Bidor Half Marathon 2009

What? Bidor Half Marathon

Where? Bidor, Perak, Malaysia.

When? 26 April 2009; 7:00am

Who? Organised by Bidor Runners Sports & Recreational Club

How Far? 10km

We arrived in Bidor town about 3:30pm on Saturday. Bidor (美罗)is a small about one hour and a half drive from Kuala Lumpur. Amelia, Yew Ting and I joined Mohan and Hazel from Singapore for this trip. It was our first "eat and run" trip together!

Check out hotel! See Foo Hotel in Bidor. Can you see the START/ FINISH gantry from the window of our room? That was how near out hotel to the start point!

Took this while the ladies went shopping at the supermarket opposite the hotel.

Doraemon! This ought to add some cuteness to this blog. LOL!

Frankly speaking there are nothing much to do in Bidor in this trip except eat, run and eat!

After resting for a while in the hotel, we went to look for the famous herbal duck noodle at Pun Chun Restaurant!

Yummy! I love the soupy Chinese herbal duck drumstick noodle. The portion was generous. I like the soup. Not too bitter or medicinal. The duck meat was so tender that it loosen with a slight poke of the chopstick.

Slurp! Slurp! I found many blogs by runners who ran the Bidor Half Marathon posted about this famous dish! Slurp!

Then, we walk over to the Ta Thong Biscuit shop and watch them make the chicken biscuit and mooncakes in front of our eyes. Freshly baked!

Amelia was attracted to the cute mooncakes in the shapes of little animals.

Fancy some Tricerotops?

Snake and mice, anyone?

How about some bugs?

I found those mooncakes are too cute to be eaten. LOL!

We also check out some fruit stall along the main road.

Petai (stink bean)....are sold outside the stores.

Guava - seedless, sweet and full with Vitamin C goodness.

2009 marked the 5th edition of Bidor Half Marathon. From its humble beginning of only 200 participants in 2003 to last year's 1200 runners, Bidor Half Marathon has become one of the well received half marathons in the country.

According to Mr. Leng, the race director, a total of 1,600 runners registered for this year's run.

Check out the medals over the years....(I don't own these...took some snap shots of the displayed medals at Tukang Jahit Mexico, where the race kit collection was).

2003

2004

2006

2008 - I've got one of these Eagle thingy. Heheh!

The size has grown bigger. The design also got better!

Dinner by the roadside stall. Some simple dish and rice. We kept bumping into Uncle Sonny and his entourage who joined us at the next table for a drink and later we met them again at the Guardian Pharmacy.

My breakfast. Milo and pussy bun. LOL!

I took part in the 10km event only. Same finisher medal. LOL!

The route was rather enjoyable to run except for some stinky shit smell around the plantation area. I didn't notice the awful smell last year. Probably they had just fertilized the oil palms. Heheh!

Check out the Bidor Half Marathon video here. Had to "press on my brakes" many many times to capture our friends running at the opposite side. For those who didn't appear in the vid...you were way too FAST and FURIOUS for my camera. :)

ENJOY!

Note: Background music - Oakenfold's "Ready, Steady, Go" Korean Version from the Collateral Soundtrack. I love this song!

Feel free to embed this video in your blog. Don't forget to link back. :)

Breakfast is served! I love Nasi Lemak. Yummy! My only complain is the Tau Foo Fah was reserved for the 21km runners only! Hey! Not fair! :P...

2009 Medal. Ain't it gorgeous? But how come two of the runners (first and second from right) running wearing underwear in the outside? Superrunnermen? LOL!

What's in our goodies bag?

Acknowledgments: Thank you to Mohan for his makan treats and being our driver. Traveling runner friends - Amelia, Yew Ting and Hazel who made this trip fun and makan-licious! :)

Run Your Race Running Clinic

What? Back to Basics - Running Clinic for Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009.

Where? Lake Garden, Kuala Lumpur.

When? 19 April 2009, 8:00am

Who? Speaker - Elite Runner, Mark Williams

This is the first of a series of running clinics organised for the Standard Chartered KL marathon. Basically, it covered all aspects from training, diet and nutrition to injuries and safety tips.

