The Unexpected Xtra Mile Run: 1 Man, 10 Suburbs, 100KM, 16 Hours

The Summary
When? 17th - 18th June 2011
Where? From Putrajaya to Jalan Gasing (Through Puchong - Sunway - Subang- Glemarie - NKVE - Kelana Jaya - Sunway Damansara - Bandar Utama - TTDI - Damansara Heights - NKVE - SS2 - KDU - Jaya One - Jalan Gasing) 
Who? Alex Au-Yong
What's going on? Alex Au-Yong will attempt to run 100km across 10 suburbs in 16 hours.
What for? To raise RM100,000 for the Music and Dance programme for the START Society in an endeavour to help underprivileged children to unleash and develop their talents.

The Story

It is true that a handful of runners could do and had done a 100km marathon, which is also sometimes labelled as the Ultra Marathon (84km -100km). My favourite writer, Haruki Murakami ran 100km when he was 46 in an unbelievable timing of slightly over 11 hours. Viki's (a friend of mine from Chief's Original Bootcamp (COBC)) husband, Jeff and her brother, Alvin are going to run the Sundown Ultra-Marathon on 25.6.11. It may indeed true to state that to run an ultra-marathon is the ultimate dream of every avid marathoner. Be it as it may, to do it purely for charity cause and to plan the fund raising campaign from day 1 and commit one self to such great deed - it is an extraordinary deed endeavoured by an extraordinary man.

From the past history, running and charity have always go hand in hand. To name the foremost, we have the Terry Fox Charity Run every year to raise funds for cancer research. Hence, this run would not be the first and definitely would not be the last. Yet, there is no greater cause to run than a charity cause.

I received e-mail from XtraMile many months ago, though I have no idea how they got  my e-mail. Then I received few mails forwarded by friends. Then, Shear Ling's friend, Priya who came for the Bring Along A Friend Day at COBC appealed to volunteers to run with Alex on certain routes. I had made my pledge some times ago and I was really keen in running with him. Few days before D Day, Nana posted the route on TRAFFFF and after some exchange of communications, it appeared that the stretch from Sunway Damansara (KM 70) would be rather quiet. Hence, I decided to gather a handful of TRAFFFFians to run with Alex from KM70 to KM84 (a total of 14km). The response was overwhelming considering the short notice. TRAFFFFians who were going to run were given the following strict instructions:-

• Do NOT overtake Alex.
• Wear bright coloured attire (To live up to TRAFFFF's motto "Daya Mungkin Tiada, Gaya Mesti Ada", white has been chosen as the theme colour)
• Bring ENR headlight.
• Run in pairs - buddy system for safety reason.
• Assemble at 4.15 a.m at Carolyn's School of Rhythmic Gymnastic 

D Day

The Gaya Ladies

On the eve, I went to bed as early as 8.30 p.m. However, I woke up every other hour to follow the status of the run on Twitter. At 1 a.m, I was fully awake and no thanks to some 'friendly' interruptions, I only managed to doze off again at 2.30 a.m et voila, the alarm rang at 3 a.m sharp. I did a round of morning calls to few people, got up, got dressed and went to pick up Letch, Jo and Noor at Damansara Heights, where our run would end and where the rescue cars were parked to transport everyone back to Kota Damansara.

Fandi and his Harley

A total of 12 TRAFFFFians turned up - Letch, Liza, James, Jeremy, Noor, Jo, Yam, Shear Ling, Siew Peng, Rienna, Amy and myself. Affandi arrived in his usual and clamorous stunt - the vroom vroom vroom from his Harley Davidson. He was unable to run as he had to work at 6 a.m. Nevertheless, he sent his wife, Liza to the meeting point and in order to show his support, would escort us for 10 minutes.James has been unanimously appointed by us as Forerunner whose function was to sprint ahead of Alex every 700 m before each check point to notify the support team waiting at the checkpoints.

Alex was running late from the originally scheduled time of arrival at 4.30 a.m. While we were waiting, we did what we know best - camwhore. I also had the time to drink up iced coffee while waiting. Alex and crew finally arrived at around 5.30 a.m. After a brief rest, we began our run. Fandi was blasting Slash's Paradise City from his Harley while escorting us. We were also escorted by 2 traffic policemen, 1 ambulance, 1 main support car and few other support vehicles. Running with so many escorts made us felt super important..hehe...However, I supposed Alex hit the wall at this juncture as it was his 70th km and running in the dark with a taxing uphill gradient did not help at all. We made the first stop after 5 minutes and Alex was getting his energy food from the nutritionist. We were wary not to disturb him. We made another pit stop after making the U turn and turning into Bandar Utama. At this point, someone started some song game to get the spirit up. I then started the 'Name a country starting with Alphabet A and so on' game. Everyone's spirit was lifted and even Alex seemed to have picked up his pace and threw in a country name or two every now and then. It was a smooth jog all the way to 7-11 at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (TTDI).  As we crossed the traffic light separating TTDI and Bandar Utama, we also saw the break of dawn - the first gleam of morning light.

As we slowly cruised through to Pizza Hut TTDI, more and more runners joined us and slowly the small group of runners turned into a crowd of 20-30 people. As we were running on the highway now and the traffic policemen were taking a short break, we were directed to run in two files. Suddenly, a Proton Wira sped from nowhere and nearly hit onto the support 4WD. We were slightly traumatized and also partially entertained by this little drama with full sound effect of screeching brake and burnt rubber smell. The whole troop nevertheless marched on with high spirits and unified strides.

The thing about running is - you may not know these runners who are running next to you, in front of you, behind you most of the time whether you are doing the LSD or you are in a race. Nonetheless, you would take a look at them and you would have this smile blossoming into a full bloom. You would exchange a tacit nod and you would feel the  invisible strong brotherhood, or fellowship or whatever it is called- a kindred bondage only known to runners that bind all. As I always put it, running may be a solo activity, but at time like this, you can see runners stick together - everyone running at same pace, heading towards the same direction, with the same cause in mind. The rhythmic movement of foot strides, the tangible and direct contact between your feet and the ground, the breathing you heard from other the runners - suddenly developed into an atmosphere that is so warmhearted and heartfelt. The sensation that it triggered was inexplicable in words unless you are one of them to feel it - first hand.

As I have mentioned earlier, the original plan was to run 14km from Kota Damansara to Damansara Heights. Rienna, Amy and Siew Peng merely planned to run a total of 7km from Kota Damansara to TTDI and then to run back to Rienna's house, which is situated in TTDI. Nonetheless, as the theme of the run is called XtraMile, it turned out that everyone indeed ran some extra miles at the end of the day. Driven by Alex's incredible gumption in making it till the end, I had the strong impulse to run it till the end too. Hence, while I was running, I made a telephone call to my French teacher to request for a deferment of my French examination to the following week, which was approved. Hence, with no proper preparation (in terms of carbo loading and sun block protection), I trudged on a like a devoted soldier. 

