The annual 10 km road Run was on again; a medical equivalent stress test for the members went on without fail every year.
This year the response was better than the previous years and the runners seemed to come better prepared.
I reached the run site at about 4.45pm. It was at the Tan J Y Scout Camp at Bukit Katil. It was indeed a good site as there was a big proper parking space. Many runners were already there busily changing or chatting. I noticed there were quite a number of guest runners around.
After a group photo was taken, the hare, the Killer led us to the starting point. At 6pm, “ On On “was shouted and the group dash out for the 10 km road trail.
The weather was cool, and it was a good trail and every km was marked. That made a good tool for us to measure against our time. If you consistently run within 6 min per Km, then you are sure to complete it within one hour for this 10 km run. I felt good in the run, thanks to the Carbo-loading in the lunch time; a big loaf of bread with a cup of coffee. I could feel the energy keep coming after the 4km point as whatever stored earlier in the liver/stomach was converted to energy very readily. All the front runners were pretty consistent; it was quite difficult to overtake one another. After the 6 Km point, there was a fiasco, due to overlook of the hare, the arrow was pointed to two lanes. That was how Denise the Menace went into the wrong lane and had to turn back after a considerable distance. I was lucky to see him turning back and my mistake was avoided. After that, there was no mark, no papers, and we were running in the dark, the blinds leading the blinds, praying that that was the correct trail. Alas, finally we reached the tarred lane and not long after that, we saw the 7th Km mark. Phew! Otherwise we could have murdered the hare. Alex of KL was with me all the time overtaking each other every now and then. Alex spotted the 9th Km mark, he said” lets dash for it!“ , and we sped up and all the way to the finishing line. He was a few seconds off better than me. My time was 56 min 16 seconds. Many were surprised. EX Gm Garfield, lost touch with the hash for quite sometime thought I could only walk back.
I am satisfied. I was better prepared this year as I have reduced a considerable weight, a sheer 7 kg within six month after the last Chinese New Year and also run more often with a 4 times of 6-7 km run every week. The younger Horse, NKS had been putting a challenge to an older Horse like me ever since the last road run. I was only one minute better than him in the last year road run and he had put a lot of hope for the history re-written. I always said to him; “If I lose to you, it is natural, but not vise versa. “ Ha ha, the pressure was back to him. The result turned out to be; NKS did improve by one minute as compared to last year’s record, but I was 15 minutes better, so the race was over.
Hash circle was formed by the hash Whip, the vibrator. Immediately harriets Sweetie Pie and Carol charged the hare for putting an ambiguous diversion after the six km trail. Both hare and the GM were put on ice. “Put them on ice as long as possible, I want their balls to shrink to nothing” so said Sweetie Pie. Medals were awarded to the champions for the top three runners except the first lady runner, H Leong who had shied away.
On On was at the New Good World Restaurant with five tables fully occupied. Food was on the house by the Club, and the pack enjoyed the evening until sometime 11pm.
The result of the run is as follows ( Some did not complete the run ):-
