He got Sub 2, I got Ahad..harharhar

When I was in the car, driving home from work just now, I had tonnes of idea on what to write in my report but now, as I sit here gawking at the monitor, my mind goes blank trying to think of an appropriate intro.

Apa ah? Apa ah?
Mula je lah, redah je.

Point form boleh tak?

Prerace
- We arrived early to cheer on the full marathoners but as it was raining like anything, we lepak-ed under the Standard Chartered tent talking to Ijam and watching old uncles ( who had 10K bibs) nodding off to sleep on the lazy chairs.
-I dunno why but I wwas so hungry prerace ( despite the fact that we carbo loaded the night before with piles of nasi briyani and tauhu bakar). I polished off almost 2 cream buns. I was still hungry right before gun off.

The race
- I've never been to an event this big, with so many participants.We started at the back of the pack and it took almost 2 minutes to cross the starting line. Then we had to weave through the crowd to find some decent running space.
- Hub decided to run with me until I reached my desired pace, then I let him go ahead to run at his pace. His feet went off in a pitty patty motion and I wwatched him dissapear into the crowd. Sedih la pulak.
-I have no polar, I have no Garmin so I can't tell the exact pace I'm going. So how was I to know if I'm moving too slow ( or too fast?eceh). I told hubs this prerace and his brilliant solution is that I calcute the timing with the distance I'm going.It all goes fine right until I reach 14.5KM and suddenly the mathematical part of my brain goes blonde and I'm like ," Err..14.5 X 6, then must convert to hours..err..apa ah?". By the time I figured out the answer, I found out that I was 7 minutes off. Ayak!
- Then I had to do one of those negative split thingys, so I fished out one of the 3 powergoos stashed in my pockets secretly hoping it's not chocolate but hey, it turned out to be chocolate anyway and took half. Somehow chocolate powergoo tasted like kuah rojak but swallowed anyway.
- I hate hills, right? So I remebered what Nadia once wrote, that hills are like karma. If it goes up, it will eventually come down. To get over those hills, I anticipated the downhill part. Whee..
-There was this other guy barefooted along the way and I wanted to tap him so badly on the back and say " My husband is doing that too!" but I didn't have the nerve because I was afraid he would think " Sebok je minah ni"..haha.
- There was also this guy wearing Vibrams/Teftas ( I can't tell them apart) and his feet went sloshing all the way. Are they supposed to slosh?
-Somebosy should've warn girls about running long distance in white vests/shirts. There are pink ones, polkadot ones, leopard print ones and even granny ones. And I'm not talking about the colour of vests.
-I love it that The FMVs had their official shirt on so I can cheer them on along the way ( kenal atau tidak belakang kira)
- The sign board says 1K to go and I'm on Jalan Tar. 5 years I've lived in KL but I had no idea Jalan Tar can tembus to Dataran Merdeka one. Had to weave in and out again through the 10K crowd.
-I finally see the end of the line and I'm seconds away from my target time. I gave all I got left while my eyes are fixed on my ten ringgit watch, watching the seconds go by. So if all my finishing photos shows me looking at my wrists, it's all my fault.

                                                                  Just barely made it

Offcial results as taken a few moments ago:
Congratulations Julinda Kassim on completing the
2010 KL Marathon
in a finish time of: 2:15:16
(as usual my finishing photo looks weird so I will not post it here harhar)

- I blogged about dreaming a PB a few nights back. Well, in that dream I got a 2:17. Reality is even better!
- Yayy!!
Post race
- Met up with hubs " whatcha get?" He got 1:53. Me? proud? Yes. Jealous? Also yes. Haha.
- He said " I saw to this guy and that girl and this woman and that man along the way" and I go " Duhh, I couldn't even spot KLCC along the route."
- Couldn't stay long although we really wanted too. More races to come, I'm sure we'll bump to each other one way or another.

Congrats bosses on your races regardless the distance or timing.
You are all super!

I had fun!

Hey guys, I hope by this time you've all finished whatever distance you ran.
I just wanna say I enjoyed every moment of my HM SCKLM. It was awesome. The route was awesome, the weather was awesome and the crowd was awesome. Sure there was some glitch here and there but let's just turn a blind eye and enjoy every moment of it.

I wanna say sorry if I didn't tegur many people along the way. We had a nice long chat with Ijam prerace and we couldn't meet you Full Marathoners at the gantry as it was raining cats, dogs and tapirs. I spotted a few familiar faces along the race though ie Kak June, Sarah and one bro from the Kaki Lambung group (sorry, I didn't get your name but thanks for making me laugh) and I managed to cheer on all FMVs who I met along the way. If I didn't say hi, mesti I tak perasan tu. Sorry sesangat.

Anyway, we couldn't stay long and meet all you wonderful people at the flagpole postrace. We have some errands to attend to and after that, we're going to hub's parents' house in Mambau. We'll be going back to Taiping today as tomorrow, there's an Occupational Health Course in Hospital Taiping for Perak's Nothern Districts and I'm the chairperson, and on the afternoon pulak I have a crown appointment in which the patient is my boss's sister ( talk about pressure).
So you can imagine our rush.
Again, sorryyyyyy.