There were many sidelights which made the run so much more fun and memorable.

Tey - the super marathoner and photographer

• Cam whore sessions: Tey Eng Tiong, more popularly known as Tey, is probably the most well known name among runners in KL. Tey is not only an avid marathoner but he is also fervently supportive of all forms of sports events by volunteering as the unofficial photographer. You could almost spot Tey and his camera, waiting by the road side to capture your photos at most of the runs. Tey joined us at TTDI as the unofficial photographer again. Runners who recognized Tey shouted out his name and waved at him while posing for the cameras. After the TTDI stretch, Tey disappeared and then reappeared again at the SS2 stretch in another outfit. Apparently he went home to change and came to take photographs again before heading to work. Kudos to Tey and his unrelenting support to all runners!!
• One Malaysia Support: When we ran past NKVE heading towards SS2, I saw this Punjabi security guard outside one of the housing areas, beaming widely with encouraging smiles to us. There were also people from the neighbourhood clapping and cheering us on. Regardless of race, religion, gender, height, weight, all Malaysians came together, in support of this cause in unison - this graced the running with solidarity.
• Creativity - The support vehicle constantly came up with placards with creative and encouraging words written on it, which put a smile on everyone's face. We have "Run, Pray, Believe" (not Eat Pray Love), "START with the END in mind", "Smile" etc.

When we reached the checkpoint at KDU, I have ran a total of 21km. At this juncture, Jo and Noor had to go home to fulfill their parental obligations while James had to escort Yam back to pick up my car (as Yam was driving Noor's car and tailing us). Hence, from the ordinary troop, only Shear Ling, Letch and I were continuing the run. I iced my swollen ankle and shins at KDU before continuing with the rest. The scorching hot sun torched on us mercilessly from KDU all the way to Jalan Gasing. However, no one slowed down and despite the merciless hot sun, the running crowd grew bigger and we even had this young kid running with us full with vigour and morale.

Exhausted but happy runners at KDU

Shear Ling, me and Letch continued to the finish line

When I finally reached START Society at Jalan Gasing - 30km and 6 hours later, I was exhausted and famished (despite the fact that I had gulped down 3 cans of milo, 1 can of nescafe, few cans of Gatorade and 1 power gel throughout the entire journey). Yet, exhaustion is superficial in comparison to my emotional turmoil. Deeply touched by this guy's arduous and yet relentless deed and the forever beaming countenance filled with positive enthusiasm, life suddenly became so alive and I started weeping uncontrollably at the sight of the happy faces portrayed by the children, which is all the run about - a brighter future for the children. Here I am, dedicating my first 30km run for the children.

It is a run without any finishers' medal. There is no finisher tee, no certificate and definitely no goodies bag.  Yet the satisfaction one yield from it, would probably be the greatest I have felt so far. At times like this, medals, timing, distance do not matter anymore. It's the journey that counts, the experience that matters, the joy and solidarity that prevails, and lastly, I would say that, I would run anytime just to see the children's happy faces.

Mission accomplished. It was a 16 hours (or more) run with months of diligent preparation contributed by many people with big heart and I am confident that the diligence, the passion, the persistence exhibited by everyone throughout the entire event would continue to serve as an inspiring story to many.

Running is great!

The One Year Jubilee of My Running Chronicle

I started running officially and got my first medal on 5th of June 2010 at the Setia Eco Run.

Time flies. It has been a year since my first 4.5km fun run at the Setia Eco Run. 12 months, two 10km runs, two 11 km runs, four 12km runs and three 21km runs later, I am still loving running. *Scorpion's Still Loving You playing in the background*

There is no better way  to commemorate and celebrate my one year's jubilee of running than by way of....running itself. Hence, a week after the Sundown Half Marathon, I signed up at the very last minute for the New Balance Pacesetter 15km at Putrajaya.

It would be the first run the FF - Jo, Noor, Yam, James and I run together again since 2XU. Hence, despite the the fact that the official running vest (in teal) which made me look fatter than I already am, I wore it nonetheless for the sake of unity and compliance with FF's dress code for the run. Nine of us - John Chuah, Shearling, Yvonne, Siew Peng, Yam, James, Noor, Jo and I assembled as early as 4.30 a.m at Uncle John's house and set off in a convoy of two cars. We were amongst the first to arrive at the starting line. Some lightnings appeared near the skyline and we were expecting nice cold rain to wash away the heat. While we were doing our warm up exercise on the pavement, a 69 years old uncle from Malacca clad in 2XU calves guard started a conversation with Jo asking her about her compression pants. The next thing we knew, the uncle was 'molesting' Jo by touching and caressing the compression pants to have a 'feel' of the garment's texture. We had a good laugh over the incident after that. Kudos to the uncle who is still running at this age!! I wish I could still be as fit as him when I am 69 (if I am still alive).

Full quorum of FF

The run was flagged off at 6.30 a.m. Yam was fidgeting before the flag off as this would be the longest distance she ever run. As soon as the run was flagged off, Mr. Delta-Kiasu James Fong sprinted ahead of us like a gush of wind. Of course, the kiasu couple was also nowhere to be seen. I started with a moderate pace and I was expecting flat route all the way. However, to my surprise, there were many uphill (up bridge actually) route. I saw Uncle John Chuah at the opposite direction of the road at the first U turn of the route. He was not far away and I was determined that I could catch up soon. After all, I may not be a fast runner but I could last (tongue sticking out). Soon at the bridge, I managed to overtake Uncle John Chuah. There were 3 water stations positioned at 4km, 8km and 12km respectively. It was more of a recovery run for me and I was rather relaxed as I knew I could stop at KM 15 instead of going further for another 6km to make it a half marathon. I clocked in 1:43:14 whilst the timing for other FF members are: James (1:34:24), Noor (1:36:26), Jo (1:42:05) and Yam (2:08:50). I am happy with my timing and I think my groove has came back after the injury-induced-lack-of-stamina.

The limelight of this run would be when Yam crossed the finish line. I am so proud of her for making it to the finish line. From running barely 2 rounds at DPC she is now proudly a 15km finisher and is going to do a half marathon at PBIM 2011. Nevertheless, despite my enthusiasm waiting for her 100 meter before the finish line and ended up running barefoot with her to the finish line with one hand carrying my hand towel and another carrying my flip flop, she said after crossing the finish line "I hate running". To this I am going to say this to her with a broad smile on my face "Yam, it always start with hatred....before it turns into love, and before you knew it, you couldn't stop running".

In conjunction with James' oncoming birthday , my jubilee celebration and most importantly for the sake of love for food simply, we went to Zipangu at Shangri-la for Japanese buffet. We call this - carbo reloading.

