and taken away in ambulance,

Hoohathlon 2011 Race Report: A Taste of Tri

As I sat down to write this race report, a plethora of emotions washed over me. The Hoohathlon that I participated in yesterday, 19 June 2011, was incredibly meaningful to me because I had always wanted to do a triathlon, and this was my first taste of a tri, an 'appetizer'. My journey to this point has been derailed so many times because of illness, and this flicker of hope almost snuffed out in 2009, that I barely dared to hope again to tri. A few years ago, I had thought my illness conquered, and had planned to do my first tri ('Tri-ing for Me: Triathlon after Illness). It never happened. A family crisis brought on the worst relapse that I had had since diagnosed with the rare illness (Henoch Schonlein Purpura) ten years ago. Instead of triathlon training and brick workouts, in a desperate bid to get better I ended up camped in the Florida Everglades with alligators, rattlesnakes and other friendly wildlife as my companions!

Humbled... and grateful. That is how I feel right now. Because I know I could never have gotten here without the support of the people in my life… my devoted husband, also my biggest cheerleader … my family and friends … my employer, FRIM, who accommodated for my illness… and my God.

Pre-Race Prep
For months I had been slowly tapering my medications under my doctor’s supervision, while preparing for the race. When I first started training I was very weak but I faithfully put in time on my elliptical machine every evening after work, increasing from 10 minutes to an hour a day, over two months. After I signed up for the race, I started training in earnest. The week before, I had successfully completed the Hoohathlon distances: 150 m swim in my apartment pool, 10 km bike and 5 km run at the scenic Kepong Botanical Gardens in FRIM. Unfortunately, I relapsed from food poisoning two days before the race. I wasn’t sure if I should/could/would do the race at all.

Race Day
I woke up 5.30 am, felt 'okay' (as much as a relapsing person with protein and blood in the pee could feel, which in the early stages