Viper Challenge 2014

A couple of months ago, I completed my second Viper Challenge. This post is long delayed and I considered not writing it at all. But for some insane reason, I had impulsively brought my phone along for the ride and since I went through the trouble of getting some shots, it would be a waste not to use it.

This round, it was definitely more difficult than 2013's event - the obstacles were higher, longer and more challenging. And while this made most of the obstacles a heck of a lot more fun than the previous year, there were areas which made it less enjoyable for me as well.

The 20km run was a real pain this round because a large part of the route was covered in slick, sticky mud which was unavoidable and made the distance all the more tedious. Even worse, one of my team members triggered an old knee injury which wasn't really helped by the running conditions.

The mud hills (I'm not sure if that's the name of this obstacle) were really overkill this time - with the rain, slippery mud and higher hills, the obstacle just made you feel like you were swimming in mud pointlessly and there must have been around 10 hills to get through.

On the whole, it was a well-planned and executed event and I had a blast other than the minor issues above. I didn't manage to capture a lot on my phone because I had to wait for moments when we could clean our hands enough to take it out of the plastic bag, but here are a few pictures and videos to give a bit of a feel of what we experienced.

This obstacle was pretty pointless but I heard that they changed it because someone cracked their ankle the day before - previously, it had people jumping over the fire into a pit filled with water and mud.

Behind us is the wall rope climb. We saw a TON of people fall on this obstacle because the ropes were very slippery and the knots were quite far from each other, meaning the moment you missed a knot, you'd probably slip down. One of my team members fell as well and we heard that another person had a spinal fracture the day before...

The quarter pipe obstacle was the only one I didn't complete because my shoes were still dripping wet and I slipped before I had the chance to get any traction.

We didn't get to take a picture as a team because we were rushing to wash up so that I wouldn't miss my daughter's first school concert later that day...

Now for some videos.

This was one of the first obstacles and it's harder than it looks because you have to shuffle across for a reasonable distance using only your finger tips. People who do rock climbing would find it easy but my fingers felt like they were going to tear off...

I have a confession to make: I failed my first two tries on this wall. But I finally got a firm kick off on the small ridge on the wall - I'm glad this was an obstacle I could try again without causing any sort of bottleneck...

I had fun on these rings because I managed to figure out the momentum and didn't have to use brute strength like a lot of other people did. It was also one of the last obstacles so you wouldn't be as fresh as the first half of the event.

I must have tried this one four times and I feel it's impossible. I did hear that only one guy in the entire two days made it and he had people helping to steady the coasters along the way. But by the far, the funnest obstacle!

I think this was the second last obstacle! They really kept the most challenging ones for the end when you are at your most fatigued. When I caught my legs on the cargo net, both quads cramped badly and I had to rely fully on my hands instead which was really tough. Out of all the obstacles, this is the one I'm most glad I hung on to complete because I was cramping, knackered and just wanted to drop down and crawl across.

Some friends asked me to join them at the upcoming March event but I declined. It's not that I regret going for it at all - I truly had fun and was ready for the physical demands of the event. It just felt too close to the one which just passed.

If they launch another event at the end of this year, I'll sign up with no hesitation.

Anyone want to join me?

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CNY Break

I really enjoyed Chinese New Year this time round. The last two CNYs before this were spent in KL, recuperating from parenting Nat and from work - we essentially stayed home except for the reunion dinners. This time we actually went on a bit of a holiday and still made it to all the dinners.

I think I'll make this more of a picture post and not be too wordy.

There was a ton of feasting and I put on 3kg which I hope to work off soon.

We went to the animal farm, which Nat absolutely loved. She got to ride a horse for the first time, and play with the rabbits and the deer.

We went on morning hikes. (As you can see, when we get bored, we do silly things to entertain ourselves!)

But what I loved most about CNY was that it was truly about family and spending quality time together. These moments are so precious and priceless to me.

We even made it to church on Sunday and then went back up to Bukit Tinggi again that same evening to stay a final night before the holidays ended.

And with that, I want to wish everyone an awesome CNY and year ahead, filled with blessing, favour and prosperity. May God's hand be so strongly and visibly upon everyone's lives in 2014.

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How to do a full marathon without training

Earlier this year, I impulsively ran my first half marathon without any training. My friend had gotten injured and offered me his bib a couple of days before the Brooks run. And I hated every moment of it because I wasn’t prepared.

I really should have learnt my lesson.

