Well, as per the title, it’s been ages since I last blogged (on Friendster). My apology to all, especially those who sent me messages which were left unanswered. I’m so sorry.
That explains one ‘welcome back’. So what’s the 2nd one? Last, last Saturday, after a few years, I returned to UKM Bangi! I left UKM 8 years ago, that’s close to a decade! Time really flies. Went back there just twice ever since. Once for my graduation ceremony and the other for my sister’s, that’s about it.
Going around UKM brought back a lot of memories. The Pusaneka i.e. UKM’s ‘shopping complex’ with Alur Ilmu, the river that runs through it. The Tun Sri Lanang library, remembered for it’s very out-dated IT books and a stupidly difficult-to-use search system, which even us, Computer Science students had a bloody hard time to figure out how to use. Kamsis Ungku Omar (now Kolej) which I spent a year during my matriculation days. Probably the noisiest residence hostel block in UKM :p A lot of naughty things we did here, well we were much younger back then… The Dewan Serbaguna (now Dewan Gemilang) the place where our hearts will be beating at a very fast rate, since it must be an exam that brought us there… hehehe It felt great to be back. I probably had the best period of my life there.
What was I doing there? Going for a further study? No. I was there for a duathlon race, so that’s the 3rd ‘welcome back’! I last did a duathlon race at Powerman Lumut, back in Nov 06. Throughout 2007 the series was put on hold, I heard due to sponsorship issues. So no race = no training :( Adding to that, there were some distractions in life. Combined, they made me so lazy to train. I was putting on weight like crazy and felt veeerrrryyyy heavy indeed.
It all changed a month ago when I came back from a trip to Mount Trus Madi (that one deserves a separate entry on it’s own. Great trip!), lost a few kilos and it felt good to be lighter. “What happened to me? I need to fix this!”, so the crash diet and the trainings started. In 3 weeks, managed to reduce about 5 kilos! Proud of myself... hehehe
It was just a short race. 3km run leg, ‘15km’ bike leg and another 3km run. Salim, a Way2Ride buddy, greeted me the moment I stepped out of my car. Then Isma, Ane and a few others came by. It was good to see familiar faces again. Prior to race start, as usual, the psychology war. “Aku langsung tak training ni… Lembab giler rasa!”, being among the most abused quote. But at the back of my mind, ”Sudah la korang, kayuh hari², long distance every weekend, pastu kata tak training. Ceh!” hehehe
As usual, started off at the back of the pack to avoid being ‘pulled-in’ by the fast runners. Most of the field just sped off from the start since it’s just a short race. After just a few minutes I already found myself making-up the tail of the field. “Takpe, pegi la dulu. Jap lagi kong baru tau!” True enough, at less than half-way mark, already many started walking. They over-revved themselves. So for a change, I was overtaking people on the run! Being an under-average runner, that’s new! Hehehe
After two 1.5km run laps, it’s turn for my favorite event, cycling! As planned, I started to overtake others on the bike. I remembered that only one person overtook me, Isma P2K, whom I personally know a very strong cyclist. Not just that, he’s doing the relay, which means he did not have to run before and after the cycling leg. “Alaaa... Dia tak berlari tadi. Pasni pun tak payah berlari lagi, boleh la laju²….”. Excuses, hehehe just cheered for him and let him pass.
The cycling leg was quite short. In fact my cyclometer showed less than 12km when I reached T2. Transition went smoothly and calmly. No need to rush out since I’m not a front-runner anyway. Now the scary part, the final run. Running down the hill, start feeling muscle cramps nibbling in my left calf. “Oh tidak! Kene jalan kejap ni. Bagi Ok sikit”, I thought. It worked, lactic acid cleared off my muscles and managed to continue with a consistent run. 1st lap completed, less than 1.5km to go. Yeah! About 500m to finish, saw Lan Flecha W2R walking on the course. “Peluang nak beat Lan kali nih… bila lagi?” So I changed up a gear and slowly but surely jogged past him. He did not even try to give chase. So he really was out-of-training then… hehehe
At the finish line, my stopwatch reads, 1:05.01. Original target was 1:10. Mission accomplished! And to make things sweeter, being able to beat Lan Flecha this time around hehehe My long time ride and race buddies, Ariff & May Senn, also dropped by after the race to greet and to check out how I’m doing. They’re on their way to Port Dickson Triathlon. Thanks guys.