Shameless run junkies showing off medals at Zipangu

South Bound to Sundown

Riding on a high from my half marathon debut at PBIM last year, I signed up for Singapore Sundown Marathon on 24.11.10, 3 days after PBIM. Yes, signing up for running events 6 months in advance no longer surprises me or anyone else for that matter. As I sincerely believe that sharing is caring, I also managed to persuade bestie John to sign up, who in turn persuaded his bestie, Elliot to sign up. Meanwhile, as the date got nearer, the kiasu couple - Jo and Noor who did not sign up in time and who then mourned in grief when they found out that the registration was full, finally managed to get free bibs from Liza and Joe Liew who have to forego Sundown Marathon to participate in Sasuke Malaysia. Running maybe a solo activity, but as far as the running convoy is concerned - the more the merrier.

The Merry Running Convoy Batch No. 1 consisted of me and John hit the road South bound in John's car on Wednesday night as I had a medical appointment at Mt. Elizabeth Hospital the next morning while John had a business meeting. We set off from the house with approximately 8 loose luggages in the car. Two persons and eight bags, that's right. The plus point about a road trip is, you could enjoy the luxury of taking whatever you want with you without any hassle of check in luggage. Hence, we literally dumped everything into the car and sped off. It was a nice cruise as the traffic was smooth at night and I was enjoying the deejaying part in the car. The fact was, I packed a small bag of approximately 15 CDs to be played during the journey. The truth was, John disliked my 'oldies songs' - he did not find CCR's music magical like I do. The outcome was, after an hour or so he ended up listening to his Canto Pop while I plugged in my huge earphones and blasted CCR's classic rock. We find it anti-social after a while and compromised for some Kazuyoshi Saito's songs. We passed Gelang Patah around 12 midnight. We were optimistic about our timely arrival and thought perhaps we could play some Monopoly games with Elliot before we retired to bed. After the immigration check point, we went down to purchase the Autopass. I was busy filling up the form when suddenly the personnel came to us and said "Excuse me, sir, I think you did not renew your road tax." I darted a look towards John's direction and gave him an expression which delivered the message "Go and check". I continued to fill in the form and thought this must be a misunderstanding. 30 seconds later John came back and gave me a stare which spelled "She is right, the road tax has expired" and I gave him a look which could be translated as "You are so dead...I am so going to kill you, idiot!". Despite the uprising of the tumult in my stomach and the strong urge to strangle John on the spot, I managed to keep my composure. We did our feeble attempts to persuade the officers to let us pass nonetheless, but alas, Singaporeans are straighter than the ruler and there would not be any rules bending for us. The officer mercilessly stumped the stamp "VOID" on our entry pass and commanded us to make a u-turn back to Johor Bahru. At this point, rain started to pour like cats and dogs as if to make a statement to celebrate our dopey faux pas. We had to go through at least 6 (or was it 8?) manual gates to make the u turn back. I was struck in awe and unable to believe the mockery which just happened to us. However, there was no time to unleash my fury at that time as decisions needed to be made immediately. As we were at the second link and the only hotel I knew in Senai is Sofitel, the first decision was to drive to Sofitel to figure out the parking and the transport issues. A few phone calls were made to determine whether there were any other alternative plans. After some off-track wandering around a dark industrial area searching in vain for the hotel based on misconceived google map directions and after some panic attack ensued from Serena's sms which warned us not to stop even if any vehicle hit us, we finally arrived at Sofitel (which is now known as Le Grandeur). We arranged for the car to be parked at the hotel's parking lot for 4 days at RM75 and got a cab to pick us from Sofitel and send us to Singapore at RM250. Arrangements were also made for the road tax to be paid first thing the next morning and to be sent to Viki's house (who would be travelling from KL to JB the next morning) so we could pick it up from her. After transferring all baggages into the cab, there was a verbal exchange of only one word......"Seriously" ended with question mark and then exclamation mark. We finally reached Elliot's house at Eunos around 4 a.m. Exhaustion set in and by virtue of the exhaustion, John's life was spared.

After watching the Lion King on Friday, we followed Viki's car back to Senai to pick up the car (with the road tax this time of course) and drove back to Singapore. After passing the immigration and the custom successfully, we were thrilled that we had finally entered Singapore as per the original plan. By the time we reached Elliot's home, it was already 1.30 a.m. When we entered, some one leaped from behind the wall and surprised us. John's friend, Jamie flew in from Hong Kong to surprise him. Hence, Jamie (who never run before and never trained before ) was going to run the half marathon 'illegally' with John and Elliot. I sensed fun...lots of fun...

The orgasmic egg at Hide Yamamoto

Carbo loading with Pork Back Ribs

The Sundown Half Marathon was scheduled to flag off at 8 p.m. sharp. I intended to meet up with Jo and Noor at the starting point around 6.30 p.m. I had not been having sufficient sleep for the past few days and decided to take a short nap for one hour after I came back from lunch and tea at Ku De Ta and set my alarm at 5.30 without realizing that I had set the time as 'am' instead of 'pm'. By the time I woke up it was already 6 and we hurried out and hailed a cab around 6.15 p.m. Despite my repeating clarifications with the cab driver that we wanted to go to Changi Exhibition Centre and not Singapore Expo, the cab driver sent us to the wrong place i.e. Singapore Expo. By the time we realized it was the wrong venue, it was too late to hail another cab. We spotted some runners and followed them onto the shuttle bus to Changi Exhibition Centre. It was 6.45 p.m then. Well, there was more than an hour before the flag off time, everything would be fine...so I thought. When the bus moved in a snail pace as we neared Changi, an uneasy feeling crept up. When I saw the standstill traffic ahead, I began to panic. A fury of exchange of messages took place between the me, Jo, Noor and Yam. Some Lamaze-inspired breathing technique was also adopted in a futile attempt to keep my cool. When it hit 7.45 p.m and the starting point was no where to be seen, I was convinced that my ashen face was kind of intimidating which prompted John to ask the obvious "Are you pissed?". I started to do some warm up exercises on the bus and consumed my energy gel. The runners in the bus had became more agitated and suddenly one after another walked down from the bus and started running towards the starting point. We of course followed the bandwagon of panicked runners and started to slow jog, run, walk, slow jog towards nowhere in particular. After about a km walk we saw the distance marker on the other side of the road which said "19km" - which means there was another 2km walk for us. I babbled a splutter of vulgarity and cursing throughout the walk. We finally arrived at the starting line, deposited our baggage, went to the toilet and started off.....more than 25 minutes after the gun off time.

