The After Hours Athlete

It is a title that most of us have and most probably aren't even aware of.... *wink*

Why? Because this campaign done by Puma last year was dedicated to the playfulness in after hours sports - such as pool, bowling, playing arcade games... Sports that we didn't really have to train but have one outcome - fun!!!

So, we are all naturally athletes in our own respective ways... :)

You can check out the superfun website here

My fave after hours sport at the moment is pool... Getting better at it now since the last time I played was when back in high school... Hehe... What's yours?

Have a good weekend everyone... To my running gfriends that will be running tomorrow night at Men's Health/Shape Night Run, hope to see you there...

There's a surprise from my friends and I... Will blog about it after tomorrow's race... Hee-heee!!! ;)

The Hill Were Alive @ Seremban Half Marathon...

I was humming to the Sound of Music song when I went through the hills yesterday... :P

I did one mistake that I think every runner should not do a day before a run - Never go for a massage or try anything new!!! When Shanaz and I arrived at our hotel, Royal Bintang Resort & Spa, which was a 10-min or less from the starting point, we decided to pamper ourselves at the spa while waiting for dinner time... And I had a blissful time at the spa since the last time I went for one was in March... But it was also my first time going for a massage a day before a race... Mistake oh mistake...

Shanaz, Azu and I woke up at about 5:20am to get ready and walked with Irwan and his friends to the starting line... We were flagged off at 6:45am... Irwan and I decided to pace with each other again for this run.... Yayyy! :)

My legs felt alright at the first km of the route... But then, out of nowhere, my legs started 'feeling' very heavy... And I have never experienced this before... It was as though I had to force by lifting them for the next 5km or so... I was cursing at myself for being so clever for going for that massage when I could have just gone for a scrub session only... Served me right! :P

And the first hill that we encountered didn't help at all... The 'heaviness' died off after 7km and I was ecstatic and decided to run a lil faster than my usual pace... But I pretty much brisk walked through all of the 3 or 4 hills that we had to go through yesterday... Lazy... Hehe... Note to self: Need to run at hilly route after this... No more brisk walking after this!!!

This time around, both Irwan and I exchanged very few words throughout the entire route, unlike the one at the recent GCAM... :P We both wanted to qualify and get the medal for our categories respectively... Mind you, they were only giving out 30 medals for my category and 150 medals for his category!!!

I was so happy when we were running along with the school kids that were joyfully walking... Because I know that we were at our last 2km of the route... So brisk walked at the hill and decided to sprint and run all the way to the finish line!

This is me (snapped by Aiman) posing towards the finish line... :P 

Both Irwan and I completed the half marathon in 2 hours 10 mins!!! And it's a smashing new PB for me by 11 mins!!! Woot woot!!! :D :D :D

Another achievement in the bag! :) 

The best part was, when I got my placing card, I couldn't believe that I was placed at #14... I was really stoked!!! And I just found out after we left Seremban that they were given cash prizes for the top 20 finishers... But, the cheque is on its way into my piggy bank... :D

It was also nice to see familiar faces at this race... Of course, what is a race without camwhoring moments... ;)

Irwan and I... He completed with a placing of 101st in his category...  

I was so good this time around right with no complains or shrugging... ;P 

The G girls were awesome! ;)

Shanaz completed her half in 2 hours 2 mins... A PB and finished 5th in the category!!! Woot woot!!! 

Azu completed her half in 2 hours 20 mins... A 13-min improvement from her maiden one!!! Awesome!!!

With the yellow boys... Gediks nya! ;P

International marathoners y'all! :P

I was wearing the Melbourne Marathon running jersey, Yim was wearing from his recent marathon in Pattaya, and superfast mama Karen was wearing hers from Tokyo... ;)

The skirters were making waves in Seremban... Woot woot!

With my sub-2 hour idol... Awesome la Izuan! ;) 

It was a fresh route for Shanaz, Azu, Izuan and I since all of us have never tried running for the event before this... And it was an excuse for us to leave KL and to have our first road trip together... ;)

The only thing that I have an issue with in this race which is a common issue here is that the water stations were insufficient... I think they were only about 3 water stations and 3 sponging stations... And the paper cups that they provided were super tiny!!!

Oh, and I was happy and satisfied with the pace that I was running at... An average of 6:14 per km yo!!! Even though my legs are experiencing a new level of pain today, I guess I can try and go faster than the pace and maintain it for a new PB in New York insyaAllah... ;)

The Gs had an awesome time in Seremban! :) 

Next: Shape Night Run this Saturday night... Last run before the holy Ramadhan month... :) 

Celebrity Marathoners :)

I thought of sharing a number of Hollywood celebrities or athletes (non-running specialists) that have completed a marathon respectively today to get my readers inspired and try running for one (for the virgins)... :)

Ryan Reynolds completed the New York Marathon 2008 in awesome time of 3:50:22

Whoa!!! 

