Welcome to der Family : Pacemakers # 67

I grew up active playing sports, but I never really run much. I run once a year in cross country races during high school and occasionally 4 to 5 km during college whenever I feel my pants were getting tight.

After I graduated, I started to run more often, joining short races of 5k, 10k, and 21k during year 2000 to 2004. At that time, I didn’t train consistently, taking weeks or even months on and off running. I realized that if you stop running for a while, it gets harder to start again. You will feel your pace has dropped and you will experience a shortness of breath easily. This is what I get for not training consistently. I feel de-motivated and eventually stopped running for 4 years.

Fast forward to year 2008, not believing that I would actually take part in a full marathon, I was tempted to sign up for Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM). After much hesitation, I decided to say yes to this race and sign up during the early bird promotion, fearing the registration will be full if I ponder longer. I have also signed up for 25km in Penang Bridge Marathon (PBIM 25km) which was held in November as part of my preparation for SCSM.

SCSM was held on 7^th December 2008 and as the race approached, I realized that I have not done any heavy cardio in a couple weeks. Slightly nervous, I panicked and thought of backing out! Well, I am glad that I didn’t. I was happy to cross the finishing line in 4 hours and 48 minutes (current PB) in my first ever oversea race. Having aches and muscle cramps as a result of the run, I am surprised I still managed to do shopping in Singapore after the race!

Even though I have not fully recovered after SCSM, I went ahead and took part in another event, the 1^st Putrajaya 12 hours Walk 2008 only 6 days after my Virgin marathon. I clocked another PB mileage of 50km in 9 hours and 30 minutes. However, despite achieving a PB, I hit the wall and was injured with ITB. It took me a few minutes to walk to a mobile toilet which was only 100 meter away. I feel very sad and I realized that I should not hurry for all the races without letting my body recover first. I stopped running for 10 months to heal my ITB injury. I did not give up. I believe that I will come back stronger. I want to be an Ultra Marathoner.

After I have recovered, I took part in more races because it gives me motivation to keep running. However, I did not follow a proper training regime and I ended up with ‘hitting the wall’ twice and eventually DNF in the races. “What have gone wrong?” I asked myself.

Eventually, I did my first ultra marathon in Sundown Ultramarathon 84km in May 2010. I have run 6 Ultramarathon races now and I do not plan to stop yet. My next race will be Sundown Ultramarathon 100km in June and my ultimate goal is to run 100 miles (or 160 km) one day.

People think that I am insane but the fact is, I run because it keeps me sane…

Most successful run, Photo by : Tey Eng Tiong

MR25 Trail ultra-Marathon 2010, 11hours 14min 12sec @ 73.5km

Early this month, I received an email from Ronnie @ PM1 to invite me to join Der Pacemakers Network. I remembered first getting to know Ronnie in early 2009. When I run with him, I always target to follow his pace. After a several sessions of ‘PIA’ LSD with Ronnie from Bukit Aman to Hartamas, my speed workout and my timing from Bukit Aman to Hartamas have improved. Now, I can run with him all the way and reach Hartamas within 50 minutes (old timing was 55 minutes).

Thank you PM1.

“No pain No gain“, der Spirit of the PIA!

Brought 2u by Jeff Ooi @ PM67

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