Terry Fox Run 2010 - It Is Not About The Run, It Is About The Fun!





The OBC BU bootcampers at Terry Fox Run KL 2010


Nope....this run is not about kiasuness, it is not about medals, it is not about winning. In fact, it is not even about running. It is about Fox. Terry Fox. Terrence Stanley - a Canadian born cancer research activist, humanitarian and athlete. Terry Fox started a long distance cross-Canada run to raise fund for cancer research with one artificial leg. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the marathon when the cancer spread to his lungs. His mortal being however, did not stop his immortal spirit from spreading like wildfire across the globe and triggerred a worldwide legacy wherein fund raising runs were organised in his name to raise fund for cancer research project.

This year - 2010 marked the 30th anniversary of Terry Fox Run.

Most of the OBU BU bootcampers have participated in this run and our blue TF shirts have 'Team Bootcamp Bandar Utama' beautifully embroidered on the left hand sleeve. Apart from the bootcampers, my cousin, Jeff (who blindly signed up for PBIM Half Marathon without knowing what deep shit he got himself into and decided to take Terry Fox Run as his 'test run') and my French class buddy - Anouk have also participated in the run. It's for CHARITY, after all!

My cousin, Jeff was supposed to fetch me and John at 8.00 a.m. SHARP. I was responsible for waking up these two idiots - Jeff and John (By this I am not referring to my fren Jeff John ;p). When I woke up at 7.00 a.m. I was surprised to receive a text message from Jeff informing me that he already woke up and would be at my place at 8.00 sharp. By the way, Jeff's place is about 5 mins drive away from my house. I then woke John up (successfully at the 5th call) at about 7.35 a.m. At 7.55 a.m. there was still no news from Jeff so I gave him a call and he said he would reach shortly. Needless to say, he was late and arrived at my place at only 8.15 a.m. Later in the car, he confessed that he went back to bed after sending me the text message. Sigh....so much so for the spirit which lasted for 10 seconds? We then picked up Pooi Ching, another fellow bootcamper who would be doing her maiden run today and headed towards Titiwangsa.

The traffic was so congested by the time we reached Titiwangsa and we had a hard time in locating a parking space (and an illegal one for that matter). We then quickly rushed to the meeting point with other bootcampers. I was happy to see Tai Ching, my running upline at the Milo station. We were rather late and after a little bit of camwhoring we were supposed to start running. I was so busy chatting that I didn't even hear any flag off horn (was there any in the first place?) There were just so many SMURFS (as Anouk wittily put it) and it was hard to walk let alone run. After a while, we decided to start running anyway by weaving in and out, left and right through the crowd. Joe Liew from OBC BU was leading the way. He was chanting "Hoo" while we responded by chanting "YAH" from the back which made the OBC shout of HOOYAH. Other runners were staring at our bizarre enthusiasm and chanting but soon some runners joined in the fun and shouted 'YAH". It was so fun doing this and before we knew it we have reached the finish line. One loop around the Titiwangsa Lake is merely 2.5 km. Few of us gathered at the side and we decided that 2.5 km was too easy peasy and we started our little originally bootcampish grinder sessions at the side. Joe had been temporarily 'promoted' to Corporal and we did 10 x Stutter Squats, 10 x Grunts, 10 x King Kong Push Ups, 15 x Military Sit Ups and 15 x Toe Tap (Sarge, you should be so proud of us!!). We made quite a scene doing all the crazy stunts. It's either we managed to do some little promoting and marketing for OBC BU or we scared the potential 'junkies' away due to our 'cult-like' behaviour. After the little grinders, we got bored again and started running the loop for another round which made the total click at 5km. It was a fun run with a bunch of fun people. For once, there is no winning or losing. We run for charity and great friendship!