Last Saturday night, I was telling someone that I had somehow lost my half marathon bib and that I was planning to run without it. He happened to be holding on to a mutual friend’s full marathon bib whom had to go overseas for work unexpectedly.

He asked me if I wanted to run the full marathon instead.

My first reaction was “Heck no, are you crazy???” I hadn’t really trained at all – I had run only once in August and twice in September at distances of around 10km each time – and I had done just enough for me to feel like I’d be able to scrape through the half marathon. And then as the night went on, I started thinking about it more and more over dinner, and wondered if I could do it. What started as an itching curiosity slowly grew to a burning question.

That’s the problem with the competitive male ego. When you ask yourself questions about whether you can do something, many times you start finding a way to say yes. “It’s all about the pace. If I go slow, it will be fine.” “It’s all in the mind. They say that if you don’t give up, anyone can do it.” “I already did the half marathon without training. How much worse could this be?”

By the time I had finished dinner, I was convinced I could run it like the wind.

I went home, watched the Man Utd-West Brom game, which wasn’t the best idea because it was a horrible result which distressed me greatly. And then, since my friend was picking me up only two hours later, I decided not to sleep at all. This is something I don’t recommend at all as getting a good sleep before a run is essential and staying up really messed up my condition.

So I find myself at the starting line half asleep from not sleeping, woefully unprepared from a lack of training, and where the only part of me ready to run the race…was my ego.

Surprisingly, I actually start off pretty well. They had these wonderful big, helium-filled balloons attached to the pacers for the race and I decided to try to stay ahead of the 5:00 pacer because that was a good, comfortable pace. As usual at around the 8km mark, I started feeling some soreness in my legs, since I’m only used to running around 10km. But it was a manageable discomfort and I pushed through to reach the 21km marker before 2:20.

Then it started to get crazy. I’ve heard that you usually hit your wall at around 33 to 34km. I hit mine in my 22nd km. I started to alternate between walking and jogging slowly, progressively relying on walking a lot more. My muscles were fine and I didn’t feel particularly tired. But every joint in my leg was starting to be in excruciating pain – both ankles, both knees and the ligaments at the back of the knees, and my right hip flexor.

Most of time, people tell me about muscle cramps during long runs, especially in their calves. But I haven’t heard a lot talk about joint pain. And at 22km onwards, all I could think about was that I was only halfway through and imagining myself crawling over the finish line only using my hands like those decapitated zombies in The Walking Dead.

There were a few times I almost walked across the road to flag down a taxi, but each time, I would remember that I had left my wallet in my friend’s car. I honestly think that if I had cash on me, I’d have taken a cab back home, had a long, hot shower, and slept until Monday morning.

I saw a few people stop and sit down at the side of road, and although it was tempting, I knew that if I sat down, I wouldn’t be able to get back up. I may even have put my face down to the pavement to take a power nap while I wait for an ambulance to pick me up...

So I walked and walked, and I thought to myself how much longer I was dragging out this ordeal by limping through so slowly. But every time I worked up the courage to run on my swollen, inflamed joints, it would maybe last 100 metres at most before I went back to walking again. I found every excuse to stop – my rests at each drink station became more and more extended, and I suddenly needed to pee every time I passed a mobile toilet, even when there was nothing left to squeeze out.

I don’t know if I can accurately describe how bad the pain was – it wasn’t a dull, throbbing pain, but a very active, sharp stab every time I took a step. It grew to a point where even walking at my slowest pace still hurt intensely.

The last 6km was particularly sadistic because the organisers decided to put the hilliest part of the course at the end, through the housing area. However, I was quite all right with it because I had already decided that on any uphills, I would walk - it just gave me clear stretches where I could walk without feeling as ‘guilty’.

In the last 2-3km, all the groups from different distances congregated into one finishing route. To be completely honest, I was quite annoyed when I saw the whole group. They looked so ‘fresh’, especially those who were only doing the 10km race and they were walking! It was like a party atmosphere with people skipping around, talking to each other, and stopping to take pictures. Many times, they would stop right in front of other runners without realising it just to pose and take some silly selfie.

Here I was, feeling like I was at death’s door, and experiencing a sensation potentially similar to having screws driven into all my leg joints, trying my hardest to get to the finish line. And I’d be blocked by some oblivious couple, holding hands and humming The Lion King in front me, who decide to take a loving picture in the middle of the road.

