Im Hsiung. Sorry for the late report about the two recently races that I joined. First was the Starwalk 2009. This was the first time I joined a walking competition, I flew to Penang the night before the race and stayed at our captain, Ong’s house. When I reached his house was around 12a.m so after preparing our stuff for the next day’s race, then we went to sleep. It was the first time I can sleep so well the night before a race, maybe staying together with Ong increased my confidence for the next day’s race.

Early in the morning around 5a.m we had reached the place, PISA where the race held. There were already crowded with people even though it was still early. As promised, the race started at 7a.m and I was very lucky to be in the front pack and ran along with other walkers. The first 100+ meter I ran as I saw all the people were running, then when reached a point where people began to slow down, then I started to walk. Since then, I walked throughout the race although there were many other walkers (runners) who ran then when they saw judges they started to walk, then ran again.

Around 200meters to the finish line, I saw ong far in front of me, so I started to walk faster and tried to catch up with him, it was quite tough for me but I can see that Ong wasn’t panting. At the finish line, I was just a step behind of Ong which was the best that I can do. However, we were surpassed by another guy who came out suddenly from nowhere.

I really learnt and gained a lot of experience from this race, I want to thank Ong for teaching me so much regarding walking and also thank him for discovering my walking talent. If not for him, I will never know that I got potential in walking. Thanks Ong.

My second race was Malakoff kl, I took the 12km run which was quite a long distance for me, I had never ran so far in a race before this. The race started at 7a.m sharp as promised, I was very nervous at the beginning of the race as I had been told by many people that this course has many uphill. So throughout the race I just maintain my normal pace without trying to push myself, my objective for this race is just to finish the race safely and healthily.

Although I didn’t get any placing, but I think what I got from this race is worth it as I learnt about my weakness and also realize that my training has been working, before this I barely able to run up a hill in a race, I will usually running at a slower pace when going uphill, but this time I realize that I can maintain my normal pace even when I go uphill. Another thing that is really useful is what Ong has taught me that is the finishing technique, I hardly believe it until I tried it during the race, the result was magnificent. Ha… Thanks Ong again. I will train harder and hope that the next time I join a race, I can try to speed up in uphill courses.

After the Night Run, i felt quite sad as although i trained for half year already, but my improvement still so slow and cant catch up with others. I think that i dont have much talent in running. I really hope that one day i can be like them.