Dedication Shoutout!

Good luck to all of the runners for the Borneo Marathon this weekend!

And to my colleague, Clarissa who'll be running her 10km for the first time!

Me with Clarissa and her beau Suren last year 

You can do it girl!!! :D

You can lose up to a kg for every km you run...

An interesting article in The Star that I've stumbled upon while having my dinner last night....

Trainer: You can lose up to a kg for every km you run (Christina Low)

RUNNING in Malaysia’s hot and humid weather is one of the most challenging obstacles for personal trainer and runner Mark Williams.

“The weather in the city is awful for running, sometimes you can lose up to a kilogram for every kilometre you run,” said Williams during a recent running clinic held in conjunction with the upcoming Standard Chartered KL Marathon on June 27.

Williams, who has won various major running championships including the KL City Run 10K and Genting Trailblazer last year, advised runners to keep themselves hydrated at all times during a race especially in the current weather conditions.

Keeping pace: Williams guiding the participants through a set of warm-up exercises during the recent Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon running clinic.

“You should stop at each water stop and take your time to drink properly, especially if you are planning to win the race,” Williams said.

Besides keeping hydrated, the 39-year-old who teaches in Alice Smith School in Seri Kembangan advised those running in the full marathon to train early to avoid injuries.

He handed out a self-produced booklet with a 10-week running programme for beginners and intermediate runners which he hopes will give an idea of what they should do in daily training for the upcoming race.

“You need to train the body for a marathon, and not stop at the 5km mark, thinking you still have to run another 37km,” said Williams, whose most memorable run was the New Zealand National Marathon Championships where he was awarded the silver medal.

He touched on the importance of stretching before a run, nutrition, running gear and tips for women runners.

The group of 150 clinic participants later proceeded to a series of warm-up exercises before doing a short run around Lake Gardens.

Standard Chartered KL will organise another four clinics nationwide. The next one will be held in Ipoh, Perak, on May 9 and move to Penang (May 16), Johor (May 23) and back to Kuala Lumpur (June 6).

Participation in the clinic is free on a first-come-first-served basis.

Runners will need to register via e-mail and state the selected clinic as the subject. They also need to give the name, age, selected clinic (date and venue) and contact number and send the e-mail to klmarathon@gmail.com or clinics@kl-marathon.com. For details, visit www.kl-marathon.com.

With the recent super-hot weather that we've been experiencing for the past 3 months, I won't be surprised if we can lose up to a kilo for every 1km...

It'll make it easier to shed the remaining 4 kilos off my body ;)

Now everyone should start running since it's such a good motivation! ;)

Oh, and please sign up for THE marathon of the year for KL @ www.kl-marathon.com :) 

Bidor Half Marathon (Race Day)...

The night before the race day, both Baba and I were telling each other that we needed to sleep early... But obviously that didn't happen... :P

We were catching up on the shows and ads on the local TV channels... And we came across an action flick on the StarMovies channel starring non-other than...

Mighty salute to this dude for his action movies that I've watched when I was growing up!

We were in bed by 10pm, but the movie ended at 11.30pm.. Hehe... And the worst part for me was that I couldn't sleep until 1am.. Blaming it on the 'sweet' Maggi sup that I've had at the mamak...

Woke up at 4.40am and decided to freshen up, get ready, makan pisang + yummy potato buns from Tesco, and stretch before driving to Bidor...

Super sleepy me + Baba

Almost crashed into another car from the opposite direction because the driver was either drunk or sleeping...  *Ngoks*

Got to the race venue at 6.15am... 

Baba and I before the marathon started...

I started running at 7.03am...Decided to bring my camera along for this half marathon...Jakun to run in the kampung area! :P 

Shots along my route:

Outfit for the run:

Sundown 2008 Marathon's Running Jersey, Response 'Drei Streifen' Baggy Short by adidas, Nike Elite Structure Cushioned Quarter running socks and Asics Gel-Nimbus II shoes

One of the kampungs along the route...

