Legbreaker

I found myself in a highly unusual situation for a Sunday yesterday morning - I was still in bed at 8.50am. By that time the previous Sunday morning I had already cycled almost 70km and was heading into Bentong.

So I had a nice lie-in and later in the morning took Lucas out to ride his bike (he's getting better every time now - and I am becoming less nervous about him falling off) and then we had a quick go on his (and my) new favourite game - Super Mario 64. We've got 16 Gold Stars now!! Hooray!


I then realised that time was running out for me to pack and head off to Ulu Yam for the 10th Annual KL Full Moon "Ballbreaker" Hash.

Ballbreaker

We set-off just after 1pm. The first check took a long time to break and had a false trail. The subsequent checks also took some time to break, and I was a bit annoyed that hardly anyone was calling or answering my calls (calling is shouting out to ascertain if people are still on the paper trail or not).

An early river crossing filled my shoes with gravel that made the rest of the run rather uncomfortable but luckily my feet bore up quite well. I stopped once to "de-gravel" my shoes once. The shoe soles that I had glued back on the night before only lasted about 20 minutes before they came off again!

The first sector included a 300m high climb and took over 2 hours. The second sector was less strenuous but had some pretty steep trails - and great views. Due to the delays in the first sector I finished sector 2 at about 1710hrs, 25mins after the supposed cut-off time. The third sector was the easiest and fastest and I actually managed to do some running!

The rain made some of the trails pretty slippery, especially in the oil palm plantations. By this time I could sense that my much used and bleached socks, combined with gravel and water sloshing around in them for 4 hours, were beginning to disintegrate, and indeed I was correct as you can now see for yourself..........

Mmmmmmmm...nice socks! They used to be white!

I finished the 25km in 5:24:57, some 45 minutes behind the front runner. There was over 1000' of climbing on this hash.

Hashers - 240
Distance - 25km
Ascent - >1000'
Checks - 15
Leeches - 0 (for me anyway)
Red Ant Bites - 1
2cm dia. bite on my arm from unknown creature - 1
Sliding down hill on bum - 1
Nearly Head over Heels - 3
Scratches on legs, especially inside heels - lots!
Totally ruined pairs of socks - 1
Beer after the run - 0
PowerGel - @ 1h44m and 2h15m

I didn't stretch properly afterwards so today I'm struggling to walk properly!

Sporting Success

On the sporting front, although I missed all the action as ASTRO was on the blink AGAIN due to evening rain, 'twas a good weekend for me. Bradley Wiggins won the Dauphine Libere prologue, Casey and his Ducati beat Rossi to win the MotoGP and Hammo won the Canadian GP. The only downer was that I wanted Federer to win the French Open...never mind!

SMART Hash

Did the usual Tuesday night 24km ride with PCC. Average HR was a low 131bpm, compared to 148bpm a few months ago for a comparably fast ride - getting fitter!

Last night I did a 50min 6.5km hash with the "Harriettes", which included about a kilometre inside the almost completed SMART tunnel (the run was set by the SMART tunnel Resident Engineer - an enthusiastic hasher!). Wednesday usually my night off training, but I need to intensify this year!

Tonight - 10.8km Double Hill route. I hope my right knee is ok - it is beginning to play up - must be my new cycling shoe cleat setting is wrong.

Sat a.m. - usual 23km ride to work
Sat p.m. - swimming lesson.

...and the big one

Sun a.m. I plan to cycle from home to Bentong and back......about 136km (84 miles). That'll probably take over 5 hours.

If I want to finish a 7hr+ Triathlon in September i need to get my body used to such things!

Full Moon Go-Karting

I went go-karting in Shah Alam yesterday morning with Lucas. 10 minutes in an 80cc kart for starters, then 3 laps in a double-kart with Lucas, and finally a thrilling 10 minutes in a super-fast 100cc kart.

Lucas was a bit under the weather and the car journey didn't help. When we got home he slept for 3 hours, and still went to bed at the normal time. He had a fever but this morning it's not so bad. Still no school for him today.