I wonder if he's running again this year? I wanna hug those biceps... Mmmmm :P

Megatalk show queen Oprah Winfrey completed the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:29:20

I shall beat your time soon Oprah! :P 

Katie Holmes completed the New York Marathon 2007 in 5:29:58

Awesome Mrs Cruise! :)

Sean Combs aka Diddy completed the New York City Marathon 2003 in 4:14:54

Major WHOAAAA!!! 

Ryan Reynold's ex, Alanis Morissette, completed the NYC Marathon 2009 in 4:28:45

Not bad at all Mrs Jagged Little Pill ;)

Next to her, Mr Fight Clubber Edward Norton, completed the same marathon in 3:48:01

Superb!!!

Shia LaBeouf completed the LA Marathon 2010 in 4:35:31

Not bad Mr Witwicky!

Flea, bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers completed the LA Marathon 2011 in 3:52:49

And this was his first attempt!!! 

Mr Nasty Chef aka Gordon Ramsay completed the London Marathon 2008 in 3:45:41

I think he might have cursed a lot during the marathon to achieve such an awesome timing! :P 

Last but not least:

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Mr Funnyman Will Ferrell completed the Boston Marathon 2006 in 3:56:12

I am pretty sure all of you didn't think that he could even run 5km!!! :P 

(Note: All of the pictures were taken from various sites at Google Images)

Unbelievably amazing right?!!! If they can squeeze in and accomplish a marathon in between their super busy schedules respectively, I am pretty sure that all of you out there can... ;)

Have a happy running weekend to everyone! Oh, and good luck to everyone that will be participating in Rexona Men Adventure Challenge, Seremban Half Marathon, Orange Run and Port Dickson International Triathlon this weekend! I'll be in Seremban y'all to do my last half marathon before the puasa month... :) 

Oh, and it's never to late to run a marathon... Just like this supercool grandma here... :)

She ran her first marathon when she was a cool 86!!!

Taken from Runner's World June 2011 Edition 

A New Addition to the Family ;)

I didn't know what to reward myself from my recent achievement at Gold Coast Airport Marathon...

Until I saw this...

I've been looking all over for you!!! :D

Ms DS Trainer 16 by Asics ;)

By the way, the famous Running Lab store in Singapore (which I've blogged about last year during my Sundown Marathon trip here) has opened its store here in Malaysia!!! Happy happy dancing me!!! :)

The store is located at Ground Floor in Tropicana City Mall... And that's where I got my shoes from... ;) You can check out their Facebook page by clicking here...

Mr Tempo is now complete ;)

So now I have 2 pairs of running shoes dedicated to my marathons (like I'm doing a marathon every other week :P) and LSDs...

Can't wait to train my legs in you, Miss DS 16... ;)

Japan are FIFA Women's World Cup Champions!!!

Pic credits to Getty Images

Taken from here

That's right!!! Woot woot!!! :D

They beat the world's no 1 (and hottest) team, USA 3-1 for their maiden title after a penalty shootout, following a grueling 2-2 draw game...

First time ever for an Asian team to be winning this awesome cup!!! Woohooo!!!

You can read the full article by clicking here at FIFA.com...

And check out the highlights from yesterday's awesome game at Frankfurt:



GO ASIA!!! :D :D :D

A New PB @ Gold Coast Airport Marathon :D

Hello my wonderful readers and friends!!! Did you all miss me? :P

Arrived safely back at home yesterday morning... It was a super-rushy trip for me since I spent 4 days in Gold Coast and 5 days in Melbourne catching up with friends and family over there...

This is my 2nd time running a marathon in Australia... I decided to join the GCAM at the very last minute because my dadaa gave both my sister and I the green light to visit my brother earlier last month, and of course I had to squeeze in a marathon during the break... ;P

With only 3 weeks to train for this, I tried my best to clock in as many kms that I could with the super limited time... Thank God for the 2 running events last month too!

A few days before leaving for Australia, my friend and fellow G member, Irwan and I were talking about the marathon and we decided to run together and pace each other for this since we both wanted a PB... Oh by the way, Irwan won his ticket to the marathon simply by blogging about his marathon experience in London through a blogging contest by Air Asia... You can read about his experience by clicking here...  ;)

Though it was a wishful thinking at that time due to my trainings, I thought that it would be nice to have someone to run with for the entire 42km route... :)

Pre-race day:

Decided to meet up with Irwan at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre since he was having his lunch over there with the Air Asia team...

Picked up my bib and shopped a lil' at the expo... ;)

Race-day:

Only slept about 4 hours the night before... Oh, the anxiety! Hehe... And decided to get ready and took the shuttle bus which was about 100m walk from the apartment to get to the race venue...