Actually I kinda missed the circuit runs that FTAAA used to do for KLIM. Because it beats the hey out of training alone for the marathon.

But anyway, new organiser, new events!

This morning speaker was Mark Williams - a Briton, family man and elite runner. He used to run professionally for Hong Kong and had won some roadraces in New Zealand and in KL too!

The way he speaks kinda remind me of Paul Moss (minus the sarcasms and nasty comments) of One In The Million reality show. LOL!

The session went very well and very informative, especially to new runners who are preparing for their first KL Marathon!

I particularly like the demo of stretching excercises. The clinic was rounded up with a Q&A session after a run around the Lake Garden.

Yin was seen busy with her phone. I thought she was sms-ing but she sworn that she was taking notes. LOL!

I posted some of the useful tips from the clinic on stretching before running. Do check out the video. Comments are welcome.

Note: If you have heard carefully, there was elevator music playing in the background when Mark was speaking. I didn't put those sleep-inducing background music in the video. LOL! It was actually played by the music people at the clinic throughout the session. (Insert yawn here!).

They better play upbeat, get-your-spirit-high kinda music for the next event, otherwise everyone will fall asleep! BTW, I decided to shake it up with a song by Metro Station at the end. My favorite running song at the moment! :)

Happy training! Shake shake shake shake shake it!

For more info about the next running clinic and Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009, please visit

http://www.kl-marathon.com/

Putrajaya Night Run in Preparation for Sundown Marathon

What? Putrajaya Night Run

Where? Putrajaya, Malaysia.

When? 18 April 2009 9pm

How Long? Very Long..LOL!

I was there to support my friends (Amelia, Mohan, Frank etc) who will be running the night time marathon - Sundown in Singapore on May 31. Also met Carboman who came to do some night shoot with his new Canon SLR. :)

I did Sundown last year and I am not going back any soon. Night running is not for me. Beauty sleep is more important! Heheh!

Anyway, I will be heading north on the same weekend for the Penang KOMTAR Tower Run.

To all my runner friends who will be going to Sundown, GOOD NIGHT!..erm, I mean GOOD LUCK! :)

Enjoy the video!

Check out my last year's Sundown Marathon race report here.... http://runwitme.blogspot.com/2008/06/sundown-marathon-2008_04.html

A Date With Raymond Lam 林峯

What? A Date With PowerRoot Premium Gold Alicafe Ambassador

Where? Sunway Pyramid Mall

When? 18 April 2009, 2:00pm

Who? Raymond Lam Fung, a HK TVB Chinese Series actor.

Whoa..check out the crowd. Mainly of screaming teenage girls and also aunties...LOL!

I think by PowerRoot made a good decision to introduce "Tongkat Ali" and "Kacip Fatimah" enhanced coffee to the Chinese market by signing up Raymond Lam. Great marketing strategy I must say.

I wonder if the "Tongkat Ali" worked for Raymond Lam. ;)

Work or not work, I bet he is laughing his way to the bank. :)

Want an autograph? The catch was to buy two packs of PowerRoot products and get a poster for autograph! Products were seen flying off the shelves.

Too many autographs, Raymond? Pout! Pout! LOL!

Personally, I don't really like PowerRoot products. The smell is too strong. Not sure what they put in the coffee that makes your piss smell like coffee too. LOL!

I'm a die-hard Nescafe drinker anyway. :)

Smile!

Drink more PowerRoot coffee. Instant power for stay longer and stronger in bed..I mean, autograph signing session. :)

Check out the video below.

You can see in the video that he was sitting right directly under the hot sun. Although the event was held indoor, Raymond get plenty of Malaysian sunshine from the sun roof at the Orange Concourse. But that didn't stop him from smiling.

What an ambassador! :)

David Archuleta - Live In Malaysia

What? David Archuleta - Live in Malaysia

Where? Sunway Lagoon Amphitheater

When? April 12, 2009 (Satuday)

It was my first time watching an American Idol contestant in flesh. Chris Daughtry was in Malaysia last year but we have to buy a friggin' phone just to get entry to the show. So, I didn't get to rock with Daughtry. I missed Elliot Yamin show too in "Live and Loud".

