KL International Marathon

Warning! Long post ahead. Read at your own "peril"!

Yup! It’s been that kind of week. Read “Damsel in Distress” if you have yet to do so.

Remember the blog Cardio! Cardio! Cardio!, where our Siau Club President (SCP) signed us up for the KL International Marathon? Thank God he registered most of us under the 10km category instead of the half or full marathon. Only SCP and Manny, the Hill Rabbit got the honours of registering for the half and full marathon respectively

Well 18th March, the D-Day, finally arrived. And six out of the 12 registered did not turn up! Notably, our SCP was missing. He had a last minute training. Sister Mary had a RPM class at 11.30am and PW had to attend a last minute company function at 8.00am. The rest were Derek, Shane didi and Ming (former SCP), who for various reasons, could not make it for the run either. That left Manny, Sir Kyle, Viv, LK, Val and yours truly to uphold the Siau Club flag on that fateful day.

Ok. I admit I slacked terribly in my training after our initial registration. In fact, I had absolutely no training at all except for a wee bit of cardio from my weekly badminton game and my off-and-on whenever-we-can-wake-up weekend trekking trips up Gasing Hill.

Thus, on Saturday (the day before the run), Val and I decided that we REALLY must make a valiant attempt at the race. So, off we went to the gym for my first and also last training for our first 10km outdoor run. I managed to do a 30 minute run on the treadmill but that would have to suffice. Both Val and I reckoned that if we could not run all the way during the race, we could at least walk. We could also rely on the miracle liquid drink (Power Gel) discovered by sister Mary during our adventure up Mount Kinabalu. She swore by that now and after witnessing the effect on her (she literally had a spurt of energy and zoomed ahead of us after taking the drink!), we decided we had nothing to lose using that stuff. Back to matters at hand, we figured that no matter what happened we must complete the race.

As Manny was the only one who signed up for the full marathon, he had to arrive at Dataran Merdeka at 3.30am for registration as his run would start at 4.00am, whilst the rest of us (the 10km category) were required to register at 6.30am as our run would start at 7.00am. Kyle volunteered to fetch Manny down whilst the rest of us would arrive later. We all thought that it was really sweet of Kyle to do so, as he not only had to wake up blardy early, he also had to wait a good three hours before his race began. I am not quite sure if I’d have done that for my best friends were I put to the test.

In any case, the ladies arrived in time for the race. There was no sign of Kyle but we expected as much, as the crowd was tremendous. We all brought our handphones with us and decided on a place to meet up after the race should we part during the race.

The gun went off and so did we. The initial 100 meters were slow going as we had to weave our way through the thick crowd. In any case, I felt a burst of energy (which was natural and had nothing to do with Power Gel! :p) and was itching to capitalise on that and cover as much ground as possible. But I was torn between staying at my friends’ pace and going off on my own. But after a couple of minutes, and with them sensing my “impatience”/”energy”, they urged me to go ahead.

Off I went! And it was exhilarating ~ overtaking participant after participant. I knew my burst of energy would deplete soon but my plan was to run 30 minutes without stopping, then take a five minute walk, and run the rest of the way! At the 20 minute mark, I was getting thirsty and my pace had slowed. I ran on, determined to hit the 30 minute mark before I gave in. Everything was a blur as I paced myself against time. Minutes ticked by slowly. My steps ate the ground slowly but surely. Yet no drink stops were in sight.

The moment the minute hand hit the 30 minute mark, I slowed down to a fast walking pace. Barely five minutes later, I spotted the drink stop. I grabbed two cups each of water and 100 Plus, and gulped them down one by one. With my thirst finally quenched, I started my run again. But this time, I couldn’t quite get back my running rhythm. I was running and walking and running and walking. At one point, my right calf muscle and instep were giving me a lot of problems. I could feel my muscle getting stiff but I needed to complete the race and preferably well within the time stipulated. My competitive spirit asked it. My pride demanded it.

A look at the watch and I noted that 50 minutes had lapsed and I was still on Jalan Sultan Ismail. I saw Sheraton Imperial and thought we were headed for the highway. My heart plummeted as I realised that there was no way in hell I could finish the race within the stipulated 1hour and 30 minutes if we took that route. I had no idea how many kilometres I had already covered. For a moment, I toyed with the idea of taking the Power Gel. But I decided against it as I felt I was close enough to complete without the added help. Besides, I wanted to complete the race on my own steam if I could.

