Orange Run 2007

What? The Orange Run

Where? Piazza, the Curve, Mutiara Damansara, PJ

When? 15 April 2007 (Sunday); 7:40am

Who? Organised by BHPetrol

How long? 9 km (9 km my foot...it's definitely longer than 10km)

The Orange Run made its debut in the local road race scene last year. It is one of the few runs that runners need not fork out a single cent to participate. The venue is also unique, held at the “Piazza” at the Curve.

Last Years's Orange Run Report in March Archive

I got sunshine....at the start point.

Where are these people rushing to? Is it the IKEA sale?? Heheh!

The run took us to the shopping malls - The Curve, Cineleisure, Ikano Power Centre, Ikea and Tesco before leading us to the housing area in Damansara Mutiara and then finished at the Curve.

Traffic was poorly control at certain stretches as you can see from the picture -we risked being flattened by the moving trailer and other vehicles.

I climbed up the overhead bridge to take the above picture. The route features many gradual slopes.

The Orange Run banner.

The half way mark. But there was no water station to be seen. Yikes!

Oh! There it is! The water station could have been better. The two people serving ORANGE flavoured (it wouldn't be The Orange Run if they served other flavour! Heheh!)100plus could hardly cope with the hordes of on-coming runners.

Beautiful housing area that I cannot afford. Sniff!

People who are not aware of the concept of running.

I was extremely annoyed by these jokers on wheelis. For goodness sake, it is a RUN. Run on your feet, not whizzed by like suicidal maniacs on wheels. What nuisance!

One more km to go but it seemed like I have been running more than 9km....

I instantly salivated like a Pavlov dog when I passed by this Nasi Lemak stall. All these running sure make me hungry!

The end is near! That is the Cineleisure buidling, housing one of the best cineplexes in Malaysia.

Me - Swaggering to the finish line. Notice the queue n the right side -that is the queue for the Goodies bag!!!

I love the t-shirt worn by the employees of BHP. This year, we didn’t get any event T-shirt. So, to make do, I have taken some photo of the tees, which came with some funny captions. I wish I had one...

Translation from Malay: Just taking a stroll...

DNF? No way!

I love this one best....LOL!

Each of the finishers is entitled for a goodies bag.

What’s in the goodies bag?

Well, the bags are the goodies.

1 x BHP Orange tote bag

1 x BHP small bag

1 x Santa Barbara Polo And Racquet Club Backpack. (Yes..It’s Orange!)

Thank you for the people at BHP for being so generous. (Insert applause here). For zero registration fees, we get an enjoyable fun run, free breakfast and goodies to bring home. Viva le Orange!

Running With The Police Force

What? Larian Mesra Polis KL 2007 (Insert Police siren here)

Where? Dataran Kawad, Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontinjen, Jalan Hang Tuah, KL.

Why? Celebrating 200 years Anniversary of the Malaysian Royal Police Force

When? 7:00am (as printed on form but actual start time was 7:30am after the aerobic session)

Distance? 10km

Aerobic warm-up in progress. Hands up! You're now under arrest.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning, compared to last weekend's wet and windy affair in PD. I was happy to put on my running shoes. I reported at the Dataran Kawad (marching field?) of the Police Headquarter. A few minutes before the blast off, all of us were ushered to the start point on Jalan Hang Tuah, opposite the Pudu Jail (see below picture)

Unlike other runs, we were joined by hundreds of Pulapol (Pusat Latihan Polis or Police Training Centre) cadets thoughout the state, identified with their crew cuts and blue track bottoms. I think they were "forced" to run this event and not taking running seriously. Some of them were seen monkeying around and chatting up the girls. I hope this is not a reflection of how our future police force going to be. Heheh!

Prison break? Nah...heheh!

The run covered Jalan Hang Tuah, Jalan Imbi, Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Ampang, Jalan P-Ramlee, Jalan Pinang, Jalan Kia Peng, Jalan Perak, Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan Bukit Bintang and back to the Police Headquarter at Jalan Tuah. Basically, we were running through the busiest part of the KL city centre.

A Chinese Temple at Jalan Imbi.

Practising running with handcuff? Not sure what were these two women cadets were trying to do. (Insert Hmmmmm here).

Thanks to road closures (insert cussing from motorists heheh!) and excellent traffic control from the traffic police (insert sounds of whistle blowing here), the run was actually very enjoyable. I was loving every minute of it - running with my favourite podrunner mixes and enjoying the beautiful KL cityscapes.

At Jalan Ampang - seen here is a famous landmark - the Tabung Haji (Haj Fund). Notice the unique geometrical shape which said to resemble a traditional coin box.

We were approaching the famous twin gigantic silver corn cobs... The KLCC. Heheh! Before that we had to pass the futuristic looking KLCC Mosque.

Smile! You're on runwitme's camera. Collecting my purple ribbon at KLCC checkpoint.

Water station at KLCC. There was water supply when I reach here. Notice the big cups and the big cops..Heheh!

