Genting Highlands Night Run #3

The descent proves to be chilling as well...I ran with both arms wrapped around the body.

Beautiful Pagoda Arch..

Note how steep the descend is...

Third time. The problem is I've got bored of Genting. But some of the same group of people still want to organize it for the last time before Ramadhan, so that pulled me in. But this time, the group was larger. Ngae informed us, his friend working at the Resort had prepared for us, some hot beverages when we reach the top.

This time, as usual, I've strapped on the light pair of Saucony Type A2, anticipating a quick run up.

For the last 4km, the cold damp wind proved to be bone chilling. And as I near the last 1km, met with Mac on the way down...wondered where he was heading to.

I managed to clock 2:22 on the way up, more than my 2nd attempt. Then I went straight to coffee bean to get a hot cup of coffee, which is one I really need to keep warm. I soon found out that they had a Sammi Cheng concert up there.

Met with the rest of the gang at Starbucks. Elaine, Dino, Ngae were already there. I opted to run down just after 1am, because I did't want to reach home too late.

And after 1:55, I reached Genting Sempah again. Total time was 4:18.

A few other fellows also did ran down: Alex, Elaine, Zac (hungary guy), Jacq and Nurashid.

And no, no more Genting after this. Maybe next year.

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I am planning a 200km run 11th Oct, achievable by running 10 loops bkt aman - sri hartamas. Only one loop around Petronas station. Estimated time is 1.5 days. Is it doable? I am not sure, but will give it a try.

Genting Highlands Night Run #2

Descending from Genting Highlands...

Where's my bed?

Before the run, I had an invitation break fast at Hotel Impiana near KLCC. The food was pretty good and as usual, different varieties of food were laid out. While the rest of the diners plunged into a variety of almost everything, I took a few bites here and there. Didn't want to stuffed up with food before going for another run up Genting Highlands....

These days...any middle age working adult person would start the conversation about the political uncertainty in Malaysia. Frankly, I've had it with politics. I skipped political news and blogs, and only glanced throught the headlines. The details were not important... Sometimes, I had wished they would talk about something else...like running :)

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9:30 pm sharp and a bunch of runners were already there. Notably Steve, Alex, Julie, Dino, Kam, Ishal, Jaclyn, and a few other new faces. This time, I laced up the Saucony Type A2. I want to run as fast as possible to set a PB.

We set off around 10pm. For the first few km, I quickly find a suitable fast pace into the lead, and kept on to it. One caucasion guy (zach..), was tailing around 50-100 meters for the first 3-4km or so. Pretty impressive. This time, less lights were lighting up the road. And fewer cars as well. At times, we were running in total darkness, saved for the faint white road line. Soon I lose him.

Downhill section was after 5km mark, so I pushed it here. Managed to reach the 10km mark in 0:55:11s. As I reached the last 9km mark, I was wondering if I could do sub 2 hour, which required a pace of 6min/km. However as the road starts to elevate higher, I knew I was just hanging on to a slow pace. The last few km was tough, as knees radiated pain and minor cramps. I kept reminding myself not to stop and keep on running. Finally I reached the top at 2:13:58. Although far from sub 2, somehow I was pretty satisfied with it.

Then I had iced blended coffee at Coffee Bean... and some dates. Some of its' patrons were wondering the attire I was in. The weird part ought to be the red LED blinking light at the back...

After around 15minutes...I slowly walked back to Starbucks. No one was there, and it was freezing cold. So I started the descent. Now..the motivation is to get home and sleep. I was missing bed terribly. But I got to run another 20km to get back to Genting Sempah. As usual, it was pretty alrite saved for some uphill after 11km.

But it wasn't the pain in the legs that struck me the most while descending. It was the tranquility and clear night sky. Stars vividly showed their brilliance, and there was hardly any wind. Reminds me if this was the Night of Power (Lailat-ul-Qadr). But then I should be doing some prayers then, and not running in the midst of hills.

Reached back the car, drove to MacD, and had sahur. Woked up dazed with millions of endorphins in the blood stream....the most legal way to experiencing getting stoned.

Genting Highlands Night Run

Azmar, Alex, Shazly, upiq, Kai Yen, Sean Chang...before the run

Ironman Robocop Stupe

At goh tong jaya

At the top!

The planned run starts from Genting Sempah and up to the top of Genting Highlands. Distance up is roughly 20km.

So a bunch of us, mostly runners, a few on bikes gathered at McD at around 9:30. The fellows were Stupe, Shazly, Upiq, Ariff, Julie, Ishal, AJ and some others I have met for the first time. Some have done it. Some the first time.

Stupe and I started just before 10pm, because the plan was, to run down as well later. Stupe was dressed up more like a SEAL member with all the gadgets like GPS, headlamps, and a back pack with stuff inside, which is almost 3kg!. I wore a pouch bag, some dates, money, and holding a small water bottle, and also wore the red back light lamp.

So the first 5 km is all the way gradient at around 5-10, the most 15 degrees. Since running at night is pretty dangerous, I paced with stupe. Amazingly, this is his first run after desaru, as he have to wait for his foot blisters to heal.

We reached Goh Tong jaya at around 1 hour later. Then as we hit the last 9km, this is where it gets a bit harder. I have to leave Stupe behind at the last 7km, then I started consistently running non stop to the top. After doing Kinabalu, Genting looks so tame. So I convinced myself not to walk, but just keep on running.

I crossed the arch at 2:47, pretty ok time, but could have been better. While waiting for the rest at Starbucks, I was wondering if I should run down.

Soon the rest came....julie, yusran, rashid...I bet the patrons sitting at Starbucks have no idea what we were up to.

Then I made the decision to run down. Stupe has yet to arrive...and i thought it would be too late if I keep on hanging around. I was already freezing up there, so running down fast would be a better idea.

Running down is perhaps the easiest and enjoyable experience one can have. Not much work need to be done. While going down, one could see KL basking with lights and it's simply a nice view. There are a few tough parts, which is after 12km mark, which I have to run some 1-2km uphill.

Soon the rest of the guys in support cars were coming down. It was nice of them to offer a ride, but since I have just like 3km left, I could finish it. However running in this kind of hour and place reminded me of running at Genting Peres at midnight. It's a surreal experience.

I reached back Genting sempah around 3:36 am, which took 1:56 to come down. So total distance covered is 40km. The mileage for that day was 46km, since I had ran in the morning 6km as well!

There's another genting run next week as well...so if anyone wants to try it, I would say just do it. It's actually not so hard running up.