A sea of runners with the beautiful background :) 

Half marathoners started their run at 6am... It was a cold morning indeed... I noticed that this event has a lot of Japanese participants from the tour groups and the tents that I saw at the venue... Must be because of the weather and the 'beachy' factor... ;)

Our marathon run started at 7am, so I had about an hour or so to camwhore at the venue with Irwan and friends... ;)

With my pacer who was running as one of the Air Asia team members ;)

Photo credits to Mohan

With Rosey, Irwan and Nyna...

Finally running a FM together ♥

With KK and his famous tights ;)

Photo credits to KK

The first 10km was quite a breeze for the both of us, as we were both running at a 6:20 - 6:30 per km pace... Clocked in at 1:09 on our 10km marker and 2:15 on our 20km marker...  

We even had time to stop and get our pics taken by the Marathon-Photos team and our friends who were cheering as well on our first 20km of the run... :)

Photo credits to Sab + Zaki

Us kicking and alive still ;P

Photo credits to Mohan

Photo credits to Mohan

The weather seemed to be having PMS on that day... The sun started to glare at us between km 22 - 26km (I think)... And then it was cold - hot - chilly - windy and then back to being cold... We were pretty much experiencing four seasons on that day... :P

The real test was after crossing the 30km marker... I started feeling super hungry and my legs were feeling very tired... Served me right for wanting to run a marathon without enough training... :P Thank God for Irwan as he kept pushing and motivating me on our last 12km of the route... Some of his (garang) lines were:
1) At the water station: "2 gulps and then we go!" (Of course I had more than 2 :P)
2) While running: "Stop looking at the watch! Don't bother about PB, just finish the race!" (Garang right? :P)
3) While walking: "30 seconds...20 seconds... 10 seconds... OK let's run now!" (Sometimes I didn't listen to this :P)

The idea of chasing a new PB seemed impossible at this time and all I wanted to do was to cross the finish line... PB or no PB... But, at our 40km marker, a video of Irwan's message on getting a new PB that he recorded at the expo the day before was shown and that really 'kicked' me inside to give all that I've got at the last 2km of the route... And of course, the Jalur Gemilang was proudly carried by both of us respectively towards the finish line... :)

Both Irwan and I made sure that we will always pose for the cameras... 

And by far, this is the marathon where I have so many pics from the official photographers... 

A total of 24 pics! Haha! :P

Both Irwan and I crossed the line with a new PB of 4 hours and 47 mins!!! That's about 6 mins earlier than my previous record at Paris de Marathon... :D :D :D

With the supernice medal + finisher tee :) 

This jap dude was running the marathon carrying and playing the trombone... 

Super MAD respect to him!

With Baba, Irwan and Nyna :)

Baba PB-ed her half marathon here... Awesome! 

And Nyna PB-ed as well for her 4th FM... Well done to you my fellow penyeri! 

Hugs to you both! :)

Both Nyna and I walked hand-in-hand with Rosey at the last 300m of her marathon :)

Rosey was still suffering from her knee injury and just recovered from a flu...

Kudos to you for finishing your 4th FM Rosey! *Hugs*

Met this random jap guy and he decided to sign-up and run his first FM a week before the event and he wore those black loafers to complete it in 5 hours 17 mins!!! Respect!!!

It was definitely a super organised event... Water stations were more than adequately enough (every 1km yo!), the streets belonged to us runners on that day, the volunteers and cheerers were unbelievably supportive and that it was like a party for us at the end of the race with performances and music blaring out of the speakers... And that's what a marathon event should be... :) 

And HUGE thanks to Irwan for being an awesome (but sometimes stern :P) and supportive pacer, my jalan2 partner and my carboloading partner in Gold Coast... Treating you to a meal soon ok? ;)

Congratulations to all of the runners and my friends for completing the marathon!!! :) 

So, that's my last FM before my NYC marathon... Which is less than 4 months away... Going to celebrate and spoil myself back here in KL this week before training again for NYC... Anyone wants to spoil me as well? ;P

And I'm thinking of doing a marathon at each state in Australia now... Sydney or Perth perhaps for next year? ;)

Going Down Under ;)

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go!!! :D

Wait a minute... I'm in another continent already! :p

Left KL earlier this afternoon and have safely arrived in Melbourne...

Will be flying to Gold Coast on Saturday morning from here...

I will update the blog from time to time since I can borrow my look alike brother's lappy here..

Hoping that my legs and body will behave this Sunday insyaAllah... :)

Looking forward to run at Gold Coast, eat, sleep and eat some more for the next 9 days of my trip... :D

Have a good weekend everyone and have fun to those who are running at NTV7's Feel Good Run and Ipoh International Run this Sunday! :)