Klang Gate run with a buddy

Klang Gate

Today my buddy - Raymun and i returned to a very familiar and memorable place for hiking/running. It was the place where both of us had our first hike. At that time, he was a young enthusiastic junior who just joined infinity Milers (a running and mountain-climbing club in IMU).  A very kind-natured person of a humble disposition, our friendship kicked off right away. Since then, we have climbed quite a number of mountains and ran many races together, the most memorable of which were 5-day Trans-titiwangsa hike (which covered Gunung Gayong, Yong Belar and Korbu) and Standard Chartered Marathon 2009 (our maiden marathon) that we did together. It's been four years since we first met, and many good things had definitely happened in the process.

Throughout the year, we have been talking much about going for a trail run together. The last time we ran together was in July 2011, when he came to Sunshine Coast to stay with me for 3 days in preparation for the Gold Coast Marathon. In that 3 days, we did some beach running and simple trail running. We also talked a lot on a wide range of topics, from politics to relationships to religion. There really was no ending to our conversation.

Anyway today is the day! We returned to Klang Gate again. Raymun picked me up at 7.30am, and off we drove to the foothill of Klang Gate. After some simple stretching and warming up, we set off. The plan was to cover Klang Gate twice, to run fast in the first lap and slow down in the second to take photos and enjoy the scenery.

There are three parts to Klang Gate. First - the ascent. Second - the technical part that is analogous to running on a dragon's vertebrate. And third - the descent. We started the first lap strongly. Raymun followed my pace and we were going as fast as we could. My thighs and calves started to burn after about 5 mins. Eventually we covered the first loop in 54 mins. The total distance measured is only 3.2km. Haha.. I thought it was more! Coz we normally took about 3 hours to finish the entire Klang Gate on a hiking pace.

In the second lap, we continued to ascend as fast as we could. When we reached the top, we stopped to take photos and enjoy the view. What was meant to be a short break turned out to be an almost half-an-hour break! The funny thing about raymun and i is once we start talking, there is no knowing when we will stop. We just have this brotherly connection that makes us lose track of time. Haha.. Anyhow, when our sweats started to dry up and heart rate slowed down, we thought it was time to be on the trail again. So off we went. When we reached the descent part of the run, we played a catching game. The rule of the game is simple - the first person runs off for 10 seconds first. The next person then starts running to catch the first person. If the first person gets caught, he has to let the second person run away for 10 seconds before he starts catching him again. So we started fumbling down hill and played catching!

The second lap took us 1 hr 24 mins, thanks to the break we had earlier. After the run, we went to a place for some light brunch and discussed our running plan for 2012. Both raymun and i want to attempt an ultra-marathon together, but we have quite different schedules that it makes planning difficult. The few choices we have are Glasshouse 100, Port Douglas Ultra, the Great North Walk, Northface 100 Australia. I hope we can run an ultra together next year!

Raymun is heading to Singapore for medical elective. He is doing an adventure race with Puimun (an avid runner and climber) this coming 15 January in Singapore. I hope they do well!

 

Bye Klang Gate