I met Anouk at the finish line with Nico and Baby Wulan as her supporters. There were a lot of camwhoring going around and everyone was busy posing and snapping away. We have the senior paparazzis - Armin and Rose and junior paparazzi - Mikhail, the beautiful, adorable and stunning youngest daughter of Affandi and Lizza. Oh, we met Laksamana Cheng Ho and WK (drinking kakis) too. After much posing, camwhoring, and paparazziing, we headed back to our car. Well, it was more like we 'attempted' to locate our car but of no avail. Apparently when we parked our car this morning everyone was so busy doing something that nobody really paid attention to where we actually parked. After walking for another 2 km or so, we saw Doc Malek and Farhanah - who were so kind to 'kidnap' my cousin in their car and went on a car searching frenzy. Thanks Doc and Farhanah!!

We finally made it home and it's Pizzas and Guitar Hero time! Yeah!!

It is worth noting that we saw these four friends - two injured and therefore with their injured legs tied together and another two friends becoming human clutches at one end each of the two injured friends. They walked all the way back to the finish line. I saw true friendship and true spirit in there. To quote the spirit of Terry Fox Run - You may run, you may walk, you may crawl, but you have to make it to the finish line....And of course, the moment at the finish line would be more precious if you have great friends walking by your side....

Mizuno Wave 17.10.2010

 Many people told me that Mizuno Wave has one of the toughest running route. As the name suggested, the route is made up of ‘waves’ – lots of uphill and downhill running. With barely a week’s rest since Nike Run, I was extremely worried whether my shins would fail me half way through the run. I was not very keen on this run – first of all, the jersey is in orange colour (I hate this colour), the run was going to be held in Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, Serdang (I had no idea where it was) and thirdly there were only 1200 finishing medals to be given out on a first reach first get basis. Be it as it may, I went. Our troop – John my exercise bestie, Tai Ching my upline (in running), Tyng (Tai Ching’s semi-hard core running friend) and me set out at 5.30 a.m. With the aid of Google Map, we managed to locate the flag off point.

Well well well….it was not bad after all. The flag off point was in a stadium and there were some power bar stalls, drinks stalls around the area. As we were there pretty early, we did a bit of camwhoring, then stretching, then more camwhoring. The women category would flag off first. John told me he would catch up and when he passed me he would smirk at me.

So, we flagged off. I had no intention to exert too much pressure this time. So I ran comfortably and enjoying the sceneries. I love the fact that there was no traffic on the route ( the normal road traffic) and lots of trees. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had just purchased my 2XU Compression Pants and was doing my first test run in it. Believe it or not, it helped. I did not feel the muscle tiredness which I normally experienced in previous runs. I was a little worried that John would indeed catch up with me so I only walked for 10 seconds twice. The killer loop came at the last km before the finish line – a steepy uphill slope. I walked most of the slope and I saw KK. He was shouting something to me like ‘….few meters more’ but I did not get the precise words as my Power Run Playlist was blasting at a deafening volume. Then I saw the finish line at the bottom of the slope, I picked up my speed and before I knew it I crossed the finish line and got my medal!!!

I must say, contrary to the public sayings, this was my most enjoyable run. Maybe it was because of the new compression pants, maybe because it was because I was not in a competitive mood but most likely it was because I kept reminding myself what my friend kept on reminding me ‘The most important part is to enjoy the process”. So I did. I looked at the sceneries, I had my thoughts wandering and I enjoyed it, tremendously. Sometimes, the most memorable time is not the time you cross the finishing line, but the time you spent en route savouring the moment.

Lastly, did I also mention that I finished my 11km in 1:12:14 (PB again), ranked 144 amongst the women and 85 in my category? Loving running by the days….

Nike City Run 10.10.10 – We Run KL

So, it’s the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of the second millenium and there are so many things happening on this auspicious day. In order to commemorate the same, I have signed up for the KL vs SG, Nike City 10km Run. The running jersey is a bright neon yellow, with each participant’s bib number printed on it.

This run falls right smack two weeks after I started the 8WC programme. A group of us who are in the 8WC programme started carbo loading a few days before the run. I started carbo loading on Friday.

John and me reached Jalan Binjai (near KLCC) about 6.40 a.m. All we could see was a sea of neon yellow crowd. Of course, we saw our Sarge and Ody as well as Mike before the run started.

