der Pacemaker 59

Name : Andrew Chan Wai Jen
Date of Birth : 24th of June 1985
Hometown : PJ
Year of Running : 2008
Contact No : 012-9037037
Email : andrewcwj@gmail.com

Hi everyone, my name is Andrew and I am from SS2 Petaling Jaya. This is a short introduction to who I am.

I started running just recently, the actual date I stepped into Lake Garden to begin my running career was the 12th of October 2008 with the Runners Malaysia group spearheaded by Mr. Wan Yew Leong. Prior to this, the only running experience I had learned more towards the sprint category. The Runners Malaysia/beginners course as most would refer it to, it was a 5km+ lap around lake garden. I slowly mastered the course by doing repetitions of the course. I came to know about this group from the lowyat.net forum.

They are the people from the lowyat.net forum, Frank (sub pacemaker 6), Mr. Choi (pacemaker 42) and Chen Chee Kong who first taught me how to run. They were always ever so willing to give advice and constructive comments in regards to how to train to what sort of shoes I should buy.

It was also from there that I found out about the pacemakers as well as the pacesetters. I started 'stalking' runner blogs till I met pm1.blogspot.com, I have read most of the pacemakers family blogs from page 1.

The first time I met Pm1 was when they had a LSD run of 25km just before the Great Eastern 30km event. Being a newbie I participated in the 20km run. I successfully finished my first competition, first half marathon in 2’02’29.

My first 25km LSD run was really slow as that was my first time trying to complete such a distance. I didn’t see the backs of Pm1 and his gang even though it was just a practice run. From that day forth, without fail I make it to Lake Garden at 6am to run 20km.

My first 20km run with Pm1 after the Great Eastern event was really difficult. Pm1 and his gang have the spirit of 'PIA' instilled in them regardless of the distance. With that said, they left me in the cold and darkness to conquer the Tijani stretch alone. I knew I had to buck up else how would I compete.

The second time I ran with them, Pm1 gave me a 'present', Wong Kei Ming (pacemaker 55). He made sure that I didn’t get lost, and of course until today I am ever grateful to him for waiting on me. He paced with me as he showed me the route. Since that day I found Wong Kei Ming to be a good friend, trustworthy friend and training partner.

Since the Great Eastern event, I only competed in 3 more other events till today, The KL city run which I completed in 58’50, the KL towerthon, 21’42 and lastly as well as most recently the Bidor Half Marathon which I successfully finished in 1’53’00 even though I started with a 6-7 minute pace per km.

I am most definitely looking forward to the upcoming events such as the New Balance 15km run, the Klang Pacer Half Marathon and the Standard Chartered Marathon for which I’ll be only doing the half marathon.

I will be increasing my distance soon but am in no hurry as this year would be a year of half marathons. I read a lot on the subject of running, asked many 'sifus' and concluded that I needed a good strong half marathon time before I can graduate to running full marathons.

I actually aspire to participate in triathlons, duathlons and biathlons. Hence besides running I also cycle and swim. This year is a year of many firsts in terms of running events and trainings for cycling and swimming.

Before ending I just want to say I truly regret not having come to know of the pacemaker group earlier. Every time I run I think, if only I started earlier I would have had the chance to meet a lot of great people. I cannot describe the envious feelings of knowing that there are people who embark on such a journey like mine many years before I did.

Ps Cinya kamsiah and kamtung for the invite to join the Pacemaker family, it is undoubtedly an honour.


we are honour and happy to have der new member to our group, proudly introduce u Mr. Handsome, Andrew Chan! welcome to our family!

posted by pm55