Borneo International Marathon 2011

I wouldn't say that the Borneo International Marathon 2011 (BIM) was perfect, but I'd describe it as at least among the best I've joined so far. I've heard of regular runners complaining about the value of the goodie bags; or quality of the the finisher T-shirts. I don't look at those when assessing the success of the race.

This year, the BIM has attracted about 2,200 runners in all categories—a far cry from the huge crowds in even small races in West Malaysia. However, for the BIM, that figure translates into an increase of about 50% against last year's participation. I must congratulate Andrew Voon, the Race Director of BIM, who happens to be a good friend of mine. We ran marathons together in Penang last year, and more recently in Hong Kong. It was while we were in Hong Kong that I shared a room with him. I was able to get a glimpse of the kind of commitment required to pull off a successful marathon.

Andrew would tell you that I'd be among the first few people who'd be quick to criticize when the organiser screws up. And of course BIM didn't escape my criticism in the past! I've participated in all of Andrew's races so far, and I can attest that Andrew is improving the BIM all the time!

This year, Andrew managed to enlist a number of cyclists as race marshals on wheels. And I can say that the volunteers did a good job at the many drink stations spread evenly along the entire route. My only small disappointment was the fact that I had to suffer a terrible thirst on my return leg from Tg Aru (about 10.5km to the finish line). By about 4 hours into the race, all the drinks at the Segama drink station were gone. That's the station supporting all the race categories. And because that station was dry by then, I had to endure about 6km of thirst between the drink station near Sutera and the one about 2km before the finish line. Now on any ordinary training day, I can quite easily run 10km without a single drop of water. But when running a race beyond the 30km point, under the scorching sun, 6km is extremely hard to run without any drinks! So this is probably one thing Andrew can look into when organising future BIMs.

Speaking of the scorching sun, I think contrary to popular belief, the BIM is not really an easy race even though its terrain is almost fully flat. The hot sun during the last 10km-12km of the 42km is enough to drain 20km's worth of energy! Even regular marathoners are talking about the famous morning sun of Kota Kinabalu!

When I reached the starting line of the 42km race, the injury in my left foot had not recovered. As a matter of a Plan B, I took ponstan—a painkiller—about an hour before the race. That was the first time I took any painkiller before a race. Even when I ran the Hong Kong Marathon with a back injury in February, I refrained from taking any painkiller. But this time it's a bit different; I reckoned that I wouldn't have lasted the 42km without the painkiller.

During the first 10km or so into the race, my foot felt great. Just a bit of pain, but it was totally bearable. I and my running buddy, Dr Peter, ran side-by-side almost throughout the northern route. But as we were nearing the northern turning point, I realised that we were running somewhat too fast for the targeted 4 hours 30 mins. I reduced my pace a bit, but still keeping Peter in sight. As I reached the turning point, Peter had already started his return leg to the south.

The run was rather pleasant until I reached around 1Borneo on the return leg when I felt a slight pull in my right calf, and then soon after that, I felt a similar pull in my left calf. I looked at my watch and realised that I was still running too fast. I reduced my pace a little further and began to lose sight of Peter in the dark. It was just getting bright when I reached the 21km mark. I looked at my watch again and saw about 1:57, way too fast for a 4:30 target.

By the time I reached the Wisma Perindustrian roundabout, I suddenly merged into the crowd of the 10km racers. But I was still able to run comfortably. I ran all the way to Tg Aru, stopping to drink in almost every drink station along the way. On the way there, I saw some of my friends running the half marathon on their return leg. By then, I have developed cramps in both my thighs; and the pain in my left foot was becoming quite unbearable.

About 300 metres before reaching Tg Aru, I saw Peter on his return leg for the final 10km of the race. And my heart sank because I knew it there and then that I've lost my bet for the second time in a row! Frankly, I didn't have high hopes of beating Peter in this particular race, but losing is never easy on my pride, you see (smile)!

It was more or less about then that I shifted my focus—looking at my watch, I saw that I still had enough time to make the sub-4:30 target. It's gonna be close, but not impossible. The only problem was that the cramps in my legs and the pain in my left foot were beginning to bug me. All I had to do was to hope that my legs could still move. For as long as they could still move, it's a matter of enduring the pain that last 10km. Turning at Tg Aru roundabout and making my way back to the finish line, I was already struggling to endure the pain. By then the morning sun was already burning my exposed neck and arms.