Spotted a familiar face :)

Was running with Lily between the 5km - 10km route...

Spotted Baba!!! She was on her last 3km.. You go girl!!!

There were a lot of kubur cinas along the route...

While running towards the 15km checkpoint... Slow me!

Spotted: Mizi and Nadia just before my 15km checkpoint...

Managed to catch up with them on the last 4km... But they sprinted off and left me! Hmph! :P

At 15km checkpoint with my isotonic drink... Behind me was the Lubuk Degong Waterfall.. 

Wanted to jump into it!

The beautiful budak aslis that were watching us running ;)

I was struggling at my last 4km... It was too too hot!!! I almost wanted to cry...

There were markers along the route... But I was only happy when I saw this marker!

Me about to cross the finishing line! Pic credits to Baba :)

I completed my 21km in 2 hours and 47 mins... :D

Not my PB but it's good enough for my 2nd half marathon so far for this year...

More camwhoring after running:

Me with my 21km finisher medal :)

Baba and I with our medals...

Congrats to her for finishing her 10km in 1 hour and 30+ mins! :)

Me with Lily... I'll see you at NB 15km next month! ;)

This girl was pretty much running with me between the 10 - 16 km route... She's doing her first full marathon at Sundown next month... I'll see you there Alexis! ;)

 With Sergeant Zaini

We made friends with him before we started running... He was telling us that he was going for an 'easy' run for this marathon... And he completed the 21km in 1 hour and 45 mins!  He even told us that his PB for a full marathon is 3 hours and 37 mins... Crazyyyy punya polis!!! :P Will see you soon at SCKLM in June! 

See how panas it was!!!

Selangor represent! Woot woot! :P

It was definitely a refreshing experience to run within the kampung area... Liked it a lot!!! Highlight of my route was definitely running along kampung orang asli to get to the waterfall :)

Although I was wishing that they'd have more water stations instead of one at every 5km due to the scorching heat...

But will definitely make a comeback to this marathon again! ;)

Next run: New Balance Pacesetters 15km @ Padang Merbok... 

Bidor Half Marathon (Day 1)...

It was my first time participating in this half marathon...

Bidor is a small town located in Perak... They are famous for their non-halal duck noodles and seedless guava...

My running buddies, Rose and Nyna participated in the marathon last year and raved so much about it as the route was scenic and that the running experience was definitely different from the ones in KL...

So, I was determined to participate this year... And these girls were supposed to join me as well... But due to their well-being from the diving trip, they couldn't join... Even my married couple friends had to bail as they've to go back to Kelantan for a relative's wedding...

It was me and Bahariah then... FYI, Bahariah @ Baba used to be my senior back in Assunta and a good friend of my neighbour and Rosey as well...

At first I was quite nervous to go on a roadtrip with her as we've never hung out together sangat...And plus we both didn't know where the place was!!!

But we got along very well during the drive and before we knew it, we were at the Bidor exit in less than 2 hours...

The BHM banner at the traffic light right after the exit

It took us less than 10 mins to head to Dewan Muhibbah to pick up our running bibs and t-shirts...

Bidor town - See how ol' skool the buildings are... Cantik!

Arrived at the hall and I had to wait for a while because the organisers forgot to change my running category from 10km to 21km eventhough we've informed them like 3 times...

Suasana di dalam Dewan Muhibbah...

We even made friends with the organisers... Next to Baba is the President of Bidor Runners Sports and Recreation Club, Mr Leng Ka Nyam ;)

My running bib 

Then, we headed off to Grand Kampar Hotel, which is situated about 30km from Bidor for our 1-night stay...

Out of nowhere, this nice hotel suddenly appeared :P

The room is not bad at all...We decided to go out for dinner that night, but guess what?!!! There was no electricity in Kampar at that time!!!

Even Tesco was in darkness

Since all of the food outlets were closed, we decided to have a 'candlelit' dinner at the mamak as they can cook the instant stuff...

