Hometown Glory.

Masa mula aku dapat  tau ada orang nak organize Marathon kat Taiping ni, aku antara yang skeptical
Aku pikir, sapelah manusia yang sanggup jadik lab rat untu marathon yang bukan dianjurkan oleh runnning club mahupun runners dengan cut-off time yang ntah pape.

Pastukan, pada suatu  hari sewaktu bersiar-siar di shopping mall, I saw a registration booth and I thought, what the heck.
So we registered for the half.

Manala nak tau the same weekend would be very busy for us.  A month after registering, we found out that there would be a gotong-royong kenduri kawin next door on the Saturday of race weekend. Pastu, somebody at the office came up with the idea of having the department's family day on the same Saturday.

Wah, sangat kelam kelibut.

Saturday, pre-prace day, kalut-kalut bangkit pagi to go the family day. As I was in the committee, I had to be there early to make sure nothing was in shambles. The golf club where we held the event suddenly decided to put us in the back seat just because some royalty from Perlis decided to have some function on the same day. As a result, the food arrived 1 hour late and the drinks weren't replenished smoothly as promised.
I was practically on my heels the whole day with my baju kurung drenched with sweat trying to make sure things won't fall apart..
Then at noon bila balik, takkan masuk  buat donno je kan? Kena la tolong jiran tetangga jadik bentara kat kenduri. Angkat pinggan, basuh pinggan, kemas meja, sengih-sengih. Pukul 4.30, baru bleh rehat n kami terus zonked out sampai 2 jam ..ahah. Malam tu pulak pegi open house. Hamik kau.
So due to this, and the fact that we would be running in an event organized by inexperienced people, we braced for the worst.

But the worst never came.
Sure, ada a few glitches here and there tapi overall it wasn't too bad.
Aku bagi point form la

The Good:

1. Small town race, small crowd, no fuss, no lines.
2. The route was nice. 3 uphills but mostly flat. Weather was good although it got a bit hot later.
3. Pakcik dan abang polis traffic yang baik lagi penyayang.
4. Good flow in goodie bag collection, no hassle for race kit pick up. It was so easy getting your race kit, Ian. Contoh my conversation ngan budak jaga race kit,   

                  " Kawan akak tak sempat balik amik bib dia, boleh akak tolong ambikkkan?"
                   " Boleh, akak tolong bagi no I/C dia"
                  " Alamak, tepon akak yang simpan no I/C dia dah kaput. Akak ingat no 74 je"
                   " Takpela, cari je nama dia pastu kami bagi bib"

        Puh, tak payah bagi a copy of I/C bagai.
     5.Enough water stations. They even had energy drinks macam tin power root tu and bananas.
     6. Supportive aids at the water stations - they serve you water and they cheer you on.
     7. Oleh sebab small crowd la, I managed to get podium. Dengan timing yang tak seberapa. Hantam sajala
     8. They gave me 4 different medals. One participant medal, one finisher's medal, one qualifying medal ( I  have no idea what I qualify for) and one 8th placing medal. And a trophy! Makcik kayo! ( kayo medal jo la, duit tak dapat pun)
     9. Plenty of Milo and post run food. Goodie bag ada banyak harta karun : 1 isotonic drink, 1 energy
         drink, 1 balm ( macam tiger  balm thingy), salonpas ( wajib ada) 1 mineral water, instant white coffee
         powder dan 1 lolipop berbentuk tapak kaki ( so appropriate!).
    10. Cheap! Registration for half marathon is only RM30.

The Unexpected (Saya ikut cakap sifu saya)


1. We were mostly running on our own. Traffic was manned only at main junctions. Yang lain pandai-pandai
     korang le. Rasa cam LSD pun ada. Nasib baikla most Taiping motorist adelah bersopan santun, kalau tak ramai jadik roadkill.
2.Insufficient route markers. At times we had to rely on the police and water station aides for directions. Route marker untuk kenduri kawin serius lagi banyak dari route marker race ni. Distance markers pun yelek.
Mostly we had to depend on runners in front of us to see where the route was going.
Tapi according to full marathoners, they were well taken care off. I guess officials tumpukan their whole attention on full marathoners kot. Nama pun Taiping International Marathon.
3. A few race officials acting more like pakcik keypoh rather than being proper professional race officials. Puh geram sungguh. Pagi-pagi lagi, spoke to me like I'm in standard one.

