Just to inspire you guys especially former college swimmers. If I can do it you guys also can do.
a) how not to ....
b) How to celebrate your birthday.
Dear all,
A few of us OP's ran the KL marathon, last sunday 30th April. Albeit some only did the half marathon of 21km while others foolishly endured the knee shattering pain of the full monty distance of 42.2KM.
My story is in 2 parts:
Part 1) How not to train:
NEVER come into the marathon without adequate training ie: mileage under your belt. Just because you have done it 8 times before doesnt mean that it wont hurt. No matter how many you have done them before, a marathon is a marathon. It hurts...Though you may be an Ironman, healthy virile young man, a new bachelor, or a permanent bachelor at heart with strong cardiovascular prowess, you have to train for it. The minimum required is being able to run one and a half hours continuously at a steady pace (meaning boleh borak borak sambil berlari). Also good if you had done a semi long run 3 to 4 weeks before the actual marathon. It is advised to do a run half to three quarters of the race distance in that long run.
NEVER plan the next day following the marathon with a heavy schedule thinking that you will have recovered well enough. I know of this young doctor fool who actually thought that he can do long surgery the next day...He went to RMC in the 80's 431549. Stupid fella.
NEVER run like the Kenyans and hope to win the USD 100000 prize money. If you are born in KL and have a name like Kam Kasturie or even Lim ee Van (though Stupes look like an African), you just dont do it. The worst thing is to realise at the 21st km that the Kenyans have already crossed the finish line and you're already having knee pain and a fat old uncle is overtaking you!
NEVER enter the marathon just because the guy you bullied in college is doing it. Though its a marathon, there are many other shorter distances to try your hand in first. Joejo attempted the 21km run in preparation for the next big jump. Bandit will attest that though he bullied the 431549 fella years back, maybe he just cant do the 'same things' anymore.
NEVER attempt your first full marathon at age 56......unless you are OP Chief Kutu. At his age, he managed to beat me and kam. Very well done sir! Also by the way, cikgu adnan also did the full marathon. By the time i was driving home, he was at the 2km to go mark and it was already 7 hours on the clock. Did he quit and walked home after being disqualified? No bloody way! He was among the last people on the road but yet he was still smiling away and running slowly but surely to the finish line. I just hope they give him the finisher's medal. Definitely my hero.
NEVER leave your sense of humour at home and take it too seriously. Its just a race in the end. Learn to enjoy it. Enjoy the sights and sounds.(and smoke of KL). Dont forget to cheer on the oldsters passing you by. Dont forget to feast your eyes on the skimpies too..
I think that's a lot of NEVER / how not to advices for this race. Perhaps when I win like the Kenyans will I write on "how to"
Part 2) How to celebrate your birthday.
Most of us celebrate by getting pissed out and doing silly meaningless things like going out for a date with that chick that you fancy and dishing out large sum of money in the hope for some fun filled activities that women call 'romantic moments' and men call 'sex'. But to a newly single 34 year old handsome and virile Kam, all that he spent was RM 30 for early bird entry fee for the marathon.
In the end, it was the same like going on a heavy date.
He got sweaty...
He got dirty...
His knees hurt...
He was smiling...
He's going to brag about it....
He wants more....
And he has a medal to show too!
Happy birthday Kam !
Ps:
Full monty: Ala, kam, OP stupes, OP chief kutu, KOP's Steve, karoline.
Half monty: Bandit, Joejo, Boot, azmar.
Warm regards
Doc Ala usat.
Dear Friends,Last week me, Kam and Bean ran the KL towerthon. It was a different kind of race for us three. Neither of us have ever ran up that many number of steps in our lives!
Bean practiced by walking up and down his condo, Kam tak train langsung while i tried to use the stairs more often in the hospital. It didnt work.
The race started at the bottom of the KL tower, near the entrance. It was raining with light drizzling which made the atmosphere gloom. We met a few KOP's like bacin, dicky etc..Also was greeted by our young OP, OP Chan who is a cadet at UPNM. Chan is training for the upcoming Ironman 2008 Langkawi.