And I did nail that PB. In fact, it's even better than The PB I dreamt about. And hub PBed big time too. Barefoot!
But I'll save all that for later.
We're off to Nogori Sembilan.
Bye!

Pre SCKLM

After reading Ijam and Che's blog about the commotion going on at the bib collection venue in Titiwangsa, we decided to beat the crowd and come early today. The earliest! 9.00 am tops.

We were one of the few early birds there. The guy at the counter checked through my IC but then half whispered to his friend that they didn't have my bib number. Right. I suspected this would happen as we registered online early. But they apoligized profusely and told me they'll have my number in a jiffy.

So after 10 minutes, I got my bib. No hassle ( okay not much hassle), no drama.
But I found out later today, those bibs they handed out were like leftover bibs and of course they weren't personalized. I dont have my name on my bib. Boo hoo.

Kesian kat saye.

Run lah run ewah ewah

I've studied the map of Half Marathon SCKLM and I noticed the route isn't going anywhere near the double hills. Then again, I'm a terrible map reader. So can anyone confirm that?
Yes, I'm afraid of those hills. In fact , next year I think I'll forgo NB30K and let hub have a taste of it. Ngeh, rasakan.
Meanwhile, I' happily tapir-ing for two weeks now. My longest LSD post Malakof 26K was only 10 miles. And that was done with pure mental torture. So I'm currently in a self doubt state.
Helleh, you might say. Baru half dah bising. Hihi. Sorry for being wimpy but just 2 days ago I dreamt that I PBed my next half marathon and it scared the shit out of me when I realized I'm expecting too much of myself.

I'm beginning to sound like a running nerd, eh?

And did I mention I'm missing out on all my cross trainings. Even though I've scored running outside but since moving, I've done zilch in weights or pilates or cardioerobics.

Apapun, I'll just run. Apa-apa je lah. CAN'T WAIT!

Good luck runners, RBUs, FMVs and the whole lot of you.

Don't forget to say hi! I'll be the 4 eyes with the gray pants sengeh like kerang busuk.

Alanis Morisette

Irony is, you wake up early, get ready for work early, get the kids ready early,gave the them breakfast early but then on the way, all trafic lights are red and your hand bag gets stuck in the car seat, and you're left 2 minutes late from your 7.30 am punch in time.

Irony is, it's finally sunny in Taiping , and you go for your 3rd solo run but after that you pig out at a local pasar malam.

Irony is, you finally find the time to blog, but suddenly a colleague sneaks up from behind and say " Whatcha dooooin'?"

Argh. Darn you TM.Give me back my line.
Cest la vie?

Traumatized and recovering

I was oncall again ( again!) and as I was getting ready for Saturday’s LSD, my phone rang at 6.30 am. The call was from the hospital stating I had a case in the A&E with multiple fractures of the maxillary bone and multiple soft tissue injuries.. There goes my run, I thought.

When I arrived, my dental assistant came to me with a panic stricken face.
“ It’s serious, Dr” she said.
I thought of the Arab boy in the youtube video and repeated my mantra , ‘ It can’t be that bad, it can’t be that bad”
I was right. It was worse.

When I arrived at the ER, the patient who was involved in a road accident was literally fighting for his life. The ER team was all around him trying the stabilize his vital signs. Blood was smeared all over the floor.

I looked at his smashed up face.
Okay, I can take this , I thought.
I stared at his heaving chest.
Okay, I can take this.
Then I saw his pale extremities and suddenly felt the chills.
“ I can’t watch this” I turned to my assistant and left the red zone.

This isn’t supposed to happen. Dental oncall officers are rarely exposed to this kind of scene. We’re usually called after the patient has been stabilized. There was probably some confusion with the interns and the orders from their MOs .

The intern ( or houseman officer as it is called here) apologized profusely and promised to call me back after the patient has been stabilized fully.

Here I am, a medical worker, traumatized by the whole incident. I had the scene of his pale soles, his labored breathing, rewinding in my head. Over and over and over.
I tried to pretend everything was okay. I went for breakfast. I went for my ward rounds with my Oral Surgeon.

An hour later, I called the ER to check on the patient.
“ I’m sorry Dr. He didn’t make it.”
I stood there, staring at my Oral Surgeon. “ He’s gone, “ I said.
“ Well, what to do.” He shrugged. I guess as a seasoned specialist, he’s jaded to news of death.

2 days later, today, I am still bothered by it. He was somebody’s son, brother, maybe somebody’s father. Over the weekend, when I was at the ER repeatedly, my eyes kept wandering to the bed the patient was resuscitated on.

I hope he’s in a better place.


Later that Saturday evening, I really had to go running to shake the feeling of loss. Thing was, hub had to take care of the kids so I had to swallow all trace of cowardness and run on my own. I have been running on and off since I was 22. I have been running seriously since 2 years ago. But this is the first time I’m doing a non-race run alone.

