To Shed Some Light

This is an excerpt of Runner's World 2010 interview with top women marathoners Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher during their 5th month of pregnancy. Some parts of the interview has been omitted because it tends to drag on.
Let's make it more merepek with me imaginary butting in, in that same interview with my answers that hit home ( and let's face it, makes more sense)



RUNNERS WORLD: How are your pregnancies going?

KARA GOUCHER (KG): Because this is my first pregnancy, I didn't know what to expect. During my first trimester, I felt tired and nauseous, but usually 10 minutes into a run, I'd feel better. By the fifth month, I felt great—I was able to train twice a day and lift weights three days a week. But priorities definitely have shifted. Training isn't about staying fit as much as staying sane.

PAULA RADCLIFFE (PR):You don't understand what tiredness is until you are pregnant. No matter how tired you might feel at the end of a marathon or a hard training week, it's nothing to how tired you are in that first trimester.
 Like Kara said, running now is about staying sane, but it's also keeping yourself fit because that's what we do, and also because all of the research says that it's good for the baby, too. It's hard when people say, "Are you sure you're doing the right thing? What if you're shaking that baby to death?" That worried me the first time. I'm more relaxed this time.

JJ: Train twice a day? I'd be lucky if I can get 4 decent 30 minute workouts in a week ! But I'm lucky because nobody comes to me and ask "  "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?" because I don't really sell it to people close to me that I'm still running and doing some strength training.They'll throw a hissy fit definitely.

Any food cravings?

PR: I crave food in general. I have to have something before I run, and I have to eat as soon as I come back. I've always got energy bars or nuts or fruit or something in my bag.

KG: I've been craving dairy. Cheese and yogurt—I don't know why. My husband told my strength coach that I've been keeping Ben & Jerry's in business.

JJ : Did I mention before that I'm hungry all the time. Whenever I go to shopping malls or restaurants, I'd be like " Ooh, that looks good," or " I gotta have some of that" and most of the time I have no idea what they are. On that note, are you going to finish those fries? If not..

Has your training changed?

KG: The intensity is so much less. Track sessions now are fun. Instead of doing 8 x 1600, we're doing 200s, or if I am doing mile repeats, they're on an AlterG [antigravity treadmill, which reduces the body weight of the runner]. We're working out twice a day, but it's not like we're going to the well every time. In the morning I'm running an easy 45 minutes to an hour, and in the afternoon I'm just on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I also have access to an underwater treadmill. I think I'm going to be shifting more and more to using that for my second daily workout. That might sound like a lot. But for us, that's scaled back quite a bit.

PR: I've scaled back mileage-wise about 50 percent. I'm not even adding it up. In terms of intensity, it's hugely scaled back. I'm doing maybe one rep session on the AlterG once a week and then something on the track, but really short, like 150, 200, or 300 meters. I'm not trying to hit times; I'm trying to just run and feel good.

JJ: (Rolls eyes) Pengsan! I'd be lucky if I was doing what they're doing when I wasn't pregnant. Gile.
I like to say what I do now is running, but it's more of an awkward shuffling motion. But I guess at least I'm moving. And kebende tu AlterG? Aku kenal Kenny G je. Tu pun taim kecik-kecik. Ade -ade je la korang ni.


How has your pace changed?

KG: It's hard to tell what our pace is. The last time I did a hard session on the AlterG, I put the weight at 128 pounds (which is still more than I would normally weigh), but I was still able to do a six-mile tempo at 4:55 pace, and it felt so great. The next day when I ran outside, I was running only 7:30s, and that felt really hard. But there are days when I can run under 7:00. It's not this steady decline—I still have great days, but then I also have these amazingly awful days. There's no control over it.

PR: To be honest, it just doesn't matter. I've got no idea about pace.

JJ: Kan? Aku sekeh jugak minah Kara ni kang.
I don't run with my garmin. My treadmill hasn't been calibrated in years. So I have no idea of my pace. I run by feel. If my tummy feels heavy or there's a strain, I walk.


How have people reacted toward you—and your bumps?

KG: I was at the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego, and I did a little talk and then met with people afterward. And there was a lot of belly-touching. I was like, Wow, we're that close? I love meeting people and they're so friendly; it's just something I'm not used to yet. It threw me for a loop. And then one of my neighbors pulled up the other day and she's like, "Make sure you don't lift anything—a friend of mine went into labor early because she lifted a box." I know she meant well, but she would drop dead if she could see me in the weight room, because I'm still squatting, and throwing medicine balls, and doing everything I did before. Some people are shocked. But our bodies are used to working hard, and I'm not doing as much as I normally did. It's just all relative.

