10 in 10 makes another 10

10th October 2010 or 10.10.10.

Dates like this comes nought often. More so when it falls on a Sunday which offers the perfect reason for organizing a once-in-a-lifetime running event. Therefore not just one or two races – but more than five I can easily count – were scheduled for this date. That said, the two running events that received the highest profile were the Hooha Asia’s 10.10.10 Fun Run and Nike City 10K Run (an event that’s organized worldwide with S’pore and KL representing the Asia leg of this event).

We signed up first for the Hooha Fun Run (which was a 5.5K stint) but later when I heard Nike is going to print our bib number onto the Nike 10K City Run running tee, that was a novelty that’s worth getting!

Here’s a pic of the Nike Run t-shirt with bib number printed at the lower left corner. Pretty nice idea I must say. J

I’d initially thought of doing the “swing” i.e. start the run at Nike, then hop over to do the Hooha race. It’s not often you get two high-profile races within closer vicinity of each other – Nike was in KLCC while Hooha starts in Lot 10, a 10-15 min walk at most. And even rarer that two short-distance races start at different time – Nike starts 7 am and Hooha starts 8:20 am.

In theory, it’s possible to start from the Nike Run, complete the 10K run by 8 am, hop over to Lot 10 with about 5 min to spare and then kick off the Hooha’s part of the 5.5K leg.

In theory.

That theory got flushed down the drain when Nike confirmed it’ll start it’s races – both the 5K and 10K – at the same time which would be 7:15 am now. There went my double-race prosperity bonus. Haha.

With a 7:15 am start and a 10K race, I am not fast enough to finish it on time to hop over to Lot 10. L

I was even contemplating short-circuiting my 10K to the 5K version as I saw both categories of runners following the same route until the 4K mark at the Yap Kwan Seng / Ampang junction where the 5K runners turn right heading back towards the Finishing Point while the 10K runners turn left towards Sultan Ismail to get to the AKLEH highway.

But the thought of getting to run on the AKLEH was tantalising. Not often do organizers do races that run on AKLEH. I suppose this made the decision for me. 10K it is then for Nike. And Hooha a miss it’s gotta be. :S

Wifey waiyan who was in the 5K Nike category did actually do both races! Well done to her then!!

This would be the first time in months that my feet actually ran on actual grounds!! But if there’s any run to get back into running, I’ve to say the Nike City Run would be one of the better ones. It’s generally a fast track and it ran thru familiar places (at least to me) such as Kia Peng, Bintang, Ampang, KLCC.

I suppose when you are running around places or landmark you are familiar with, the route doesn’t seem so far or daunting. And almost along every stretch of the road, we have sight of the KLCC Twin Towers, which was where the Finish Point is. You can say that kinda gave us something visual to lock in to.

This is also one of the few races where I wore the “official” running tee and not one of my usual Adidas. Reason #1 is that your bib number was actually printed on the tee itself! So if you do not wear it, you are running without a bib number.

Reason #2 is I find the Nike BRIGHT Lime-green tee quite… attractive!! Nike has also made it official it can ban any runners from the race if you are not in their official tee. I guess they really dun want to see runners wearing Adidas, Reeboks, Mizuno, Brooks, NB, Pagoda, anything but Nike!! LOL

I’ve to say this was a masterstroke as getting all runners – well, the majority anyway as I can still see a few “rebels” donning non-official tee in the run – in one singular bright luminous green made for a very visually spectacular race especially at the flag off!!

Distance: 10.27 K (on my Garmin FR405)

Time: 58 min 06 sec

Pace: 5:39 min

After not having had any OTR (on-the-run) run for months, I’m more than happy to get my running feet re-acquainted with the tarmac. Hope to be able to keep to some more normal running schedule.

Btw NIKE sucks! All we got for finishing this race is a … nice.. soft.. toy.

By the time I came back to the Nike finishing point, it was already 8:15 am and with the Hooha starting in 5 min, there’s no time for me to hop over for a 2nd leg. In truth, I have no more JUICE left to run la!! LOL

So after catching up with cmun, both of us slowly sauntered over to Lot 10 hoping to catch some of our frens coming in for the finish. Turned out before we even reach Lot 10, Ainul called up and said he’s already completed the race!! Aduh…

But we did meet up at Lot 10, claimed my Hooha Goodies bag – even tho’ I didn’t run – and managed to catch up with a few running frens – Julie, Karen (btw where’s the photo ar?), Chia Kai, etc. Seems like the Hooha Run was more FUN??!!

And guess what? The goodies bag from the Hooha Run is SO SO much better than what we got from the Nike City Run!! Eerr.. .actually we didn’t get ANY goodies bag at all from the Nike Run. Haiz…. in fact, not even Ais Milo or 100+ booth at the Nike Run.

To view a video of both the Nike City Run, and Hooha Run which was flagged off by a RUNNER (bravo PuehTian!) drop by Pueh Tian’s blog and check them out!

– Nike City Run video

– Hooha Fun Run video

Tomorrow’s Mizuno Run… let’s see if my running feet will be touching the ground or it’s Air Cheras again!