The above photo, courtesy of Tey Eng Tiong (thank you), is just at the turn leading to the Wawasan roundabout.

Before long, I was reduced to the walk-run-walk-run routine. About a thousand steps later I arrived at a drink station just shortly after turning into the coastal highway from Jln Mat Salleh. And another drink station after about 900 steps later, a little after the Sutera Harbour Resort. I grabbed 2 cups of isotonic drink and continued my run. What followed next was the 6km run without any drink. I lost count of how many times I walked within that 6km. I've endured similar heat in past BIMs, but this time I felt it was more serious—I was at the verge of puking.

The last few kilometres was mainly about mental strength. Step by step until I reached the Wisma Perindustrian roundabout for the third time that morning. Turning into Jln Istiadat, I knew that I had about 1.3km to the finish line. Looking at my watch, I had a little over 9 minutes left for the sub-4:30 target. I ran-walked-ran-walked until the last 200 metres when I kept running, limping, and basically dragging my left leg to the finish line. Peter was there when I crossed the finish line just under 4:30 (Will have to wait for the organiser to publish the official results in a couple of days' time). Although I lost my bet to Peter, I'm happy that I at least improved last year's time by about 7 minutes.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find friends to help us take photos for the day. The above was taken by a FB friend who was there shortly after the race. Those are all happy faces. Gosh! my legs don't look too good in tights! (smile) From left to right: Yours truly, Dr Peter, Judy, Dr Liaw and Dr Felice.

Now that the race is over, I'm determined to take a break from running races to allow my legs a bit of time to fully recover. Running will still continue, but at shorter distances. To compensate, I'll be spending more time on cycling and swimming instead. Who knows, maybe I'm still in time for the 120km road race in late July!

For the Love of Nasi Lemak

A few months ago, I posted an article entitled Obesity in Malaysia. In it, I quoted a news article that claims 30% of Malaysians are overweight, and 30% are obese. I went on to discuss my nephew's weight problem and his bad eating habit. Maybe it's me, but whenever I get a chance to meet the boy, I can see him growing sideways all the time. According to my brother, Dennis, a doctor told him that his son is already 14kg overweight now. And the kid is only 10 years old.

Then recently, there's the excitement of monitoring the kind of food they serve in school canteens. Apparently, the authority is trying to curb the problem of obesity among young children which appears to be on the rise. It is thought that if unhealthy foods are removed from the school canteens, that can at least help to a certain extent. I think that's a good idea. In fact, I don't know why no one thought of doing it much earlier than this.

Earlier this year, the Sports Club of my company came up with its own version of The Biggest Loser. Employees who fall within the definition of "overweight" based on this guide are automatically eligible to compete for cash prizes. Briefly, we're using the Japanese definition by referring the to scale of Body Mass Index (BMI). But unlike the TV reality show, we don't hire trainers to help them. So it's entirely up to them to figure out how to lose weight on their own. The weigh-in will be conducted every quarterly, and the person losing the most percentage weight will be declared the winner.

Anyway, coming back to the food found in our school canteens, we now have this hoohahs about the nasi lemak. Although it is obviously not a healthy food, for some curious reasons, some people are not in favour of removing it from the schools' menu. I don't quite understand why it would take a long time to find an alternative snack in place of the nasi lemak. Of course I'd expect a special committee will soon be set up to study the case of the nasi lemak in our schools. We're good with that sort of thing, you see—even nasi lemak requires special investigative research.

However, I'm not saying that I'm against all this. If the nasi lemak issue can only be resolved after an exhaustive "study" by some people who pretend to be "experts" on the matter, then I suppose we will just have to bear with them. But this thing about being overweight is actually not limited to school kids only, you know. Maybe some of the leaders of this nation should also heed the doctor's advice?

Apparently, the Deputy Prime Minister has a special interest in ensuring a healthy young generation in this country. I guess that is logical enough; I suppose a healthy workforce can result in a more productive nation for our future. But I wonder if the Deputy Prime Minister has ever determined what's his body mass index; I bet it'd be interesting to know where on the scale of BMI he is at right now.