PR: You feel like saying, I'm not sick. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm just pregnant. Even people I know really well will come up and say, "Are you still able to run a bit?" And then they'll see me on the track and say, "Should you be doing that?" And I'm like, yeah, 'cause if you look at how slow the times are compared to what they've been before, it's not really comparable at all. But at the same time, it is keeping me fit, it is good for the baby, and it makes me feel better.

JJ: I get that totally. I hate unwanted belly touching. I hate it when I tell people I'm pregnant and immediately their hands go to my belly. I have to refrain this urge to swat them off like flies.So to avoid this,mostly I don't tell people I haven't seen in a while of my condition so I'll leave them wondering whether I've gained weight or I actually have a baby in my tummy.

we like to touch our own bellies, thank you very much

How do you think being active influences pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery?

PR: Being fit definitely helps. Even if you have a complicated pregnancy, the fact that you're fit is still going to help your body handle that situation. And I think that being fit through labor helps. The mental techniques you know from getting through races help to keep the concentration and stay focused. You come back stronger because you're happier, because you have a child that you love and cherish, and it's something you really wanted in your life. You probably become a little bit more focused as well, because your priorities are sharpened. And the time away from intense training means that you come back more refreshed. There is a flip side, though, because you are so used to being in tune with your body, and having this body that responds so well to what you ask it to do. You can't do that during pregnancy. You feel frumpy and fat. You kind of have this anxiety because you know you have to put on a certain amount of weight and hit the target so the baby is healthy, but it's hard to get fat and to go through that.

JJ: Yeah, what she said.

How did the pain of labor compare to racing?

PR: The pain of labor is more intense. But I found that it was just not comparable. When you run a marathon, your body is working with you and you've trained and prepared for it. With labor, for me, my body seemed to be working against me.

KG: My husband was tossing around the idea of a natural, at-home birth, so he rented this video, The Business of Being Born, and it had the exact opposite effect that he was hoping for. I'm open-minded. I definitely want to deliver in the hospital, and I want the option of the epidural. But I'm in denial about the whole birthing process still.

JJ: Some smart-alec said to me, " It's your 3rd. The pain won't be as intense as it was with your first". I say that's full of bull s**t. I met a mother of 7 who actually told me, it never gets easier so I'm bracing myself. Honestly, with  marathons I guess it's the same. Even though you've done it 4-5 times, it never gets easier. But if we're talking about pain, of course a marathon is nothing compared to labor.




Have you experienced any uncomfortable moments on runs? Bladder issues?

PR: I think we had one nightmare run, didn't we?

KG: I've had a few.

JJ: ALL the time. But I guess that's normal. I do hope I don't cough or sneeze during a run. That'll be ugly.


How has running helped you with the emotional ups and downs of pregnancy?

PR: You still have that normal mother-to-be-anxiety, like, Will I be a good mom? Will I do the right thing? But running does help. Sticking to a routine is good. You also find yourself bonding with the baby and talking to the baby on the run.

KG: I have my most intimate thoughts when I'm running. That's when I'm most honest with myself, and I think about what I want out of life. I've definitely had thoughts, especially in the last month like, Wow, my baby knows me better than anyone. He's the only person that's ever been behind that curtain. I mean, obviously, he's not really hearing my thoughts, but there's just that feeling that there's some connection that I could never have with another person.

JJ :  I think once you've been running a long time till it becomes somewhat of a habit, it's really weird to fully stop for the whole 9 months. How much fitness you'll lose will always loom in mind. I guess it all about moderation and slowly easing up accordingly and not just fully stop. Exercise is good for moms physically and mentally at these times. At least you won't feel fat and frumpy most of the time.

End.


All merepeks aside, I do hope this interview ( or rather my part of mock interview) can shed some light into running for mommies and mommies-to-be.

I hope I can still go on running/ shuffling/ waddling till full term. This is the furthest I've been. In my last pregnancy, I had to stop halfway when my doctor diagnosed me with type II placenta previa. Hope that doesn't happen again.

It's the hormones

I was lying in bed, with two layers of blanket, shivering with hacking  coughs and waiting miserably for the fever to pass.

In the middle of the dark, suddenly I felt my son's little fingers touching my arm.

" Mom? Mom?"
 " Yes?" I replied groggily.

" Can I pray for you?"
" Do whatever you want, darling"

" Dear God, please make my mom better so that she can be happy again."

And my heart crumbled just a little.

