Been awhile.. getting back into races (’17)

After my last race in Reims 10k back in Oct 2016, things got really busy for me that “races” got pushed into the backburner. I still kept up with my gym sessions (2-3 times weekly) where the treadmill helps to keep me running but I was literally off the local races. Until I signed up for the Besraya Highway Challenge Race back in Jul ’17.

And the only reason I kinda moved my ass back into races was becoz I’d signed up for the Venice 10K race in October (which is part of my yearly European-Essen trip ritual ie. to take part in a 10K race prior to my biz trip to Essen for the Spiel convention).

The Race Pack collection was largely uneventful. It was a convenience for me as it was held at Sunway Velocity Mall which is very near to my home – and also very close to the starting point for this race.

This is a short race, just 6K. A perfect race to ease myself back into running. It’s also the first time a run is being hosted on the Besraya Highway (otherwise known as the Sungei Besi Expressway).

I drive past this expressway often – whenever I need to get to Taman Maluri or Sunway Velocty – but I think I’ve only used it once or twice (by car). It would be great to run it on foot. Even if it’s just for 6 km.

They do have a 12K category but I just didn’t think I’d enough training to clock a 12K race under 5:30 pace. A 6K distance would be a better one to get my ass moving.

The best part of running on a highway is traffic control being relatively easy so you know you won’t be dealing with rogue traffic. Or too much CO from car exhaust. And it’s flat – or at least this part of the highway where the 6K route passed through is.

My timing for this race was better than I’d expected. Was hoping to just do 5:15-5:20 so was happy to be clocking 5:06 pace for this first (albeit short) race for this year.

Two things I liked about this race. (1) It’s a flat straightforward route, free from traffic and being on a 4-lane highway, you won’t experience “runner traffic” congestion even if you started at the back of the pack.

(2) The nice Brooks dry-fit running tee. I really like the texture of the material. Will be looking out for more events with Brooks tee.

And oh.. before I sign off this post, I wanted to give a shout out to Seven Chiam who was one of the photographers shooting this event. Runners in Malaysia are really spoilt for choice. In almost all races, you can see a platoon of photographers standing by to take your mid-race or finishing pic. All for free.

Seven Chiam is one of them. And she takes really good race pics which are shared on her own Facebook page Seven Days Photography and you can download them for free. I noticed she’s willing to accept donation and it’s as low as RM10/pic. In return she’ll send you the hi-res version of your race pics which is a steal if you know what other professional race photographers are charging in MarathonFoto.

I do hope more runners can consider contributing to these race photographers as a way of appreciating their hard-work, and in return they’ll be more encouraged to keep shooting our running pics!

Till next race… ciao!