What? KRI 12km Run
Where? Bandar Seri Botani, Ipoh, Perak.
When? 30 Nov 2008, Sunday.
How Long? 12.8km
Ipoh KRI run is one of the best running experiences in Malaysia. Organised by Ipoh Roadrunners Club. This is my third year running a KRI run. Check out my previous year's race reports here. I have nothing but praises for the organisers. :)
We started the journey to Ipoh the day before, arriving just on time for dinner at Ong Kee, the famous Chicken Rice with Bean Sprout.
Yummy! The chicken is juicy and the taugeh or bean sprouts were sweet and crunchy. Did a little shopping at Yee Thye for some Ipoh famous biscuits and "Sat Keh Mah" cakes.
Since there were 1 of us, Ronnie booked us a 3 rooms apartment in the Hill City Hotel. The hotel is just a stone’s throw away from the Limau Tambun stalls and the cave temples Ipoh is famous for.
The Goodies Bag. I love the goodies bag as it came with a lots of local Ipoh famous stuff like ground nuts and fragrant biscuits (heong pieang). The only thing that they didn't stuff inside the goodie bag is the pomelo or the limau tambun. :)
The start point was a few minutes drive away from our hotel. It is a newly developed township called Seri Botani. I shall dub this run as "The Grand Tour of Bandar Seri Botani by foot". See the following pics and you will understand why I say so. ;)
I always love sunrise and sunset skies. The dramatic colours. The breath taking horizon. Snap away....
Glorious sunrise welcome all KRI runners. The start was a bit haphazard where runners were all over the place. See for yourselves.
The serenity of the morning was broken by the pitter patter of runners' foot steps.
There were many "U-turns" in the run. Caught many of my friends in camera while the were running on the opposite side of the road.
Beware of bullshit!
The route took us around Bandar Seri Botani - developed by Taiko Properties.
New road...
Under Construction...
5 km mark....The lady in orange is Running Mom.
Big big house....
Lush greens.
Tranquil Lake.
Lotus pond.
I noticed the improvement that they made on the signage. It used to read "GO SLOW - Race in Progress". I sent the last year's picture to THE STAR newspapers and it was published in the MIND Your English column. You simply do not "GO SLOW" in a race :).
Click here for last year's pic.
One more km to go....This runner ran with his camera too; stopped many times and asked fellow runners to take pictures of him. I wonder where he post his pictures...Does he has a blog like mine? Hmmmm....
Swaggering towards the finish line. Hohum!
The Good – PERSONALIZED BIB with PRINTED NAME!!!!, new route, less traffic, good goodies bag, attractive lucky draw, yummy breakfast, plenty of water.
The Bad – None. Maybe the start can be improved a little.
The Ugly – None.
KRI 12km is one of the better organized races in Malaysia. No doubt everyone keeps on returning to this run year after year. According to KRI, most of the runners were from out of town, mainly from Kuala Lumpur. Ipoh people too lazy to wake up on a Sunday morning? :p
Three colours check point bands - Traffic Light Red, yellow and green. :D
Breakfast coupons.
Delicious Tau Fu Fa. So smooth, not too sweet with a hint of ginger. People say it is good for complextion. Smooth like Tau Fu Fah! LOL!
Chicken Curry Pau - Soft and delicious.
Can't say the same with the kaya pau. The kaya paste was too thick and icky! Tastes not so good.
This is a little review for Nike Lunar Racer
I wore my new Lunar Racer for the race. Nike Lunar Racer is the “thinner and lighter” brother of Lunar Trainer. Nike combines the technology of Flywire (strength) and Lunarlitefoam (lightweight) in Lunar Racer. The pair feels unbelievably light and speedy.
My shoes were kinda tight at first (I chose the same size as my Lunar Trainer) but they loosened up a bit later into comfortable strides. They felt light and in fact it felt as if I was wearing no shoes at all. The feeling was kinda like the Nike Free I owned a few years ago but definetely much lighter.
The cushioning is superior for their weights. Nike Lunar definitely live up to the claim that they would "turn road into foam". I didn’t get any problems with blister or chaffing wearing them for the 12.8 K run. Overall, I give Lunar Racer two thumbs up.
My Lunar Racers were put into test with various terrains on the KRI route. It came out a flyingwired-ly coloured. Pun intended. Heheh!
Lunar Racer on rocky road.
Lunar Racer on sandy road.
Lunar Racer on stone slabs in the park.
Lunar Racer on the tarmac road.
After the run, I went back to the apartment and took a quick shower. I got no time to waste and walked to the three cave temples near the hotel namely Lin Seng Tong, Nam Thean Tong and Sam Poh Tong.
Took many pictures here but lazy to post them up here. This is not a photography blog :P
The handsome Ipoh KRI Road Race Finisher Medal.
We had to rush back to KL after checking out from the hotel to prepare for Ronnie See's baby full moon party in the same evening.
Meet Adrian See. Congrats to Ronnie & Rachel for the new bundle of joy. This will definitely boost the level of cuteness in my blog. (Insert Goo Goo Ga Ga talk here). :D
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