I was suffocating in the puff of fumes due to the emission of smoke, gas, debris and heat from the long queue of vehicles getting in and getting out of the starting line. The run of luck of having a downpour before the run  like what happened at ENR escaped me this time around. The humid weather coupled with the evaporation of heat from the ground and emission of fumes from the vehicles drained me thoroughly. My body was steaming hot (so was my temper) and I was dying of thirst. Thank God that whatever Sundown lacked in the blessings of good weather, the organizer made it up with sufficient hydration stations every 2 km along the running route. God knows how many times I thanked Him when the volunteers handed me two cups of icy cool 100 plus at the first water station.

The 3 musketeers did it!

I felt better this time compared to ENR. My ankle was not hurting that much and the ample supply of 100 plus and water helped tremendously. I was going on a comfortable pace without pushing my body and feet too hard. I rewarded myself with 1 minute walking after each water stations. I stopped and stretched my calves and left ankle. Perhaps due to the agitation earlier I seemed to have pumped up some reserve energy tank. However, when I reached the 18km mark, my left ankle was hurting badly and I was forced to stop and walk. Then, I saw a man in front of me doing brisking walking with two climbing sticks. I thought to myself, gosh, it would really look bad on me if I cross the finish line behind this man. No, the kiasuness in me was awaken and triggered, I picked up my pace and ran ignoring the pain. At the last 500 meter, I sprinted with all my might!! My whole body was scorching hot and I was adrift in rush of adrenaline to the extent that I actually said "No, thank you." when the volunteer handed me my finishers' medal. Of course, I quickly took the medal when I realised what it actually was.

Feigning victorious smile
despite in deep pain

I found Noor and Jo and we waited for a long time for John and Jamie. Elliot had apparently finished but we only met him later. The typical camwhoring started but in a lesser degree as Jo was not feeling and the rest of us were exhausted and hungry. Jamie was limping all the way to the taxi stand. His facial expression was contorted in pain but nevertheless managed to pull himself together to stand straight and beam a victory smile when the camera was aimed at him. We waited at the taxi stand for a long time. Elliot was trying to call for cab but of no avail. Jamie and Jo were down and sitting at the side. I started to change into my dry clothes regardless of public viewing.

Soldier down

We couldn't get any cab and finally squeezed ourselves into a sardine-packed shuttle bus heading to Changi Village. We thought it would be easier to get a cab there. I was however super hyper in the bus and started taking photos of everyone. We came down from the bus and within 5 minutes managed to get a cab. We let Jo and Noor go first as Jo was not feeling well. After that first cab which arrived by sheer of luck, there was no cab at all - all cabs were HIRED or BUSY or ON CALL. I was standing by the road side and jumping up and down frantically to get a cab. Few nice cabs actually stopped and told me they could not take us as they were on call. It was after more than an hour before we finally got a cab. Jamie, acting with his last wisp of strength literally threw himself onto the middle of the road and blocked a cab despite traffic behind. With relief, we finally climbed onto the cab heading home. We had bought some take-out and despite the burnt smell in the kuey teow, it was the most satisfying meal I have had in a long time.

The fun of making fun of Jamie began that night....and did not end there.....

 

It was a dramatic trip - with the road tax faus pax et all. But it was fun and memorable. I suppose when you are surrounded with good friends, it would always ended up fun and memorable no matter what you have to go through. The 3 musketeers think running is boring and said that they preferred basketball. Maybe they are right. Running is relatively boring when compares with other sports like cycling, futsal etc. That does not diminish my passion and love for running. In fact, it is the solitude of running which made me so addictive to it. It is a sport whereby your only competitor and enemy is yourself. You race against yourself and you want to come out a better person after each run. There is no team mate for you to point finger at and whatever accomplishment  you attain, it is yours, all yours. And to be able to do it with a group of good friends, supporting each other at the starting point and the finish line, with good spirits and humour, make each running episode, a fun one filled with laughters.

Red Alert!! The BOMBAstic Run...

The International Firefighters' Day (IFFD) is observed on May 4th every year. In conjunction with the IFFD this year, the BOMBA Run, an annual event which has been convened for 9 consecutive years, fell on 8.5.2011, which was also the Mother's Day weekend.

I had registered for the BOMBA Run a couple of weeks ago even before the Energizer Night Race on 16.4.2011. As promised, I did not subject my feet to further torture post ENR and it would be a full 3 weeks' rest before I run again at the BOMBA Run. Nevertheless, one day prior to the BOMBA Run my left knee still felt wobbly and there was an uneasy feeling on the left ankle as well. Hence, facing with such a quandary (again), I decided to pay a visit to Dr. William Chan. After some X rays and ultrasound scan, Dr. William Chan told me that there is no major problem with my knee and the good news is my previous injury from the Mt. Kinabalu fall had fully recovered. However (there is always a however), there is a new ankle injury at the outer ankle caused by my ankle sprain at the ENR and voila, here's another Grade 2 Ankle Sprain again. The verdict: Rest, and run at your own risk. So, back to square one, the dilemma of 'To Run or Not to Run'. Burdened with such a question, I was driving home with a heavy heart and suddenly I remembered the story of Matt Long (not the actor). Matt Long was a veteran firefighter at the New York Firefighting Department, an Ironman triathlon finisher and was training for the Boston Marathon when he was hit by a bus on 22.12.2005. Matt Long was riding his bike to work on that morning, his bike's handlebars got jammed into the bus's metal base and it speared Long, opening a fissure from his belly button to his rectum. The doctors thought he would bled to death when he arrived at the hospital. 5 months and 22 surgeries later, Long survived, albeit now with a titanium rod ran through his left leg, virtually from his hip to his ankle, supporting his shattered tibia and femur. Metal screws kept the bones of his left foot in place. His life would no longer be the same. Dark clouds pervaded his healthy and athletic life and at one point, he was shunning everyone showing concern and doubts were building as to whether Long would ever stand up and be himself again. Of course not, Matt Long would never be the same. But he never gave up, he learnt to live his life to the fullest again. In November 2009, Long finished the New York City Marathon in 7:21:22, a record drastically in contrast with his earlier records of 3:44:39 for the full marathon leg in the Ironman Triathlon. Be it as it may, he participated and completed the run, which most ordinary people with perfectly healthy and normal limbs would not even have the courage to do so. Long was accompanied by two longtime buddies, fellow fireman Frank Carino and Noel Flynn. Carino has done an 11 hour Ironman triathlon while Flynn is on verge of achieving a sub 3 marathon. Nevertheless, both agreed to hang on with their friend, step by step, for a very slow run for the New York Marathon. Long's story moved my heart deeply when I first read about his story. Rivulets of tears were streaming down when I finished reading his story. With this story in mind, I have made up my mind to run the BOMBA Run by the time I wheeled my car into the car porch. I would run with Matt Long in my mind. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that it is wise or heroic to run with injuries and I am definitely not asserting that I could be in comparison with Long in any aspect. I am not trying to prove anything, I just thought that BOMBA Run is meaningful to commemorate Long's story and after all, how could I resist running for the love of running?