Compared to Newton Run, the weather was spectacular. There was no scorching hot sun and there were sufficient water stations along the route.

Needless to say, my shin hurt awfully for the first 2 km. However, when I hit the 3rd km, the pain became numb and I couldn’t feel it anymore. Perhaps I was too concentrating on running. I was running with a comfortable pace and I certainly had no desire to beat my personal best records as I was low in energy due to the 8WC Gladiator Diet. Moreover, somehow my RunKeeper application on my iPhone could not be loaded due to some unknown reason and I was unable to track my pace etc. I was doing quite well and as usual, when I hit the 8th km, I began to question myself the million dollar question : Why am I doing this again? When I was going through the tunnel on Jalan Tun Razak, which was only partially closed, I was breathing in all the carbon dioxide from the fumes and gas and debris. I tried to sprint some part of it to get out of the tunnel as soon as possible for some fresh air but of no avail. I vowed to myself that I would not do the Mizuno Wave 11km Run which was scheduled on the following week and certainly not the Penang Bridge International Marathon 21 km Half Marathon in November. No, no, no, I would not want to put myself to breathing difficulty and physical exhaustion again. I half ran half jogged half walked and before I knew it, the finish line banner was waving at me 50 meter ahead. I looked at the timer and it said 1:06:36 when I crossed the finish line. I outdid my personal best of 1:12 at Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur 10km about 3 months ago! I was exhilirated! And suddenly I was not that tired, not that exhausted, not that out of breath. I met up with fellow runners – Sarge (who clocked his PB at an amazing time of 46 min despite 8WC), Ody (who always clocked in few minutes ahead of me), John (his second 10km run since high school with an equally amazing time of 1:00:36, or so he said), Joe Liew (1:00) and Amir (who I kept on calling Arif??). We started camwhoring, posing and more camwhoring while waiting for others. Mike, John Chuah Superleg, etc etc arrived one by one. This was the best moment of all races - camwhoring and comparing running time, interesting things that you saw on the route (like hot tight ass, uncle with outrageous outfits, guy carrying a balloon with his girlfriend’s/wife’s name, guy running with a float…). I was tired and I was happy. And by the time I reached home, I was once again ready for the next race.

We ran so hard and this was what we got?

Jun King (my A Level mate who I lured into OBC and who is now an OBC fanatic himself) did his first virgin run of 5km in 31 years and with a half-broken leg and he vowed to do 10km next. Another friend, Mike, who I quasi-forced to accompany me to Standard Chartered KL Marathon, had injured his knee (again and at futsal) 4 days before the run and he insisted on running. His message to me was “Don’t care, die die also must run”. And of course I am so proud that my little brother John did so well in the run. Suddenly I had this notion, running is like multi-level marketing, Tai Ching sucked me into this whole running affair and I sucked John, Mike and Jun King into it as well (directly or indirectly). So Tai Ching is the Master Sucker and I am the Sub Sucker with 3 downlines. Hahaha….Running is fun!!

Newton Run 26.9.2010

I had this to say – Newton Run sucks! It was my worst run thus far (and maybe ever). First of all it was held in Bandar Kinrara Puchong, a place that I never ventured into before. Thanks and courtesy of Tai Ching, I managed to secure a seat in her car to the starting point and saved me the hassels to drive all the way there to a distant town.

Everything started badly. We reached there about an hour before the run started. I needed to pee so I walked to the starting point first from the place where Frank parked the car just to realise there was no mobile toilets available and I had to walk back to a mamak restaurant and queued up for a toilet break.