We arrived at the lake at about 6 ish. On ‘go’ from hubs, I jumped out of the car and began running ( he had to go park the car and kids) . I planned to do 3 rounds, that would be approximately 10K due to time constraint and to avoid the kids being restless. I was nervous the first 1K, aware of naughty catcalls but after that I thought, ‘ To hell with all that’ and began to run easily. Post rain, the weather was superb. The only glitch was I had to stop a few times to get around some people blocking the running path especially near the zoo. Every round, at the starting point , hub would call out “ You’re doing great, keep with the pace.” And other park patrons would look at us like we’re crazy.

An hour later, I was done. It felt great. I felt refreshed. And most importantly, I felt like I’ve achieved something big, even if it’s only a 10K.
And I’m ready. I’m ready to tackle to roads alone. Again.
My next adventure will be running alone around my residential taman.

But that’s another story ( or entry) altogether.

Weighty Issues.

Like I've mentioned in previous posts, there was one time in my life that I’ve been slightly overweight. During those times, I’ve faced loads of negative comments about my shape and what I ate. Painfully , I got over that.

But now that I’ve lost all that weight and then some, I’m getting another round of bad talk in another different way altogether.

“ You ni dah kurus sangat la”

“ Ada orang kata kurus sangat cam ni dah tak lawa dah”

“ Aiyahhh, why so skinny one? Depressed ah?”

First of all, I’m not skinny. My BMI shows that I’m normal. I know I’m strong and not lethargic like some skinny people and should I emphasize that I’m eating normally and healthily and not cutting back to stay this way. I’d like to think that I’m lean. But definitely not toned, as much as I want it to be yet.

Why the naughty comments, people ? Last time gemuk pun bising, la ni dah kecik pun bising lagi. And the thing is with our society, they like to link weight loss to personal tragedies. Are you having problems? Is your partner treating you well? Are things going well at the workplace?

The worse I came upon is “ Why are you losing all this weight? Are you afraid that if you get fat your husband will go astray?” That’s so insulting, I had to laugh.

Sorry to rain on your parade, Gossip gurus but I’m not that insecure. I’m doing this for me. I want to be a healthy person. I want to be an energetic parent. I don’t want to be out of breath while taking care of the kids and doing household chores. I don’t want to get older and at the same time grow sideways. I want to show that it’s a misconception: you get married, have kids and get fatter –it’s the norm.
When I tell people that, they tend to look at me and smirk. Then they’ll say something unintelligent like , “ Macam perli aku je” . Argh. You brought this up upon me and then suddenly it turns to be about you. Apakah?

So to avoid all that drama, I’ll just smile and shut up. I’ve given up explaining my goals. I’ve given up telling them why I run and exercise and tackle the stairs even though the elevator door is conveniently open. I’ll only tell my story to those who are interested to hear. And I’m not saying I’m all high and mighty and better than them for opting to be this way. They can be what shape they want and be happy about it. I say ;That’s you. That’s your choice. But don’t go around and say hurtful things even if ‘stick and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me’. They don’t harm, but they sure do hurt.

I guess I should focus on what’s important; I’m able to carry my 3 year old heck, even 6 year old, up the stairs without wheezing. I can wear what I want without worrying about any body parts bulging over, I have my husband by my side with mutual goals. I'm happy with me.

Funny thing is, I thought it was a woman thing but hub who lost 10kgs due to running, got this not so long ago,
“ Hei, apsal dah kurus. Bini ko tak bagi makan ek?”

Sheesh.

TMR! TMR!

It's been a week now and we're internet-less at home. Those TM people are really fast when it comes to bills, but take their sweet time to reconnect our line. So naturally, I'm doing this at work.


Post Malakoff, we haven't been running that much. I'm busy at my new work place and after work, we're busy buying things for the new house. Shamefully our only run was Saturday's micro LSD of 10K and my konon 4k recovery run on the dreadmill the next day.

Talking about my dear dreadmill, we found out that the side handle that allows the dreadmill to be conveniently folded when not in use, is busted. I guess it happened during the big move. So now, I have to accept the fact that the dreadmill thread? track? what do you call it? will always be in a supine position, allowing my kids to do whatever kids do on an immobile dreadmill ie:; eat on it, pretend to run on it, dance on it, sleep on it. I swear, the very day the whole darn machine goes haywire, I'm getting myself one of those Nordic Track dreadmill thingamagig. No matter what the cost.
It's a wonder how I'm willing to pay so much for something I claim I hate eh?


Weekend oncall was..urm tiring. By Saturday, I had to review 5 patients in the ward but thankfully by Sunday, all but one were discharged. But just as I thought the worse is over, I get a call this morning at 4.45 am to treat a man assaulted with an axe in the face. An AXE.


Why are people nowadays so ganas one?


By the time I’ve sutured up his face and immobilize his maxillary fracture, it was already 6.40 am and  I had to rush home to prepare my kids for school and get ready for work.
So this evening, I guess I’ll give myself a break and not run.
But TMR! TMR!


Ok, I just saved myself some embarrassment just now by minimizing this page as my colleague looked over my shoulder to read what I’ve been keenly typing. I miss my own computer.


Argh.