If I had a blowtorch right then…

Finally, I see the finish line 100 metres away. I contemplate continuing my slow, limping walk so I can finish the race looking exactly as I feel. But then I see the cameras. And for one last, brutal, 100 meters, I jog.

I completed the 2013 Standard Charted Full Marathon in an unenviable time of 5 hours 24 minutes and 47 seconds (the cut off time was 6 hours). It was a stupid decision to try it without training and I wouldn’t advise anyone to do the same.

So is it possible to run a full marathon without training? According to my experience, it isn’t possible. It’s too taxing and your body hasn’t built up the capacity to handle the distance yet, especially the legs.

But is it possible to complete a full marathon without training? Absolutely. With a lot of pain and a decent base of fitness, it’s possible. But only with lot of walking – I don’t see anyone running throughout the 42km without preparation.

My actual first full marathon was supposed to be SCM Singapore this December. And this is where I’m determined to redeem myself by training for it and hitting sub 5 hours. Let’s see how that works out.

I leave you with some pictures from the day.

My 'fake' smile at the 36km marker

With Gabe, who finished in around 5 hours despite nursing a really bad cramp

The three of us who are no longer Full Marathon Virgins

Showing off our finisher T-Shirts

With the BWC running group after lunch

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Viper Challenge complete

After over five months of looking forward to it, the Viper Challenge finally came. And I have to say that it was one of the funnest things I did in 2013. It was far more exciting than the standard running event and I found myself looking forward to each obstacle with long periods of the more ‘boring’ running in between. But since I’m rather all right with running nowadays (especially with my target to run my first full marathon in December), even the running wasn’t too bad – other than flat roads, there were off trail runs, as well as uphills and downhills, which kept things interesting.

The obstacles themselves weren’t too difficult but because I went with a group of friends, the fun of the teamwork experience more than made up for the relative ease of most of them. My team also tended to try to look for the most challenging way to handle each obstacle – going through the muddiest and most slippery parts, not using a boost up, and climbing over the middle part of walls so we couldn’t brace against the side supports. I understand why the organisers made it a bit easier this time round because it was the first time it was being held and it meant that most, if not all, participants could finish the course.

I think that a lot of people underestimated how far 20km really is. A lot of them focused on training for the obstacles, building up more strength, especially in their upper body, so I observed a lot of people really struggling with the distance and the steep uphill climbs. The distance and trail weren’t easy at all and the ones who did better were those where running is their main sport of choice – with obstacles, they could still use boost ups and people at the top helping to pull them up. There was a group of men who decided to do the event topless with pretty flawless physiques (well-defined 8-pack, bulging pectorals and biceps), who finished far, far behind my group, so this went to show that the course wasn’t exactly catered to bodybuilders and ‘non-running crossfitters’.

All in all, it was a blast. Would I do it again if it came around next year? Most definitely. I know that there were a ton of complaints on the Viper Facebook page but I didn’t share any of their negative experiences. It probably helped that I did it on Sunday morning so a lot of the issues were improved on by them. The weather was awesome and very cool until the sun started coming out around 10:45am or so. The thunderstorm which went on for hours and then stopped right when we started made the course and obstacles excitingly muddy and fun. I didn’t get any diarrhoea from drinking from the Syabas water tanks. None of my team got injured. I’m not that fussed that some of the obstacles changed from the original list in the marketing material.

And most of all, I really enjoyed the company of my teammates. There were two guys and two girls, and somehow, all our preferred paces matched each other. The guys didn’t have to slow down for the girls, and vice versa. No one felt like they had to wait for anyone, and no one felt like they were slowing down the group. But I have to say that the girls in our group were super fit. My sister didn’t train at all but effortlessly got through and didn’t even ache after or have DOMS, whereas I was sore for a good two days after. And my sister’s friend has been doing crossfit with her boyfriend for years so she’s a lot stronger than me. Her boyfriend…could probably have carried the three of us on his shoulders and gone through the course.

I’m actually tempted to do the upcoming Reebok One Challenge in September but it’s a week before my Standard Chartered half marathon and so it will be hard to train for both consecutively, and I don’t want to risk injury right before a run. After much deliberation and my finger hovering over the button to register, I’ve decided not to go ahead with it. It also helped me decide (very quickly) when my wife narrowed her eyes at me and said I shouldn’t be gone two Sunday mornings in a row because that’s when she’s at work (in church), and the two babies would have to be left with my in-laws.

