Of makan-makan and free parking.

Our weekend started early at 6.30am for our final short-ish LSD. We figured, as it was just 12K, it was okay to start a little bit late.

The run was done with not much drama. We wanted to go at marathon pace but either we started to fast or it was too windy, I got myself the wheezesies. Struggled to breathe for about 15 minutes but after that it was okay all the way, I guess.

After the run and breakfast ( nothing beats Mom’s nasi lemak), we headed off to KL. Made a lunch stop at Ipoh to ..err..lunch and find Hub’s shoes which he remembered had a 10% off in one of the shops there. But then after 20 minutes of searching at Jusco Ipoh, he realized that he actually saw the offer at Sunway Carnival in Penang. Huh. So much for that.

We arrived at my sister’s home in Bangi by late afternoon. She welcomed us with what she claimed to be the best goreng pisang she ever tasted in ages. I was a bit skeptical, as to me, the best goreng pisang can only be found in Alor Setar. But when I took a bite in it’s extra crunchy but not as oily batter, gosh was I hooked. It was so good, I stopped counting how much I ate. Hehe. It was so good, that when we visited our ex Uni classmate closeby, we even bought some for him. It was so good, he also lost count on how many he ate. And I’m excited already to think that I can have another go at the pisangs by the end of this week.

For dinner, my brother planned to take us to eat somewhere konon lain dari lain. So he took us to Saba’ in Cyberjaya. To our dismay, when we arrived it was a full house and 20 other people from different groups were all waiting outside to be seated. At first we decided to join in the crowd and wait until this makcik said to nobody in particular,

“ Memang patut pun kedai ni nama Saba’. Saba..sabaaaa” ( sambil menurut dada).

So deducting by the time we got our seats, Saba’ would turn to Sarawa’ ( geddit?), we decided to try the Iranian restaurant next door instead.

It was also disappointing to see, after entering, about 5 families were waiting on empty tables for their food to be served and all had bored if not frustrated faces on them. Okay, bad service alert. Enough to send us off to another makan joint.

My sister suggested this place called Kafeteria Nasi Briyani Batu Pahat ( or something like that). I can’t tell where exactly it was because it was too dark and I was dizzy with hunger. But when we arrived, the Indonesian waiter told us that they just ran out of the Briyani rice and we had to wait an extra 30 minutes for another batch to be cooked. He suggested we minum-minum and have a karaoke session with the live band first. Fat chance. Talk about being unlucky.

So after much deliberation, we all decided unanimously to eat at JM Nasi Briyani in Bangi. That was the joke for the night. Pegi jauh-jauh sampai 1 setengah jam, last-last makan tempat dekat jugak. Thank God the food was good. And the tauhu bakar was far better tasting that the ones we ate at Plaza Larkin, which tasted a bit like cardboard.

We went to bed with our stomach happy, Saba’ or no.

The next morning, after breakfast of fried rice and roti canai, off we went to Bukit Bintang to collect ENR’s race kits. We arrived at 10 and went round the area a bit trying to find the cheapest parking spot. With most parking spaces averaging to RM 10 per 2 hours ( ridiculous!), we took a chance and parked our car in next to the hotel at this empty space in front of the LRT escalators and prayed it won’t get clamped.

The banquet room for collection of the race kits was surprisingly small. As the collection time was supposed to start at 11 am, we had to wait in line for a while. Thankfully, the line for women’s 42K was short. There were 3 people in line, well 5 if you included my kids. As expected my kids were active as ever, dancing, singing, jumping and wanting to pee at the most inappropriate moment. After 15 minutes of waiting and a brief
bathroom trip, finally the collection process started. It was done fast, I guess as we were one of the first few in front of the lines. Zip zip zup and it was all done. Couldn’t say the same for the half marathoners. The line was growing fast and because the room was so small, I predicted that the line will overflow to the hall in the next half hour ( and by reading FB updates, I found out that I was right).

Managed to chat a bit with Shah. He was lining up in the women’s section to pick up Kak Kash’s bib. Tall fellow he was, I had to look up to talk to him. Hehe. Hub didn’t have a chance to say hello as he was busy picking up his race kit at the time. Let's get properly introduced with the rest of the gang masa ENR eh?

Our whole race kit and vest collection was done in less than 10 minutes. So I can’t really relate to all the complaints logged in ENR’s FB. I was a bit surprised that the goodie bag will be distributed on race day. I hope there won’t be much drama in that. I’m just thankful we decided to come early.

And our car didn’t get clamped! ( ie we parked for free! In Bukit Bintang! Hehe )

After all that, we headed North back home. Exited at Bidor to lunch at Tapah. I’m surprised a small town in Bidor would even have a running club.. And for a small town, they’re gutsy to hold a Half Marathon event that will be attended by people from all over Malaysia. I really salute them for that.

Lunch was nasi campur with ayam and terubuk bakar at Tapah’s famous nasi campur joint. The kids gobbled up their lunch with much gusto.

Initially we wanted to head up straight to Penang to look for Hub’s shoe and my Ipod but when we arrived home, it was cancelled that off was we were too pooped. All that eating and traveling was a bit tiring.

Later that evening, hub went online and read that runners in ENR on race day must park their cars at a designated spot and ride a bus to the starting point. Huh? What about our supporters? Our crew? Aisey, why la like this? I just hope there’s a way my kids and siblings can come and see us to our starting lines.

Okay, that’s my weekend food galore and race kit collection story. I want to end it with a witty ending but right now I can’t think of any.

The end.

P/s happy tapering and see you all at ENR!