Running in Malaysia!

Joy and Nomi:  Together again!

Joy here...Okay, I've new been in Malaysia for just over a week and I think I've finally kicked jet lag's ass! The best thing about being here is that Nomi and I can run in the same place!  As you can see from the photos above, we even have the same shoes (Nomi's are the nice, tanned legs and mine are the pasty, Canadian white ones).  We've been able to do a few runs together, and we've been joined by our energizer bunny friend, Lulu, who has agreed to do some guest posts for the blog in the next little while.  All three of us are coming up on our 1 year anniversary from our first running races ever, so it's quite the milestone for each of us.  And we're all running the same 1/2 marathon in Singapore in two weeks.  What better way to mark the start of our racing careers than with another race?!

the lake where we run together

Here's the Malaysia running stats so far:
Saturday (May 7):  Ran for 54:54:54 for a distance of 8.62kms with an average pace of 6:22min/km.
Sunday (May 8):  Ran for 1:21:22 for a distance of 13.23kms with an average pace of 6:09min/km.
Tuesday (May 10):  Ran for 1:06:45 for a distance of 10.51kms with an average pace of 6:21min/km.
Thursday (May 12):  Ran for 1:05:21 for a distance of 10.42kms with an average pace of 6:16min/km.
Sunday (May 15):  Ran for 1:30:00 for a distance of 14.32kms with an average pace of 6:10min/km.

the waterfall where we run

It's been terribly, terribly hot (with the temperature hitting highs of 36 C), and so I still haven't fully acclimatized.  My running is a bit slower and a bit more laboured than I would like it to be, as I huff and puff like the wolf in that children's story.  I'm hoping to run the 1/2 marathon in two weeks with an average pace of around 6min/km, which is still much slower than my first 1/2 marathon, but I think more reasonable given the heat and humidity here.

For now I'm not going to worry too much about pace or distance or anything like that.  I'm just going to revel in the fact that I'm back in a place that I love very much, where the weather is hot and lovely, and I have friends and family to hang out with.  I'm going to enjoy running around the neighbourhood with The Man while it's dark and everyone is a sleep and we feel as though we are masters of the world in all its shadows, and I'm going to enjoy running through the park with Nomi and Lulu before the sun rises with only the sounds of chirping crickets to keep us company until the sky turns a pale shade of pink just before dawn.  Instead of worrying about the smog and the humidity and my huffing and puffing, I'm going to be grateful that I'm not running in Ottawa where it's 12 C right now!

Over and out,
Joy