Attired in fiery red shirt and running shoes to mark the RED symbolizing fire, I arrived at Dataran Merdeka with Jo and Noor, also clad in red. The run was flagged off at 7.30 a.m. I started running with Nawal, a super fit athlete who agreed to slow jog with me to keep me accompanied and Letch, the crazy-and-never-get-tired-super-fit, who decided that she would slow jog with me too for a little while. After a 3 weeks break from running, my stamina was running really low and I was struggling with some efforts to keep up with "Nawal's slow pace". However, I felt good to be running again and as the first 5km of the route was the route through Kenny Hills, part of our normal Sunday LSD route, it felt like running on home ground. By the time I came out from Kenny Hills and reached the Jalan Duta Hoki Stadium, I was gasping for breath and my ankle hurts. I stopped a few times and struggling mentally to ignore the pain. Not to mention that the stinky smell that lingered in the air probably from some drains didn't help at all. After the uphill slope towards the Indian High Commission, I told Nawal to run ahead without me as I couldn't even cope up with a normal pace anymore. I was very grateful for the fact that she was encouraging me all the way and kept on checking to see whether I was okay.

So, back to running alone. I actually enjoy running alone tremendously. I could control my pace, my tempo, my breathing, my thoughts...being a control freak, it feels good to have everything under control. Jalan Duta is a road I travel daily to work. However, travelling along the road  trapped in a car and running along the road on both feet are two very different experience altogether. I feel real when I could feel the ground with my own feet. Each step and each stride is a conscious effort. You get to feel the terrain and the gradient of the road, the texture of the ground, the caress of the cool breezes on the flushing cheeks, the smell of tree leaves, and you get to hear the birds chirping. The experience is real. This is one of the reasons why I love running.

The sun was scorching hot when I painfully climbed up the slope to Lake Garden. I knew before the run that there were only 100 finisher medals for the top 100 finishers, hence I was not running for any medal. However, when I finally reached Dataran Merdeka, I saw Letch standing next to the fence and she shouted "Lilian, still got medals!" Suddenly, I found new strength in both legs and I immediately sprinted with all the vigor I had left all the way to the finish line. Gosh, when I was handed a huge finisher medal at the rank of No.68 in Women Open Category, I felt that I was touching a piece of gold. To me, the piece of round metal is priceless. The lyrics of Glen Hansard's "Gold" came to mind "....and I love her so, wouldn't trade her for gold oh..." It is true that when you receive your reward at the time when you least expect it, the feeling is simply sensational...and the moment, unforgettable.

The Precious

ENR - Energizer Nightmare Rendition?

I felt compelled to write another piece about the Energizer Night Race 2011, which has instigated an unprecedented infamy against the organizer of a race event. Starting out with the zealous aspiration and ambition to be crowned as one of the biggest and most successful running event in Malaysia, the ENR has ironically earned the reputation as being the farce of running events. The post ENR pandemonium culminated in the forming of two facebook pages/groups known as Boycott Energizer Night Race and Energizer Night Race KL 2011: We Want Justice, which have attracted thousands of supporters within one day after the event. Two days after the event, the event organizing company, Expose Media Sdn Bhd issued a public apology to all and soon ensued by another official apology from Energizer with promises to refund all registration fees in addition to the promises of giving out of finishers' medals and all other goodies. 

So, what went wrong? I seriously have no idea what are the real issues behind the whole fiasco - bad management by event company? Or lack of communications? Misjudgments? Be it as it may, as far as my personal experience is concerned, the event went wrong the moment we swerved our cars into Sepang. 

First of all, a queue of vehicles was forming even before we entered the car park. To our astonishment, we were literally 'extorted' RM10 per vehicle as parking fee. It was this collection of parking fee which caused the congestion. I would think that RM10 is way too exorbitant and the organizer should at least have the courtesy and decency to inform the runners, no? 

Secondly, there were insufficient signboards to guide the runners to the starting point. We were awestruck   when we saw that all runners were supposed to enter the stadium (I assumed it is called so) through one door (3 feet in width). Imagine thousands and thousands of runners squeezing into the door. We then have to pass through a long passage way with little ventilation (if at all). Could you imagine swarming through the crowds amidst body odour, sweaty armpits, and possibly some toxic gas which might be released by some very flatulent runners? Gosh, our lungs were partially suffocated with such intoxicating air and not to mention about the possible outburst by claustrophobic runners? Okay, maybe I am exaggerating, but my friend, Jo did fall down in the narrow passage way. Perhaps she fell because she was tiptoeing in her Newton shoes or perhaps she was not watching her steps. But my point is, poor coordination and management of crowd flow give rise to high likelihood of accidents. 

Thirdly, there were no clear signs of where to go such as Baggage Area, toilets, starting line etc. We were like headless chicken running around and asking everyone around....in the getting-darker evening mist. It's like a maze. We have to queue for almost everything and we spent most time in looking for directions on where to head to and queuing up for the toilets. 

Fourthly, we were already treated like a bunch of beggars before we were close to the starting line. After the long passage way and some up and down staircase, we finally reached a dark room (yes, literally dark) and tiny and we were told that this was where we were suppsoed to collect our head lamps. Seriously, until now I am unable to comprehend the logic to collect the headlamps on the race day itself instead of simultaneously with our collection of race kits. Apparently it was stated that the runners for 5km and 11km were not entitled to head lamps but at the end of the day what happened was boxes of headlamps were thrown out and left on the floors for runners to grab. It's a free for all chaos!

Coming to the fifth point, we finally made it to the starting line and just in time to hear the 42km gun fired off. The starting line was ridiculously confined to half of the line and as I mentioned poor coordination leads to accidents. A runner fell down and was stumped by other runners.

Oh, I forgot to mention about the brilliant idea of running in the dark in a black running vest. Whoever designed the vest - what a smart ass (pun and sarcasm intended). 

Geez, I lost count on the points...the seventh? There were two water stations in the outer loop (of 10km) and one water station in the inner loop, which means on average we got to hydrate ourselves every 5-5.5km. The best part was, at the water station for the inner loop, there were only 2 persons standing that to distribute the isotonic drinks/H2O and canned isotonic drinks and 1.5 litre mineral water bottles were stored in a big box for the runners to grab. I don't remember a running event being a buffet. And are you kidding me? Canned drinks? Have you considered the disposal of the same? It was disastrous, the track was like a mine field and I finally stepped on one and sprained my already strained ankle. 1.5 litres water bottle? What are we going to do with the 1 litre water even if we could gulp down 500 ml? Carried it around when we run as if we were not exhausted enough? Smart ass, very very smart ass (or asses).

