Report: Orange Run 2010

By Aiman Cheah

Venue: Piazza, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya
Date: 25 July 2010
Time: 7.15 a.m.
Distance: 11km
Category: Men Junior Veteran

Result: 59minutes 16 seconds

This is the first time I ran together with my students. Surprising, one was much faster than I was. That was good because it had been a long time since I had students who could run faster in road races. I reckoned that he was about 5 minutes ahead of me. Too bad that he did not have a stopwatch.

My bad habits showed up again in this race. I stopped as early as the 5th minutes after catching up with my students. After running for a while, I overtook them but then made another two stops before the 8th minute. Then, I manged to maintain my pace for 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, I stopped again and it was near the first water station. Took two cups of isotonic and began to have a steady pace again. Not along after that I saw Ryan Teoh.

I tried to keep up with him. I was about one minute behind him. I tried to get closer to him and I did get as close as 5 seconds behind him but had to pay the price. Stopped again and by the time I started to run, it was back to about a minute behind him.

Before the second and final water station, I was 10 seconds behind him. I was surprise because he took a longer time to stop. I managed to finish my drinks and he had not started to run. I went ahead of him but was sure that he would overtake me again because I had not been faster than him for more than two years! I admire his steady pace and at times strong finishing.

I managed to complete the race in 59:16, ahead of more established runners like my former team-mates - Kevin Chow and Kelvin Ng. I think they just went easy because all have been much faster in previous races.

Actually, I would have preferred to be at Dataran Merdeka for the Islamic Outreach Walk. However, since I have promised my students for the Orange Run, I have to honour that.

Last week, I also missed the Anggerik Walk in Shah Alam - clashed with Siemens Run.

I would have a better chance in both the races but the twist is that I have registered too early for JDP Walk, third circuit which clashes with Olympic Day Run. The latter would be more fun! What a luck.