Finally the day arrived! I blocked off all plans for Saturday morning & rested. Slept in, woke up close to 11am. Did some chores. My laundry, drying, washing and cleaning the house. Managed to do some last minute google search on food preparation for a night run. No one was home that morning. One sis went to work and the rest went to Port Klang to St Annes church for the feast.
Planned to meet Sumi at about 330pm - 4pm. We had to be at Putrajaya by 7pm. I fetched Sumi from her place and we went for half boiled egg in Old Town. This was in preparation for the race. Earlier at home, I drank some salt water as well. At Old Town, the services was unusually slow. I literally walked over to pass my order at the counter as no one was paying attention to us.
Apart from half boiled eggs, we also had a single toast and a polo bun with some hot water to flush it down. We left and headed to Sumis place again as she left her Breathe-Easy at home. Detour didn't take that long, the rain and traffic condition did. It was pouring cats and dogs all the way from Ampang to MRR2 right up to MEX. Midway on MEX highway, the rain was completely gone.
AT PUTRAJAYA
We reached at about 6smtg or was it late 5smtg... (can't remember exact time).
We tried to park as close as we can to the start pit but the parking nearest to the pit was reserved for staff only. We stayed in the car for a while, listening to music and chatting until it was near 7 and I wanted to go to the toilet (In either order).
WARM-UP
The crowd was already building up by then. I was getting bored of waiting. Honestly bored until I just wanted to get on with it. We warmed up at abuot 730pm. Ran a few laps to and fro near the start pit. There were thousands of people there with many booths with redemption goods and freebies, including drinks and fruits and food. Our goodie bags were to be collected after the race.
I borrowed VJs head phones to connect to my MP3. I thought I should try to inject some music to my run since I stand a high chance of getting bored on my way.
START-PIT
In high spirits we jumped into queue at about 7:50pm, 10 minutes before flag off time. A lot of other kiasu people jumped into the queue in front of us and cramped us all in. Some were very inconsiderate as they not only invaded our space but placed their hands on the hips, taking more space and hitting us on the way. I told off this one guy who did that but he was clearly oblivious to my plight. Ignore!
I began to say a short prayer, asking God to give me the strength and stamina to continue my journey. I also prayed for safety that there will not be any injuries or mishaps. In the last few minutes, I and Sumi held our hands and said a quick prayer together. I believe we both prayed for safety.
Once the gun went off everyone ran. I kept up with Sumi - for about 500m - 700m? Then we were on our own. The journey was very vibrant with so many runners running past me. I managed to keep my pace for a long while, probably for about 1.5km before I started to slow down. I started to see more and more people run past me. I eventually started walking. A small voice kept nagging me to stop walking as I could feel my body cooling down. Picking up the pace will be a trouble.
I kept cursing myself for signing up. I even asked myself- why WOMENS OPEN?? Why not just take part in the FUN RUN instead since that is only 5KM?? Crazy thoughts kept crawling in. As I kept going, I began to feel alone. Despite the hundreds of runners all around me, I still felt alone. Random thoughts on life were haunting me.
At one point of the run, my stomach began to growl! I was actually hungry. I began thinking of a hot plate of nasi lemak with chicken from Old Town Kopitiam. wow.. I was salivating for a bit. And then I stopped myself. This must be the devil on my left shoulder tempting me.
I was too stubborn to listen to any voices except my own during the run. Even the techno music I downloaded didn't work. There were so many fast-beat music that took turns to motivate me but nothing worked. I refused to run to the beat, instead I walked. I walked quite a bit. Picking up the pace after a while wasn't as hard as I thought. I sprinted whenever I had the energy and slowed my pace when I couldn't. I went on the same rotation until I saw the distance left to run reducing. When it was 3 KM to go, I was estatic. I was too tired by then though to run any faster.
WATER
They had water station along the way but it was only that - WATER!!! I needed more than that! I was craving for 100Plus or REVIVE or any isotonic drinks but none to my avail. In fact we even checked with the organizers if there will be water alone or revive provided along the way and they said YES. sigh....
STOP PIT
I was nearing the mosque which looked familiar and I knew we weren't far off from the stop-pit. I began to sprint then and upon reaching the final leg, I saw that most people were already slowing down. By this point, I knew I didn't stand any chance to finish and win a medal but my aim was to finish. A medal would have been a bonus. But the fact that I completed the race was something I was happy about. The target time I set for myself was 2.5hours. I couldn't wait to check my time. Time check - 9:37pm. (I checked with Dharmein whom i saw on the way)
Upon passing the stop pit, they handed over a certificate. I was frantically looking for Sumi whom I spotted ahead of me! She had 2 Revive cups in her hands for me! WOW!!! the joys of enjoying the drink then is undescribable. Fresh cold supply of minerals! I thought to myself - this must be what it feels like if I came out of Hell and entered into Heaven :)
FINALLY....
I was so glad it was over I just wanted to lie down and die. Sumi forbid me from doing so and urged that we cooled down our bodies. We did some stretching and post mortem and then headed to the stalls nearby.
We picked up our goodie bags and were given a green apple each. There was so much going on. The stage was occupied by the DJ-s who were busy entertaining the crowd - or whoever was listening. They gave away the prizes for the winners and the rest of us were allowed to leave if we wanted to.
We left after a while. We chatted with Dharmein whom we spotted while walking. We drank so much of REVIVE until we felt like throwing up. Eventually Sumi did when she reached home. She felt too sick to do anything. I dropped her at her home and went to a nearby mamak to ta pau some food for her and myself. Original plan was to dine together but she was not well to eat with me.
When I was reaching the restaurant mademoiselle calls and said that she was feeling much better, ready to eat. She joined me a while later at the restaurant. I ate an extremely spicy mee goreng mamak and finished the last 2 bites of Sumis' tosai while she helped me with my plate of mee.
I reached home at about 2am or so.. Had a quick shower before I jumped into bed. It was a very satisfying feel. Thank God its Sunday the next day..
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