So this concludes my first ever obstacle race experience. I can’t wait for the next one. It may not be Reebok Challenge but my sister has just sent me one called the Commando Challenge happening in Singapore this December. So maybe…

Who’s going to join me for the next one?

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Viper Challenge training update

After one month of staying at the in-law's house for my wife's 'confinement month', I came back to my home to find that the apartment had just installed facilities for futsal and basketball. I don't think I've ever been happier with the management at my condo than when I found out. I just love that I can practically walk outside my doorstep and immediately shoot some hoops.

On another note, I've been feeling absolutely exhausted. This 'handling two babies at the same time' thing is starting to really get to me, and in the past one week, I had two quick work trips to Singapore and a lot happening at my side business too.

Nevertheless, I managed to get in a 40 minute training session with Viper in mind, starting with 20 minutes of basketball to get warmed up, and then a basic circuit comprising three sets of the following exercises.

• 10 deadlifts (112 pounds)
• 10 bench presses (two 40 pound dumbbells)
• 10 squat shoulder presses (two 20 pound dumbbells)
• 25 sit-ups

I haven't stepped into the gym for over three months because I've been training for the half marathon which was eventually postponed by the haze, and have mainly been running. It's not going to be easy to get back in the routine of weights again but I'm looking forward to building up strength and power, which is going to be important for Viper.

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Viper Challenge training update

It’s been awhile since I wrote about anything remotely related to fitness but I’ve been trying to maintain regular exercise even though my energy levels have been somewhat drained after the birth of my second daughter one month ago.

The Standard Chartered Marathon has been postponed to 29 September because of the haze and so the next event to train for is Viper Challenge which takes place 17 and 18 August. Instead of purely focusing on running, I have to change my routine to incorporate more strength training since the most challenging aspects of the event will be in the obstacles and not the distance.

Yesterday, a group of us met in the park to begin our Viper Challenge preparation. We decided to make it more cross-fit style and got one of our friends who goes to ‘Bootcamp’ to take us through some of the basic routines.

This is what I got through in a 45-minute session:

• 2 x 2km run: Warm up and cool down runs sandwiching the workouts listed below
• 16 sets of stairs with 80m runs between each one
• 3 sets of basic circuit (with no rest in between)comprising: 10 burpees, 8 cross jacks, 6 jumping jacks, 4 plank jacks, 2 push up burpees, 50m run (repeat)

There was a stronger focus on cardio and lower body training, and I’ll be looking to incorporate more upper body strength training in the future workouts to have a balanced approach. At the same time, I tend to have already done training on my lower body from my running and basketball sessions, and so my upper body has a ton of catching up to do!

1.5 months to go...I’m looking forward to future sessions!

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The Viper Challenge 2013

It's been a rather impulsive year for me so far in terms of going for physical events. I've just signed up for the Viper Challenge which is a grueling 20km course filled with man-made obstacles. It takes place on 17-18 August and will be held at the Sepang International Circuit, organised by Original Bootcamp Sdn Bhd. You can get the registration form from their official page, and get details and updates from their Facebook page. Or you can check out their promotional video.

Last year, I saw some Tough Mudder event videos on Youtube and was immediately inspired to want to try it out, wondering when it would come to Malaysia. So when this event came up, I signed up without any hesitation and even though it's not as extreme as Tough Mudder, I know that I will need to do some serious training and preparation to get into shape to even survive and finish the event. Check out the video below if you're not convinced.

There are no medals and no trophies. No one technically 'wins' the event and it is not even considered a race. No one even checks whether you went go the obstacles or just walk around the ones you are not keen to do. It's about surviving it, helping those around you, and receiving help. It's about teamwork and camaraderie, whether you signed up as part of a team or even as an individual working with strangers around you. It's about crawling past the finish line knowing that you went through a tough, tough course...and made it.

There are 20 obstacles during the course to overcome:

• Jump Platform
• Dusty Trench Crawl
• Barb Wire Crawl
• Through Tube
• M Wall
• Container Climb
• Ice Jump
• Hill Slide
• Over Under Walls
• Tyre Run
• Bars Over Water
• Log Jumps
• Trench Crawl
• On The Wire
• Trench Pool
• Balance Beam
• Pyramid Tree
• Corrugated Tunnel
• Incline Wall
• Cargo Net

Over the next week or two, I'm going to be thinking through a training program that hopefully gets me more ready for the event based on the different obstacles. I'm definitely going to need to work on my balance which is terrible, continue doing some strength conditioning on the upper and lower body in the gym, and continue building endurance through my runs. At the same time, I'm going to need to build in more plyometric and calisthenics in areas with outdoor exercise equipment, usually situated next to parks, because they seem to be the type of exercises used in the obstacles.