I got an entry pass to the Archuleta showcase by purchasing his eponymous debut CD. Not too bad. It was still far more affordable than buying a phone!

David Archuleta is simply cute, a little bashful but he loves to jump! Hop he went around the stage! Hop! Hop! Hop! :)

He opened his show with "A Little Too Not Over You", followed by "Touch My Hand", "Don't Let Go" and "Crush".

Anyway, I didn't get many good pictures of him as I was standing like miles away from the stage. Moreover, I was blocked by a huge mist spraying fan. It was the best spot I could find as the theater was already packed to the brim when I arrived around 1pm.

The show was scheduled to start at 3pm. There were people who came at 8am!

The smile that melts thousands of Malaysian girls! :)

David Archuleta came back after Crush to perform stripped down versions of A Thousand Miles (originally by Vanessa Carlton) and Angel (originally by Robbie Williams). Just him and the piano. Brilliant!

I was struggling with the white balance setting of my camera. How come David Archuleta looked so YELLOW! Stupid yellow spotlight! (Insert curses to the light technician ala Christian Bale! LOL!)

Then it dawned upon me.....

Damn! They turned David Archuleta into these Yellow Coverage Fellows! LOL! Well, it was a DiGi event after all.....

He will follow you....(You wish! LOL!)

Finally a video presentation from the show. Check out the "warm-up" sing along before the show, a cute little girl singing "Crush" and a full length David's cover of Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles.

Orange Run 2009

What? Orange Run 2009

Where? The Curve, Mutiara Damansara

When? April 12, 2009; 7:30am

Who? Organised by BH Petrol

How far? 11km

The Orange Run has been a RUNaway success (ehem...pun intended) since it made its debut 4 years ago in the local running scene. It's FREE but filled with goodies - Orange Reclycle Bag, mineral water, nasi lemak, teh tarik, BHP vouchers (not for Petrol though...) and many food and drinks for sampling.

Like they say,the best things in life are FREE. I did enjoy the run very much.

I still hear people complained about the so-called "shrinking" goodies bag. My guess is that they were comparing this year's goodies with the stuff that we got in 2007 - which include a Santa Barbara back pack. (Check out 2007 goodies bag in the report below)....

Gee...runners, please be thankful that we still have the Orange Run. Furthermore, it was FREE of charge. I hear rumours that other local runs (with paid registration) might not see the light of days during these so called economic downturn. So, count your blessings! Not your the goodies bag content! :P

I took some videos along the route. As you can see here, the response was incredibly good. I think they have to find a bigger area next year!

It was an overall well organised event. In my opinion, improvements could be done in two areas:-

1) Water station, Volunteers were having difficulties in coping with the surge of runners. As seen in the video, runners had to pour their own isotonic drinks at the first table! LOL!

2) Traffic control - at the road leading to Tropicana. Cars were driving so close to the runners from behind. Might pose serious hazards.

Enjoy the video!

Check out my previous year race reports here.

2008 - I didn't blog about this event. Oops!

2007 - http://runwitme.blogspot.com/2007/04/orange-run-2007.html

2006 - http://runwitme.blogspot.com/2006/03/big-o.html

Shinjuku Incident - Jackie Chan & Daniel Wu Meet The Fans

What? Jackie Chan & Daniel Wu Meet The Fans Session

Where? Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

When? 31 March 2009 (Tuesday)

Why? Promotion for SHINJUKU INCIDENT movie, Opening on April 2 Nationwide.

I braved the Federal Highway traffic and went home to get my camera when I found out about this event from the Net. It was too good to let go. Superstar Jackie Chan and heartthrob, Daniel Wu were in town to promote their latest movie – Shinjuku Incident.

I arrived at Pavilion around 6:30pm, where there was a crowd slowly building up. The weather was fantastic.

While waiting for the appearance of the superstars, I used the beautiful emcee as target practice. Turned out ok, right?

