Saturday, September 18, 2010

Long Deserved Kick Start

I did bring back both my trail and road running shoes when going back hometown during Raya last week. And I did have some plans for running during the holidays. So, for the sake of sharing how did I spend the last eight days, shall best be summarized chronologically.

1st day Raya, Friday
The plan for the day was a NO RUN day! Both my girls flew back to hometown and I did a solo 500km drive from KL to KB after Friday prayer. I was glad the traffic was very smooth all the way.

I took the opportunity to stop by Ian's house for Raya, and had a chance for a personal tour at his private studio. Awesome.

2nd day Raya, Saturday
I managed to spoil my running plan with the excuse that I was still tired from the previous day driving. Furthermore, who's gonna finish up the delicious mutton briyani which my mother cooked, right? Tak baik membazir, kan?

3rd day Raya, Sunday
I forgot what was the excuse, but I didn't run on this day either. I then made a plan to run to PCB (Pantai Cahaya Bulan), which is 10km away from my house. A very ambitious plan that I set for the next day. Konon-konon nak revenge la ni.

4th day Raya, Monday
Finally, I managed to go to PCB. Not by running though, but with the car. Yes, I drove. I brought my wife and daughter to the beach in the evening to enjoy the sea breeze. The thought of running 20km scared me, somehow. No kidding.

5th day Raya, Tuesday
I lost the battle with the blanket, again. What can I say?

6th day Raya, Wednesday
Okay, since it's the day I should drive back to KL, I shouldn't get too crazy and hit the tarmac in the morning, should I? So, as nice as I unloaded my trail and road running shoes from the car when I first arrived hometown, I re-loaded them back into the car trunk with the same manner. They never see any sunshine.

7th day Raya, Thursday
I re-used the “tired from driving” excuse to justify to Syah why I couldn't be at Nuang for the trail run I initially planned to join. So, the day was made full use for laundry-ing and some housekeeping. I took the 11pm bus service back to JB for work.

8th day Raya, Friday
I had to work as I do not have much annual leave left to spend. Although my wife has recommended for me to take a medical leave, I acted like a workaholic and decided to turn up for work. Arrived JB at 3.30am, continued my sleep a little bit and by 8.30am, after finishing downloading all the 250 work emails, I felt like going to a psychiatrist to get a medical leave (but I didn't). After work, I took the 6pm bus to get back to KL to spend the weekend.

After a long lost battle with no one else other than my own self during the recent holidays, I made another plan for a run today morning. Other than the reason to prepare for the upcoming Newton 25km hilly run, I felt I lack the motivation to beat the comfy bed. I almost lost it again, seriously. But I thought I better just put on my running shoes and grab my camera along. This time, I also took the mini tripod.

I forgot how nice it feels to be able to wake up and run in the morning.

I went out pretty late, roughly at 7.30am. If I'm not mistaken, my last longest run before this was during PD triathlon, which was back in July. So, I didn't set any big ambition today. I just wanted to go out and run, and sweat, and take some photos (so that I have something to help decorate this blog).

It was a slow run, baby steps alike. I didn't dare to push hard on a come-back attempt like this. An hour on the foot should be good enough. And if I can do anything further, bonus.

Taking it slow and steady. The shady morning weather was such a bless.

Everything felt good on the first half an hour of the run (obviously, because I was running very slowly). It was only my second time running on this route nearby my in-law's place. The last time I ran here was probably last year. There's basically no other runners, and I don't think the route is shared among cyclists either. Some areas are pretty secluded and there were a few stray dogs scattered around here and there at few locations.

As I hit one hour, fatigue started to creep in slowly. After a quick stop at gas station for refueling, I cut short my plan. Instead of pursuing into another housing area for another hour of run supposedly, I diverted my route back to base. Total running time was slightly over 1.5 hours, and I can't be happier than that, at this moment. Hopefully there will be some reserve energy for another long run on Sunday.

I hope this is going to be a new long-deserved kick-start.

17 comments:

kookykash said...

hmm…you have to turn back to get the tripod and camera. double mileage.

EnAikAY said...

U r smart... very smart.
I never thought of that. Hihi..

P/s: dah hafal ke doa halau anjing utk LSD besok?

Anonymous said...

Nik... bukan hafal aje... she will bring her own pitbull... Ü

ShahM said...

Bro..
Hope its not late to wish u Slmt Hari Raya..
Kire 0-0 yer.

zulhassan said...

ada ke doa halau hanjing....?

Deo said...

Welcome back Nik! This morning I also encountered 5 dogs in Shah Alam running towards me. Damn it! I pointed my finger to the dogs and read (quite loudly) the surah Al-Fil (Alam Tarokai...) some people said it works. :-)

Diket said...

Lawa la gambar. Kenapa tak lari atas rail keretapi? Sure good for calves workout jumping between the slippers :)

ian yusof said...

hehe ... there's sure loads of hardwork to snap the last few photos huh .... back & forth several times tuuhhh .... :) nice pics!

IJAM said...

ni mcm mana tangkap gambar sendiri ni? tak paham....

Yimster said...

And I doubt it was just a single take for each of the photo. Triple or even quadruple the mileage. Welcome back Nik.

kookykash said...

Ijam: Dia guna tripod lah.

nice meeting u this morning, nik. BTW, I actually had some choc chips for you. Tough to hold the fort. The cookies keep disappearing after it comes out from the oven.

IJAM said...

kash : sungguh kreatif bawa tripod sambil berlari...

nik : mesti banyak kali take tu...
self timer 10 second dah pegi jauh lari tu...fuh...power tu...!!

EnAikAY said...

Rais,
U r da man!
P/s: I just heard, persatuan anjing2 liar sekitar TTDI dah bermesyuarat dan bersetuju utk berhijrah ke Kutub Selatan sebab semalam ada 4 ekor ahli persatuan mereka dah kena attack dgn bola golf.

Yo Shah Majid,
Mana menghilang? Lama tak nampak.
Takkan dah retire kot?
Slamat Hari Raya to u too.

Zul,
Lu kena pergi berguru dgn Rais. Dia terer.

Azrul aka Deo,
U need Rais to run with u. Start making appointments now! :)

EnAikAY said...

Shakhir,
Wa lupa nak beli tiket keretapi daa.
Plus, i don't want to be on the front page with the news "sebuah keretapi tiga gerabak telah tergelincir lantas terbalik setelah pemandunya terkejut melihat seorang lelaki berbaju merah yg disangkanya hantu pocong terloncat2 di atas landasan".

Ian,
Thanks bro. I also did the 'tunduk-bangun' workout to set up the camera on the mini tripod. Good for the back muscles. :)

Yim,
I can never match your hardcore photoshooting-running ability. Anda layak dianugerahkan award abang misai paling tegar berlari. Hihihi.
Yes, i'm back in action!

Kash,
Nice to see u too.
I don't care, i want my choc Raya cookies!!! :)

Ijam,
Aku punya self timer 12secs, lagi jauh boleh pegi... hihi.

ziff71 said...

kat mana lari tu Bro? Nampak dlm gambar cam menarik tu, berbukit-bukit kehijauan :D

EnAikAY said...

Ziff,
Location: rahsia. Hihihi.
Tapi masih dalam Malaysia la.

ShahM said...

Aku ada bro.
Tgh launch time nih. usha awek jepon smbil bpuasa 6..;P
Retire xgak..bln oct ada 2events.

May u enjoy ur coming Newton bro. Berdesup la bile dh ber-unta..hehe