Wish me luck! Anyone wish to join me?

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My first ever half marathon

(Warning: Long post ahead)

I’ve just finished my first ever half marathon in the time of 2 hours 7 minutes 59 seconds. And it felt absolutely hellish.

I truly, hated every single moment.

I only decided to do it around three days before the event. My friends told me to ‘bandit’ the event which is to run it without registering and I was thinking to myself whether I was crazy enough to take up the challenge. I said I would consider it but when my friend got injured and passed me his bib, there was no turning back.

Just to give a bit of background, the first time I ran more than 2km was on 5 January 2013, when I joined my friends’ running group. I’ve always disliked running, finding it boring and tedious, and stuck more to team sports. But I’ve been finding it hard to find time to exercise in between work, church ministry and spending time with family, and this is where running came in; I can do a quick 20 to 30 minute run anywhere and still have time for other areas in my life.

So I ran with the group twice in January and twice in February. Then the day before the race, I foolishly went on another 10km run – my reasoning was to tire myself out so I could sleep before the super early start of the race the next day. I have to confess that I complete overcompensated in this – my feet and muscles were aching after the 10km run, and then I had a church commitments from 9am to 8pm, before I went for dinner. I was completely exhausted…hours before the event.

At the very least on Saturday, I did some carb loading for dinner eating two whole pastas myself. I then stopped by the running store to check on their power gels although I didn’t really intend to get any; the store salesperson was quite convincing and I ended up buying blister-proof socks for RM45, a phone armband for RM94 and two power gels for RM16. All in the span of five minutes…I’m never stopping by a running store ever again. I then dropped by the grocery and bought some bananas.

I got home at 10pm, washed up, put the baby to sleep and then tried to sleep. You know those days when you’re so tired but can’t fall asleep? That happened to me for awhile but thank goodness I still knocked off before midnight and resisted the temptation to watch the Barca-Real match. I woke up at 3:40am, showered and ate two bananas before heading out. I arrived at 4:25am because I heard stories about parking being a big congestion…no such thing (I could have had half an hour more sleep).

I then met up with my friends who were doing the same distance and watched them warm up with some jogging and stretching. I didn’t join them because I didn’t want to be tired before the race! We then slowly walked over to the starting line when the announcement was made and ended up near the back of a huge crowd. We were still taking pictures when the starting gun went off as there was no warning or countdown but we didn’t miss out on anything because it took three minutes before we even reached the starting line.

And then the madness started.

I think around 5,000 runners were packed in a two lane street and as I was near the back, I would either have to go at the pace of those in front of me or expend a lot of energy trying to zig zag through and overtake. As my ‘kiasu-ness’ was fired up by the competitive feeling of the race, I decided on the second approach. So for the first 3 to 5km, I was all over the place – left, right, up on the pavement, down on the road – as I tried to get through those maintaining a slower pace. And I found out that there are quite a few out there who want to run at a slow pace and yet don’t want to give way for you to pass. Malaysians, go figure.

Suffice to say, I spent A LOT of energy during that first stretch and by the time the crowd thinned out for me to go at my preferred pace, my breathing was ragged and my sweat was pouring out profusely. This was less than 5km into the race and there was a long, long way to go.

And then the hills started hitting.

I’m not sure if I can explain to you how much I wanted to hurt those hills. I’m not even sure if hate is a strong enough word to describe how I felt about them. My legs would already be burning and then a long stretch of hill would come up, and my heart would sink a little lower each time. If you’re ever intending to do the Brooks run in future, be aware that it is a hilly course – they’re not very steep but they can be for long stretches and they’ll keep coming at you again and again.

When I reached the 8km marker, this was when the pain really started to hit. The common trend when I join the running group is that from about 8km, my legs start to feel pain beyond the usual burn – my right calf starts to tense up with the feeling before a cramp and the balls of my feet also start hurting with every step. But since we usually stop around 10km, my body is used to getting rest around that distance.