I started out with Lizza, the Superwoman/Mother/Wife from OBC BU. I made a mistake by sprinting from the start and soon I became exhausted and out of breath. The route was full with uphill slopes and seemed never ending. John Chuah the Superleg Uncle/Dude did a survey on the route prior to the event and said there was only one uphill slope but there were three!!! Then the worst thing happened – scorching hot sun rising above our heads about 20 minutes after the run started. When I said scorching hot sun, I meant it! I was sweating, panting, struggling and swearing all at the same time. There were only 3 water stations and at the second water station, we had to take our own paper cup to be filled in as there was lack of volunteers. I was dying of thirst and patiently held out my paper cup, waiter for it to be filled…..and to be snatched away by this unknown male runner. Excuse me???? Manners? What a rude son of a bitch!!! I was too shocked to react at the spur of the moment and by the time I managed to compose myself and ready to curse the hell of my lungs the guy had already ran off. Sigh…what happened to “chivalry”? This was the first run I wanted to quit the run half way and not even my kiasuness could sustain me. Willpower was at all time low if it still existed at all. My shins were hurting terribly and I just wanted to give up. I was cursing myself all the way like “Fuck you, Lilian!”, “What the hell you were thinking when you signed up for this?”, “You are such a fucking stupid bitch!” and “Screw you, Lilian, seriously, screw you!” I didn’t even care whether I would make it in time for the medals or not (limited medals for finishers on first reach first get basis). I walked most of the time. The only consolation I had was when I did the U turn I saw John Chuah was panting behind me. Oop, sorry uncle! I finally made it to the end in 1:28 or so. My worst timing ever! I did get my medal but the only thing that came to my mind was “I need 100 Plus and lots of it!!!”

Come to think of it, I am glad that I did not give up and quit. I guess to a certain extent, life is like running. Sometimes the route ain’t easy like you think it is. And some people run faster and some run slower. Everyone has their own pace. It doesn’t matter what time you finished the run. The important point is that you crossed the finish line, and you never give up, and that’s what matters most.

Perth City to Surf 29.8.2010

There was only one reason why I went to Perth (though I found many reasons for returning subsequently) – because my ever-sexy-Penang-Hokkienian-drinking-bestie Jeannie was there! August 19th is her birthday, so my birthday gift to her this year was myself – couriered over par air.

I have known Jeannie for a long 10 years! Our acquaitance was somehow complicated – she is my ex husband’s ex girl friend’s cousin. Yep, I know how weird it sound. The thing is, we have this ‘connection’ between us and we hit it like no one else. Needless to say, despite the failed marriage and the failed friendship with Jeannie’s cousin, our friendship-sisterhood is growing stronger by the days!

So, this was supposed to be a crazy-wine pilgrimage-just-the-two-of-us-escapade. I was too caught up with works that Jeannie had all my itineraries planned out – where to go, where to eat, where to drink, what it is about….it was a little compact tour guide in 3 pages!! Kudos to you Jeannie!

It was already very obvious then that I could not live without OBC. So, I got in touch with Duncan Arkley at OBC Perth Kings Park to get myself and Jeannie ex gratia session. And I thought, why not check whether there were any run going on. So I did a little googling and Bang - the Perth City to Surf Event would be held on 29th August 2010, one day before my flight back to Malaysia. So I thought, why not? I signed up for the Channel Nine 12km Run.

As usual, I had my pre-run anxiety the night before and I could not doze off until about 4 a.m. in the morning and I woke up at about 7 a.m. I only ate one nuts bar and a glass of milk. Dearest Jeannie and Chee Bing sent me to – well, the city centre. There was sea of runners at the starting point at the Esplanade Park. It was supposed to be a winter morning but somehow the sun decided to make an appearance and shone on us since 9 a.m. The breezes were slightly freezing but the sun was slightly scorching hot. I was in a dilemma – to wear my gloves or not to wear my gloves. Anyway, I decided to go without. The flag off time was delayed until 10 a.m. I was already feeling sleepy and hungry at that time. Finally, flag off!!

The route was….err…….wavy? There were so many uphill running!!! The number of participants were so great that there was literally a ‘traffic jam’. You needed to squeeze and swerve in and out the crowd to get ahead. However, it was excellently organised. Water stations (cold water, baby!) were available every 2 km. Mobile toilets were seen all along the route. The route was scenic too – passing through King’s Park, Hay Street, Subiaco all the way to City Beach. I finished it in 1:20:53. Went to pick up my bag, got my medal, dranks two bottles of Powerade and dashed to the toilet. I had been holding on to my going-to-burst-bladder since 9.30 a.m. Then, I was supposed to take a shuttle bus back to the city. I could not find the pick up point and this guy misdirected me to the beach and I had to walk another extra 1 km thanks to his misdirection. By the time I got to the city, I was so hungry and exhausted. Oh, actually there were a lot of food stalls at the finish point but I realised I had no money with me at all!!! Another lesson learnt – always carry some spare change with you….just in case!

