Cross Country

For those who read my earlier blogs, i mentioned about jogging with my colleague, but i did not mention it in detail. Therefore, to allow this blog entry to make sense, i guess i should further explain about jogging sessions with my colleague.

The Colleague
Well, my colleagues name is Joachim. He is one of the many consultants in TIM Consult's 3rd floor (Business Logistics). He's a tall and funny character, with less hair. If your wondering how he looks like, he looks like Dr. Greene in the series ER, but taller, yet his joke somehow reminds me of our Mr. Ngiam (one of my duper seniors). Anyway, as i mentioned earlier, he is incredibly fit. He can run 9.1km non-stop in just over 38 minutes.

The Venue
The venue is a recreational park along the Rhine river not far from our office. it consists of a range of different walking/jogging trails along the Rhine river and into the forest nearby. There are so many different trails that its easier to get lost there then in Tokyo's railway system. However which ever path you take you will somehow magically arrive back to the place you started at, only with some additional blisters on your feet from walking so far. its quite a peaceful place to be and at one point you might even forget that you are living in a city. Anyway, our selected path is a 9.1 KM long path that ranges from gravel tracks to muddy, narrow paths through the woods.

The Race
Yes, we decided to have a race. However, i tried to jog through the path the other day, and after only 1 KM i couldn't run anymore. My stamina has obviously been reduced to the level of an asthmatic patient. I realized that there is no way i can even compete with Joachim. I wasn't really a jogging person, I'm a Cycler! So i came up with this brilliant solution. Since im a cycler, and he is a runner, we decided to have a race. Of course you might think, im on a bike and he is running, NO fair!! So to make things fair for him, i have to do two rounds and he has to do only one round. That means i have to overlap him in order to win. So, this means he is doing 9.1km, and Ill be doing 18.2km of cross country cycling. Hmm...i think that maybe about the same distance from my house in Wangsa Melawati, KL to Bukit Bintang..i think...Only in this case its a cross country setting instead of a green house gas polluted city. He usualy averages 14-15km/h when he runs so i have to do an average speed of about 28-30km/h which is quite challenging due to the fact that im not the only one jogging there..many more people and their four legged animals are walking along the paths. Im sure it will be a real challenge and a fun one too. I'm up to it!!

The Test Run
We went on a try yesterday. That was the first time in a few months that i have cycled in a fast and furious manner. Well we started out OK till I took the wrong turn early into the race and I lost over 10 minutes as a result because i had to turn back and take the correct turn, so basically my race was over. But i did not stop there, i went on with full force. I did pass Joachim who was oblivious of my temporary loss of direction and thought i had overlap-ed him. I pushed myself to the limit to see how far i could go and how fast. In my attempt to break the land speed record, i temporary lost focus and fell from my bike (it was Joachim's bike actually) and cut my ankle, but nothing serious, i just got back on and continued cycling. Before long i was back at the starting point.

The Experience
It certainly was not a pleasant experience for the lungs. All the cold and humid air, a result of 3 days of rain, made my lungs freeze in coldness. And the funny thing was the "Dog" effect i experienced. What i mean is, i hardly sweat throughout the whole race, instead, i experienced an increased level of saliva building up in my mouth. It was as if all the moist from the air has condensed in my lungs and mouth causing me to constantly spit out whatever excess saliva from my mouth. However i didn't have much problem in the stamina side. I was able to maintain a steady speed throughout the whole race.

Towards the Future
We will have another race tomorrow, i hope i don't get lost again and i also hope there will not be so many people walking in the park. I think i will have a bet. whoever wins this race will treat the other for lunch. Not really a bet but a reward. The difference between a bet and a reward is, in the latter you are able to make an effort to change the outcome while in the former, it's all luck...