Anyway, we were released in batches of 200 runners at a time. I think it was a wise move as the sheer number of runners in the narrow, staircase would probably caused some havoc. As I managed to register early for myself and Kam, we were in the first group. Bean was next, flagged off 15minutes later. Because of this I finally was able to reach the finish line ahead of Bean. First time ever, in ANY race....this I claim habis habis to him even before the race. It did not matter though as we were all given a timing chip attached to the shoe which monitors your start and end time, thus calculating your speed, timings etc.. All you had to do was pass trough a mat on the ground which had sensors.
The initial run up the road was hard due to the immediate steepness and also the high humidity due to the drizzle. We passed through the scenic part of KL tower adjacent to Bukit Nenas reserve forest. My parents came along as usual but they didn't enter the race as I thought that it might be too difficult for them. They went strolling along the forest reserve instead. It wasn't long, just a KM of lung busting action.
We entered the tower complex to the cheers of onlookers. Incidentally there was this middle aged guy attempting to climb the tower 50 times non stop as part of his effort to enter Malaysia book of records. He ultimately stopped at 30. I stopped at 1. As we passed the row of elevators which they claim can travel at 22km/hour, we were led to the staircase. Initial impression was quite impressed with the size of it. I was more or less expecting it to be a small stinky stairwell. It wasn't. It was wide enough for 3 person to walk side by side, it was well lit and huge ventilation fans were placed at regular intervals. I think at every 6 or 8 flights of stairs there were exits to some maintenance block which was used to store furniture and supplies. At each point there were staff manning them just in case you were knocked out and needed to be sent down. There were also regular medical crew along the way with adequate water stations along the way.
As we were already wet from the rain and despite the adequate ventilation, we were all dripping wet. I think the rest of the runners would be running on wet stairs later on.
It was fun running (walking...) up the stairs. People were stopping at the side, some nauseated , some with cramps. Runners cheering ourselves on. What was lacking in my mind was the girls..(the female runners were flagged of later) After what seems like a few storeys high, lactic acid was building in my skinny thighs and I was walking gingerly upwards occasionally overtaking not fit looking young men crawling their way up. On the way I saw a few of these young fellows chickening out at the exit. Cant imagine the pain they were going trough.
Well after 2058 steps up the tower we finally emerged at Level T3 which was a level above the visitor's observatory deck. What a relief! We were greeted by flashing cameras, plenty of water and told to march down to the Observation deck. What a view! I have been on the tower twice before but never been on it during heavy cloud cover. We were literary in the clouds. Cant see much of KL. Compound with all the sweaty bodies walking around, it was a misty and smelly atmosphere. We went down (faster this time) via the elevators, 20 of us sardined together. 3 African guys were talking loudly in front of us. Me and Kam were postulating what they were saying to each other. We came to this theorem.
Guy 1: If only I ate more rice and carbo last nite, I could have made it below 15 minutes!
Guy 2: Hmm How shall we spend our prize money tonight?
Guy 3 : Look at all these Malaysians with us...pathetic bastards. Pay money to race and don't win a thing....Ha ha ha...Thanks Kam and bean and ala....ha ha ha..
By then the elevator door opened and I was brought back to my senses. Took my medal and went looking for my parents. Definitely my dad will do it next year.
PS : Kam 24 mins
Bean 23 mins
Me: 28 minutes.
The Kenyans: 15 minutes.........ha ha ha..
I wish all our Chinese batch mate and friends a happy new year. Apparently the year of the rat will bring more races to the tired tiger!
Gong xi fa cai to low tuck loong, Bandit, acun, his brother amir, stupes and all the other guys..
Doc Ala usat.
near Semenyih dam... Bandit is showing off his new bike
Upiq, Steve & Ala break sekejap kat Gohtong Jaya
Tgh refuel
Dear all, 
trough the hilly sections of Bukit Tunku, an adequate enough midpoint watering station, carnival atmosphered finishing area complete with music and ample food and drinks. The only minus point that I could offer was probably the race fee of RM 30 for a short 10km was a bit too much I would think. That was the reason for me not registering in the first place. However, I managed to get a race number from Ishal who pulled out because of flu. Bean, Puzi, my dad ran as "pirates". My mother and niece Nana did half way.
