Putrajaya..in a blurry run..

And so….it’s over!! In an hour and 35 mins…and I was aiming for an hour 30mins, after an hr 25 mins 20 mins for 11km at the Orange Run last week…but really running at night is a different ball game altogether. The day started with brunch after I read The Malaysian Insider's twit about D’Cengkih so we went there for brunch..and I really eat…macam nak lari marathon…macam real. Good excuses to eat their Nasi Dagang followed by their lempeng (pancake?) with sambal tumis…and a bit of Zaim’s pulut kuning and one buah Melaka, all topped with Nescafe 0 kosong…What is it about running that made me think that I can eat a horse??             

Happy, full tummied people in D'Cengkih

Then to help digest the food, we went to Ikano amidst the jam of the last two days of the IKEA sale…and walk around to get books in Popular, checked out the fitness equipment store and cheap shoes at Vincci. Before heading home, stopped at Guardian to get a pair of knee guards for my aging knees..By the time we reached home, it was 4pm and I packed my stuff for Putrajaya. We left home at around 6.30pm, all of us including the kids. Jam on the highway and someone twitted that it’s the MTVAsia  World Stage jam…haish!

Rushing off after Maghrib - pic taken by Aisyah

We reached Putrajaya and parked near the metal mosque just as the call for Maghrib. We went to the mosque and I asked a few people there the flag-off time and the lady said 8.20pm. So, after the Maghrib prayers and while walking to the start line which turned out to be quite a distance from the mosque, I called Johana (my new friend from Orange Run) and shite!! It turned out that flag-off was at 8pm and she has started running!!! Mak!! So I told myself…”stay calm, stay calm..just go to the start line and start running…” tapi deep down I hated the fact that I’ll be starting alone…Cheh!!

When I reached the flag-off area, I saw another group of runners waiting to be flagged-off.. Ahh!! The 5km runners are starting at 8.20pm. It was about that time that I nearly cursed out all the Chinese profanities I know.. but instead walked steadily to the start line. And ran I did…slow…my normal pace..A few other late runners came by and passed me. I could feel my energy running low..my legs felt heavy but I pushed on..The affect of the food or maybe the lack of it (my last meal was at 12.30pm with half a carb-less bar at 5pm) was apparent, my tummy was really feeling uncomfortable. After each water stop, I was burping air out. And they only had water…isotonics would’ve helped as I was craving for sugar..

After the second km, I saw the 12km group at the other side of the road…I remember thinking..”Awh..man…they  are way ahead of me ..on the other side..”.The thing was I didn’t know the route for this race so I was just following the sign boards, siyes if you asked me to recall the route, sumpah Mak tak hengat nyah…and so I ran, walked and plod (yes…) till pretty soon I was running with the people who started before me. A few times, I imagined going into an ambulance or getting a ride from a biker or simply walking all the way. The route was pretty flat most of the time but it felt like forever.  I even stopped to take pics of the bridge with my phone..At one time, I was running with the 5km people, a whole gin-bang of them but later we were separated to 2 different routes. At km8.3, I texted Johana and Imran..saying 4km to go..And at 1km to the end, I called Aisyah saying I should be there soon..all the while, thinking…”it’s all about finishing the race and getting to that Revive stand!!”

Yes, mum took so long to finish we had to make ourselves at home!!

High on Revive, after the run....

And finished I did…and Revive has never tasted so good. Met Johana and her husband..also Lina Tan from Red Comm who did 5km and Rafidah  3R who also did the 12. And the roti telur at Kayu  after that was my well-deserved reward.