running the world

2011 has been a great year for me, particularly in my travels. It was the year where I said "hello again" to London, a place I used to visit so often. Also, I got to materialise my lifelong dream of stepping foot on the soils of Barcelona, Roma and New York City. And being able to run—and race—in these great cities was definitely the highlight of my visits. Alhamdulillah  :)

17 MAY 2011, LONDON
My KL running kaki, Azhar, and I were fortunate to have my ex-schoolmate, Fiona, to take us on a "London By Foot" tour. We started our 11K run at Paddington and went through Hyde Park (passing by the Royal Albert Hall along the way), Green Park, St James Park, past the Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, towards the London Eye by the river, St Paul's, Millennium Footbridge, Shakepeare's Globe and finally ending our sesh just after the Tower Bridge.


Me, Fion and the London Eye



Me and Azhar on the Tower Bridge



Big Ben behind me

24 MAY 2011, ROMA
As fate had it, Azhar arrived in Rome on my last day there so I dragged him to the gorgeous Villa Borghese, the city's largest public park, for a run.


Me, Azhar and one of my twin nephews, Arman, at Villa Borghese



In front of a beautiful 18th century arc called Arco di Settimio Severo (I think)



Running in Roma's largest public park? Check! BTW I just love how Villa Borghese is shaped like a heart  ;)



19 MAY 2011, BARCELONA
Got some precious 'me' time when I went for a solo run in beautiful Barça. The architecture truly blew my mind and I couldn't help myself from stopping so much during this short run all in the name of capturing this city's beauty on my camera.

Parc de la Ciutadella

Arc de Triomf

21 MAY 2011, LA PUJADA AL TIBIDABO
My very first overseas-, trail- and uphill-race. This had me running up Mount Tibidabo, the higest peak in Barcelona (that huge green monster behind me) with total elevations of more than 500m! Happy to have conquered 9.45km of undulating trails in 1:17:41. It was tough but totally worth it  ;)



1 & 3 NOVEMBER 2011, NEW YORK CITY
Myself, Nana and Shanaz did a couple of training runs at the famous Central Park before the three of us ran the NYC Marathon.

Our first training 10K done five days before running the NYC Marathon



See how huge the park is?



6 NOVEMBER 2011, THE ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON
My dream marathon in my dream city done during my dream 11/11/11 birthday month... and completed in my dream time of sub-5 hours  :)))  This was at the 10K mark in Brooklyn. Can you spot me?



Malaysia Boleh in New York!

2012, I wonder where you will take me...

*See the full story of my 2011 running journey in pictures here