As Kam said, it was my 10th consecutive racing weekend. It was also Zabil's birthday that day. Me, bean and some of our KOP's were at his place the night before and after a night of drinking wine and making merry, Zabil didnt show up at the race afterall! As I didnt have much of the 'jus anggur' the night before, I was able to run the next day!
guy collapsing up the hill of Persiaran Sultan Salahudin (In front of wisma Pertanian). He's okay, just a bit of heatstroke. What surprised me pleasantly the most was seeing Joejo (OP Zulkhibri) at the finish line! Apparently he ran the Klang race the week before. Well done Jo! The last time I talked to him was when his child was sick, what a pleasant surprise.
7.30 am at the starting line. Look at these people. Don't cha wish to be there too?
Our Mr. Macho Cikgu Adnan. He's 65 this year but look at those arms, they are bigger then mine.
With Chief Kutus OP Fadhil. Not bad at all for 56 years old guy. He looks no different compare to us in our 30's
We were surprised to see Joejo was there! He's still as fast as before. Wish there were more of our batchmates in the picture. 
Dah lewat sangat ni, kita follow 10k punye route lah, belok kiri jom?!
Mana boleh geng, kita pakai nombor kategori "A", kena la ikut kanan
We're dashing thru the crowd, tapi nombor kena kasi tanggal la
Hi everyone, last week i ran the Adidas King of the road half marathon race with Kam. It all started at 0530hrs when I received an SMS from my mum that she and my dad werent racing that day as my dad had a sudden attack of upper respiratory track infection. Both my parents are keen runners/ walkers now and they have been joining me in various running events around
After the RV with Kam and as usual for him to use my car as his storage space (hel
met etc ), we made our way to the start line. It was awesome. There must have been five thousand people there! The whole NPE was closed to traffic and people was wandering around the highway like it was a pasar malam. The 21km race was flagged off first at 0645 by Samy Vellu. Im sure he wasn't too pleased that toll collection was halted from 0500 till 1000hrs that day. Me and Kam started at the back (as usual). No use being in front and getting pushed around and worse still being later overtaken by a 60 year old auntie! I didnt know how i was going to run the race. I did the Seremban Half marathon 2 weeks earlier in good time (below 2 hours) and just last week raced in UM Duathlon. Should I take it easy this time and take it as a training event? After 2 km I realised that I was not in good form and repeating a sub 2 hour half marathon in 2 weeks was just wasnt on. In fact, my aching skinny thighs told me to shut up and just jog along. I pretended to Kam that I was taking it easy and was going to pace him. "You go ahead
As of any races, you see people of all make , sizes and shapes. You find the auntie who sprints along passing you and make you look like a pussy...cat. Then you find the serious runners with the ultra gay running vest with slogans like Impossible is Nothing, Running For life! and all the other fancy crap. Not to mention the ultra short running shorts! Just like Maradona in 1986. Then you can see the amateurs, girlfriend just dumped by the bum boyfriend trying to rebound, the cancer survivor who wants to prove they still have it, the triathlete with their body hugging suits, the skimpies with their sexy attire ( Im not complaining) and the fat ass struggling along ( think of Bandit...)
We ran (jog) along at a good pace of 10k /hr. Caught up by Azmar who started late but managed to catch up at 4k. I must say that Azmar has really improved a lot on his running. This especially when his first race was the Subang 10 km last year.
We cheered people along especially familiar faces, while some are just any strangers we meet on the road. There was this Mat salleh we met at 6km who was jovially enjoying himself, especially when he is 65 years old and managing to be in the middle of the pack. By the 8km mark the initial crowd of runners had been separated by their own different paces. Its only now you can tell who was actually running and who was struggling.