The 8th - there were lack of marshals giving out rubber bands to mark the number of inner loops one has completed. In fact, I have to stop and queue up and insist on my bands. Did I mention that the rubber bands are black too? Well, Black in a night race is really the new Black in town. There was also lack of marshals to tell runners where to go. Well, 'lacking' is an understatement. The truth is, as a far as I am concerned, there was no one I could ask for directions. I just have to run and follow other runners. The best part was, there was no one at the finish line to utter a sincere 'well done' or at least tell me where to go so I could collect my medal and finisher T. Oh ya, I nearly forgotten to mention about the 'cheaters'. There were just so much to rant on. You see, as there were lack of/no marshal/indifferent marshals hence many, if not most, runners cut through the lawns instead of doing the full inner loop. I don't even know who to blame more - the dishonorable runners or the ‘couldn’t care less’ marshals? If you participate in a run, get through it! Honour and pride are much more important than the timing.

The worse part had yet to unveil - *thadammmmm* there was NO medal. Apparently, instead of giving out the finishers' medals at the finish line, which is usually the norm, they chose to distribute it in some chambers and the signs indicating the categories of runners were in...err....A4 size? Kindly permit me to mention that there are 10,000 participants for the race, families, friends and supporters excluded. Hence, would you really be surprised when it all culminated into an uproar? Come on, tired runners, long queue, late night, rude personnel - seriously the runners are runners, not saints. The best part was - a voice (not a very polite female voice) came through the loudspeakers and implying that we were bandits  "because you all are so noisy we have no choice but to....blah blah blah". Simply uplifting, wasn't it?  I was not really there when the climax of the commotion took place but later on I watched a video captured by another runner depicting how the personnel threw out the goodies bag for the runners to grab. Did they think they are some hot shot celebrities throwing out their sweaty towels for the fans to grab? I loved this. I effing ran 21km (or so I believed) and there was no medal and no water station and nothing, absolutely nothing awaits me save for my dearest friends.

Look, I am already exhausted up to this point. The worst climax of the night- we went back to our respective vehicles and James’ car was broken into and Yam’s bag as well as Derek’s camera were stolen. When we left, there were still runners out there completing their full marathons and imagine what would they felt when they returned to a quiet and empty finish line.

Of course, the big surprise came 3 days later – the timing recorded by the timing chips all gone haywire and everyone seemed to have their PBs due to the malfunction of ‘humans’? 

In a nutshell, ENR 2011 was a disastrous joke. The song ‘I started a joke…which started the whole world crying…” suddenly played in my mind. Whoever that caused this blunder, must be a Bee Gees fan….

*A postscript: Anyway, I am contented that Energizer had finally stepped out and apologised and is doing ( I presume) what they could to pacify the dissatisfaction. I sincerely hope that all future running event organisers would pay heeds to the human errors which occured at ENR 2011 and ensure that such blunders would not recur again. The best you could learn from history is - Experience. 

Energizer Night Race - The First and The Last

Energizer Night Race 2011 to be held on 16.4.2011 would be my first night race and my first half marathon in year 2011. The participation in ENR was overwhelming. Almost everyone that I know who is into running (or not) signed up for ENR. It was also going to be John Chuah, John Ong, Jo, Liza, Noor, James’ virgin 21km run. On top of that, it was also Shearling and PooiChing’s first official run. As for the few of us who just came back from 2XU Compression Run a week ago we were still riding on the high of the run and couldn’t wait to rock the tracks at Sepang F1 Tracks!!! Yes, we were going to run on the Formula One Sepang Tracks, which were freshly rolled on and roared by the GrandPix racers exactly a week ago.

A day before the ENR, a pandemic fear and pre-run anxiety pervaded the runners’ circle. A glance through the Facebook newsfeeds revealed that every one was having butterflies in the stomach, in a more or less degree. The anxiety heightened when it started to pour like cats and dogs on the faithful Saturday morning and continued for another 5 hours or so. The weather looked gloomy but the rain had sort of cooled the temperature down hence we were looking at a bright chance of running in breezy weather instead of the hot and humid night air as feared by most runners.

I went for French class in the morning and couldn’t concentrate in the class at all. Suddenly, I failed to understand French despite 5 semesters of learning. My mind was wandered far away and I was very worried about my ankle and knee. I haven’t fully recovered from my ankle sprain (and straining it here and there through running and bootcamping didn’t help at all) and I suffered a new knee injury after Wednesday’s bootcamp session. My left knee was swollen and I was limping since Wednesday. I endured two painful sessions with Daniel, my Maiki masseuse (who is also a martial art instructor) attempting to ease the damage. After two hours of French, I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to ask for leave to retire earlier. I tried to sleep but of no avail as my heart was beating fast.

At 5.15 p.m, we set off from my house with Jo, Noor, John (bestie) and Elliot in my car. We then met up with Yam, James, Derek and Shearling at the bootcamp field. To our surprise, Unlce John Chuah was there too. If I recalled correctly, he said he won’t be bothered to depart early and would only leave around 6 p.m. I guessed his kiasuness got the better of him and he probably had conducted a risk analysis and decided that better be early than sorry.

Hence, a convoy of three cars sped along the highway heading to Sepang. The journey was long and seemed never ending. The talk in the car relating to the run didn’t help to ease anyone’s anxiety. Worried looks were imprinted on everyone’s face. When we reached Sepang, a jam was already building up and to our dismay, we were asked to pay RM10.00 as parking fee. There was queue at the toilets and more queue to get into F1 tracks. The collection for the headlamps was not really a collection at all but more of a ‘heist’ by the eager runners. A box was dropped on the floor and everyone just pushed and squeezed in to grab the headlamps and it was lucky that no stampede occurred. More queue at the baggage deposit area and it seemed that we spent an hour or so on queuing itself and there was not enough time to do warm up at all. The only light moment came when Jo fell in the passage leading to the stadium. It was kind of hilarious and it lightened up everyone’s mood.

Before we knew it, and before we even had the time to camwhore, we were asked to gather at the starting line. Then, there were some cheerleaders' dance and stunt which, if truth be told, did not bemuse any of the runners as everyone was too eager to run. When the run was flagged off, Liza, James, Armin, Joe were sprinting and speeding away and ahead of me like a whiz of smoke. A guy fell down due to the pushing from the runners behind and I felt so sorry for him but I couldn’t stop to cross over and help him as the runners behind me were pushing me ahead. 