As the pain intensified over the next two km, I seriously considered stopping at the 10km mark and treating this race as preparation for the Standard Chartered Marathon in June where I actually intended to do my first half marathon – which is why I’ve taken it so easy with my training so far with four more months to go! The recommendation would be to start with a 10km race anyway for my first ever race and build up from there.

At some point in the race, a middle aged man who was running side by side with me fell straight down, bumping against my hip as he went down. He didn’t even lift his arms to protect himself as he fell hard face-first into the gravel road; he was completely out cold with no indication of pain or discomfort one second before. I ran back to check on him and his eyes were open but he had clearly fainted and was not responding to anything. Quite a few runners stopped and others tried to find help by shouting medic and running towards personnel.

I stayed there for around 30 seconds wondering what to do. The man was already surrounded by many runners taking care of him and I knew there wasn’t much else I could do to help because I don’t really know CPR. I decided to run on but spent the rest of the race thinking back on whether he was all right. I found out later on that he had passed away leaving his wife and two children – may he rest in peace. He looked quite fit and apparently he had run races before so it was quite scary and shocking to see that sudden cardiac arrest still happened.

One thing I realised is that my estimation of distance is terrible. I was sure I had done around 14km when I hit the 10km marker and the trend continued throughout. It’s a heck of a lot further than you’d expect. My pace dropped significantly in the second half, especially during the hills, and this was when my ego took a real beating. So many older aunties passed me constantly…and there were times I felt embarrassed and tried to speed up to pass them again.

Unfortunately, I never caught up to a single one that had passed me. My legs just refused to listen anymore.

I decided to take one power gel at 11km just to test it out. It was delicious! I got the mixed berry flavour from the Viper brand and I loved it – it felt like I was having dessert in the middle of one of the most gruelling physical experiences in my life. From then on, I started alternating between my usual pace and a slow jog every time I needed to recover. I stopped thinking about getting a good finishing time and focused on not stopping at all to walk; as long as I could maintain a leisurely jog, I was satisfied.

When I reached the final third of the race, I could feel that I wasn’t getting oxygen efficiently around my body anymore. My hands and forearms got pins and needles as though all the oxygenated blood was being focused on my legs and not my arms, and I felt very lightheaded and dizzy.

Finally I reached the last drinks station – 4km remaining – where a big group of my friends had volunteered to man. It was such an encouragement to see their smiling faces and hear them cheer my name for the last stretch. My spirits lifted when I saw them but was unable to pick up my pace at all; I just knew I would push on to the end at the same laboured pace. I took my last power gel as I passed this point to get enough energy to get to the end.

The last 4km was the most painful yet most hopeful part of the race. Just seeing the signs indicating ‘3km remaining’, ‘2km remaining’ and ‘Last 1km’ gave me a burst of hope each time. I even tried to speed up a bit in the last km but I miscalculated my remaining energy and because the final 500m was a constant uphill climb, I ran out of juice right before I reached the end.

Usually, my friends tell me they get the most excited at the end and practically sprint the last 100m, feeling the excitement of finishing the race. When I hit the last 100m, I felt like I had used up all my remaining energy, and for the first time in the race, I walked…just metres away from the finish line. I walked for around 50m and then managed to jog the final 50m to cross the finish line – I couldn’t face the people cheering at the finishing line walking at a snail’s pace.

When I finished, there was no sense of joy or exhilaration at all. No feeling close to what my friends had told me. No profound sense of completion and fulfilment. It was just pain, pain and more pain. And a stream of constant complaints in my mind.

“Why do people subject themselves to this torture?”

“I’m going to cancel my registration to the Standard Chartered Marathon in June.”

“I’m going to cancel my plans to run the full marathon at the end of the year.”

“There are far more enjoyable forms of exercise than running.”

“Only people who are addicted to pain will do this.”

During that first half hour after I finished the race, I was completely sure I would never want to participate in another race ever again. I was considering quitting running altogether and just focusing on more interesting and less painful sports.

Writing this post a few days later, I think I’m almost ready to consider showing up for the half marathon in June but this time with a bit more training. I just hope I don’t lose any muscle mass preparing for it.

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How to survive a Zombie Run, Part 2

Almost a week ago, I faced down a bloodthirsty horde of zombies and since I'm still able to write about it, I guess I survived.

First of all, I would like to qualify that it wasn't really a 'zombie run'. It was more of a 'zombie treasure hunt'. You didn't have to run through a course but you had to try to find certain tokens hidden in guarded zones (up to five different tokens can be found per team), which can then be redeemed for prizes at the end of the allocated time (45 minutes). My team found one of the five tokens with four out of five survivors at the end.

