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!
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