My first so-called international run gave me something which would definitely stuck with me for sometime – SHIN SPLINTS!

OBC My Cult

Original Boot Camp – (noun) Also known as OBC (abbreviation).

1. A military inspired, outdoor group personal training programme that utilises discipline based motivational techniques. Originated from Australia and founded by Chief Brabon. Special training programme by combining the ATP, anaerobic and aerobic level of conditioning all in 1 hour of workout, 3 times a week (the official definition).

2. A cult-like clique of fitness freaks and/or psycathletics and/or sport maniacs who congregate on a field of grass and soil (sometimes mud and water) 3 times a week and carry out trance-like exercise for 1 whole hour chanting ‘Hooyah’ at intervals. Usually ended with arms wide open looking up to the sky saying Grace (the unofficial version).

Yes, my running chronicles would not be complete without an exuberant account on OBC. I joined OBC, Bandar Utama (yep, just like any other cult, there are branches for the ease of convenience of various congregation from different locations) in June 2010. My friend, TJ posted some information on his facebook status on OBC and with the curiosity killing the cat inside my heart, I sent him an e-mail asking him what’s OBC about. An instant mail came giving me a brief ‘official definition’ of OBC and an invitation to join a free trial session (also known as BAFD – Bring Along A Friend Day) on the following Friday. I agreed. And I dragged my exercise bestie along. On that faithfull Friday morning, we woke up at 5 a.m and dragged our heavy and lazy butts all the way to Subang, lost our way before we finally made it to the semi-muddy field in a mist of darkness. Of course, I discovered to my horror upon arrival that TJ did not turn up at all (with prior knowledge and full intention to deceive me). Before I had the opportunity to retreat, the session had begun. After 20 minutes into the work out, I caught a glimpse of John’s facial expression staring at me with a look that said “What the hell you have gotten me into?” and I replied with my facial expression that said “Trust me, the feeling is mutual”. We survived, after all. It felt good to embrace the break of daylight with smelly armpits soaked in sweat and a clear conscience that some calories had been burnt. Of course, our muscles…err….I mean our fat body mass, were sore and stiff for the next two or three days. We found out that OBC BU was starting in June and we decided to join the 7am-8am session (known as the Bravo Platoon). To be more accurate, John signed up for both of us when I was on a holiday in Japan. This is how I started my faith in OBC…about the same time when I began my running chronicles…

I skipped a couple of sessions in the first month. I was never a morning person and with the effect of sleeping pills and relaxant, it was not easy at all to wake up at 6 a.m three times a week. The only motivation that kept me going was my kiasuness and my fear that John would outbeat me at OBC. However, slowly but surely, I began to attend regularly. After two months, I was virtually addicted to OBC! I would go for OBC on Monday morning and by the time the evening came, I would miss OBC already and couldn’t wait for Wednesday. On Tuesday afternoon, I would suffer from bouts of depression. Of course there were times I dreaded OBC…especially when I was having a hang over and made to do push ups non stop. In short, it is a love-hate relationship. Yes, OBC and me, it’s a serious long term relationship and my facebook status should just state ‘In a relationship with OBC’.

I learnt a lot of things at OBC. For example, I discovered that there are various types of push ups – Military Push Up, Diamond Push Up, Dirty Dog Push Up (it is obvious that this is not an enticing pose at all), Scorpion Push Up, King Kong Push Up and even Indian Push Up. There are few poses which always remind me of Karma Sutra positions (not that I read before) – the Indian Push Up, the Table Top, etc. But, trust me, sex is the last thing on your mind when you are sweating and panting and trying to perform the pose, in correct if not perfect form.

