A very satisfying Sunday run - Teluk Kumbar Cross-Country (Merentas Desa)

I did my 2nd Teluk Kumbar cross country this morning. The first was in 2010.. The difference was in 2010, I ran under the Open category, and did 8km (actually measured by my friend was 7.5km) but now, I am in the Jr Veteran group, I skipped the ~1km hilly run.. and ended up with 6.56km (stated as 6km in the race).
It was truly a nice feeling running through the scenic parts of teluk Kumbar which offers a lot of different running conditions - along the road, across the villages, the beach, and the veggie plantation (running on the benteng). I must say of all the races, this one boasts the most variety - short of tougLuh !! The beach run was the worse..
6.56k@37:44'@5:45'/k.. Toughest along the 1.2k beach, almost at walking pace !!

Total distance : 6.56m
Total time : 37:44
Average pace : 5:45'/k

The splits:
1) 2.53km (pace : 5:07) - along the road & through the kampung small roads, in between houses too !
2) 1.18km (pace :8:19) - along the dreaded beach.. The tide was high, so I had to run the soft part of the sandy beach.. Chris did a run on the lower edge of the beach, harder surface but had to get the shoe soaked.. I guess I still love my Ravenna 2 to let it wet the 2nd time !
3) 1.81km (pace : 5:21) - along the kampung roads
4) 269m (pace : 5:16) - through the veggie plantation, tough with muddy sands
5) 765km (pace : 5:01) - caught up with Chris.. and paced by him.. LOL !

Up next --> Malakoff 17km !

Teluk Kumbar Cross-Country 2012.... so looking forward to it..

Races seems hard to come by these days.. or rather I have not been signing up with many races in the first 3-4 months this year.. The last race was in early Jan, so that's about 2.5 months ago. Most of the races will come in end April, May and June (including 2 marathons)..
Because of that, I am so looking forward to this Sunday's cross-country run.. even though it's just a short 6km run (imagine, 40-49 years veteran only run 6km, while the Open runs 8km).. C'mon, we oldies can run 8km also lah :)
This will be my 2nd time running this, missed that last year and i think I was doing a race in KL or something like that lah..

Recap:
1) Teluk Kumbar has such a spectacular view of sunrise.. Must bring my iPhone to snap2.
2) Never forget the yellow slip. I misplaced mine the last time and had to scramble looking for it in my car.. Glad that I found it, else could not start the race and not entitled to the medal/cert !
3) No need to go so early. I remember I was among the first 10 to arrive, still so dark then..
4) Bladder - toilet will be a problem.. Need to control hydration
5) Beach run - danger of the ropes tied to the boat.. Saw a couple of runners tripped and fell.. So self-reminder.. But the breah-taking sunrise view will take whatever tiredness and fatigue away.

Run Safe, Run Happy !

March 2012 Races - Teluk Kumbar + Malakoff

Feels like eternity.. Last race was Jan 1st week's MPIR.. so that's almost 2 months without any races.. Good thing is I am still keeping up with some training mileage..

So for Mar'2012.. 2 races:

1) Mar 18 - Teluk Kumbar cross-country run.. Did that in 2010.. 6km, running on the road-beach-kampung road-hill and then back to the school.. Will just enjoy the run. Race starts at 7:30am.

2) Mar 25 - Malakoff 17km.. Starting at 7am. Hope the sun will be kinder to us (some clouds please !).. The routre are familiar ones : Esplanade-Tower-Penang Road-Burmah Road-Kelawai Road-Gurney-Straits Quay-back to Gurney-Jln Sultan Ahmad Shah-Esplanade..
==> Audaious target ? 1:30, that means a pace of 5:17.. Maybe the more realistic one is 1:35 -1:40 which means a pace of ~5:38 - 5:58.. We shall see...