I ran on, still determined. Suddenly, a participant stopped in the middle of the road and groaned. He had pulled his muscle quite badly. I watched in empathy as an official came to his aid. Fearing for my right leg, I continued my run but took care to slow down a bit more. I’d rather be slow than to end up not finishing the race due to muscle injury.

To my surprise and joy, the route took a left turn into Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and on towards Dataran Merdeka! I was in with a chance. I picked up my pace and ran, hopped, walked all the way to the finishing line! I managed to finish in 1 hour and 10 minutes, and got a medal and certificate for the run in the process. That was way cool!

Val came in merely five minutes after me, whilst Viv and LK came in a mere five minutes after Val! We all made it within the stipulated time and I was mightily impressed that the ladies actually ran all the way. Hip Hip Hurray for all of them!

We then hunted for the boys. We sent them smses, but did not receive any reply. We called them to no avail as we only reached their voicemails. Half an hour later, we received a call from Kyle. It seemed that he ran the half marathon instead of the 10km run (taking over SCP’s place). We were all very impressed that he actually completed the race, … and in 2 hours and 35 minutes no less! That was blardy fantastic although I refused to tell Kyle then (just in case it went up to his head)! Hehehehe …

We had great fun during the run. But it went down hill from then on … from a planning perspective, that is. Is it a man thing not to plan ahead on where to meet after a race? Especially since one party did not have his handphone with him during the race and he ran a different distance from the other party? And the other party actually moved his car away from the original parking space where the first party knew he parked?

In any case, we thought we lost Hill Rabbit. We could not find him. We called him but remembered that his handphone was in Kyle’s car. We then called another fellow gym member who was running with him and had his handphone with him. Unfortunately, we reached his voicemail. I attempted to get the officials to make a missing person’s announcement but to no avail. Finally, we thought that Hill Rabbit would be resourceful enough to find his way home. The only thing was, he just had to wait for Kyle to find him to hand him his condo keys.

Next on the agenda was breakfast. We were famished and as Kyle did not think he could drive, I took over his car while LK went back for hers with the rest of the ladies. Enroute back to PJ, we received a call from the fellow gym member who was with Hill Rabbit but alas! Kyle’s phone went flat. (Why have a handphone if one doesn't plan to charge 'em batteries? grrr ...) Then we received a call from LK. The good news was, they found Hill Rabbit and friend. The bad news was, her car and several others, were blocked by two inconsiderate drivers who parked at both the entrance and exit of the parking area! It’s Murphy’s Law ~ everything that could go wrong went wrong!

In any case, Kyle and I decided to shower at my place first before meeting the rest at the restaurant ~ seeing as how it could take awhile as the authorities had just called a tow truck to tow ‘em cars away. Midway through the journey, I remembered my keys were in LK’s car! Dang! What did I just say about Murphy’s Law? Then I remembered Dad was in town and he had a spare set of my keys. I managed to catch hold of him, got the keys and then drove back to my place. Finally, something right came about!

We managed to get ourselves all cleaned up in no time at all. Then came the call from Hill Rabbit. He would leave first via public transport and would stop at the Kelana Jaya LRT station. We would then pick him up, pass him his keys and fetch him home. We then received another call from the ladies. They were finally on their way to the restaurant. Strangely enough, they arrived much earlier than Hill Rabbit. Kyle decided he would take Hill Rabbit home and forego breakfast with us, whilst I drove straight to the restaurant to meet the rest of the ladies!

What a dramatic end! Success! Chaos! Adventure! What else can we ask for? : )

A big thank you goes to SCP for registering the race for us and helping us get our T-shirts and running numbers despite not being able to go for the race himself in the end. Three cheers to SCP!

And three more cheers to all my running partners! You go girl! Boys included … : )

P.S. Just found the online published results. Kyle, you did it in 2:37:29 official time and 2:36:58 chip time. Check this link and look for Alex's full name. Way to go!!! Woo hoo!