Borneo International Marathon—Countdown

This is the final week leading up to the Borneo International Marathon (BIM). This year the race falls on a day that is perfect for the event—it falls on the 1st of May, i.e. Labour Day. And knowing very well the sizzling hot morning sun in KK, it would surely be a very torturous race. The only good thing I can think of is that the following day is a public holiday. So all of us will have an extra rest day after the race.

Incidentally, I was having lunch with Andrew Voon, the Race Director, together with some other friends today. Organising a marathon is no small feat, really. It is just so easy to screw things up like the recent mess in the Energizer Night Race just over a week ago. But having listened to Andrew on his very busy schedule, and the busy days ahead, no doubt, I'm confident that the event is in good hands.

Training has been quite smooth, except for an injury in the arch of my left foot. I think it has something to do with the new adiZero Boston which I bought during the Hong Kong Marathon in February. The adiZero is a good pair of shoes, but somewhat lacking in cushioning. I was, of course, aware of this when I bought the shoes, but I reckoned that I'd trade off the cushion for the lightness of the shoes in the hope of gaining speed. If it's just a matter of half marathon or shorter distances, I think they're just fine. But beyond that distance... well, apparently my left foot couldn't endure it with the adiZero!

I have since gone back to my LunarElite, but I'm afraid it's a bit too late now. So this Sunday, for the very first time, I plan to take pain killers prior to the race. Hopefully, that can help to minimise the torture of the race.

This evening, I ran a slow 5km in Likas. Another 7km run tomorrow; and a final 4km on Saturday morning, and that's all the running for this week before the race on Sunday.

Maybe it's nerves, but I somehow have a bad feeling about this particular race. I remember telling myself that if I could achieved a personal best in the Hong Kong Marathon, then I didn't have to try for another personal best in KK. I would probably wait for another race later this year before attempting another record. But as I get closer to the race, I'm thinking I should at least improve on the 4:36 I set last year. I've made up my mind if I could do a sub 4:30, I'd be happy.

Of course my bet with Dr Peter, my running buddy, is still on. I still want to win, but my priority is to try to at least improve on the 4:36. If I could also beat Peter, that would be the icing on the cake! But I seriously doubt it. Last Sunday, he did a 12km run within an hour fairly easily (I did it in 1:10), so I know I'm in big trouble against him! I'm not throwing in the towel yet; I will try very hard to win, even if it's going to be an uphill task!

In the meantime, I've already started making plans for post-BIM. I recently bought a secondhand road bike from Andrew. I'm venturing into cycling and swimming after the BIM, but I've been told that I'm too late for the Port Dickson Triathlon. However, there will be a KK Cycling Challenge on the same date in KK. So perhaps I can at least join that race.

Obviously, I will be quite hectic in the months ahead. But right now, the focus is fully on this Sunday. All systems go; bring it on!

The Pot & The Kettle

"I congratulate the DAP for bringing its racist politics to Sarawak. Before this all races co-operated well with each other for the good of Sarawak. Now we see clearly that the Chinese community in Sarawak has rejected multi-racialism."

—Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, commenting on the recent election in Sarawak.

For about 22 years, Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the Prime Minister of Malaysia. From the history books, I'm aware of several other people in the driver's seat before him. I'm sure those before and after the good doctor had been contributing, and are contributing in big ways for the good of Malaysia. But I think there is no doubt that, on balance, Dr Mahathir is the best Prime Minister of Malaysia so far.

Dr Mahathir had, and indeed still have, a kind of magical charm when he speaks. Many people who love him can easily be influenced into seeing a square as a circle, and vice versa. When Dr Mahathir speaks, most Malaysians would listen. They may not all agree with him, but they would at least listen to what he has to say. That kind of charm is a very powerful asset to have as a leader.

Although I admire the man, ever so often, I find myself disagreeing with his thoughts; more so when he tries too hard to preach about a policy, whether political or otherwise, which he himself has failed to practise throughout his entire time in office.

He criticizes Democratic Action Party (DAP) for bringing "racist politics to Sarawak". I find it somewhat surprising to read that comment coming from a man who helmed the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) for many, many years. UMNO, by the way, is a party exclusively for Malays, although other bumiputeras of Malaysia can also join.

UMNO, together with its allies including MCA, Gerakan, MIC etc, under the coalition known as Barisan National (BN) has been ruling Malaysia since independence about 5 decades ago. On the other hand, DAP with its allies, PAS and PKR, forming the opposition known as Pakatan Rakyat, has been gaining a bit of grounds in the last general elections; and more recently, the Sarawak election.