How about this one?

It started to pour when they were playing some primitive (re:brainless) marketing game on stage. Then suddenly, they announced the arrival of Jackie and Daniel. I guess the rain had forced the organizer to speed up the program; otherwise we would be bored silly by more marketing games.

I had to bring out my umbrella. One hand holding the umbrella and the other my camera. It was tough taking pictures like this. Moreover, the other fans were also pushing and shoving trying to get a better glimpse of their idols.

Jackie was very upbeat despite the gloomy sky. He said the dragon must have brought the rain as a joke. Initially, Daniel was a bit stiff and chilly like the rain. Maybe he was trying to maintain his cool.

Suddenly, I heard loud glass breaking sound followed by “mini blackout” on stage. I think some of the spotlight had busted due to the rain.

Jackie was very concerned and asked if everyone was ok. How sweet! Jackie is undeniable the most pleasant superstar I have ever encountered. Not that I have seen many. LOL!

Jackie and Daniel’s presence of stage was less than 15 minutes total. Well, I hope the organizer learn from their mistake and never organized such promo event outdoor. The rain stopped almost immediately after the stars went down the stage. Hmmm.....Somebody didn't shower izzit? LOL!

I only managed to get these "crap-tastic” pictures of Daniel Wu which I think “better than nothing” to be published.

Eeyer...Why his face liddat one?

Charming or not?

That's Jackie Chan's hand, holding the mic.

A close-up shot. Sorry a bit blur. Blame it to the rain!

Smile! (Insert fainting females fans here)

My pictures of Jackie Chan didn’t pass my strict quality control for publishing. He moved around too much, hence his image was mostly a blur whoosh! Heheh! Not bad for a 55 years old man, eh?

For those of you who missed this wet wet wet event, here’s a YouTube presentation from me. You will see Daniel Wu professes his love for Malaysia. (Insert screaming girls here).

Enjoy!

Read about my previous encounter with Jackie Chan here.

http://runwitme.blogspot.com/2007/09/meet-dragon.html

Earth Hour 2009 - Walk of Hope

What? Walk of Hope (Earth Hour)

Where? CapSquare, Jalan Ampang, KL.

When? 28 March 2009, 6:00pm (Saturday)

How Long? A couple of km around the blocks.

Who? Organised by CapSquare

Why? In conjunction of EARTH HOUR 2009

In supporting WWF in its global climate change initiative, Earth Hour, I have signed up for this run immediately when I got to know about it from the Net.

Earth Hour 2009 was a initiative involved individuals, businesses, governments and communities whereby they were invited to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8.30pm to show their support for action on climate change.

In KL itself there were several major landmarks that supported Earth Hour. KL Tower (below) was one of them.

I arrived at CapSquare around 3:30pm after lunch with Marianne at SPCA. The sky was gloomy. I feared that I would rain.

It did while I was in the queue to collect my Earth Hour T-Shirt and recycle bag for the Walk of Hope. (Insert scream here!)

Designer bag by Melinda Looi. It contained a pack of Tetrapack drink, some discount vouchers and slimming vouchers. Hrrrmph! As if I need slimming. LOL!

Think Recycle! Didn't win the game though.

Since I have a couple of hours to kill, I went around CapSquare, checking out the Earth Hour bazaars, design/ art exhibitions and then some....

See Charm All Stars Cheerleaders action-packed performance here.

I also caught Malaysian Idol, Jaclyn Victor and 8TV's Rina Omar practising "Here in my Home" for Earh Hour. They seemed to be having lots of fun on stage!

There was a marching band with bagpipes and drums! Check out their little dance routine in their skirts....erm, I mean kilts. :)

And I saw this clueless broadcaster! :) She thought that there was a candlelight run (larian berlilin). Didn't she saw the HUGE banner with "WALK of HOPE" on it at the start point? :P

The finalists for One in a Million made an appearance at the Earth Hour. I'm rooting for the girl with a big voice - Esther. :)

Local alternative rock band - Loudspeaker, singing "Walau" their first single. "Walau" is nice. They boys butchered my one of my favourite songs I'll Be, originally by Edward McCain later. I had to stop recording halway...:P

At around 7:30pm, the Walk for Hope participants were set off in front of CapSquare. Joining us were local TV personalities like Belinda, Prem etc.

