Welcome to der Familly - der Pacemakers # 40

Hi I am Jessa. Let me begin my report with a big thank you to Captain Ronnie See for the invitation to join his Pacemaker big family.
I remember getting excited reading new PM member’s report, in the hopes of learning from their experience and also get inspiration from their stories. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would get to write one too :)

I was never into running or sports for that matter during my schooling and working days. In 2009, a colleague of mine (now my wife ) decided to sign up for a 10km run for SCKLM 2009. In order not to be left out, I too sign up for the 5km Fun Run (as I was too chicken to do the 10km run, haha).

It turn out to be a memorable race for me, for all the wrong reason as some runners at the front took a different route and those that followed ended up running only approximately 3.5km. From that day onwards, friends (Yoong Chee Wah and SH Foo) that I befriended during one of the SCKLM 2009 Running Clinic started to encourage me to sign up for longer distance race which I did and the rest as they say is history. It is also during this time that I was introduced to the PM blog and PM1. I remember that I use to follow his blog religiously for event updates, his unique race report, new PM member report, etc.

 finally met PM1 face to face when I join his Adination Training at KLCC Park every Thursday whereby he will share his running knowledge with runners that join his training. From him I have learned that if you want to improve your running you need to put in hard work during training, be discipline i.e. don’t miss your training session, rain or shine and lastly respect the distance that you run, no matter long or short.

I have thus far participated in short distance races (7km, 10km, 12km, 16km) like McD Fun Run, Siemens Run, Adidas King of the Road, Malakoff Run, Newton Run, SCKLM 2010, SCMS 2009, etc. I have also completed numerous half marathon distances like the Energizer Night Run, Putrajaya Night Run, Brooks Half Marathon, SCKLM 2011, SCMS 2010, etc.

I have done some relays like the Ekiden Run, PACM Relay, PAR Relay and Penang Round Island Relay. Relays provide different kind of challenges. In relays you are not running for yourself but for your team and there is no such thing as pacing, you go all out until you have nothing left in your tank. It is a real pressure cooker and not for the weak hearted I tell ya.

The longest distance that I have run is the marathon distance which was done at Sundown 2011 and the 2012 edition of SCKLM. Sundown 2011 was the most torturing run I have ever had to endure. The race started at 10pm and it took me 7 long hours to complete it. During the 7 hours I had to fight against sleepiness, tiredness, boredom, body ache, knee pain, headaches. At various stages of the race I did contemplate to DNF but I kept telling myself to complete it no matter what as I did not come all the way to Singapore just to have a DNF abbreviation behind my name and finish the race I did, thanks also to the encouragement from my friend Lim Chong Hwi who ran together with me to the finish line. As they say the Pain is temporary but the Pride last forever . I did much better at SCKLM 2012, managed to complete the FM in 6 hours (a PB of some sort when compare with Sundown 2011).


Now I understand why people enjoy running so much. Not only are you able to stay fit and healthy but you also get to meet new friends to share running knowledge. It is through running that I have met many friends and open my eyes to the world.

Thanks once again to Captain Ronnie See for inviting me to join his PIA family of runners even though I am not really an exceptional runner in terms of speed and the number of races I join each year. Even more so this year after the birth of my son, I will be cutting down on races drastically until he is older. So see you guys on the road (whenever I can)!!

brought 2u by Jessa Singh @ PM40
to add Jessa at Facebook, click here!