Unlike UMNO which can only accept Malays and bumiputeras as its members, DAP can accept practically anyone, though admittedly, I see it more as a Chinese Party rather than a Malay party. Still the fact is that DAP's door is open to all races.

However, even if DAP is only restricted to Chinese membership, at best, Tun Dr Mahathir's comment is a good example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Out-Of-This-World Revelations

I find it quite amazing that the human race is progressing, in terms of acquiring knowledge, at exponential rates in recent years. Just a few decades ago, decent computers were the size of an entire room; mobile phones were only fictional items; we did not know very much about the universe beyond Pluto.

These days, powerful computers are very small and portable; people can surf the net via their mobile phones; and scientists are able to arrive at a learned estimate of the number of planets in our galaxy. Furthermore, they've estimated that there are 500 million planets in our galaxy alone which are potentially habitable. Amazing when you come to think of the scale of progress we've achieved within just the last 50 years!

If we can keep it going for the next 50 years—and I can't see why not—imagine how much more knowledge we would've gained by then. Although it's rather too ambitious, it's not impossible to send manned spacecrafts out to at least the planets within our own solar system. Who knows, maybe we would've progressed so far in genetic science by then to the extent that we're able to expand lifespan to a few hundred years for each human; which in turn can make space travel possible. Either that or we're able to invent very fast spacecrafts to cut down travelling time. In fact, it's entirely possible that geneticists could play around with the human DNA for a bit so that they could, for example, make the brains of politicians grow in the skull instead of the rectum. The way I see it, the possibilities are limitless!

But of course not all of us will progress so quickly. As I have said before, not all of us are born geniuses. Some of us are still preoccupied with our little world under the coconut shell; our visions are limited to the size of that shell. These creatures invest their time analysing seemingly petty matters, and then arrive at unfathomable conclusions. They see elements of Christianity in the poco-poco and deem the dance haram to the Muslims. Maybe they, too, can get some help from the geneticists I speak of in the preceding paragraph, I don't know.

JJ Loves Books

Elsewhere in this blog, I've mentioned that I'm not particularly concerned about wanting my JJ to be the best student in her school; not even in her class. I'm not saying that I won't be pleased—of course I would! Being the top student in school does not guarantee success in life. I will admit, however, that it does help to open more doors.

In Malaysia, Chinese kids have to do much more than just doing well in school to be successful in life. The doors I speak of don't open so easily for the non-bumiputeras. So we usually have to construct our own doors. As long as JJ tries her best in her studies, I can accept whatever's the outcome. After all, we are not all geniuses. So I will try my best to construct the doors for my JJ.

Mia is perhaps—how shall I say this—obsessed with JJ's performance in school. Each time there's an exam coming up, Mia would go to the extent of taking leave from work for a few days to revise together with JJ. In fact, I dare say if it's allowed by the school, Mia would be sitting in the class together with JJ during the exam too!

As you can probably guess, I have never been very much involved in JJ's school affairs. Mia does almost everything as far as that is concerned. That has been the case since JJ started going to school a couple of years ago. Each time after JJ's exams, Mia would be eagerly waiting for the results. And whenever JJ got a poor result, Mia would suffer something akin to a bullet wound!

It is quite normal that the schools these days would require the parents or guardians to come personally to collect the report cards. Supposedly, the teachers would then have the opportunity to discuss strengths and weaknesses, and possible means of improving the kids.

In the past, Mia would be among the first few parents getting in line at the school to collect JJ's report card. But last Saturday, she had to work and was therefore unable to make the window of between 7:30am and 10:00am at the school. So in the end daddy had to appear as the replacement together with JJ.

I had been having late nights throughout the week, so I woke up at almost 8:00am that morning. And by the time JJ was ready, it was fast approaching 8:30am. We then drove out to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. There, I decided to update Mia on the progress that morning. As expected, Mia was surprised that we weren't already at the school queuing up for the report card.

It was a little past 9:00am by the time I reached JJ's school. JJ led me up the stairs to her classroom where her teacher was busy discussing with a couple who came to collect their kid's report card. There were also a few other couples waiting for their turns. We got into the queue, and I suddenly had memories of my schooling days—the time when the most important things in life were memorising the periodic tables; and things like F = ma.