On hindsight, I made some critical mistakes and would have gone about it an entire different way if I had the opportunity again. I stood right at the front of the pack of runners and when the race started, I didn't really wait for anyone - I ran straight to zone 4 and 5 which was considered the most difficult, and ran around a few times looking for the tokens myself. After three or four rounds, I couldn't find anything and gave up to look in other zones.

The teams which did better stuck with the main group and worked together to rush the zombies to get the tokens, sacrificing those on the fringes to obtain them. Whereas I prioritised staying alive, other teams understood that the main point of the game was not to survive but to sacrifice as many people needed to get as many tokens as possible.

But here are some points which helped me stay alive:


1. Run smart. In this kind of event, actually speed and cardio is not as important as I originally thought. Just make yourself harder to catch than someone else. Avoid the 'chasers' which are allowed to run. If you're desperate, find some slightly more challenging terrain and the zombies will look for an easier target - there was one time a chaser made it a personal challenge to kill me and I slid halfway down a steep hill on purpose, where if the zombie followed, they risked falling down so he just looked for an easier target.

2. Stick with the group. Like I mentioned above, the teams which did well worked together with other teams, sticking to the biggest group, and charging the identified 'token areas' together, willing to sacrifice whoever the zombies managed to kill. The more people there are, the more chance you have of rushing through and getting the tokens because each zombie is only allowed to kill one person at a time.

3. Watch your back. I saw many people focus too much on the chasers, where they would flee in terror when these zombies ran after the group, then when the chaser turned away somewhere else after killing someone, they would group together feeling safe but the slow zombies, the 'stumblers' would come up slowly behind them and start killing without them even realising it.

4. Protect your life strap. This seems pretty self explanatory and I didn't use it but I saw others pull it off quite successfully. The life strap is on the survivor's back and zombies aren't allowed to use physical force to get it unless they can pull it off cleanly. So there were people pushing their backs up against a tree or lying down while zombies surrounded them, where some managed to escape when the zombies were distracted. The only way I applied this tip was to always place my back facing away from zombies when I went past them - there were times I went past the stumblers slowly but slid sideways, protecting my back and none of them could reach the straps cleanly.

5. Have a sharp eye. I found it terribly frustrating to not be able to find where any of the tokens were hidden. I went to every zone and ran around each a couple of times, running from zombies and looking very hard...and I only spotted one token. One measly token. In a real zombie apocalypse, I guess you would need to spot the supplies you need very early and strategise to get them quickly and effectively - if you can't even spot what you need, there's no point running around like a headless chicken.


Overall, I had quite a bit of fun although I am a bit disappointed that I couldn't do better. I really should have stuck with the main group rather than go about it as an individual.

Am I going to sign up again if it comes around? Probably not. If a real 5km Zombie Run is planned with obstacles like how it's done overseas, I will consider it. But I'm not signing up for another treasure hunt version, especially not for RM75.

On a side note, I got a Zombie Run shirt which was 'M' sized but the organisers didn't indicate that 'S' and 'M' were 'chic cut'. I almost tore the shirt when I first tried it on...I guess I'll be giving it to my wife.

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How to survive a Zombie Run

As the event hasn’t happened yet, I can’t really say that I’m an authority on this topic but when I Googled this topic, there wasn’t any useful advice I could find at all. The only information I could find was on promotional material for other similar events happening in different countries which did not contain any relevant tips.

So I’m going to potentially break this down into two parts: Firstly, to look at how I’m trying to prepare for the event and then, if I don’t die embarrassingly fast, to provide real-life experience and advice. Of course, if you don’t find a Part 2 to this post soon, well…you know what happened.

So what do I think is important to be prepared?


1. Cardio is key. If you watched Zombieland, there was a lot of emphasis on making sure you could last the distance. Even if you are able to escape the first chase, there’s no point if you have no more juice left in the tank by the time you get through the course. So the team has been trying to meet for some jogging sessions and we’ve managed a grand total of two sessions!

2. Speed is going to be as important. You may have the stamina to run a marathon but if you can’t go any faster than my grandma’s walking speed, you won’t even survive the first chase. Our team tried some sprint training…we ran and one of the team member’s boyfriend chased us around. Oh yeah, we’re ready.

