Where do you live?
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
How old are you?
Will turn 44 years end next month. 🙂
How long have you been running for?
Since 2007. That’s when I resigned from Citibank, Malaysia and became a homemaker. My son was 6 years old then and wasn’t too happy being with a baby-sitter. I worked very long hours in the bank – resulting in me picking him from the baby-sitter’s after 8 pm, putting him to bed at 9pm and going off to work the next day before 7 am. It made me wonder why we decided to have a child in the first place! My husband travelled quite a fair bit and so we decided that we would all be better off if I became a stay-at-home mother.
So with my new career in 2007, I found that taking care of Jordan, though was meaningful and rewarding, wasn’t terribly challenging for me. Needing to fill the gap, I decided to pick a sport and try to excel in it. I chose running since it seems the easiest. I signed up for my 1st race – a 10k race in 2007. I also picked up tennis and golf. Within a few months I abandoned golf because it was too expensive a sport to even train. (petrol expense to drive to a driving range, expenses for 2 buckets of golf balls, the use of the driving range etc). I enjoyed tennis but I was dependent on the availability of a tennis partner to ensure regular training. Also, I did not find service easy. It took too long to get to a high level!
In the end I was left with just running (thought I still enjoy playing tennis). My confidence was immediately bolstered up because I came up 14th (Open Women Category) for my first 10k. The time wasn’t that great – I think something like 57 min. There were probably fewer foreign participation than today. So I deduced that the standard of running amongst Malaysians wasn’t that high. Next I set my goal to be amongst the top 10 in the next race. I made that too. I then thought perhaps it’s possibly to eventually stand on the podium one day? My time continued to improve each year but only inch-by-inch. The most I improved to was 52 min. By that time I decided to run the Half. Until last year, I suffered greatly from running jitters. Since my goal was to be the best I can be, I never quite gave my chance to enjoy running. So for 4 years I only signed up one race per year because it caused me too much anxiety!
What is your favorite race?
Last year, I decided that I was pretty silly training myself silly but only showcased my worth once in a year! So last year, I signed up 6 races and also my first Full Marathon. (I always cringed whenever friends introduced me as a marathoner. I said I only run 10k and at most only 21k. I did not consider myself a bona fide Marathoner until I run a Full. As such it was important that I did one! Talk about self-esteem issues!)
In the beginning of last year when we were in the Philippines for a holiday, I chanced upon Pete Pfitzengers & Scott Douglas Advanced Marathoning book. I bought it and used it to train for my first FM. I did not have a GPS watch then and so I trained mostly on perceived effort and number of strides per minute. I did all the usual stuff – tempo run, long run, recovery runs but I probably underestimated my distance when training because when I actually ran the FM, I suffered terribly tight hamstrings from the 35th km. I was targeting for 3:45 time and so made sure I stayed between the 3:30 and 4:00 Pace Setter. Imagine my horror when the 4:00 Pace Setter overtook me. So I had to speed up thinking that my easy pace was far far too slow. I tried to keep up with him but it got harder and harder. By the time I reached the end, he was a few kms away from me. Then I discovered, the 4:00 Pace Setter ran too fast. He probably reached the finishing line in 3:40!
The FM will always be etched in my mind as the most painful run ever. But following Advanced Marathoning did bear fruits. It was the first time that I broke the 5:00/km pace and in the the HM. Quickly the HM became my favorite run because I ran relatively easy, weather was great (it started at 5 am) and found that I made a PR, 1:41.
What do you hope to achieve through RunnersConnect?
I did not make my 3:45 goal time for FM last year and thought that a more plausible goal for a FM this year would be 3:40. My ultimate goal is 3:30 but I thought it was impossible for this year because it means shaving 20 min from last year’s time.
I stumbled upon RC early this year and asked Jeff whether I could target 3:30 this year and if not, the time for this year’s FM. I gave him my PR for HM and was literally shocked when he said that he thinks I have a shot for 3:30 this year. I think that made my day! There are not many Malaysians who can run a 3:30 for a FM, so knowing that I have a chance to be the best Malaysian (caveat: Women only) for a FM was something to cheer about. 🙂
Taking up competitive running was just to replace a challenge. But it’s not my profession. I resigned from the bank to be a homemaker. So I didn’t want my family to feel that running took me away from them and that they needed to work around my running schedule. As such the only time that makes that possible is to do the runs before the whole family gets up!
Your training environment seems to be unique, and even a little dangerous. I recall reading some pulse pounding entries from you about encounters out on the roads. Can you tell us a little about why you need to train within the confines of your condo complex?
Malaysia isn’t a terribly safe place – unlike Singapore or Australia. News of robbery, rape, kidnapping isn’t uncommon. As such my running is confined to my condo compound until 5 am when there would be more people around the shops. So in order to get back home by 6.30am, my runs would start at 4am or 2.30am for long run days.