"Eh nombor awak tu selit la belakang tudung, haa baru nampak" ( padehal aku memang tengah buat pun)

   " Ni apa ni bib pon senget. Tadak orang tolong ke , girl?" (Takpela uncle, lain kali saya bawak protractor untuk ukur)

    " Girl, you boleh ke lari ni?" ( takdela, saya nak lompat bintang)

 Yang paling best, just as I was crossing the finishing line,
 " Girl,ada lagi ka orang belakang you?" 
 Ayuhai uncle, betapa hinanya daku dimatamu.

4. The race officials claimed that the cut off time was 5 hours and a half for full marathon but nobody was there at the finishing line when Ian crossed it at 4:40. Kesian gila. Nasib baik he such a nice guy.
5. Tak nampak pun medical aid mana-mana along the route. Agaknya kalau kau pengsan tengah jalan, teruskanlah pengsan sampai the next runner finds you.

Ok, kali ni ada gambar. Wanwon at last ingat untuk bawak balik kamera.

           Timing 2:14 je. Like I said, race kecik dapat la.

Budak nombo A020 tu senyum jo walau  apopun torjadi. 

Sapentah pakcik sebelah tu aku pun tak perasan.

And yup, you saw it right. The grey pants are definitely back. 

Run as you can

I have to admit it. It's been tough to properly train this year.
This time last year, my fitness was the best it has been in years. Weekly mileage was 40-50 Ks per week.
La ni kalau dapat 20K per week pun kira alhamdulillah.

Truth is, I have other commitments. I lack the time. And maybe, just maybe a little bit lacking of motivation.
Last year, when I'm back from work, dead tired or not, I'll lace up my shoes and go for a 6 K.
Now, I'm so pooped from work that sometimes I just laze on my sofa, doing nothing but watch the kids play from inside and wish somehow, magically, just maybe by watching my kids run around, I'll burn the extra calories as well.

When I run on the treadmill, my kids won't allow me to go for more that 40 minutes.
" We bored!" they'll say
" How can you run for so long and call that fun?" they'll  poke.

And I'm caught in between.
But I'll always favor my children. I will always be on their side.
I guess that's the dilemma of a running mom.
You have to make sacrifices most of the time.

But I guess it's okay. I'm not training for anything big. I'll be lucky if I get a PB for any half marathon this year. It no big deal. A PB is nothing but a PB. You don't get a prize, you only get to gloat for a few months, tu pun kalau orang lain paham..
Contoh:
Cik Bedah: saya punya PB half adelah 2:06
orang lain: huh, lama nya hang lari 

See?

Hurm, actually scratch everything I wrote above. Who am I kidding?
Actually, most of the time I don't miss the extra mileage. I just miss the eating-everything-without-gaining-an-ounce-of-weight part.
Ha.
That's more like it.
Baru bunyik cam JJ khennn?

saya harap anak dara saya tidak dressing macam di atas.

Right as Rain

Hi.again.
Somebody commented recently that nobody ever really blogs regularly now 'cept for me and Diket.
If you can call blogging once a week as 'regular'.
So I'm wondering if anybody still reads this anyway.
Anyway, I replied that this comes naturally to me, I've been blogging since I was 17. On and off.
And then, I realized that statement made me look like a dork.

So what if I'm a dork?
Arf.
?

Anyway, since you're here, I guess I should tell you what happened at Taiping Heritage run.
Like I said earlier, ni run main-main punya. Letihan cam hampeh. Weekly mileage rarely exceed 20K. I just ran during Ramadhan to see how much weight I could lose.
2kg, by the way.
Which I easily gained back in 4 days during raya..
Hi.

So sebab lari main-main, makan pun pulun-pulun. Mind you, I usually watch what I eat pre -race. I stay away from food that will most likely make me feel funny during race. Tapi sebab main-main kan, the day before we went to an open house.
Makan.
Uuu, rendang kaler hijau. Apekah? 
Makan. Makan.
Jemputla, kak. Ni rendang itik spesel.
Ha? Itik? Alamak. Dah selamat dah masuk perut. Redha je la.
Then pi rumah Ian.
Makan mii kari sedap. Mana-mana mi ngan kuey teow anak-anak aku tak habis, aku pulun.
Gelak-gelak. Makan-makan.
Balik rumah parents aku. Makan lagi atas niat carboloading.Late night plak tu.