I also came to know a lot of good friends through OBC. Everybody is so close to everybody and we are indeed just like a family. These people whom I see 3 times a week, 12 times a month, are caring and loving and fun to be with. As a whole, they demonstrated to me the enthusiasm towards life, passion towards work out, the spirit of never give up and so on. There are people with various injuries but would still go on running, climbing, working out. There are people who survived cancer. There are people who have kids at home and juggling between the family and work. I am not writing this out of courtesy or politeness, as I lacked both, but yes, from the bottom of my heart, I am grateful I am party of OBC BU and I am perfectly happy with my OBC family members. Rain, hail or shine, till old age do us part….

It Burns...In An Orange Way

The Runner In Red

It was the first free run for me. No registration fee was required (but which means no finishers’ medal for me). It was free, so why not? Donned in my newly purchased Addidas red running shirts, my Addidas Clima cool shorts and my new fiery red Addizero, I arrived at The E-Curve at about 6.40 a.m. on a Sunday morning on 25th July 2010. I got my free bib from Sarge Dann (my bootcamp instructor, who was also running on that day and therefore invariably gave me tension) and started doing the warm up and stretching exercise. The women’s flag off time was at 7.15 a.m whilst the men’s was 10 minutes later. Armored with my new running attire and powered with my specially handpicked songs categorized under ‘Power Run’ playlist on my iPod, I felt more confident than my two previous runs. With Bon Jovi’s ‘Have A Nice Day’ blasting away at my ears, I started off running at a comfortable pace. I was checking on my RunKeeper’s record in my iPhone and was quite pleased with my pace and time for the first 3 km. The disaster started at the 4th km. The new shorts that I bought began to chaff against the skins on my inner thighs. At first, I tried to ignore the ‘discomfort’ by pulling the shorts lower. After many attempts at pulling and readjusting, the burning sensation on my inner thighs became excruciatingly painful that I had to stop running and walked instead. At one point, Sarge Dann ran past me and spotted me walking. In his usual commanding demeanour, he turned his head and shouted ‘Lilian, don’t walk, RUN!!! Of course this happened in like 3 seconds as Sarge Dann literally ‘galloped’ and darted past I like a gush of wind. I did try to sprint and walk, sprint and walk doing my usual stunts. However, I guessed the pain was very obvious from my distorted face to the extent that a kind lady actually stopped and asked me if I were all right. Well, sympathy was exactly the right dose to provoke my kiasuness. I gritted my teeth, held on my fist and ran, and ran, and ran. When I reached the finish line (in 1 hour 13 minutes), all I wanted to do was to apply Vaseline on my inner thighs. My RunKeeper recorded a distance of 11.93 km (despite the run was supposedly a 11 km run) at an average speed of 9.59 km/hr and a total of 1043 calories was burnt (in actual fact, portions of my skin were burnt too).

The aftermath was the actual climax of this run. I went home with severe friction burns on both my inner thighs – literally ‘burnt’/hangus. I dreaded the shower for 2 hours hoping the skin would somehow cured by itself miraculously. When I went into the shower and when the water reached my skin, a streak of foul words and curses escaped my mouth! I was so tired that I slept until the afternoon. I woke up only to eat my lunch and then dozed off again. When I went out that night to watch Inception with Pinky and Grace, I had to walk like a crab with my two legs 1 foot apart from each other.

The Orange Run – Medal-less.

The sight of me walking as if I had just been gang raped 10 times in a shopping mall – Priceless.