3. Do your research – learn the rules so you don’t get disqualified and try to scout out the venue if you can. For a moment, I thought about stopping by the paintball park before the event…then got lazy and just browsed the pictures they uploaded on the Zombie Run Facebook page.

4. Be in peak physical condition. This is not just about staying fit but staying injury free, getting enough sleep and eating well in the few days before the event. For example, on Monday, I pushed myself too hard working out and strained both calf muscles…don’t be like me. At least it gives me time to recover and I’ve already committed to stay away from basketball and futsal this week. I’m also going to buy bananas to eat before the run and make sure that I stretch and warm up prior because there’s no point cramping up or pulling something in the first sprint itself!

5. Work out your strategy with your team first. I’ve got two extra life straps to distribute when anyone gets ‘killed’ but the prizes for your team are only activated if at least one of the team finishes alive and various tokens have been collected. Decide beforehand whether the priority is to try to ‘win’ the game or to ensure that those who die first get back in the game to play along and have fun.

Three more days.


It’s weird. The closer it gets to the event, the more competitive I’m starting to feel and the desire to give it my best. Over a week ago, I didn’t feel anything about it at all except that it would be fun and I could say I took part in the first Zombie Run in Malaysia.

But right now, I have to admit: I want to win.

(Four out of five of my Zombie Run team. The guy on the right was replacing the missing member temporarily!)

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Zombie Run update

It’s happening this Saturday.

When I first wrote about the event, I didn’t have most of the details yet because the event organisers were still revealing it bit by bit on the Facebook page.

First of all, it won’t take teams a whole day to get through the course as I originally assumed. There are five different waves where 40 teams of five members will be assigned to each wave. This means there are 200 teams in total of which registration is already full.

Secondly, the registration fee for each team is RM375, which is RM75 per pax. This is rather steep but considering the amount of set up and preparation needed, I decided to go ahead with it just so I could say that I was part of the first Zombie Run in Malaysia.

Thirdly, everyone is assigned a bib with only one life strap attached with Velcro (captains get two). If the zombies pull it off, you have to exit the course. I felt that this was unfair because if you pay RM75 and get killed in the first five minutes, you won’t get to play much at all. I would have preferred if you could run on with your team to experience the teamwork and fun of the treasure hunt, but then have points deducted at the end depending on how many ‘deaths’ there were in your team.

Fourthly, there are tokens to collect throughout the course, and if any of your team survives, the points will be based on how many tokens are collected. Sounds tough…to have to survive AND collect these tokens.

Also, there is a secret shop set up somewhere in the middle where you need to find and access with a password: “Zombie Market”. Finding this shop will be a risk because you need to find the correct zombie and say the password – if you find the wrong zombie, you’re probably dead.

Finally, depending on where you purchased your Zombie Run tickets for participation, you get certain perks or power-ups. We bought ours from Kelana Jaya and the perk we got was that the captain gets one additional life strap.

I’m quite happy with this perk because as the captain, I already have two life straps – this enables me to have three life straps to allocate to those who die if I want to revive them based on the team’s strategy.

I’m really excited!

I’m hoping for good weather, lots of fun and no injuries. Wish us luck!

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Zombie Run Malaysia 2013

It's finally here - the very first official event in Malaysia for Zombie Run which has been happening all over the world.

I've been quite excited about it ever since I saw some of the videos of the event happening overseas and wondered if we would ever see it here.

The details are as follows:

• Date: 2 Feb 2013
• Venue: Canyon Paintball Park Bukit Utama, Petaling Jaya
• Duration: 7am - 7pm
• Team: 5 members / team
• Contact: zombierunmalaysia@gmail.com
• More details at the official Facebook page

Basically, you have to form teams of five who will have to survive as they travel through a mapped out route where there will be zombies (people dressed up as zombies) chasing you through a jungle-like setting with broken walls, abandoned huts, destroyed cars, and so on.

If they follow the same format as the videos I've seen, the participants will wear tough-rugby type Velcro strips which can be pulled off and once they lose all of them, they 'die' in the game.

It sounds like an easy way to twist an ankle or break a wrist by falling during the chase and I'll have to ask permission from my wife to be away practically the whole day...but I think I'm going to do it! I'm currently discussing with my colleagues to submit a team.

Unfortunately, the registration to become one of the zombies has closed and you can only take part as one of the participants. Shucks, it would have been fun chasing down people dressed as a zombie with flesh dripping from my mouth.

Anybody else signing up?

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