Welcome to der Family : PACEMAKERS #56

I started running in year 2009 and the Adidas King of the Road was my virgin run. Not knowing any regular runners at that time, I signed up for 11KM alone but little did I know I was not ‘alone’ at all because there were thousands of other runners running together with me. It was an exhilarating experience. However, I suffered leg cramp in the middle of run because I ran the race without any proper training or preparation and it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete the race. After this run, I told myself that I just want to quit and don’t want to join running anymore.

Despite telling myself to quit running, after a few months, I decided to give running a chance again and I signed up for 21km at Putrajaya Night Marathon. Crazy right? The same thing happened to me, my both leg cramp again, but I did not give up and continue to walk back to the finishing line. I finished the race with a timing of 2 hours 45 minutes. The leg cramp did not deter me from running. Instead, I told myself that practice make things perfect. I must keep practice to conquer it. So I start to train regularly at Subang area to prepare for the Energizer Night Race 2010. Besides that, my good friend Shine, who is an ultra-marathoner, gave me valuable tips and advices on how to improve myself in running.

I managed to complete 10km at Energizer Night Race in 47 minutes (9.3km) without any leg cramp and not much of suffer feeling. After Energizer Night Race, I did not hesitate to sign up for 21km in SCKLM 2010. Determined to get a better timing, I trained consistently, may it be indoor or outdoor. I completed my 2nd half marathon at SCKLM 2010 in 2 hours 41 minutes. Feeling great especially when I was rewarded with a beautiful finisher’s medal after the run, I signed up for more running events like the Newton 25Km (the worst timing so far at 3 hours 46 minutes), Shape Run 5KM (26 minutes), Nike 10KM (53 minutes), Chin Woo Biathlons, Penang Bridge International Marathon 21KM (2 hours 28 minutes), and lastly, the Penang Round the Island Relay with Der Pacemakers Network. Thanks to Ronnie See for allowing me to join the Der Pacemakers Fun Run Team. It was a wonderful experience and our team got 3rd place. From there, I get to know Der Pacemakers members and friends better and they gave me a lot of useful tips to improve my running skill.

After that, I start to join Ronnie’s LSD program at Bukit Aman. Even though I know that I can’t follow their pace but I enjoy running at my own pace. I don’t mind them sayur me gao gao because I know that with consistent training, one day I can sayur them back too.

My main target for year 2011 is to complete my virgin Full Marathon. I already sign up for 42km in both Sundown Marathon in Singapore and SCKLM 2011. I do not have any target timing as I intend to just complete both races. So far, 2011 has been a challenging year for me. I have just finished 2 short distance races 2 weeks ago and experienced what they call as ‘run till you vomit white foam’, at KL Wilayah Day Run 7km (42:19 minutes) and KEC Unity Run 7km (6.07km in 33:29 minutes).

I know that I have started to love running. I will continue my journey with more training, more races and maybe one day, hit the ultra-marathon too. Joining more races of different distances is not only my main priority. Encouraging more people to join running is one of my aims too. My philosophy for running is, “Run with less injury” and the one which always keep in my mind is “No matter rain or shine, just run”.

When I received the email from Ronnie, Pm1 to invite me to join Der Pacemakers Network, I can say that I was sweating at that time. I feel honored and appreciate his invitation to be part of Der Pacemakers family even though I have not completed any full marathon yet. Thank you very much Ronnie, now I will run with der Spirit of Pia! in my mind.

Next is the Energizer Night Race 2011, 21km. See you all there.

Brought 2u by Alex Lee @ Pm56

To add Alex in Facebook : www.facebook.com/aleximom