The half marathon route took us west along the NPE from Sunway pyramid towards KL. We would be running on the highway and would make a u turn at Kuchai lama interchange. En route we would be passing Kg Medan and Tungku on our right as the run ascends on to the elevated portions of the highway. Basically we were running on air...3 storeys above!. We would later pass jalan Gasing interchange on the left (and Bukit Gasing and parts of PJ). It would be straight on passing Kg Kerinchi and Angkasapuri on the left. At the Bangsar toll interchange, we would take the right fork towards Kuchai lama and Taman Desa. The U turn was somewhere along this point.(km 10.5). As me and Kam was a
pproaching km 8, the front runners, 4 tall lanky africans were on their way back on the other side of the highway! Crap.By the time we reached half way, they would probably have finished!
Anyway, for the majority of people, running a race is not about racing. Its just between you and the road and accomplishing your task. Its about the satisfaction of crossing the finish line. It about the finisher's medal. Its the free T shirt and the goody bag. Its about impressing your work mates at work. Its about a way of life. I sound a bit gay dont I? Well racing makes you a bit mushy at times.
As we were making our way to the half way point, runners from the opposite side(returning) was cheering us slow coaches along. Specially to this one old chinese guy called Bruce running ahead of us whom everyone seems to know. Looks like you dont have to be fast to be a star I reckoned to Kam. Out of a sudden we heard "Come on doc! you can do it" from the other side of the road. Some of them were my friends but some people I dont even know. It seems like our faces have been a regular feature now at races that people tend to recognise you....despite not being the star athlete.
We crossed Azmar again. Followed by Ariff. Then abang kamal; the ironman passed along. Followed by another friend Jaja and then I got the shocker of my life..There was OP Fadhil of batch kutu...56 years old and roughly one km ahead of me and Kam. "Alamak bro...boleh kejar ke ni?" We arrogantly thought we could, but somehow it didnt happen. The U turn was a relief and after reloading ourselves with fluid and some food we were heading back, this time the mood was upbeat. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves cheering on the slower runners yet to reach the half way point and chatting up with other fellow slowbies.
The last few people making up the rear was really struggling, yet you could see the determination written in their faces. We even stopped to cheer on our friend Mei Shen who was just reaching the 9 km mark. She happens to be a good swimmer and strong cyclist, but running was just not embedded in her genetic make up. People say she runs like a duck...well you need to see for yourself. As usual, she was smiling all the way. The last guy....I mean really last, (you can tell as there was a police car being driven slowly behind him. With an ambulance, just in case!) was this slightly overweight and well-nourished young chinese kid. (Politically correct way of
saying fat). He was struggling and I really hoped that he would make it. We cheered him on. No reply, nor any facial reaction. That's usually bad news. Never mind, we continue on. We managed to chat up with a lot of people along the way. We also talked about old times, mostly RMC stories and what our mates are up to now. We 'exercised' our eyes at the skimpies slowing along. We patted the uncles and aunties that were slowing down by this stage.
At km 19 or so we met with this young chinese kid with a bright red t shirt with the words "Powered by Jesus" boldly on his back. Probably some church group or something. "Perhaps I could use some of the power?" I asked the kid. We held hands for a bit (hoping for the power to transfer) and we cheered him on. I've seen him in other races before and he seems like a good kid. If only mat gan and Mat Kong was there, it would have been serene.
We crossed the finishing line at 2hr 9min. A good run.
Recent races:
Upcoming :
Hope you guys, OP and KOP's (kawan) have fun and dont forget to get your buttocks moving!
Doc
Budin de Macho & OP Stupe Ironman-to-be
Ala sengih sbb bnyk aweks cun
Budin & Ala, running uphill
Doctor Hisyam in action.... well done bro, u saved another life today
At the starting point..
Resting at CP 1
Anyway, here's a photo of Kam and Bandit with Amir(adik Acun) and Shazly Khan during the rest area after Bukit Pelanduk!
The route headed to Lumbuk Tedung. It was a casuat ride, so we completed only 30% of the distance. Highest point of the ride.. with Budin 'wanted' to go further, and Bandit 'agreed' but Kam and Hakim had enough.. (or was it the other way around?)
We rode down to Isi Rimba where we had our Family Day.. had breakfast and berendam.. check out the man-breast.. wooohooooo... Photo says it all..
Photo credits: Kam