A Big Hooyah To The Original Bootcampers

I Found My Shoe of Charming

I am a shoe queen. I have more than 60 pairs of shoes and I could spend fortunes on shoes, and shoes alone. So when I started running, there could be no better reason to start collecting running shoes. As I am very particular when it comes to shoes, I already owned 4 pairs of sport shoes (normal walking), 1 pair of rock climbing shoe (used thrice thus far), 1 pair of running shoe and 1 pair of bootcamp shoe. But since I started running (I mean serious business running), how can 1 pair be enough? So I have been searching and looking – I never like Nike, I really couldn’t pick one from New Balance as none of the designs are eye appeasing, Reebok is too old fashioned, Saucony and Asics are not conveniently available in Malaysia and that leaves me with only 1 option. In a span of 1 week, I have been in and out the Addidas outlet for a dozen times but, to quote Michael Buble ‘I haven’t met you yet’. One day, I was waiting for my friends to meet me at Pavillion and I nonchalantly but naturally walked into Addidas outlet. Then the time, the light, and everything else frozen and my eyes were fixated on this pair of fiery red shoes. I prayed that it was a running shoe I saw. I quickly asked the sales person and to my delirium, it was the latest and newly launched running shoes designed for running competitions! Did I need to say more? It’s a god sent perfect match for me! Then I crossed my fingers and quickly asked the sales person whether size 4 was available (I have small feet in disproportionate to my obese body). God really did answer my prayers that day and yes I found the perfect shoe in perfect colour and perfect size! Cinderella would be so jealous of me when I run in this fiery red magical shoe.

First Attempt at the SCKLM 10 KM -27.6.2010

Riding on the confidence of completing my first run, I signed up for a 10 km run for the annual Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon on 27th June 2010. This time, I didn’t manage to lure John into running with me but I did manage to quasi-forced a friend of mine – Mike to do it with me. The night before, I only managed to sleep around 2 a.m. as I was very nervous about the run. Then due to my automatic body alarm system which was triggered during the World Cup 2010 month, I woke up around 4 something and decided to watch the match between U.S.A and Ghana. By the time the match finished it was already 5 a.m. and Mike and I decided what the heck we might as well go straight to Dataran Merdeka. So, with very little sleep and an extremely nervous heart, I dragged myself to Dataran Merdeka.

As this was one of THE running events of the year, the embarrassingly small crowd at the fun run was of no comparison to the crowd here. The 10km race was flagged off at 7 a.m. I turned on my iPod and started running. With a month’s training at the Original Bootcamp, I was running comfortably for the first 3km. Thereafter I did a combination of sprint, walk, sprint, walk and so on. I believed that the first water station on the route was somewhere at the 4th km. I was so kiasu that I decided that it would be wise for me to utilize this opportunity to sprint and overtook those who stopped to have their water. I was punished dearly for my kiasuness. By the time I reached the 5th km, I was so thirsty and dehydrated that I felt light headed. And the ascending route towards Lake Garden via the National Mosque didn’t help. Instead of running, I walked and did some pathetic slow jog on most part of that route. Then it was a long straight road heading to Bank Negara and I picked up my pace again. From a distance I could see the way leading to Dataran Merdeka. I thought the finish line was approaching so I sped up. Little did I know that we were supposed to head towards DBKL Building and then turned into Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman before heading back towards the finishing line at Dataran Merdeka. I thought I was about to sprawl dead on the road and then I saw my savior – water station! This time, I stopped without any hesitation and grabbed the water with beast-like voracity. I made a mental note to myself there and then that I must stop at each and every single water station in any race to avoid unnecessary sufferings. I had no idea how I made it to the finish line. Perhaps the water refreshed me and re-energised me and somehow I managed to clock in 1 hour 12 minutes for my first 10 km run. I went straight to the 100 Plus station and downed one cup after another. 100 Plus never tasted so good in my life. But in my frustration and impatience in queuing up for the ‘holy water’, I couldn’t stop asking: Why can’t they just use a bigger (I mean seriously much bigger) cup instead of the pathetically tiny paper cups?

After cups after cups of the ‘holy water’ I walked to collect my finishers’ medal. At that moment when I stared onto the medal, I made a more serious commitment to myself – I am going to collect more medals!!!

No car breaking in this time and the run ended with a blissful happiness growing in me. And let’s not forget about the high you get from the endorphins.

