My first affairs with 12k race

I started running 12km in Bandar Kinrara,  Puchong 2 months back, albeit inpromptu as it was supposed to be 10k only. But my first run with the Lyn runners (n the only one to date) got me hooked to try the next and the next 12k run. Btw i really appreciate their warmth in welcoming newbie like me, though they all were quite fast n i totally misunderstood their definition of snail pace (i guess my definition was more of a slug! :) ).

So i signed up for this Men's Health Shape night run, just the perfect distance and fulfilled 2 other 'run-thing to do' in my list, which is to join a night run event and to run in putrajaya, a nicely built modern township built by the malaysian govt.

On the way there, rain was pouring cats amd dogs but as we got nearer i saw a stray of sunlight which was enough for me to give a hope that i wont be running under a strong shower! (Only later that i knew if there was lightning sighted they would have to cancel the event).

Hubby n kiddo dropped me off, n i hitchhiked home on a friend's car.

What i liked:

+ weather was awesome after the rain, made the run feel light. I improved my 10k pb by abt 10mins i think! Now its 72 mins :)

+ nice area not too many cars for lots of runners to run

+ organized event overall, large start/finishing area, lots of toilet etc

+ awesome goody bag n lots of sponsorship tents. Sketcher had a 20% discount shoe booth. Juice, yoghurt etc

Just a bit of areas of improvement:

-: so many long queues in the free goody tents. I decided to skip all of them ss drizxle was getting stronger too,

-: they gave away so many things right after the run but with no bag yet, i dropped my stuff a few times as couldnt mana. Wish they gave a bag earlier.

-: i think their 11th k mark was pretty displaced. Since it felt such a long way to get there!

But overall it was a great experience, love it! I came in 300+th runner out of 12k women, n since the medals were limited to first 500 i was kinda pushing myself to get it hehehe. 

BaliRun

 I ran #smr sat-morning-run in bali, during holiday trip with my family. The vacation trip itself is quite tiring for me, especially if i keep comparing with my previous holiday trips when i had no kid yet. Gone are the days when i can choose n plan exactly what i want to do. My most fruitful own-moments are in the mornings, when i can get out of the house on my own n have some me time. One for this run, where i met the lovely bali runners bunch. And another morning for a serene sunrise at Sanur. I love it when i can have my mind wander around at peace

We wanted to run at the unopened nusa2 toll road above the sea. How cool is that. Unfortunately, the area is already sterilized from people n there are patrols going around to check. So we went to a nearby area across the benoa port and there was a trail encircling a small island/islet giving us 9km worth of run.

I love running in different places, its like a mini discovery trip. As always, i love us, the indonesians bunch of people, super friendly n excellent jokers, just like the runners i met.

Below are pics of my next morning hiatus. Actually i wanted to run again but #taudiri my legs are not that strong n havent properly recovered from the sat run. So i just went there for a walk, sanur beach. I wanted to go to Segara beach since one of the indorunners recommended this place to run. But due to limited online map, i went to the next beach, sindhu. Its still a lovely place. Swamped by people though. I couldnt find a proper parking spot at 5.45am in the morning. I rough-counted at least  a 1000 motorbikes parked. Many were swimming at this early hour. But still, i felt a sense of calmness, as the sun slowly rise, breaking the pink dusk. I continued my journey to the south and i met a group of folks doing yoga. Followed them for a while n then decided to just lie down marvelling at the sky and surrounding. Lovely mornings!

running...

Gak nyangka juga, akhirnya gw mulai berlari... setelah sekian lama gak lari...
Awalnya liat beberapa temen di social media yang consistenly berlari, terus liat2 kok semakin mewabah. Selama beberapa bulan, gw cuma silent watcher aja sih... gw pikir, gw lebih pilih berada di rumah, ngabisin wkt ama anak gw, kangen klo udah seharian di kantor n rasanya anak gw butuh deh interaksi ama gw buat pertumbuhan dia (**sok bijak nih, padahal anaknya jg gak apa-apa** ya maklum jg maklum ibu dengan anak pertama mgkn rata2 memang instict melindungi anak seperti ini?). Udah gitu, dengan jadwal dia secara rata2 selalu kebangun 2-3 kali tiap malam buat nyusu smp dia umur setaon-an bikin body gw cukup tepar deh (**Loh, sekarang malah nyalahin anak hahaha**). Plus, klo soal lari, sebenarnya yg kebayang-bayang di gw itu cape2nya gw dulu pas rutin lari waktu SMA, inget di tengah2 lari mikir kok gak nyampe2 or cape ngedorong diri sendiri buat pace yg cukup okeh (yang bagian feel glorynya abis nyelesain lari udah lupa).