Anyway, while we were waiting for our turn, JJ started to discuss with daddy. She said mom made a promise to her. I said is that so? Dad's not aware of this promise, but I guess JJ's gonna tell dad anyway, right?

Well, what's the promise all about then? According to JJ, mom said if JJ can achieve top 5 in class, mom would buy her a computer! Maybe it was just my imagination, but I fancy that my ears were beginning to blow steam. This kind of promises, if ever they materialise in the end, would be where I come in for my part. Of course I'm not in the business of printing money; and I most certainly don't have so much cash to throw away like playing Monopoly.

I turned to JJ and quite calmly asked her why on earth would she need a computer for? And I almost fainted when she said so that she can have her own Facebook. Facebook? The kid is not even 9 years old yet, and she's talking about Face-freakin'-book!

Unfortunately, JJ did keep her end of the bargain. So now mommy—or rather, daddy—is stuck with having to keep our end of the bargain. Well, OK, I guess I can invest in a desktop for JJ, but she must be out of her mind if she thinks I'm gonna allow the Facebook nonsense!

JJ Playing Doctor

The Borneo International Marathon will be on the 1st of May, which is just a few weeks from now. For those running the full course, i.e. 42km race, it is becoming increasingly important not to miss training for the remaining weeks leading up to the event. It may be OK to miss a run or two during the weekdays, but not the long run over the weekends. However, I try my best to keep to the 3 weekday runs and 1 long weekend runs as much as I can.

Unfortunately, this lately the weather hasn't been very conducive for marathon training—it's always raining in the evenings. So one would need to have a Plan B for the training. In my case, if it's raining heavily, I would force myself to the gym and do my 10km runs on the treadmill. But if it's just a light drizzle, I would still go to the track to run. I prefer the track because running on the treadmill is just too boring.

Last week, there was a massive earthquake in Japan which triggered a horrible tsunami; and hard upon that, the nation is now struggling to prevent a nuclear catastrophe. A nuclear power plant's cooling system had been crippled in the earthquake, thus resulting in overheating. Leakages had been reported, and spikes in radioactive levels were detected in the atmosphere. Conflicting reports suggest that the radioactive levels may or may not be dangerous to humans. But to be safe, residents from the surrounding areas have been evacuated by the hundreds of thousands.

Thousands of miles away in the "Land Below The Wind", a number of idiots decided to compose a hoax via text messages for the fun of it. I haven't seen the message myself, but a fair number of my friends have received it. I was told that we are to stay indoors, especially when it's raining, because the raindrops from the sky can capture the radioactive particles in the atmosphere, thus bringing them down to the ground.

Well, yesterday evening, although it was cloudy, it was not raining. So after two days running on a treadmill, I was very happy to run on the track again. Little did I know that I would get a lecture from JJ when I arrived home after the run.

"Dad, did you run in the rain?", she asked me impatiently.

"Well, it wasn't raining this evening, Jay, perhaps just a few drops from the light drizzle," I replied, adding, "but that's hardly anything. I was all wet from my sweat rather than the raindrops."

"But, dad, you're not supposed to run in the rain!", suddenly she became excited. "The rain is poisonous and will make all your hair drop off your head, and won't grow back for a very, very long time to come!"

"Oh is that so, Jay?", I said. I knew there was a special reason why those girls were overdoing it when they did their stretching—I thought they raised their arms a tad too high, thus exposing their armpits to the sky.

I turned to JJ and asked, "Well, how did you know all this, Jay?"

She explained that Aunty Jackie told mommy about the poisonous rain based on the text message which was forwarded from Uncle Charles. And Uncle Charles in turn received that forwarded text message from another friend.

It reminded me of the time when, many years ago, Mia, upon the recommendation from a doctor, took the birth control pills, and her mom tried very hard to play doctor by saying that those pills were poisonous and would "spoil her body" somehow. She went on to recommend the "withdrawal method" of birth control. But no, thankfully, she did not demonstrate the method to us. I would probably have lost my appetite for weeks if she did.

Anyway, I asked JJ the same question I told Mia to ask her mom. I said, "Is Aunty Jackie a doctor?"

She frown and said, "Well, no, she's not. But she received that SMS from Uncle Charles."

I said, "OK, is Uncle Charles a doctor?"

"Ummm, no, he's not... but..."