Khalifa Stadium 'Fun?' Run
Last Thursday (20 June 2013), Hani and I participated in Khalifa Stadium 'Fun' Run. The race was not really fit with my training plan as I am already in the tapering stage of my next marathon (supposedly in less than 10 days, I will blog about it later). But since it is the last race of the season here in Doha, I guess I could just go, run it easy and have fun.
Well a race is still a race no matter what. I purposely started from the very back of the crowd but already found myself at the front of the chasing pack after a lap around the stadium track before we heads out of the stadium. The race course was nothing like I ever done before. From the track we ran on the perimeter of the stadium, then climbed two sets of 5 storeys stairs before running down a steep spiral ramp, then along the corridors and up and down the big ramps and repeat the same thing twice. I told myself to take this race easy, but being a competitive person, I simply have to give my best.
What supposed to be a FUN run was in fact really challenging. Not only the stairs but the heat was almost unbearable. I can feel my heart pounding. I finished the 5.8 km of track, stairs, ramp and corridor course in 30.19 with an average pace of 5:19 min/km and placed among the top 20 (the race was not officially timed and ranked though). Garmin Connect data here (Khalifa Stadium Run Around Race by Syafei at Garmin Connect - Details).
It was a big night for Hani. Though she was not happy with her time (44 min which include a toilet break), she won a QAR 100 voucher on lucky draw and was being interviewed by a local television station. All in all it was a very well organised event, kudos to the organiser especially our friend David Thompson.
Well a race is still a race no matter what. I purposely started from the very back of the crowd but already found myself at the front of the chasing pack after a lap around the stadium track before we heads out of the stadium. The race course was nothing like I ever done before. From the track we ran on the perimeter of the stadium, then climbed two sets of 5 storeys stairs before running down a steep spiral ramp, then along the corridors and up and down the big ramps and repeat the same thing twice. I told myself to take this race easy, but being a competitive person, I simply have to give my best.
What supposed to be a FUN run was in fact really challenging. Not only the stairs but the heat was almost unbearable. I can feel my heart pounding. I finished the 5.8 km of track, stairs, ramp and corridor course in 30.19 with an average pace of 5:19 min/km and placed among the top 20 (the race was not officially timed and ranked though). Garmin Connect data here (Khalifa Stadium Run Around Race by Syafei at Garmin Connect - Details).
It was a big night for Hani. Though she was not happy with her time (44 min which include a toilet break), she won a QAR 100 voucher on lucky draw and was being interviewed by a local television station. All in all it was a very well organised event, kudos to the organiser especially our friend David Thompson.
 |
| Clockwise: A Runners couple from Malaysia; Hani being Interviewed by TV reporter, with Muhammad Noussier from Egypt (a Cancer survivor) and his wife and our PSY friend, Lolyta; Lolyta and her post race ritual; Hani won lucky draw |
 |
| With some of our friend from DBRC |
Comments