Very long day

4.45am

Woke up before the alarm rang. Quickly had a shower and lubed all the normal areas. Grabbed a banana and one can of Ali Cafe. As soon as I started driving I immediately saw that the haze had cleared quite a bit... wooohooo!

6.00am

Reached Bkt Aman car park and everyone was already there. Today's participants were Choi, Geraldine, Eugene, Tey, Phyllis, Grace, Fook and Jason. Once I had slipped on my shoes, we started moving out of the car park.

The plan today was to try to run a hard run and see how long I could keep it up. I wanted to see if my form had dropped due to the recent lack of training caused by the haze. I led the pack all the way up to Kenny Hills with Tey and Geraldine just behind.

As I approached Jln Duta, I was now running on my own. Split time as I crossed under the flyover was 31m18s. I ran on my own for the next 3km and started slowing down a little as we reached Plaza Damas. Tey and Geraldine caught up here and Geraldine pulled away to the Petronas. Time when I reached Petronas was 57m21s.

Tey was kind enough to get me some Gatorade while I continued with the loop above the Petronas without stopping. He passed me the can when I had completed the loop. Thank you Tey! Here I walked a bit while drinking. I didn't want to stop because when I do, my socks tend to get soaked immediately, but if I keep going its not so bad.

From here on I was running on my own because the others were still taking the loop at Petronas and then had stopped briefly at the station. I was still feeling strong and was going at a steady pace until I reached the slope up the mosque. Here my right calf started pulling a little so I slowed the pace. Time when I crossed Jln Duta again was 1h32m23s.

My breathing was still steady all this while which shows improved fitness from speedwork and cross training, however the right calf continued showing slight signs of cramping which points to lack of mileage! I just continued at an easy pace all the way back to the car park. Total time taken was 2h7m6s.

To me this run was a victory because this is the first time I have run the Hartamas route finishing alone without walking. All previous times I was being paced by someone. My timing was also a personal best as I had taken both the loop at the Petronas and the left turning at the traffic light instead of the shortcut taken at times. This comes close to the actual 21k distance.

10.00am

Reached home after having a refreshing shower at Bkt Aman. Enjoyed a half hour massage on my Ogawa chair and confirmed my Deepavali lunch appointments. I was starving by then as the body had probably burnt 1500 calories in the morning run. Met Peter, Albert, Diana and Lee at Gopu's house and later went to my in laws neighbours house for lunch.

2.30pm

Sent my son to my mum's place as my house needed some serious cleaning for a church home meeting we were hosting that night. Spent 3.5 hours cleaning the house... I had to cut the grass, wash the car porch, clean the fans, vacuum the house, mop the house and was the bathroom upstairs while wife tidied up and dusted everything. Beside Jamie, I really don't know of runners who actually do housework after a hard morning run???

7.30pm

Mum sent Nick back and church members started arriving at 8pm. I chaired the meeting and we later watched a testimony of Gurmeet Singh (The famous PCK). It was quite touching actually. He had recently come to KL for one of the Christian evangelical meetings organised at the Eastin hotel.

10.15pm

Once everyone left I made a dash to another close friends house for Deepavali. I've known this guy since Kindergarten and we were schoolmates and classmates up till form 5. Met some old schoolmates here and had a good time catching up.

12.30am

Reached home, took out the garbage, vacuumed the hall again. Had a shower and now typing this posting. I've now been awake for 21hours, I'm going to bed now... good night and happy holidays to everyone! Drive safely if you are going outstation!