That explains one ‘welcome back’. So what’s the 2nd one? Last, last Saturday, after a few years, I returned to UKM Bangi! I left UKM 8 years ago, that’s close to a decade! Time really flies. Went back there just twice ever since. Once for my graduation ceremony and the other for my sister’s, that’s about it.
Going around UKM brought back a lot of memories. The Pusaneka i.e. UKM’s ‘shopping complex’ with Alur Ilmu, the river that runs through it. The Tun Sri Lanang library, remembered for it’s very out-dated IT books and a stupidly difficult-to-use search system, which even us, Computer Science students had a bloody hard time to figure out how to use. Kamsis Ungku Omar (now Kolej) which I spent a year during my matriculation days. Probably the noisiest residence hostel block in UKM :p A lot of naughty things we did here, well we were much younger back then… The Dewan Serbaguna (now Dewan Gemilang) the place where our hearts will be beating at a very fast rate, since it must be an exam that brought us there… hehehe It felt great to be back. I probably had the best period of my life there.
What was I doing there? Going for a further study? No. I was there for a duathlon race, so that’s the 3rd ‘welcome back’! I last did a duathlon race at Powerman Lumut, back in Nov 06. Throughout 2007 the series was put on hold, I heard due to sponsorship issues. So no race = no training :( Adding to that, there were some distractions in life. Combined, they made me so lazy to train. I was putting on weight like crazy and felt veeerrrryyyy heavy indeed.
It all changed a month ago when I came back from a trip to Mount Trus Madi (that one deserves a separate entry on it’s own. Great trip!), lost a few kilos and it felt good to be lighter. “What happened to me? I need to fix this!”, so the crash diet and the trainings started. In 3 weeks, managed to reduce about 5 kilos! Proud of myself... hehehe
It was just a short race. 3km run leg, ‘15km’ bike leg and another 3km run. Salim, a Way2Ride buddy, greeted me the moment I stepped out of my car. Then Isma, Ane and a few others came by. It was good to see familiar faces again. Prior to race start, as usual, the psychology war. “Aku langsung tak training ni… Lembab giler rasa!”, being among the most abused quote. But at the back of my mind, ”Sudah la korang, kayuh hari², long distance every weekend, pastu kata tak training. Ceh!” hehehe
As usual, started off at the back of the pack to avoid being ‘pulled-in’ by the fast runners. Most of the field just sped off from the start since it’s just a short race. After just a few minutes I already found myself making-up the tail of the field. “Takpe, pegi la dulu. Jap lagi kong baru tau!” True enough, at less than half-way mark, already many started walking. They over-revved themselves. So for a change, I was overtaking people on the run! Being an under-average runner, that’s new! Hehehe
After two 1.5km run laps, it’s turn for my favorite event, cycling! As planned, I started to overtake others on the bike. I remembered that only one person overtook me, Isma P2K, whom I personally know a very strong cyclist. Not just that, he’s doing the relay, which means he did not have to run before and after the cycling leg. “Alaaa... Dia tak berlari tadi. Pasni pun tak payah berlari lagi, boleh la laju²….”. Excuses, hehehe just cheered for him and let him pass.
The cycling leg was quite short. In fact my cyclometer showed less than 12km when I reached T2. Transition went smoothly and calmly. No need to rush out since I’m not a front-runner anyway. Now the scary part, the final run. Running down the hill, start feeling muscle cramps nibbling in my left calf. “Oh tidak! Kene jalan kejap ni. Bagi Ok sikit”, I thought. It worked, lactic acid cleared off my muscles and managed to continue with a consistent run. 1st lap completed, less than 1.5km to go. Yeah! About 500m to finish, saw Lan Flecha W2R walking on the course. “Peluang nak beat Lan kali nih… bila lagi?” So I changed up a gear and slowly but surely jogged past him. He did not even try to give chase. So he really was out-of-training then… hehehe
At the finish line, my stopwatch reads, 1:05.01. Original target was 1:10. Mission accomplished! And to make things sweeter, being able to beat Lan Flecha this time around hehehe My long time ride and race buddies, Ariff & May Senn, also dropped by after the race to greet and to check out how I’m doing. They’re on their way to Port Dickson Triathlon. Thanks guys.
Me after the race... penat² lari dapat sijil ni je... hehehe
It was surely a great weekend for me. And it’s really great to be back. Let’s see for how long I can stay this time around. Hopefully long enough… hehehe
Till next time ;)
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