Apa la our nasibs kan, Baba? ;)

The electricity came back on about 20 mins after that... We went back to the hotel and decided to sleep early due to the fact that we had to wake up at 430am to get ready to run... :S

Next: Bidor Half Marathon - Race Day

Dedication Shoutout!

On my previous post, most of my outfits in my pixxies were from this lovely store called The Old Blossom Box Store...

The goodies in the store are just too too cute! And travel-friendly too ;)

My bestie, Dhitry was commenting how much she liked my outfits when I was there... ;)

I used to wait for the updates online so that I could reserve the items as they'd get reserved like less than 10 mins after being published!

The store is run by a super fashionista, Jezmine Zaidan...

Jezmine and I at the LEFTBLOCK X Nike Sportswear event last Thursday :)

You can check out her online store at www.oldblossombox.com OR you can now check out her boutique at:

No 309, Laman Seri Business Park, Sec 13, Shah Alam (next to PTPL College)

So far, I've never walked out of the store empty-handed...

And I don't think that I will.. :P

Check out her store yeah peeps? :)

Balik Kampung - Family, Friends & Shopping

Spending time with my family for 10 days was refreshing! ;) 

Back in KL, we hardly spend time with each other due to my work + love commitments :P

So it was wonderful to have my mom cooking for us, seeing my dad looking so relaxed with his cigar, having late night talks with my SIL, spending time with my nephew, and also to see my sister being so girly with her buys :)

And of course, my brother flew from Brissy to spend the weekend with us...

Here are a couple of pictures of my family and I:

With Kak Aida Long, Myra and Mummy

With Ibrahim Zenki

With Bijan wearing my early birthday present to him ;)

With Lea

With Kak Aida Long and Lea

With Dadaa

Mummy wearing our birthday gift to her ;)

Spent good quality time with my baby cousin, Myra aka Myrtum who's currently working over there... She was staying over our apartment during our stay in Melbourne, and she accompanied me to all of my shopping trips.. Hehe...

Myra and I 

She keeps on wearing summer clothes when it was pretty chilly... So Aussiefied! :P

Moving on, I made a lot of friends when I was studying in Melbourne (especially the Indonesians, gotta be in touch with my keturunan... Hehe...), and two of them have become my best friends :)

Pic was taken a few days before I flew back to KL for good...

Most of my friends are already back in their respective countries and working/married/getting hitched/having kids...

But I managed to catch up with a couple of them who doesn't want to leave Melbourne just yet :P:

My girlies: Lyta, Lya and Dhitry (my woman!)

We met immediately for dinner on my 1st day! We've been friends for 6 years already! Heart them! 

With my woman!

They're the funkiest and trendiest sisters I've ever met :)

Even bumped into cute Amy on her bike from work... Me like her basikal!!! 

Even managed to play futsal with the Malays and 1 Indo... :P I had so much fun playing with these girls since I haven't played futsal for months already... I needed the workout since I was eating so much during my trip... 

Muka serious (except for Ashurara...forever happy :P)

Muka-muka candid kononnya...

Lastly, shopping was my favourite activity when I was in Melbie! :)

Though it was Autumn at that time, the stores were pretty much selling summer-ish clothes... Super yay-ness to me!!!

My buys from the trip all consolidated in a pixxie:

Not that over right? I think I shopped wisely this time around ;)

Got myself the new Italy World Cup jersey... Forza Azzurris!!!

And a Mimco red leather bag at 30% off! Woohoo!!! 

Highlights from my shopping trips:

Going crazy over the lingerie sale at Myer, my fave department store! 30% off on everything!!!

My SIL made me buy this pair of adidas by Stella McCartney white shorts! 

Will debut these shorts soon! ;)

This is me = super satisfied + tired after buying everything on my shopping list! ;)

This post concludes my 10-day to Melbourne earlier this month... Will definitely stay for 2 weeks - a month on my next trip to my 'kampung' again!

Should I go to Melbourne in October and run for the Melbourne Marathon since AirAsia's having a fantastic deal at the moment? It's RM744++ for a return ticket... Help me decide pleasseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!