Curtain finale!

With the year-end malaise and festive mood, not to mention the sinful over-indulgence and the mounting of unnecessary calories and pound, the desire in partaking in the Newton 25km Challenge started waning as the days got nearer. With many casualties as well as other pressing commitments in the rest of the members of the running gang, I became the lone, lonely lifeless representative. The thought of scaling the slow gruelling ascends of Puncak Bukit Jalil just send shivers down the spine. It ain't no bed of roses and no pleasure cruise!
The wild west adage kept ringing in my ears, "a man got to do what a man got to do!" "For what?" asked my horned red-eyed inner demon friend. "For the glory of motherland or bragging rights as you smoast on the social media?".
The tussle continued with my haloed friend retorting, "For health, to ensure smooth laminar flow of blood in your vessels, for strengthening the inner fighting spirit of the soul, to stimulate the immune system to make sure that rogue mutated cells can be nipped in the bud before it becomes a mash of dangerous parasite!"
So, like a kind soul, fighting the inner demons, I did what I was to do, to run for health, for life, for that momentary surge of feel-good feeling!
It would also be a proper send-off to 2012 and my Junior Veteran status. I would be officially initiated as a Senior Veteran in 2013. Hello... I am too young to be 50.
Came 30th December 2012....
My last outing in this route was in 2010 when I completed it in 2h53m. Last year, family commitments overruled this run. Hoping to finish it with a bang a wee bit faster.
The race started promptly at 5.30am at Bandar Kinrara recreation park with 3800 runners in 12km and 25km categories. The long and straight trail started. Somehow, when we are running the inclining road, it did not seem impossible to conquer. Probably all that Sunday morning gruelling at Bukit Aman were paying off. Every successful climb was rewarded by a decline for us to catch a breather before embracing another. The temperature must have around 28 degrees based on my skills living in a tropical country! The air was still with only the movements of the runners making any kind of air turbulence.
We (me and my haloed friend) - the horned guy had to drag along, no choice- met the Newton Challenge and conquered it, to my heart's content. What a way to bid farewell to the fourth decade of my existence. I managed to slice 10 mins off my previous Newton run. My Garmin 610 shows that I completed it 2h43m. The distance, however, apparently is only 24km. With all the torturous hills, the effort is definitely more than you will need for a flat 25 or even 30km! Yeehah.....

Now to continue with my worldly duties...

I feel goooood! Du,du,dum!*

That is exactly how I feel right now! Feeling on top of the world looking at my conquest of successfully completing the Newton 25km run yesterday in 2h 53m. The timing seems nothing to shout about but if you look at the terrain that we ran, you would be equally mesmerised.
It was organised by Triathlon Malaysia who are passionate about extreme sports, pushing the body to the limits with events like Ironman and finds pleasure in inflicting pain! So, you can imagine how the course would have been.

The run was flagged off 6.30am as scheduled from the recreational grounds of Bandar Kinrara 5. Basically the whole route was ‘T’ shaped. If you consider the lowest point of the vertical line on the ‘T’ as the starting point, the 12 km runners had to complete one half of the horizontal line of the ‘T’ whereas the 25 km runners had to finish the full length of the bar and run back. The problem is the horizontal line of the ‘T’ is nothing but horizontal in real. The course was wavy with uphill and downhill paths. It really literally took your breath away, just like the scenic view bordering the path of the run!
From Bandar Kinrara 5, we went past some housing estates, low cost flats and reached a T-junction. We turned left towards Bukit Puncak Jalil. Here, the roads go uphill, teasing a little with a decline then going on revenge with further inclinations. At the edge of Puncak Jalil, we made a U-turn and headed back. At 10km mark at Lestari Perdana, I clocked around 1h 07m. What goes up must come down. But then it went up again and worse! At 15km mark, it was 1h 45m. By 20km, most of the energy had been drained out, made worse by the morning sun. Lucky for the energy bar that I happened to carry, I managed to generate a few more action potentials on my muscle fibres.
And I felt good when I reached the finishing line. 2h 53m of continuous running (except for a few seconds of break at the 7 drink stations), I managed to secure a medal for my effort and a finisher’s T-shirt for completing 25km.

My partner-in-crime, Suresh, who took part in the 12km category had an equally gruelling time but managed to complete 12km in 1h 11m.
To view the course, try this site: http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/race-details.php?eventID=22&tab=course

(Next stop – UPM on 17th October for 11km Mizuno Wave Run)

*Sang to the tune of the James Brown’s classic – I feel good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Z56dxeGMA&feature=related