Newton Challenge Penag 2014 (7km)

It seems like less and less bloggers are publishing race report.  However, reading race reports from others helps me to prepare for the race that I am unfamiliar with,or to decide if I want to join that particular race.

Newton Challenge Penang 2014 is the first race that I joined this year.  To me, this is a badly organized race with respect to the fees paid.

First of all, when the 7km race starting time had pull in from 6:45am to 6:00am, the information wasn't updated in web-site or having a note in racing kit.  The information was only made available in their facebook page.  I understand that quite a few runners missed out the information and were only arrived after the race started.

Secondly, the turning junction for 7km race wasn't clearly labeled.  No sign board or any physical indication of turning junction.  The "volunteers" at the junction instructed the front runners to go further straight up to the hill before another "volunteer" on bicycle coming from behind asking them to turn back.

Moreover, it was really a mess at the finish line that quite a lot of runners doesn't know where to get the medal.

For the 17km race, I heard that the race started ~10 mins late due to runners crowded after the starting line.  Upon finishing 17km, the runners was given just a bottle of 500ml drinking water without any food.

Lastly, no one controlled the traffic after the event finished.  People experienced stuck in the traffic jam for ~2 hours.  Luckily, since I left earlier, I was only stuck in the jam for half an hour.

However, the plus points for the event is to have a pair of socks as well as timing chip was used (although I read comments that the time was not recorded for some runners at the front).

Overall, this race is worse than the RM20 10km race that I participated last year, while I have to pay RM58 just to have a pair of socks and timing chip.

Goal Achieved (70km/month)

Despite the fact that I had to stop my training due to flu, I still managed to meet my target of 70km per month of mileage in Feb.

I think 2 factors that made this possible, ie. carefully drafting out my plan to include all holidays and possible races; and leaving some breathing space for sudden event.  Although in the beginning, it looks like I should be able to achieve this target earlier, but because of flu, the plan is not as easy as it seems.

Anyway, feel real great for having able to achieve what I initially targeted.  With this, this is the 7th consecutive month that I  hit more than 60km per month in terms of running mileage.  Something that I really feel proud of..

My next goal is getting myself to 17km LSD weekly.  My plan is to be able to reach there early July or end of July.  After that, I will have plan to increase my speed.