Larian 40 Taman – the finale

The televised 40^th park run with MZul!

When I first learned of MZul’s personal community project to run 40 parks (totaling a modest but significant 100km) around the country in early 2012, I was impressed with the idea. I joined the 14^th park run at Central Park in Bandar Utama April last year – and some 9 months later, park number 40 is already in sight.

MZul invited me to come and join him in the live telecast of the run on TV3’s Malaysia Hari Ini morning show on January 11^th, 2013 at Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (TTDI). That meant I was to be an extra on the set – running behind him with a group of other runners, which was great. I am always happy to support a fellow runner’s project, big or small.

I arrived at the park at 7am, and MZul was getting ready and briefing the camera crew on what was to unfold for the day. While waiting to say hi to the TV3 host, a crew member approached me and cautiously asked if I was Ilyanna Ayob. I wasn’t, of course. I was secretly pleased to know that Ilyanna was coming since she’s on my list of must-meet people in the local running scene. However later after an exchange of text messages online she told me she didn’t turn up as she was not feeling well.

I then befriended a lovely mother-daughter couple: a young lady named Yin Yin (who used to work with MZul) and her adorable mother, Madam SH (which was her initials but she referred to herself as “sweatheart” – and she was). Aunty SH runs regularly with the Pacesetters group at the TTDI park, and wow I have to say – when we all started running with MZul and the cameras rolled, she sure knew how to kick up the dust!

I managed to catch up with fellow Gaited Community (my running group), MJ – who was there with his Vibram Five Fingers (I still can’t get over the bizarre design of that footwear). He and Yin Yin – who did not know each other prior – bonded really well because of those!

I also got to meet Max Lim, a well-known blogger in the running scene! If you’ve ever googled for race information in Malaysia, you will have most likely stumbled upon Max’s baby – the runwitme blog. I was very happy to have met him, I’ve always wanted to tell Max how awesome his work is – he is a running celebrity in his own right. People who are driven by passion always fascinate me.

Since the MHI show was on air from 7-9am, it was a long wait before we could get on the camera. Till then, MZul talked about his personal experience with running (at one point they showed his before-and-after photos), the road back to good health and fitness level, as well as enlist a subject matter expert to banter on the topic, our top marathoner Shaharuddin Hashim.

As for the rest of us who came to support the show, we did many reiterations of warm-ups just for the cameras, so much that we definitely stretched more than we actually ran! MZul lightheartedly told us that when it came time to run, he only had one rule for us: don’t overtake him!

During a commercial break, MZul came to me with some sweatbands he had gotten from London. I was simply over the moon! More for my collection. 🙂

Soon the time came when a cameraman mounted himself backward as a pillion rider on a motorcycle and began shooting us run with the hosts of MHI leading at the front of the pack. It wasn’t a very long route, just a short 300m loop!

All in all it was a good day! MZul reached his target to complete running at 40 parks to commemorate turning 40 last year and taking back his health – and I got to meet and make new friends as I always do at these events. Now I can only wonder what he’ll come up with when he turns 50!

Watch a video abstract of the show, put together by me. 🙂

Related links:

• Larian 40 Taman 100km: We Did It! (by MZul)
• Exclusive: Interview with M. Zulkifli on the completion of Larian 40 Taman (by Max Lim)
• Photos from the 40th Larian 40 Taman set (by Max Lim)

Related stories from Fairy:

• Sweatband #1: Adidas Team GB
• Sweatband #2: Japan Football Team

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Fairy

Hi! I am Fairy from Petaling Jaya, Malaysia - currently residing in Sydney, Australia. This blog contains write-ups on my fitness adventures, whether it's running, swimming, hiking, Zumba, whatever! If I sweat, I write! As a young adult in my twenties, I led a relatively sedentary lifestyle before I had an awakening in 2011. I was overweight by age 30 and finally decided to turn my life around, so I started to reclaim my health back by losing 20 percent of my then body weight by playing dance and fitness video games! I've not looked back since and now happily lead an active lifestyle. If you want to get in touch with me, please email me at fairy[at]myindo.com or DM me on Instagram @myindo. Thanks for stopping by!

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