Check out the video I made. They initially targetted 500 walkers for the event but thousands turned up. We took the roads of KL while cheering and waving to the crowd. It was AWESOME!!!

The song, Ever Wondered by Altered Frequency for the video above was lifted from a CD called Earth Hour featuring some local indie bands. Thank you to Kevin and Amelia for getting this CD for me. They were giving away this CD free at Sunway Pyramid - another mall that participated in Earth Hour Malaysia.

And finally the moment we were waiting for.......

Before the coundown, Joey G interviewed Yasmin Ahmad, a talented filmmaker and also the ambassador for Earth Hour Malaysia. She brought along her actors from her recent movie - Talentime - Mahesh Jugal Kishore and Hon KaHoe. The fearless, Sharifah Amani (Sepet, Gubra, Muallaf) also present to make a stand for the environment.

We countdown-ed to 8:30pm with Joey G. The light at Kl Tower was switched off to mak the start of Earth Hour. The absence of lights were replaced by the screams and cheers from the people at CapSquare. We were treated to an all girls Drum performance.

I almost fell flat on the floor after I tripped on the uneven pavement while walking around looking for a good spot to video the fire-eating stunts. Hmmmmm....Thank God, they switched the light off for an hour only.

I left CapSquare during the tap dancing show by Jojo Struys. Not that I didn't enjoy the show but I had to get home to rest and prepare for an outing on the next day. Sorry Jojo!

It was an unforgettable event. I was really proud to be part of the Earth Hour. Together, we can make a difference for out world.

I hope they have the "Larian Berlilin" next year.(Insert ROTFLOL here!)

Shanghai Night

What? PACM's Annual Dinner

When? 21 March 2009

Where? Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur

Who? Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia

Why? To Celebrate PACM's 25th Anniversary

I don't feel much write up is necessary for this post. Let YouTube show you what a fun night we had celebrating PACM 25th Anniversary. Enjoy!

The Dances

Note: The dancers were not Pacesetters members. The MC kept warning the audience not to drop their chopsticks while eating and watching the show at the same time. I could understand why. :)

The Song

What is Shanghai Night without the theme song from classic TVB Series, The Bund by Frances Yip? A sharp dressed Jacky took the stage with his very own rendition of that famous song. You can see some snippets of the rehearsal too, featuring Phyllis.

Wendy's daughther, Jessie then took the stage belting a karaoke favourite, Top of The World and a Chinese duet with a chubby dude. Sorry, didn't get his name. :)

Ong Duan Tun performed two songs - a Malay number called Cinta Hampa (not in the video) and a Japanese one. I don't know the title of the Japanese number but it matches Ong's vibrato voice.

The Cake

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Pacesetters Athletic Club, Malaysia. For two and a half decades, the club has been actively promoting healthy lifestyle through running in Malaysia. Watch the cake cutting and candle blowing ceremony. The cake was later distributed to all members present at the dinner. It was simply delicious!

The Best Dressed Contestants

The Best Dressed Contestants with a Gender Twist

Watch this...you will never see them do this in a road race! Heheh!

The Winner

From 10 contestants to 4. The four were regrouped as two couples. The pairing was like a match made in heaven. LOL!

Watch as they danced their way into the audiences’ hearts. Check out their reactions when they heard the music the moment they were about to ball room dance.

Who are the winners? Watch it till the end to find out. :)

The Longest Breath

Do you think runners have powerful lungs? Five of our veteran runners took the test...with hilarious results. Watch out for Bruce. Pardon the camera shake. I was rolling on the floor laughing!

Hope you enjoyed the videos. :)

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY PACESETTERS ATHLETIC CLUB MALAYSIA!

Note: Hi-resolution presentation and original files are available for a nominal fee. Please send me an email request. Thank you.