RIFLE RANGE BOY

Muang Thai Chiang Mai Half Marathon 2016 18th December 2016 "Sir, you are representing Malaysia?" she (or ze), the volunteer at the registration counter asked with her heavily Thai-accented English. Till then it did not strike me. Wow, I am at an international participant attended by representatives from 53 countries, and three of us were there to hold our national flag! She handed me a racing bib with my name proudly printed against my multi-hued country flag. The Start I would like to believe I am holding the good name of my country on my shoulders and it is my responsibility to make my motherland proud. It just gives a lame justification to motivate me to try harder. That is all. Nobody gives two hoots, actually. There is no 'the other' that I need to satisfy, to compete with or to set an example for. It is all in my mind. But then, it feels good, though. In keeping with the sombre state of affairs in accordance to the recent demise of the much-belove...

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 ...

They say they had a record of sorts, 44,000 registered to partake in this nostalgic run. Unfortunately, on the ground level, the number of participants at the half marathon did not seem to mirror that fact. Parking was a breeze relatively unlike last year and start off did not require knocking each other blind to pass the starting line. The numbers were made up by the 10km'ers and fun runners mainly. Even the marathoners did not stand out. After deciding to make it as a big boys' weekend out, the 4 members of the running gang drove up in the luxury of a 8-seater SUV to Penang in spirit of clean healthy fun. After reaching the destination and fulfilling filial obligations, we settled in for the night. The excitement for the day was too much for most of us to catch a single glimpse into slumberland! Being deprived of proper sleep for more than 24 hours, we stepped into our sporting gears at 0130h to conquer the bridge once again. We could not have asked for a more conducive w...

Just when you thought you know everything, something happens and your whole post disappears into thin air and you start thinking, perhaps you need one of those help books aptly named 'Computers for dummies'. Now I have to redo the whole post, sigh! So I thought to myself...  What better way to end my half century of existence and to usher in the remaining whatever with a getaway away from it all and indulge in an passion of mine all the same time. Then it popped out from nowhere. Marathon at the sunny beaches of Ile Maurice, Mauritius.  I can get my fix and my other half can immerse herself in the thoughts on the umpteen Hindi movies that she seen that were shot there in the Indian Ocean paradise. She can make believe that she is dancing amidst the sun, sea, sky and scenery.  Upon arriving at SSR airport, I thought that everyone would be hyped by the event. Actually, there was hardly any publicity. 14th July 2013. Tamassa Hotel. The shuttle bus took contestants ...

Finisher trophy So, my inner demon was at work again. This time he got some help from his minute friend of the electron microscopy type. Bogged by an intestinal bug, I was losing precious electrolytes. I had two minds of making it a DNS (did not start) for health reasons. That is when my haloed friend turned up. I thought I was not running for my life or living to run, so run as much as I could and then I can always take the shortest way home! With that defeatist outlook towards completing the race, I armoured myself ready to slay the demon in me. The race, this time around was chaotic. My suspicion of the demonous businessmen making headway in the arena of recreational appears to be true with every race. The registrants keep growing bigger but the goodies gets smaller! Somebody must be laughing all the way to the bank! The Sorcerer Starting off was a non-event, minus all the pomp and usual excitement. I had to wait a good 4 minutes of crawling to clear my chip on t...

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 ...

Brooks Half Marathon 2012 Modern technology does not always come to the rescue of man all the time. This I discovered when I had overslept because the 'pm' dial was pressed instead of 4.15am alarm which was supposed to be set. When my fellow running buddies turned up at my doorstep, I arose from my beauty sleep. Missing my routine early morning routines like a hot shower and answering nature's call, I had to get ready in a jiffy after a brief freshening up. The aura of the National Stadium cleared up all the sleep in our faces. Packed like sardines, the half marathoners started. I had to wait at least 3 minutes before crossing the starting timing mat and to wrestle another 4 km before breaking loose from the hoggers. Raj was nervous with his debut half after finally being bitten by the running bug and foolishly signing up for the half challenge after managing to dodge it a couple of times before with excuse of work and lucrative remunerations! The challenge took us from...

24th July 2011 was a day of nostalgia of sorts. It was a day down the lane of nostalgia. After working in Kuala Pilah (1989-1991) and Seremban (1991-1992), I never really went back. 1989 to 1991 was a time of life with lesser complications and responsibilities - before marriage (KP) and the time of euphoria just after (S'ban). 20 years later, Seremban looks less green, more 'exposed' and 'brighter'. Starting ill-prepared after dealing with post-Standard Chartered Marathon malaise and inertia of restarting training (having reached the big one!), nursing a low backache and being pulled into a turmoil of the supra-tentorial type, I started the early morning low budget 21km, run. This time around, only Suresh and I partook in this regatta. Raj, who was gung ho in doing his maiden half, had to pull out due to irresistible work commitments (or did he really chicken out?) In spite of being of low budget, the run was well run. It started promptly at 6.45am. The same famili...

29.3.2010 Energizer Night Half Marathon @ March 27, 2010 Intellectual discourse between FG and JS.. FG: I just ran 21km. JS: What did you run from? FG: !@#?..err...from my shadows… JS: Who won? FG: My shadow, of course! Don’t you know that you cannot run away from your shadow? It will always catch up with you! After the last crampy pathetic Putrajaya Night Half Marathon run, the Energizer run was to be the saving salvage run, to ascertain my ability to run, to correct the wrong that happened in Putrajaya! Equipped with self thought schemes and strategies like how Rocky Balboa trained in the cold weather of Philadelphia against the mighty giant from Russia in Rocky, I trained on the treadmill and the tarry tracks of Bukit Hatamas. This time around the plan was to run at a slower pace. After reaching a peak run of just over 10km, I had to taper down due to insufficient time 2 weeks before the race. The week before the inaugural run, it was essentially real light and easy run...