I was running with good pace for the first 5km. The roads were so dark I was carefully paying heeds to watch out for pebble stones to avoid another episode of ankle sprain. When I finished the Outer Loop (running on the highways outside F1 tracks), I thought it should be at least 10km but when I looked at the teeny weeny white cardboard it was written 8.5km. Then we turned into the stadium itself. Approximately when I reached 14km, I began to feel excruciating pain on my left ankle. At one point, it was so painful that I had cold sweat and I was at the verge of crying and giving up. I just want to pick up my mobile phone and called for help and gave up. But then, pride and honour got the better of me and I began a ‘table talk’ with my feet. I was having a negotiation with my feet that I promised them ample rest after ENR in exchange for the tenacity to last through ENR in one piece. It was really tough running on a painful ankle. My pace slowed down and I had to stop for about 7-8 times to stretch my ankle. On top of this, the organization and the handling of the whole event was very bad. First, there was no visible distance marker except the 8.5km. We were supposed to do two inner loops on the race tracks itself but there were no marshal to guide us and tell us where to go. There was only one water station in the stadium which means one water station for every 5.5km. There were so many runners who cut across the lawn as a matter of short cuts and there was no one to stop them. I mean, seriously, running, just like any other sports, is an honourable affair. You could limp, walk, or even crawl back to the finish line and all other runners would still cheer for you and feel proud of you but if you dishonour the race by taking short cuts and therefore shorten the distance it is an utmost disgrace. You brought the running affair into disrepute, seriously. I mean, I was in pain and I was running with a sprained ankle and I was at the verge of breaking down but I would never, ever allow myself or lower myself to such low so as to do the short cuts. Sportsmanship, honour and pride are more important aspects in a run than the timing itself.

The Birthday Boy and the Belated Birthday Gal

I did my last inner loop in a turtle-slow pace but I continued running. I didn’t have any physical strength left at that moment and it was more of a mind over matter affair. I even shut my eyes and ran. I also had a thug of war imaginary conversations with myself – “No, it’s not pain, it’s just discomfort”, “Okay, fine, it’s pain, but just bear with it for a little more”, “It’s going to be fine, it will be fine by tomorrow”, “Just go, few more kilometers away, you can rest after that” and so on. But I must say, despite all exhaustion, frustration at the lack of (or absence of) distance marker and the perturbing and throbbing pain, I felt happy. I felt happy that I was running and I was going to finish it. At 2km before the finish line (the only marker which spelled ‘2km away’), I gulped down mouthful of water to quench my thirst and I poured the remaining on my head to cool myself down. I then decided I was ready to sprint the last 2km. Just when I was making a mental note “Fuck it, now, Lils, run run run!” to myself and lifted my feet for a sprinting pose, I stepped on an empty Mountain Dew can and sprained my ankle AGAIN! Yes, I couldn’t help but shrieked “Fuck”. I decided to do a limp sprinting anyway. At this point, I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and saw Nana (who just did a full marathon at Paris a week ago) and YKK (birthday boy who dressed in a striking yellow outfit complete with a lion king wig). They were so relaxed and happy and shouting words of encouragement. Thanks to their uplifting spirit and encouraging words, I managed to sprint to the finish line and all four of us – YKK, Nana, Lilly and me crossed the finish line together – HOLDING HANDS! I was so touched. Nana and YKK were fast runners and I am sure they slowed their pace to encourage Lilly. These are commendable gestures! This is what we called sportsmanship! You may be a fast runner, but it is not the speed that made you a great runner, it’s one’s own caliber, charisma and characters that made one a great runner!

When I arrived at the finish line I realized that there was a chaotic tumult close to a physical brawl going on at the medals collection counters. It seemed that the handing out of finishers tee and medals were distastefully handled and the organizer had shut down the place and stopped all giving out of medals. Announcement was made that medals and goodies bags would be mailed out to participants instead. This was seriously a joke. I have never been in a run/race (unless it has been made clear earlier that there is no finishers’ medals) whereby medals were withheld! Come on, I ran a freaking 21km in pain and I couldn’t at least have a piece of cold metal hanging around my neck as comfort? You must be kidding me!! Ridiculously it was true. The supervision of the whole run was so badly managed that I didn’t feel the excitement when crossing the finish line and everyone was busy booing and not even a single personnel awaited me at the finish line to utter at least a decent ‘Well done’. If it was not the runners’ bond, the runners would have come back to the finish line to nothingness, as one of the runner put it on TRAFFFF.  It is indeed a shame, ENR has all factors in favour of them - perfect weather, perfect tracks and perfect participants turn up and they still managed to screw it all up and put an abrupt and anti-climax full stop to an otherwise memorable and outstanding running event of the year. It provoked an instant and universal anti-ENR sentiment around the virtual world and too many nasty things have been said that I personally do not think ENR would ever stand up from this shameful pit anytime soon. To me, I would put it simply as this: ENR: My first and my last!

Of course, all is not lost when you have the strong bondage amongst runners. It felt good to be congratulated and surrounded by fellow runners. Jun King, my downline who participated in the 11KM run witnessed the tumult when it happened and just when the organizer announced that they were going to shut down the place he managed to grab some finishers’ medals for us (knowing how meaningful it would be for us). Again, I was so touched with his thoughtfulness. Of course it was not right to grab the medals just like that but given the havoc and the confusion, he did what he thought was right at that time with our interests' in mind. At the end of the day, all the finishers' medals which he grabbed were distributed to runners for the 21km category who finished the run in good time within the qualifying 3 hours. 

To sum it up, notwithstanding the miserable backdrop and doleful ending to the whole event, we had an enjoyable run. It was a memorable run, and I would always remember ENR in the forms of great friendship and great bonding. The rest, is history.


p/s: there are some post ENR sidelights but that would be for another day in another write-up.

2XU Compression Run - Singapore 10.4.2011

The Very Gaya looking TRAFFFFians at 2XU Compression Run 2011

After more than 3 months hiatus from running competitions (the last was 12km on 12.12.10) and a brief hiatus (3 weeks) from running due to ankle injuries caused by pure clumsiness and stubbornness, my first run for year 2011 was the 2XU Compression Run in Singapore held on 10th April 2011. The chronicle would not be complete without giving credits to Noor, who discovered about the run in the process of his virtual quest for international running competitions via the web utilizing the device none other than google search engine. Noor's magnanimity in sharing the information on TRAFFFF group has created a ripple effect immediately amongst the kiasu TRAFFFFians and almost immediately within a few hours, many have signed up for the run and we even have 'almost' continuing bib numbers starting with my number - 6665. Everyone was so excited about the "international" run and travelling arrangements were made respectively.

The first batch of runners - Hot Ass Yam (virgin runner) and Super Delta James (virgin international runner) arrived in Singapore as early as the midnight of 8th April 2011. The kiasu couple - Noor and Jo as well as myself arrived via the first flight of Firefly at around 9.10 a.m at Singapore ensued by Joe Liew who took a flight an hour later than ours. Sarge Dann and Ody decided to drive down (for the purposes of loots loading I supposed). The fiesta begun immediately with a shopping spree at Velocity at Nowena Square. When we arrived at the Newton Shop, the shop assistant (who we later found out that his name is Nus) was still sweeping the floor when we stormed into the shop with irrepressible excitement. I went with a mission and vision to own a pair of Newton shoes as I have previously did thorough research and concluded that I must have a pair of Newton. Noor and Jo started with a nonchalant attitude by browsing the racks. Nus asked me to do a mock run to ascertain which pair of shoes that were suitable for me. After running around the mall (yes, it's a shopping mall and yes, bystanders were staring at me in awe and bewilderment) for a while, Nus concluded that I am a forefoot-mid-foot runner and I was prescribed with the shocking pink Newton Performance Racer Distantia shoes. 

