It was a cool, dewy morning that morning. I was there 6am but most parking lots at Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad and Jalan Abang Haji Openg were already occupied. Runners were chatting and loosening their muscles by shaking their arms and legs. I could tell that this is not their first time participating running events like this. Their toned muscles were an indication that they have been exercising and doing this constantly – strong competitors.

The flag-off for 12km was dragged a little later than scheduled. They flagged off at approximately 7.15am and as the 12km crowd moved along the rubber mat, where their timing chips chimed signaling that their timing were activated, the 6km runners moved closer to the starting line.

I found myself at the second row near the starting line. When the horn was blown at 7.30 am, I reluctantly followed the pace of the faster runners near the starting line. Immediately after the starting line, we had to run on an incline and that made me gasping for air. Not good. I moved to the side to avoid being trampled by the faster runners and resumed my usual running pace.

The run consist of a nice rolling route with not much trees to shade us. Fortunately, it was early in the morning and we didn’t have to face the mid-day sun as the run is quite short. Up and down we ran and at the 3km point, there were water stations waiting for us. I took two cups and drank while running. There was no use of pouring the water on the head as the distance was too short and the morning was still cool.

After the u-turn point, I saw a few colleagues from the office who was also attempting the 6km distance. Way to go, guys! Some walked up the inclines and ran downhill. Easy does it, tackle the hills one at a time, you will get there.

Soon after that, I found myself entering Taman Rimba Kiara for the finishing line and I crossed the line at 40 minutes and 11 seconds and was smiling all the way to the ‘taufufah’ counter as my target was to run less than 45 minutes.

The Malakoff Run at Taman Rimba Kiara was the second edition in the series of Malakoff Run held this year. The first one was held in Penang with a longer distance of 26km. This second series offered shorter distances and managed to attract casual runners to do the 6km while the more experienced runners attempted the 12km to break their personal bests. It was also good to see new faces from the office signed up for the race. May this be your first of many more races to come!

By organizing running events like this, we hope that more Malaysians will choose to exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle. Hopefully the running bug will stay in the hearts of my colleague and spur them to join more running event in the future.