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.