I felt so comfortable and light running and sprinting (around the mall) in the pink shoes and it took me about 30 seconds to decide to swipe my card in exchange for the pink Cinderella shoes. Seeing me flushing red with excitement, Jo decided to give it a sprint try and another 2 minutes later, another card was voluntarily surrendered to Nus. Needless to say, after witnessing the barter trade between me, Jo and Nus, Noor could not suppress his desire anymore and before we knew it he was trying on at least 5 pairs of shoes at the same time. By the time Yam and James found us in the shop, Nus had happily concluded 3 sales thanks to the 3 stooges from Kuala Lumpur. Soon after, James, Joe Liew, Yam and Lizza followed suit and bought a pair of Newton shoes each. We were happy with our new shoes and Nus was contented with his sales quota. I must say, it's a fair trade which made everyone happy for the day. 

The Newtonised TRAFFFFians continued with the shopping spree. More HALO caps, power gels, SPI belts, running jerseys, shorts, compression attire were purchased at the expense and courtesy of the credit line graciously provided by a a few Malaysian financial institutions. By the time we all retired at the hotel/respective accommodations, I supposed sufficient legs warm up exercise has been achieved through walking in the malls.

The next morning, we arrived at the Singapore Flyer near Marina Promenade as early as 6 in the morning. Everyone was stylishly clad in some form of compression attire. We looked as if we were models for some poster or something. Camwhoring started at 6 a.m and continued intermittently through some warm up exercises led by Sarge Dann (our bootcamp instructor). The Singapore Flyer with its lights on looked magnificent in the dawn. We were more mentally prepared than we physically were.

As usual, my bladder required dual visitations to the public washrooms and by the time I came out from the toilet, sucked my energy gel and walked towards the starting line, everyone seemed to have started running. Oops, the run was flagged off when I was still in dream mood. I clumsily turned on my Runkeeper timer and iPod and started running. Before I could even react to utter some good luck gibberish to Jo and Lizza they had sped away. 

As advised by Rose, I started slow and I truly enjoyed the scenic sceneries along the promenade looking at the Marina Channel. Oh, I also spotted few homeless under the bridge and by the public toilets. It felt so good to be in a run again. The sky was drizzling but it didn't really matter as I was enjoying my run tremendously. We ran back to the Singapore Flyer to turn to the Esplanade, Fullerton, Marina Bay Sands and back to the Singapore Flyer. 

Somehow, I didn't feel the desire to be kiasu at all. I saw many elderly passed me by and I was amazingly not having any issues with it. Perhaps I was fully aware of my injuries and perhaps I was even more aware that my physical strength would not enable me to catch up with them anyway. Without the pressure to compete with others and with myself, I immersed myself with the pure pleasure of running, feeling my heartbeat, my short of breaths and the rhythm of my footsteps. I felt alive. I felt happy. I felt joy. Simple joy from simplicity of life. I thought about Haruki Murakami. He wrote in his book  "Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest." That was exactly how I felt when I run.

I saw the 9km distance marker and not long after that, I saw the Singapore Flyer ahead and the Finish Line was waving at me from afar. Powered with the confidence in my Newton shoes and initiated by the last minute splurge I decided to increase my speed. Pumping my heart near the edge of having a possible heart attack, I was taken aback when I saw that the Finish Line Banner was at the opposite side of the route and we were supposed to run towards the Promenade again before turning back towards the Finish Line. At that point in time, my energy fuel was running low and I was besieged by immense exhaustion. I even found the music blasting away at my ears annoying and snapped it off. The run was no longer fun and joyous anymore. My ankle hurt tremendously and I was feeling light-headed. When I was about 100 metres away from the finish line, I mustered all my remaining strength and sprinted. You have no idea how relieved and happy I felt when I passed through that line. 

I realized another reason why I love running so much. Running is akin to living your life. It's a solo pursuit. Sure enough you would have your running comrades at certain juncture of the journey, which keep you company and motivated. But then again, at the end of the day, it is you who determine when and how you make it to the finish line. The route may be scenic at times, or hilly, or downhill or with stumbling blocks, but you don't stalled, you never quit and you continued running because you know once you crossed the line, all these would became history and unforgettable and beautiful memories which etched in a corner of your mind. And the best part is, those who loved you always wait for you at the finish line, to share the moment with you, and that is what matters most in life, isn't it? Yes, as my friend always remind me, it's not so much about the timing, it's more about the journey, the great friends and the fantastic memories! 

Lastly, may I present you with the finishers' medals - Voila!

P/S: My nett time : 12km in 1:19:10

Crestfallen Angel/Ankle

Doctor : You have a grade 1 tear at your Archilles Tendon and a grade 2 tear at your ankle ligamen.

My heart: I don't care what you said, I am going running this Sunday.

Doctor: It requires at least 6 weeks of recovery. Run at your own risk.

My heart: You are over-exaggerating.

Therefore, after paying a bill amounting to RM440.00, I went to purchase an ankle guard and I was under the impression that all I need was 5 days' rest...and then after telling Sarge what happened...his exact words were: "Run this Sunday and wheelchair for the future." and  "Don't you f**king COBC or TRAFFFF".

All right. This seemed and sounded serious. So I was 'persuaded' to rest for one month. That was yesterday.

Today, I am feeling depressed. While driving to a meeting, it hit me that this must be one of HIS pranks on me again. I mean, seriously, to think about it...every time I found happiness in my life, HE took it away and sent me down the Depresssion Pit. I wondered whether I am Job and I have to go through all these just because HE has a wager with the Devil? So, fine, I took up running, something I could do by myself and didn't need HIS help...and there it goes again...sprained ankle and no running for at least a month!!! Seriously. One has no idea how important running meant to me. Running is an essential part of my life now. It's when I could go into this Void (which Haruki Murakami aptly put it in his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running) and in a blissful solitude far away from all the miseries and sorrow. It's when I am in control of each step and each stride. I feel that I am alive when I run. Running is my anti-depressants. Running is the balancing scale in my life. Running is the gapping tool of the distance between me and myself. Running is my source of energy and my pillar of support. It's not about Personal Best time, it's not about the finisher medal, it's about I am able to run, as far as I want, as much as I want, as long as I want. It's my way of proving to HIM that no matter how HE push me down I will still climb up.

Seriously, it's not fun at all without running. But I suppose I need this rest so I can run a longer distance for a longer time in the future.