Tapi akhirnya mindset gw mulai berubah, n didukung jg oleh body gw yg semakin ready jg. At least, gw dah gak berasa gempor lagi pagi2 abis tidur dengan interrupted sleep. Anak gw udah gak sesering dulu bangun (ya masih aja sih bangun tengah malam, n kadang2 balik lagi kaya dulu klo lagi teething). Terus gw pagi2 jg udah gak seribet dulu pas masa 6-14 bulan musti nyiapain makan anak buat hari itu (dah lebih percaya ke si Mbak sekarang n jg anak gw dah bisa makan lbh banyak jenis makanan kan). Itu secara kesiapan fisik yah.
Secara mindset, mungkin ini yg lebih penting or at least a-must-nya yah (klo body siap, tp mental gak beranjak, emm... kayanya gw jg gak akan mulai2), keinginan utk mulai n mewujudkannya ini nih katalisatornya. So thanks terutama utk teman2 n even org2 yg gak gw kenal yg kelintas di TL twitter gw or baca2 di blog, yg consistenly berlari, makin improve pace n distance mereka n share ke public. Wow, positive influencer banget deh, efeknya kayanya kaya ombak bergulung2 yg semakin gede, krn kayanya sebelum gw udah banyak banget org2 lain yg keinfluence duluan ama lari oleh wanita2 hebat ini.

Lari pertama sekitar 4 minggu yg lalu. So far, gw baru lari di area dlm condo gw sih, enak deket, suasana nyaman n gak perlu parno ama safety. Dan lari pertama gw, jarak 2.4km. Wow, surprise jg bisa sampe jarak segitu gak pake berenti/jalan, hihihi. Mengingat terakhir gw lari, adalah waktu gw hamil 7 or 8 bulan, itupun mgkn pacenya udah mirip jalan cepat dan kayanya gak pernah deh lewat dari 2km. Enaknya lagi, sekarang bulan November gini, udah masuk musim ujan... **November Rain.. Kriuk..** jadi lari pagi temenan ama udara adem, enak deh. So lari dengan pace sendiri yg enak, gak kelewat cepet, tapi yg penting nafas lancar gak ngos2an, biar bisa aga long distance (eh buat gw 2.4km udah jauh hihihi). Lagian gw pikir,  dah gak Abg lagi nih, gak usah mikirin speed, yg penting latihan utk bisa cover more distance ajah. Kaya lari2 maraton gitu banyak org2 dewasa 40th-an yg bisa ikut bukan? N ternyata gw lupa klo running outdoor gini, jauh lebih enak ya daripada lari di threadmill. Ada pemandangan, ada angin2 sepoi natural. Jadi inget dulu wkt di Jakarta, kayanya taon2 terakhir gw coba lari lagi itu selalu di Gym dan gak pernah berhasil pick-up. Kayanya gw bosen-an yah lari di threadmill, kaya gak nyampe2 selalu di tempat yg sama. ya iya lah, org lari di ban berjalan.

So ok, by now Nike+ (sumpah, aplikasi kaya gini keren banget deh) gw udah record ampir 20km, dengan 7x lari. berarti rata2 2.4-3km gitu sekali gw lari. So far, gw lari 2x seminggu ajah. Pengennya 3x seminggu, tp dengan kondisi single mum on the weekend, susah nih buat nambahin 1x jadwal. Oh ya, di lain hal, karena gw punya sejarah ankle kiri terkilir (padahl udah lama wkt SMA) n sampe bertaon2 gw lari setelah itu, even wkt hamil kemarin, gw selalu bisa ngerasain balik mata kaki gw ini gak bener2 pulih. Jadi gw rada2 parno jg wkt mulai lari kemarin2. Stretching gw bisa lebih lama dari masa lari. Pemanasan 20 menit, lari 15 menit, pendinginan 15 menit hihihi. Tapi ga papa, ternyata magically ankle gw sampe hari ini gak berasa ada yg sakit/sensitif atau apa loh. Sempet ada pegel2 di tungkai kiri (parno kalo shin splint), terus abis lari ke-2/3, sensitifnya pindah ke lutut kanan.. tapi masing2 ini setelah istirahat total 3 hari gak balik lagi sih. Jadi satu lagi mental note buat gw, gw selalu mastiin gw rest total dulu sampe pegel/sensitifnya di kaki gw ilang, baru lari lagi. takut boo cedera..

So happy that i can conquer my own skepticism on picking up running. Mudah2an gw bisa konsisten lebih lama dalam berlari :) .

Oyah, gw juga register utk Brooks Half-Marathon di bulan Maret depan... tapi... bukan yg 21km Nek... hihhi.. cuma yg 5km ajah. sebenarnya kategorinya namanya kategori 'Schoolgirl'.. tp gw liat gak ada batasan maximum age. ya wes lah, antem aja online registration. **kan tampang gw masih layak utk anak sekolahan** hihhi**dilempar sepatu ama yg baca**. Oyah satu lagi sebenarnya event ini cuma utk Malaysian n Singaporean (kenapa Singaporean boleh, tp Indonesian gak boleh? heran deh). Gak tau ya, mungkin nanti pas ngambil RacePack gw bakal ditendang keluar, tp ya let's try lah. It's not like i'm going to win a prize anyway. But just trying to run happy n thought it will be fun to do it by joining an event :) Plus ini jadi semacam fixed target buat latihan lari gw.
Mudah2an by then, gw udah bisa ngecover 5km run beberapa kali :) Wish me luck.