Nike Find Your Fast: One Mile Race

It was an honor and pleasure to be invited by Sabrina Puah on behalf of Run89 Crew to join this exclusive event Nike Find Your Fast: One Mile Race!

The Run89!

A week before the event, Sabrina offered a few of us to join. I actually had a lot to consider as I had a 10km race on the next day, a very high mileage to achieve for that week and also a 30km LSD scheduled on that day so I was not sure whether I could afford another race or not even though I was told that this would be a fun run. It was an exclusive event, by exclusive I mean by invitation only. Based on the experience shared by the runners and glancing through their last year event photos, unlike most other typical running event, they made it like a party, it's so happening, so much fun and you wouldn't want to miss it. Many people would hope to join but didn't get a chance to, and it's an event organized by the big brand Nike, so I joined without hesitating much!

They made everything kind of mysterious, nothing was revealed. We only knew that we had to gather on Saturday at the Nike store at Midvalley and we were going to race 1 mile. We didn't know about the race venue, didn't know about the format, who we were going to race against, etc. Everything was kept secret until then.

On Saturday, Teck Wai, Angel, William, Voon Ying, Sabrina and I dated to meet early for dinner. We collected our t-shirt and the bib. Ohya, there was a bib given. I thought it would be a "not so serious race" but the bib had just made everything serious. After a very rush dinner we gathered together with Run89 Crew and Kyserun Crew. I knew some of the crew members but not all, met Daniel, Hui Xin, Paco, Xiao Jin, Kartini and other guest runners like us Hui Siang, Khairul and few other familiar faces.

So Fast!

While waiting to depart

Nothing was revealed even we were on the bus already. The bus fetched us to the secret venue. At first we guessed Stadium Merdeka because of the direction it headed to but then it passed it and headed to Cheras. In the end the bus stopped at the Velodrome Cheras! It was the Velodrome used for the Commonwealth Games! OK, I didn't know this place can be used for running.

Heading to the secret venue!
Is she happy because sitting beside me? :P

Hahahahahahah! Sab!

The Velodrome was well setup by the organizer. The lighting, the high beat music, the decoration and the DJ created the event atmosphere bringing us a lot of excitement. In conjunction with this race, we were given to try out the new Nike Zoom Air Elite 8 shoes. The shoes are meant for forefoot runner and I'm a heel striker so didn't get much of the benefit from its bouncy springy cushion. I still prefer the Nike Free 5.0 that I'm wearing. Nevertheless, they are still very comfortable and pretty nice looking.

The Velodrome!

Nike Zoom Air Elite 8

After the welcoming from the DJ, the race began. My bib number was 002 so I was the first batch to run. 10 people in a batch. I didn't know what pace I should start with because I had never raced a distance this short after I graduated which was like more than 15 years ago. 1 mile is about 1.6km, I thought it was very short so I had an impression that I could sprint even not all the way all out also could possibly close to 90% effort and I was so wrong.

002 kiasu dao! :P
Ohya, the tshirt is so damn nice! Love it!

I need a lot of warm up for 1.6km

The Velodrome is not a 400m track, it's about 300m plus so we had to run close to 5 loops. We didn't get to wait too long, the DJ started counting down and the race started. As I said, it was a stupid mistake I started off with close to 90% effort. It taxed me right after my 3rd lap. I had to slow down and then my watch beeped saying that I had run my 1st km in 3:18 and I still had 2 laps to go. The lactic acid waste was like as its max. It was such a torture I couldn't really move my legs. I had to swing my arms heavily for my legs to move then I started feeling numb in my chest and shoulder muscles. My arms couldn't take it too! I slow down a little on the 4th lap and cruised through it until the end. It was so painful. That feeling was so awful. LOL. My watch told me I did 5:23, guess what, I broke my 1km, 1.5km and 1 mile records nonetheless. Haha!

After the first round

This was actually a Run89 vs Kyserun challenge. After the preliminary round, each team had to choose 3 fastest girls and 3 fastest guys to compete. I was so "unfortunate" to be one of the fastest guys in the Run89 team, together with Khairul and William. OMG, that meant I had to go through that pain again. I was not sure about them but I felt like shit. I was actually going to take it easy and did something close to 6 minute but then I heard the host saying that the total time of 6 runners would be used to determine the winner. This gave so much pressure. That meant I was representing Run89, I wasn't fighting for my own so I couldn't take it slow. OK, already at this point. Just do it!

Oh YEAHHHHHHH!!!

3 of the fastest girls!

The girls Angel, Sabrina and Voon Ying ran first. They did very well and no surprise Angel being the fastest girl there ran 1 second faster than her first round and took away the queen title. Then our guys turn. 3, 2, 1, off we go! We stick together for the first 2 laps and then Khairul and William started to speed off. Ohya, forgot to mention, our opponents from Kyserun were Azwan, Rauzan and Huzaifah. Right at the beginning of 4th lap, Azwan cut us. LOL! He lapped us exactly half lap at this point. He crossed the line when we still had about 0.75 laps to go. Then Rauzan lapped us half lap too! I was shocked when Rauzan cut me. OMG, too imba! Different league la. LOL! After a while, William crossed the line, I was 1 second behind him and clocked myself 5:22, somewhat comforting is I did 1 second faster than my first round! Can I say that I broke 4 PBs in a day? LOL.

You can see how Azwan and Rauzan lapped us in this Strava flyby:
http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#390914727,85hGF1NvSBdP0kgX

Got lucky!

Kyserun Champion!

Nike Queen - Angel Tang!

Nike King - Azwan Bunjing!

The 3D medals

The team!

Kyserun Crew! You guys are awesome!

Run89 Crew! Love you all!

The Run89! Thanks for having us!

I'm so happy to be given a chance to race with everyone. Especially the final round we raced against Azwan Bunjing, Rauzan Rafeeq and Huzaifah Johari. They are close to national athletes or at least close to the state level. The difference in level is like English Premier League vs Cheras Kepong Mix Team. They are just too fast too furious for us. LOL!

My own recorded time are as follows:
1st round: 5:23 (3:20/km)
2nd round: 5:22 (3:20/km)

But somehow the official time recorded by the Nike organizer for the first round is 5:16 (3:16/km). That would mean I can run a 1.5km in 4:54! LOL! I would be happy if this is true. I think something had gone wrong here. Not that I don't believe Nike, it's I don't believe in myself. LOL!

The race ended with a very proper and grand prizing ceremony. We took a lot of photos as well. Again, I was so honor to be invited to join this event and to be part of the Run89 team! We had so much fun and met a lot of new friends! I wish I could come again next time! Thanks Sab, Run89 and Nike!

Found Awzan sharing here:
http://www.awanrun.com/index.php/2015/09/20/nike-1-mile-challenge-kyserunkrew-vs-run89/

Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Haha... almost all out already. I believe if well prepared and taper a little bit. I could have shaved a few seconds more. :P

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