Tell u the truth, i dun know what to expect on d race day. With my almost zero knowledge and xperience, i just got the tips from the booklet that was provided in d race kit, which was minimal. But one thing for sure, I was caught in the pre-race excitement in the infamous chaotic race kit collection that friday. Chaotic as it was, I partly enjoyed the scene. Though had to que for more than 1 hr under the hot afternoon sun after jumaat prayer, it thrilled me to see fellow participants (i dare not call my self a runner then) esp d gals (hahaha Dun label me as abg miang OK).
True to what the booklet said, i could not sleep well that nite. Since I know parking my car would be a problem, I planned to go out early and park plus perform by subuh prayer at masjid negara and I did just that the next morning. So far so good. No rush.
Met with Fariz at Dataran Merdeka but did not find Gies around. Walked around...tgk-tgk org lagik and then do my stretching (but no warm-up, which now i know is wrong). Bumped into few frens and clients. Dun know they are all into running as well.
With the adrenaline n excitement at their peak, we were gunned off. Me n Fariz started at d back and we took nearly 4 minutes to hit the timing mat. As expected, a newbie like me easily sucked up with the pace of faster runners. I think I started with a "comfortably hard" pace (now i know its called a tempo run) which I shud not. It would only be a matter of time that I would slow down, stop and walk and that happened at km 3.5. Looking back, the first half of d course is pretty flat but true to my fitness level then, from that point I did the run/walk routine and was overtaken, like no body's business by all type of ppl, young, fat, skinny, guys, gals, mak cik, pakcik and atuk!!!! (a guy who looks like in his 70s did overtake me). Something is really wrong with me, i haplessly told myself!!!! I walked through out the hill portion of Jalan Sultan Salahuddin with the plan of reserving my energy to run all d way to the finish line. Hahahaha what a joke. Yes i did run the downhill but after reaching City Hall building at Jln Raja Laut, I gave up. Just could not pushed my self anymore. Looked at my watch and finishing in 90 mins seems impossible now. I knew Fariz and Gies were in front and i did prepare myself with the prospect of facing the humility of not finishing in time. I really felt that I was a failure and regreted to participate in the first place!
By then the target was to finish the run. Continued with my mostly walk with jog routine until i made the turn to Jln TAR. One thing is I was extremly familiar with that area since my office is somewhere near there. Looking at my watch, I have about 10 mins left n suddenly my mind told my body to give it a try and try i did. With whatever energy left I run non stop to dataran merdeka though the urge was so strong to stop, and there I was, finishing the run in the nick of time.....86 mins. Hahaha..i did it, dun really give a dem about the timing. I will get my finisher's medal and cert, that were all i cared about at that moment.
Then it hit me, the thing is I did not compete with other runners but my self! That is what this running thing is all about. Challenging urself. Do what u think u cannot do before n getting satisfaction from it though u finished in the back pack.
Without me realising it then, I started feeling envious of those runners with the blue (1/2) and green (full) bips who i saw around. Those bips were like a badge of honour for runners. But the real wake up call occured before i left for home.
There were 3 very ordinary looking guys (in their mid 40s) who came in a car parked beside mine at masjid negara. I know they were runners in SCKLIM. Out of courtesy i asked one guy "abg tadi lari ker?" He answered in affirmative. "Lari category mana?" i asked. "Half marathon", he responded. It was rather an unexpected answer. "Timing abg macam mana?" I asked further. "2 jam 10 min camtu", he told me. There was I, thinking that finishing 10k was such a great achievement but being humbled by this unpretentious guys. I was further humbled when he told me that a couple of their frens were doing full marathon and all of them are from geng surau seksyen 7, shah alam. His parting words were "elok kita org islam masuk aktiviti macam ini. Islam mmg suruh kita jaga kesihatan". I thanked him for that piece of advise.
These ppl reminds me that fitness wise, i am nothing! All this while i had been neglecting and abusing my body. Infact i had my cigarette after my breakfast with Fariz! Thats it! Enough of giving excuses. I will start running..................irregardless of how slow that run will be.
