Ipoh International Run

My day started at 4.15 am. It had just started to rain. My hub reassured me that it will drizzle by race time. Boy, was he wrong.

Dressed up the sleeping kids and packed their basic needs. Ate what was available in the fridge ( apple pie), geared up, hauled the kids in the car and rolled off. 

It rained heavily along the 1 hour trip. Hub was still confident that the rain will stop.

Arrived at 6.20 or so, saw a couple of Kenyan runners doing some warm up running in the rain. Hub said if he couldn't get the car parked, I should run off in the rain to the venue. By that time, everybody was running in the rain to the stadium.

6.30 sharp, I hopped off the car and ran blindly towards the stadium only to be shouted by the pak guard that 10k and 21 k runners are supposed to wait at the MSN building. Geez,dude, everyone else in eefing wet too, you don't have to be bitchy about it.

I ran to the MSN building which was next to the stadium, at first avoiding puddles. Halfway,my shoes were soaked and I thought, what the hell.

Had a few conversations in the rain with some random people. Went to the toilet 2 times to do #2. Apple pie was a bad choice for pre run breakfast. We all waited for 20 mins for the race to start. The officials kept postponing because of the rain and we were all getting restless. Why wait soaking wet and cold when we could be better off running?. The rain didn’t look like it was going to stop anyway.

At 7.30 I guess, the gun went off. This was my first experience running drenched. My shoes felt heavy and all that was on my mind at the time was " I guess I'll be taking an EL from work tommorow..theehee."

 I was kind of intimidated at first when it seemed everybody was passing me but then I pujuk-ed myself into remembering that I'm not an athlete and I don't intend to win any prizes. Lagipun, half will be exhausted once they hit the 2k mark with that pace. I concentrated with my own pace and my footwork. Then I got bored and opted to people watching instead. 

There were all sorts of people running around. Some ran with umbrellas and risked poking others in the eye with it. Some even wore crocs (?). Some schoolchildren ran barefoot. Most teenagers stomped while running, but they're teens, they'll recover, who cares. There were senior runners who looked older than my dad but ran faster than me. There were heavily built women who ran faster than me. There were muscular guys who ran slower than me. There were also women clad only in short shorts and tank tops who were freezing to death but guessed it was better to be fashion savvy instead of sensibly warm that morning.

At the 2k point two lads with ' Engineering' printed on the back of their shirts turned to me and asked " Jauh lagi ke kak?"

' Isk adik..jauhhhhh lagi". And they looked like they were about to collapse.

So I ran and ran. I promised myself never to stop and walk. I didn't stop at the water station for fear of getting cramps. I didn't stop at the sponge station cause I guess it was no help. Lagipun it was raining (it drizzled by that time) for pete's sake. 

The route went uphill and downhill, past a hospital and shopping mall, past houses with gigantic dogs barking like mad. Past annoyed looking drivers held up in traffic because of the run.

When I saw the 7k mark, I found myself smiling. 3 more Ks. I sped up, surprised at the sudden surge of energy. Tried to pass these two tudung ladies, who wore the words Perak on their jerseys: assumed that they were Perak athletes. Managed to keep in pace with them until the last 500m, when they suddenly went sprinting to the finish line. 

So I crossed the finish line with 3 other ladies. Decided to collect my certificate ASAP as hub and kids were probably waiting somewhere. Surprised that the line for my category was short and eased my way to the booth. I was extra surprised to see that they gave me a medal. Sure wasn't expecting that. I thought medals were given to 21k runners only. 

I criss crossed my way to my waiting family. There were hundres of people but I managed to locate them. My son greeted me with not a congratulation but with " Mama, kami pi makan Happy Meal tadi." Kids, heh.

Hub was really proud but was a tad bit jealous of my medal. I didn't want to rub it in as he sacrificed his place in the IIR to take care of the kids for me. It'll be my turn when he goes for Manjung Dualathon sometime this year.

All in all :-

Venue : ( minus the rain and initial sucky officials ) Great!

Time : My time 10 k : 64 mins

Will I race again? : Hell, yeah.

p/s I did not take that EL.