I Love You But I Hate You Angie Salter!

I was sad and shocked when I learned that the Salters (Angie and Tony) are leaving Qatar for good soon. They have been very kind and never stop encouraging and motivating me to become a better runner. When I joined DBRC, Angie was one of my Idols. I had a 'crush' on her when I first saw her at RAK Half Marathon last year. I was still at my infancy in running at that time and only been running for few months. I saw her on the opposite direction of the race route where there were some 8 kilometres separating us before I make the U turn. I completed the race almost an hour behind her in 2:45:56 (Angie finished in 1:55:30). I went home with a new target after RAK. To finish a Half Marathon sub two hours and to beat Angie Salter.

Angie was my inspiration. I signed up for Asics Gold Coast Half Marathon and trained hard for it, in Doha summer, but I was still far from catching up with her. One day during a track session, I managed to keep up with her and asked 'Is this your Half Marathon Pace Angie?' . She replied, 'A little bit faster than this, around 5:00/km something'. I was already running at 6:20/km pace, which was close to my top speed at the time. I did not realised that she was on her Recovery and I was on Speed during that Interval. To get a sub 2 hours I have to run sub 5:41/km pace. It was almost impossible I thought. But I took it as a challenge. If Angie, who is 20 years older than me can run sub two hours half marathon and sub four hours full marathon, I can too.

Angie shared with me her Personal Bests and encouraged me to beat them. I have came a long way to close that 8km gap between us since last February and I can finally run with her on our Friday long runs. That is why I was so disappointed to hear she's leving. I thought once I beat Angie, I would try to beat Tony. I even have a code for this little operation, it's called "Catching Up With The Salters".

To Angie, thanks for everything. I wish you all the best in your future races especially the Al-Andalus. I hope we will meet again soon, hopefully in Spain. You offered free accommodation at your place when we visit you in Granada. So I hope the offer has no validity period.

To Tony, take care and I hope you'll find a better job ........ in QATAR

Here is how I fared with Angie today.

5 KM
   0:24:04 04:49/km (Syafei's PB as of 12/02/2013)
   0:24:24 04:52/km (Syafei's PB)
   0:24:30 04:54/km (Angie Salter's PB)

10 KM
   0:48:33 04:51/km (Angie Salter's PB)
   0:48:56 04:53/km (Syafei's PB as of 1/3/2013)
   0:49:56 04:56/km (Syafei's PB)

Half Marathon
   1:45:26 4:57/km (Syafei's PB as of 15/02/2013)
   1:46:00 05:01/km (Angie Salter's PB)
   1:50:11 05:13/km (Syafei' PB)

Marathon
   3:55:20 05/32/km (Syafei's PB as of 26/01/2013)
   3:56:13 05:35/km (Angie Salter's PB)
   4:11:49 05:55/km (Syafei's PB)
   


With Angie after our Friday Run

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