My First Fun Run

My first run was called ‘Fun Run’ – which was of course not fun at all, at least not during the course of it. It was the SetiaEco Run organised by Setia Alam. The distance? As it was meant to be ‘fun’ it was only 4.5km. Sounds like a piece of cake? I thought so too, initially. Being a sharing-means-caring person, I managed to persuade or rather ‘coax’ my exercise ‘bestie’ cum neighbour – John and two of my drinking cum karaoke (basically the vices) buddies – Vivian Viv and Cherrie Merry to participate in the run. The run supposed to flag off at 7 a.m. John and I were relying on the lousy GPS on my iPhone to locate the place – Setia Alam, where I had never stepped into prior to 5th June 2010. We reached there about 6.30 a.m. and after losing our directions for another 10 minutes, we finally found the starting point and holy cow, both sides of the road were full with cars and judging at the limited time left before the flag off time and considering the fact that it would not be a good idea to walk a long distance after the run, we were struggling to find an ‘illegal’ spot to park my car. We found it finally and after a tedious maneuvering of the vehicle (actually John did the final swerving and reversing as he was quite pissed with my parking skill), we quickly got down and pinned our bibs (I know, I know, we should have did it earlier) and chucked everything into the trunk. Then we had to wait for Viv and Cherrie Merry to park their car next to ours blah blah blah. We basically did our warming up by running to the starting point and we just made it in time there to hear the flag off horn.

The first 1km was comfortable and John was just about 10 feet ahead of me. Then, the 10 feet distance became 20, and 20 became 30 and soon I lost sight of him (I recognized him via his glaring red shorts). By the time I hit the 3rd km I was gasping for breath and asking myself: why am I doing this? Then I spotted this old uncle who was jogging steadily ahead of me and it immediately stirred the kiasuness (fear of losing) in me. And I hasten to overtake him…then another uncle here and an aunty there. I was physically tired and due to too much smoking, I was short of breath. And as if it was not enough, the rain started to pour. I had no idea how I finally made it to the finish line. I have to admit, the moment you crossed the finish line was simply, sensational! I clocked in 35 minutes for my first 4.5 km run! 5 minutes slower than John but I was just glad I made it. Oh, and apparently I was no.15 in the women’s category. I collected my finishers’ medal and man, it felt so good!

There were some sidelights to my first race – Viv crossed the finish line about 10 or 15 minutes later and declared that her shoe sole came off and she had to walk all the way back. Cherrie Merry clocked in God knows how long later and announced that she felt like puking. The best part was when we walked back to the car, to our dismay and shock, someone smashed Cherrie Merry’s front passenger window and Viv’s newly purchased Coach bag was stolen. Instead of the original plan of feasting on a sumptuous breakfast, we ended up in the police station for 40 minutes – cold, wet, tired, hungry and smelly. The report was finally lodged (no thanks to the inefficiency of Malaysian policemen) and we had a quick breakfast at a Mamak stall behind the police station. Viv and Cherrie Merry went back to the police station to record their statements. Needless to say, Viv and Cherrie vowed that they would never participate in any run whatsoever and they would just stick with boozing and karaokeing. John and I drove back and I just have this to say to John: Your shorts stunk!!

So I Started Running...

The chronicle dates back to my pre-running epoch in year 2009. I just moved in to a new housing area where a picturesque man-made lake beset on all sides by a decent jogging path was just across the road. Besides, I need to divert my post break up frustration somewhere. So I thought, why not jog? I started jogging, which was in fact more of a slightly-faster-than-brisk-walking-but-less-decent-than-a-proper-jogging jog. I did it at my own pace, time and comfort. It was an on and off thing. No serious business whatsoever.

Then came year 2010. When I thought that my luck had already hit the rock bottom, my life took a new twist….towards the South. To cut the crap, it was like this – I was diagnosed with a tumor at my pituitary gland, and apparently it is a macro one, and lifelong medication is waving at me while at the same time I put on 8kg and acne breakout revisited me after my teenage years…so I am basically fat, ugly and probably impotent. In short, the shit hit the fan and splashed all over me. But you see, I am that type of person when pushed to its limit would bounce back. And I did make a New Year resolution that I am going to live life to the fullest no matter what happen. So I decided to make the best out of the worst. And so I decided to run, seriously.

So the chronicle of my running project begun…