From ZERO to HERO

I attended a running clinic/circuit training organized by (sila click link ----->) FROM ZERO TO HERO this morning as part of my preparation for my second half marathon. Yes, i telah berjaya berlari sejauh 21km during the Energizer Night Run last Saturday and manage to clocked 2 hours and 43minutes. Not bad la for a first timer kan. So yea, main reason of me attending this clinic/circuit training is to improve myself in all forms sebab tak berapa puas hati dengan ENR haritu. Lari pun tengah injured so pace pun kena slow sikit. Itupun dah kena tegur dengan mama and my aunty untuk jangan lari malam tu. Ishh. Mana bleh... dah bayar kot. I told them macam cara sekali pun i kena sampai gak kat finishing line first half marathon i tu. And i did it! Ok cerita sikit la pasal experience ENR tu. Summary la eh so here goes...

Sampai2 je Sepang Circuit kena bayar RM10 untuk parking. Memang cekik darah. Amik kesempatan betul. Nak jalan ke circuit tu dah la jauh pastu kena plak lalu entrance yang sangat kecik rasa macam nak pengsan je lalu situ dengan the amount of people yang keluar masuk route tu (bayangkan kalau duduk dalam train atas bas yang penuh. sekian). Nak amik headlight pun dah macam pasar ikan. Gila tak bertamadun orang2 ni. Tsk Tsk. Nak letak bag kat counter kena beratur punya lah lama sebab 2 orang je yang in-charge (gila tak organized). Nasib baik la sempat nak warm up sebelum race. First 10km or running went well. Every water station i stop untuk minum air mineral or isotonic drink. I ni cepat peluh and bila berpeluh maka keluar la juga segala sodium and potassium yang membuatkan kaki i cepat cramp bila berlari (development of lactic acid yang cepat pun satu hal la kan). Nasib baik gak la i bawah GU CHOMPS which i kunyah a few hundred meters towards every water station sebab lepas kunyah gummies tu kena minum air. Alhamdulillah membantu and my first 10km went great. Mental focus went kelam kabut sikit bila lari dalam Sepang Circuit tu itself. I ni jenis tak boleh lari satu tempat berulang-ulang. Masuk je second loop, terus hilang focus and the last 4km tu dah rasa cramp. Dah takleh push. Rasa lagi down bila kawan-kawan dah start potong. Macam mana pun tetap habis run tu dengan masa 2 jam 43 minit. (First 16km i dapat clocked in masa 1 jam 54 minit). Lepas lari tak dapat medal, goodie bag pun tak dapat sebab dengar kata macam ada kekecohan berlaku. Tapi yang paling best certificate, medal and goodie bag organizer akan post ke rumah siap bagi refund lagi sebab orang complain pasal the event. So basically my first half marathon ni kira my experimental try out la. hehe

Ok, back to the ZERO to HERO story. The clinic/ running circuit was conducted by Mr Mark Williams. Elite runner ni. Rugi kalau tak join. So one week before the event i dah register. So yea, pagi tu pegi sorang2. Sampai2 je Mr Williams dah start his talk. Toleh kiri kanan tapi tak nampak any familiar face (that morning runner2 hebat pegi beraksi kat Bidor and Metta Run). Dah half way thru the talk, nampak plak Edan, Abg Shariff, Adznam, Muaz and and Afiq. Ha, cantek la tu, ada gak geng AnR Shah Alam yang datang. Started running at 7.30am. Time tengah lari rasa perut tak berapa best (tak makan dengan betul sebab the day before bedal mee kari, pulut ngan rendang and nasi dagang. Haha, ntah pape. Lesson learnt!). So nak lari pun takde mood dah tapi redah gak la sebab nak praktis my running technique. Pastu nampak plak the guys dok lari laju gila. Haih so cannot kejar ok. Mengah tengok dioang lari ni. Tetiba plak tengah2 lari Mr Williams dok berdiri satu spot nak tengok cara larian runners yang hadir. So i pun lari la macam biasa. So while running towards him , i could see that he was observing my running technique. And you know what he said? "beautiful running technique!, keep it up!". Wei! tetiba i kembali motivated ok!. Tak penah2 la orang comment pasal my running technique. Ni ELITE RUNNER yang comment ok!. I felt so motivated again. Kekadang i rasa down sebab takde sape yang nak observe and correct my running form. Kekadang fikir betul ke tak cara aku berlari ni. But yea, Mr Williams saw it and commented about it. But i took it in a very positive way. More to learn and more to practice to improve better.
 

With the real HERO, Mr Mark Williams

 

These guys here are FAST runners ok! Especially yang kedua dari kanan tu :p

With the upcoming HEROES and HERO-ine *coughs*

Lepas run 4 loop (around 8.8km), sempat tanya Mr Williams on running tips and what plan to follow as a preparation for my 2nd half marathon.  I cakap kat M.W first tapi terkantoi plak bila i cakap i dah lari HM masa ENR ahah. But i told him that ENR was just my experimental race to just experience the feeling of running half marathon. Boleh gitew? LOL.  

Asking for valuable tips ;) and he said " Just stick to the plan and you'll be fine"

Next running event will be this weekend. AnR breakfast run on Saturday and  SCKL running clinic on Sunday. Both events will be held at Kepong Metropolitan Park. So determine to be better as the tag line goes " FROM ZERO TO HERO" . But in this context it's HEROINE la kan bagi saya. Heh

See you all on the REAL race day peeps! Everyone are HEROES in their own ways. Believe me ;)