Are we there yet?

From the outset, things were not going as planned. With a bout of diarrhea and loss of precious electrolytes, I experienced stiffness and soreness over the knees and feet. On the race day, the newly replaced Garmin GPS watch went kaput on me and the music pod went on strike. So it was me left to fend for myself. For pacing, it was left to me to run pacing to feel and for auditory stimulation I was made to listen to my body!
Even though the organisers boast of 60,000 participant in this inaugural race in the new Penang Bridge, the starting line had only a thin crowd waiting to be flagged off at 4am. The runners were released in batches all the way from 1.30am to 8am depending on the length of the races and their gender.
Whilst waiting at the starting line, an old friend from KL appeared from nowhere. After the initial cursory, he complained that there was not such of eye candy for him to lay his eyes on. I told him that he was in the wrong category, the veterans. That itself was his motivation to spring forward from the starting line to catch up with the younger category who was flagged off an hour earlier!

pre-run carbo loading.

If the organisers thought that by staggering the release of runners, the congestion would be averted, they were totally wrong. The slower inexperienced runners were all over the place after we had crossed about the 7km mark. They hogging the road, walking in fours across the road practically blocking the road. Some made sudden unannounced 'pit-stops' at their whims and fancies in the middle of path. Many wasted calories were spent on everting clashes with haphazard movements of fellow runners. Perhaps, the instruction manual of the run should also include a little education on running etiquette. Just like how, by default, escalator uses in developed countries stand on the right side to keep the left side free for users who are in a hurry.
Sometimes nonsensical remarks can annoy you. Even as early as 3km into the overzealous cheerleaders would scream "You are almost there' when you have hardly started!
Along the way, I put on my philosophy cap...
That was a time in man's history not very far in our past when the Orientals left technological and engineering feats to the Western civilisation. They had an innate opinion that they were not up to the mark of Western giants when it came to technological wizardry. Over time, with available opportunities, the Orientals have come up to stand shoulder to shoulder at the same playing industrial fields. Just like that, some time ago, many (at least I did) thought that participation in an endurance running race like the Half or Full Marathon was no child's play. Obviously, the taboo seem to have been broken. Many participants, who do not fit my bill of a well prepared runner or with the correct predisposition, were taking the plunge. But, of course, they have to start somewhere. I shudder to think (hopefully I am wrong) that that was the reason for 4 speeding ambulances that interrupted the flow of our run on that humid and still morning!
The three musketeers in our running group completed with decent times. SK came out top of the trio, as usual with a sub-2hr feat. RS did his PB at 2'13" and yours truly at 2'17".
The lay out after the finishing line was much to be desired. The dimly lit grounds with soggy slippery mud devoid of markings to exit the grounds was not type of reception we were expecting after our adrenaline rush.
Slowly we wriggled back to our ordinary lives to do what ordinary do come Monday morning with the memories of an unwinding weekend.

P.S. Another member of the running gang attained the status shared by 1% of the world population - to complete a Full Marathon. RvS completed his inaugural first FM in 5'15".

The sad tale of the over the top first wife!

This year's Penang Bridge International Marathon was a quieter affair than its usual pomp and lustre. Missing most conspicuously was the loud music and unnecessary announcement on the PA system which kept occupants of nearby hotels fuming mad. Maybe because this Bridge run is the last one on the soon to be the old bridge.

This bridge which I had the honour of seeing its conception, development and expansion (to 6 lanes) has slowly attained its limit of capacity. In a way, this bridge, which was the brainchild of the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, has reached senescence gracefully and is now like in the case of a first wife who is soon going to lose her glamour and attraction to the soon to appear wife No. 2. The new wife, in this case, being the Batu Maung to Batu Kawan New Penang Bridge.
Even though the Malay term for being left to marry another is 'madu'. Honey is also referred to as 'madu.' But believe you me, any first wife will vouch that it is no sweet feeling playing second fiddle in spite of what the societal and religious pressures may dictate.
Today, even nature was moaning the loss of prominence of this second link to the mainland. The night (early morning) was gloomy with not a single whiff of breeze. Temperature was at uncomfortable level of 28-30 degrees Celsius and humidity stickily high for the early part of the morning.

With that background, the whole running gang (of five) drove up to Penang for a weekend bonding time. Not being at the top of their physical condition, everyone was whining about their physical disability, ranging from swollen ankle to sore feet!

Only when the race was flagged off, did we realize about the adverse running conditions that we had put our sorry self into. Gone are are cold early morning sea breeze and the drizzle that the rest of the country had. The route was long and straight surrounded by pitch blackness of the night, at 3am, with not much view to see. The slow incline which took almost 2 kms to peak was no child's play and the humidity made it twice as hard. 

Gruelling the adversities just like the calamities that they had jostled in their lives, the gang laboured through J-2'02''; S-2'10''; FG-2'19''; Rv-2'35''; Rj-2'37''.

Scorn of first wife

Madu Tiga

Running is like childbirth!

So it is that time of the year again! It is time for me to exhibit my filial piety by visiting my old folks in Penang. Hey, wait a minute! There is a run there too. Yeah, my as well run the run while I do the do - 2 birds; one stone for the killing.
Getting a good night's rest was already a challenge before the real challenge started. We had all passed the stage of going to bed at 9pm but had to, as the race started from 2am. One guy actually suggested doing a MJ-Murray Conrad combo cocktail of propofol! Luckily, common sense prevailed - as if propofol was lying around at our disposal. So, the next best thing to do was counting sheep. Unfortunately being the meticulous shepherd that I am, I just could not complete stabling the sheep as they were just too many. Before I knew it, it was time to get up and I did not even need the alarm. No thanks to the location of the hotel. Despite being housed on the 11th floor, I could still hear crystal clear announcements on the PA system from Ground Zero, downstairs from stroke of midnight.. That is the drawback of getting a venue so near to the starting point. Well, we all get wiser with experience.
Talking about sanity and sense, there was nothing sane about showering at 2am and gearing up for a near midnight run but I should have thought of it before registering. The only people I know who indulge in midnight showers (or rather scented baths- mandi bunga) were people with devilish intent or liaison with pontianak!
Starting promptly at 3am, this time around it is no more the cool ambience and the drizzle that accompanied the run last year. The humongous crowd was a damper at the starting point as the runners kept running into each other's shoes.
Somebody once asked me what goes through my mind when I was running. Besides having morbid thoughts of wondering when my knee would buckle to give up on me and people-antics' watching, there is always time to think what to write in the next blog. During one of these runs, I got a revelation. Running is like childbirth - when you are in it, you curse yourself for getting into the mess you are in but once you see the end product, you soon forget about the torturous unrelenting agony of labour pains and pretty soon you are in the labour room all again in no time. In the case of running it must be the post-run endorphin induced highs and awe received from well wishers! (some call it narcissism)
The 'boom boom pak' beat accompanying Queen's 'We will rock you' set the tempo (on my I-phone) as I ascended the midspam of the Penang Bridge. I guess I was more caught up with the music rather than running as this time around as I completed the run at 2hours 19mins, a good 9 minutes slower than last year. But hey, as a non competitive loser would say, "it was an enjoyable run". To complement the fruit cake, was Amma's excellent preparation of fish curry, chicken peratal, crab sambal with coconut gratings and thosai. My younger son and I flew back home happy, smiling ear to ear.