Esoknya, my tummy don't feel so good. But ignored it.Amik air sembahyang siap-siap konon
Sampai race site, tummy agak memulas. Nampak port-a-potty. Ingat macam kat PBIM.
Bila masuk tadak air. Terus takdak selera. No1 je sempat, tu pon sebab ada air kat singki.
Did I mention hujan? Hujan mak oi.
Tapi biasa la tu, Tepen.
Amik air smayang ngan air hujan, first time.
Abis solat, simpan barang dalam keta,  tetiba dengar orang dah flag off.
Semua orang lain dah lari, aku baru terhegeh-hegeh nak mula.
So we started at the back of the line.

So lari je la.
Route agak sama ngan tahun lepas.
But it was still raining. Best pe. Sejuk je.
Sambil lari sambil sembang ngan cik abang. Pok pek pok pek.
" Manyak pandai ooo," kata sorang uncle dari Penang ni. " Lu banyak tenaga lari oo"
I get this a lot from uncles.
Diorang encouragement memang tip top.
Padehal diorang lari terer,umor dah cecah 60'an and steady je potong aku.

Sampai Kamunting, lori banyaknya mak ai. Sekali dia lalu tepi, cam ribut.
Ingatkan U-turn kat Sekolah Bukit Jana, rupanya nak dekat sampai Changkat Larah nun (okay, I'm exaggerating)
On the other side, nampak Yim pakai baju trademark dia, Ray ngan kawan dia ( tak prasan plak sapa) pastu tetiba je Deo potong kami. Ni mesti dah 2 kali round.

So larilah lari ( cilok syed punya jap). La la la lu di du.
Sapa nak potong , potong la. Aku siap bagi, " Sila, sila"
Semua ok je, tapi bila 4K lagi nak habis, tetiba rasa adehh lemaunya.
Larian gila-gila santai, jadi gila-gila struggle plak.
 Rasa cam nak jalan je. Tapi dah dekat. So lari la dalam kelembapan siput sedut.
Abang dan pakcik polis dok bagi encouragement, " sket je lagi, sket je lagi"
ada mamat rambut afro dok tepuk-tepuk tangan.
Luar aku sengeh, dalam,'  otak hang aihhh"

Last-last abih jugak. Takdak la rasa nak pengsan tapi penat jugakla.
Cross je finishing line, nampak sorang pompuan dok senyum kat aku.
Rupa-rupanya my Oral Surgeon's wife, one of  the head nurse in my department.
She was diagnosed with cancer last year and had just finished her course of chemotherapy.
" Hi, " I said, " Who are you waiting for?" Assuming anak dia dipaksa rela masuk race bajet budak sekolah.
" I've just finished racing, " she beams.
"What?"
" 10k " she smiled proudly .
And I'm baffled. That's so inspirational.
I tell almost everyone at work about it (  she's still on sick leave)
But everyone's more interested in asking if I won.
prffft.

Anyway, I ran it in 2:20. Finished 20th.
Wawasan 2020.
Medal besau, berat tak hengat.
Serius kalau libas mat rempit boleh mati.

Sekian terima kasih
p/s kali ni tadek gambar sebab
a) Wanwon lupa bawak balik kamera
b) gambar nak cilok dari orang pun nunjuk tudung kelepet

Huhu

Temporary Fix

Malassssss..tolonggggg!
And still you guys keep coming here.
Thanks :)

You know what irony is?
Irony is a jar of lime green kelapa pandan cookies sitting next to the treadmill.
And I still can't figure out which one I'll choose.

My significant other has started his letihan. Seems that some others are on the bandwagon as well.
Argh you running nerds.
Huh.
Ack.
Erk.

Hmph.
Sorry, sugar withdrawal.

Okay, treadmill wins.
But I get  ice cream afterwards, okay?
Today's running mantra will be " Almond pecan praline, almond pecan praline, almond pecan praline.."

             padan muko