Twin erections. The pride of our nation. ;)

Suria KLCC. One of my favourite places to meet friends and window shop.

Two young police cadets. Woit! Run faster! How to catch thieves like that slow, ah?

More KLCC shots. I simply can't get enough of this magnificent piece of architectural wonder.

At Jalan P. Ramlee. Trying out my arty farty shot. Heheh! Notice the reflection of KL Tower on the AMBank building? Cool, eh?

Look! What that on that building?

Wow! That's a car up there. I wonder who was driving the Mini. Mr.Bean perhaps? Heheh!

Running pass the Jalan Bukit Bintang stretch, famous for its massage parlours and foot reflexology centres. Very tempted to stop for some foot massage.

Swaggering back to the Finish line. Where are all the other runners?

What's in the goodies bag?

1 x Larian Mesra T-shirt (100% Cotton; Cougar brand)

1 x Charge Up Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water 500ml

1 x Sparkling H-Two-O drink 330ml

1 x Apollo Strawberry Creamed Waffle

1 x Bahulu cake (Fish shape)

Overall, I enjoy this run very much. It offers a chance to run in the busy parts of the city centre without the fear of being ended up as a new coat of tar on the road. A very welcome change from the usual rounds at Dataran Merdeka. Bravo to our Police Force!

Port Dickson Half Marathon 2007

God must have a great sense of humour on this April Fool's Day. He sent pouring rain, strong wind and flooded roads to the PD Half Marathon runners, all the way, non-stop, from start to finish. And then, with a twist of fate, it was sunshine and blue sky right after the run was over. Heheh!

What? Port Dickson Half Marathon 2007

When? 1 April 2007 (Sunday); 7:00am

Where? Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan

Distance? 11km (DNS – Did Not Start)

(Insert Milli Vanilli hit song – Blame It On The Rain here…Heheh!)

We checked into Sunshine Bay Apartment the evening before the run. It was sunny and hot. Blue sky and everything nice. Kids were playing at the beach. Couples were frolicking in the sea. Who would have thought a storm was brewing in the distance….(Insert thunder rumbling here).

As you can see here, the view from our apartment was splendid. We did stay at the highest floor (re: Penthouse).

The day was kinda relaxing. Watching people from the balcony while reading my most favourite magazine in the whole wide world. I could get used to this.

The race kit collection was held at the beautiful Admiral Marina and Leisure Club. Apart from the racekit collection counters, there were few promo counters – Penang Bridge Marathon, Powerbar, Brook shoes (very good discount on running shoes) etc.

We arrived at the starting point after a short drive from our rented apartment (about 10 minutes). Cheesy dance music was blaring from the speaker. There was a guy who supposedly the aerobic instructor tried very hard to coax the crowd to join him for a warm up session. Too bad for him, hardly ahandful moved their butts. I could feel tiny drops of rain falling. Not a good sign. “Please do not rain”, I prayed.

Unfortunately, my prayer went unanswered. The sky started to pour around 7:00am. It poured and poured (cats, dogs, mice and I think you could insert some donkeys into the expression too). I was running for shelter while the half marathoners were set off despite the rain. (Insert applause to the organiser for starting on time).

I went off to take shelter under Rac’s umbrella. Some runners found very innovative ways to protect themselves from the rain.

As the rain got heavier, I decided not to go ahead with the run. I cannot risk of catching pneumonia with so much things to do at work. Anyway, the finisher medals are limited for the 11km category, so the motivation factor was washed away completely with the rain (pun intended). Heheh!.

So, Rac and I headed to the car and drove to the half marathon turning point to take some pictures and to cheer on our fellow runners. The rain had no sign of stopping. (Insert cats, dogs, mice and more donkeys here)

What started as a half marathon had turned out to be a big wet t-shirt competition. You know how wet white T-shirt cling to the skin, right? It was rather fun watching people in their wet t-shirts running their butts off in the rain. Too bad my camera was wet and not able to capture the spirit of the competition. Heheh!

My camera went kaput here. The aperture cannot close properly due to wetness. (Insert TNS here!)

Anyway, most of the runners I talked to enjoyed the run despite the rain, the flood and the strong wind. Some even risked to be blown away by the strong wind. You know how skinny a runner can get, right? There were dangers too especially from the traffic and flooded potholes.

No one complained about the lack of water station. Who would since they can get abundant supply of all natural “sky juice” by just opening their mouth while running?

What’s in The Goodies Bag?

1 x PD Half Marathon cotton T-shirt

1 x Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2007 Notepad

1 x VMY 2007 Pen

1 x VMY 2007 Key chain

1 x VMY 2007 beaded necklace. (I was told it was meant for all the half marathoners only, but I managed to ahem... "charmed" the girls at the collection counter to give me one)

1 x RM100 Brooks Voucher (For selected shoes only)

Overall, I enjoyed the trip to Port Dickson very much despite not running. Thank you to Rac, Ron, Toh, Loh and Fook for making the trip to PD a pleasurable one. Let's do it next year. I will get ready with a water-proof camera next time. (Insert wink here!)