In the afternoon I drove back to Shah Alam again (Bukit Cahaya) for only my 2nd Full Moon Hash in 3 years. A good 10k run-about in 1h 44 mins made up for not going for a bike ride in the morning.

Goodbye 2006

I had 4 days off work (Sat to Tue) and wanted to get back to doing some exercise following my recent ill health.

I managed an easy 8km Petaling Hash on Sat p.m. despite still not being 100% (still tired and coughing in the mornings). Sunday a.m. I was still under the weather a bit but was determined to get to Ulu Langat for the ride to Klawang.

I finally met Azwar, and also Bacin, Adzim, and another guy whose name I can't remember. I felt fine on the flat first 14km but the climb up Peres was awful. I really wasn't feeling good and decided to u-turn at the top. The return leg was fine, but I was disappointed not to have done my first 100k+ ride for 8 years! Maybe this weekend!

Here's the ride profile...



No activity on Xmas day except eating quite a lot of chocolate!

On Boxing Day afternoon I attempted a 1-hour run around the KLCC track but still didn't feel good despite my very slow pace. After 3 laps my stomach was twisting and turning so I gave up after 4 laps. Still ran 5.2km though, in a slow 35mins.

Tuesday is PCC Night Ride day, so I drove to TTDI in the evening. More people turned up than I expected, and I had an enjoyable but tough (faster than usual) 23.8km ride in almost exactly an hour. My legs were burning on the last hill but felt fine the next day.

Tonight I'm going to keep up my plan of exercising (or training as I should now call it) every other day. My plan (subject to Will and Weather) is to do the Pacesetters famous 10km Double Hill route from Padang Merbok.

I've got another 4 day weekend coming up. I'm tempted to drive up to Ulu Yam early Saturday afternoon and cycle up towards Genting, then fly back down in time for the Petaling Hash.

This morning I was delighted to see that Pacesetters have got a well-stocked 2007 event calendar online, so I've updated mine accordingly, with all hyperlinks I know of. Look right!

I've signed up for the KL Half-Marathon on 18 March, and a couple of the training runs beforehand.

Christmas Kids Hash

A report of the toughest ever Kids Hash, including an appearance by Santa Claus, is to follow soon!

Lucas' 5th Birthday & Hashing

Playing with some girls, including Fiona, at a recent Hash












pleased with his Lego X-Wing Fighter!
















Batman B'Day cake!! Mummy helps to serve it!

Making his Lego "Knight" on his Birthday










With chums at poolside party today

August 2006 Kids Hash

We'd not taken Lucas hashing since Christmas, and on this Sunday it happened to fit in with our schedule. Here's a photo of Lucas, Fiona, Megan and Leo (hidden) before the run, and another photo of the hashing gang playing by the river afterwards.

A Busy Sunday

I woke up at 5.45am yesterday to get up and run 10km around one of the few remaining green belts in KL - Bukit Gasing (Gasing Hill) with Joel. This was the Bukit Gasing Green Challenge 2006 - a charity event. It took us 2 hours, up and down some fairly steep slopes. I was feeling very tired (physically) which I attribute to not eating the night before (due to a massive Saturday lunch) and not having much brekkie.

I got home at 10.30am and relaxed for a while, ate a bit, played indoor badminton with Lucas, and at 12.30 a pest-control guy came round to see what he can do about our termites!!

At 1.30 I drove to a nearby town called Semenyih to take Lucas on the KL Junior Hash. He had great fun, as always, walking about 1.5-2km around a rubber tree plantation, with Fiona and Megan, playing with the accompanying dogs, shouting "On On" all the time. The 3 of them were first home! After that they spent about an hour playing with sand and water by the riverside.

Home at 7pm, then back out at 9.30 to watch the Community Shield. Liverpool won 2-1 and thank God there was no extra time as I had to sleep, and did - like a baby - but only until 6.20am. HOORAY - my weekend was over in a flash and now back to work!!