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.
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