Letting Go

PBIM is close to my heart.
I did my first half marathon on Penang Bridge.
I did my last sub5 marathon on Penang Bridge ( cerita lama bosan ala lemau).
I love running at night on the bridge. It's breezy and sometimes, if you're lucky it rains.
Some say it's monotonous and boring but I love running towards Penang island's skyline.
And imagine running uphill towards the booming drums and the magnificent lights on the middle part of the bridge.
Awesome.

This year will be the last PBIM on Penang Bridge.
They say, next year, runners will be running ( and trying out) the spanking  new , longer second bridge.
I don't know if they'll keep the name. I don't know whether it'll be just as good.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Sedihla pulak.

Last year I gave PBIM a pass due to last minute stomach issues.
This year, I won't be running  the half marathon again for the obvious reasons.
And due to my fondness of this race, I've decided to give out my racing kit for free.
It's such a waste to let it peram in my almari just like that. Kalau boleh jadi jeruk kat Chowrasta tu takpe jugak. Lebih baik berbakti kepada others who failed to or somehow forgot to sign up for the race.

Anyway, I'm giving it all away. The vest, the bib, anything inside the bag. Even the pil che ke teck aun (betul ke eja ni?)
Except the Salonpas which I'll keep for my neck aches.

So anyone of my readers who are interested, tell me why you'd like to run the last PBIM in the comment box. If you're too shy, you can email me at octopusgoreng at yahoo.com.
Kalau ramai sangat takers, I will somehow choose one.
Kalau takde yang nak, by next week I'll mention it on one of the running groups in FB.
Please do take note, it's strictly for those who are interested in running the half marathon Women Open category. And no selling it to anybody else, okay?

Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Larian 1Malaysia Padang Rengas - Sebagai Penonton

Saya tak pernah jadi penonton.
Serius.
Rasanya tak pernah la. Tapi nanti kena tengok balik past entries to make sure.

Usually if there's a race and there's nobody available to take care of the kids, he would always volunteer to take the back seat.
I pretend to ask if it's okay once or twice and then I'd be off running.

Kesian dia.

So I decided ( or I guess it was decided by fate) to just be a penonton for this race.
And see how it feels like to be on the other side.

I actually signed up for this race despite me saying Taiping International Marathon's 10K was the last for this season.
Talk about being fickle minded.
But blame it on the pakcik yang jaga the race registration.
" Sayang oo kalau tak masuk, dik. Orang pompuan tak ramai lagi yang sign up"
Saje je pakcik ni kan.

Registration pun murah. Aku pun bayar je la. Niat kalau tak lari aku sedekahkan je la.

Pastu bila seminggu pegi kursus, mula la contemplate nak lari ke dak.
Even though it was advertised as only an 8K race, I hardly ever done more than a 5K distance ever since I hit the 2nd trimester.
Pastu nama pun race, for sure I'd overexert myself even though niat pasang taknak buat sedemikian.
I don't trust myself to behave.

Tambah race would start at 8 am. Dianjurkan parti politik.
CONFIRM start lebih lewat.
Overheating will become an issue.

Kejap-kejap aku tepon WW. Nak race ke? Tak nak race ke?
Dia pun dah mula malas layan.
But like I said, fate decided for me.
After I got back from my kursus, I asked mom whether she was free to take care of the kids.
" Boleh, tapi....mak dah miss kelas agama 2 kali dah minggu ni"
Tu dia, punya subtle rejection.

So it was decided. Penonton je la.

Berapa banyak punya mukadimah da

Cantik kan? Bukit apentah.

So 7:30 am sampai kat Sekolah Tun Perak untuk Larian 1 Malaysia kat Padang Rengas..
Aku tengok muka-muka biasa geng-geng Taiping Road Runners buat warm up.
Lepas WW salam-salam sape-sape yang patut, dia pun buat warm up jugak.

warm up melawan arus

Dalam pukul 8.00 am, MC suruh pelari berkumpul kat court tennis.
Ramai jugak la for a race not widely advertised.
And then sessi MC buang masa membebel sebab kononnya organizers masih lagi recce route race untuk clearkan route.
Adeke?
Bebel pokpek bebel pokpek, matahari pun dah naik. Terik.
Aku ngan anak-anak dah mula lapar tapi sebab takut termiss the start of the race, kami tahan jugak.

Tunggu
Tunggu
Tunggu

Ramai runners keluar  'kandang tahanan' by this time sebab:
1. Dah panas
2. Nak warm up balik
3. Nak pi jamban.

Tup-tup pukul 8.55 am baru nak start.
Masa tu matahari naik betul la.
Aku nervous jugak, kot-kot la organizers nak bagi politician berucap sebelum start.
Depa ni bukan boleh. Suka benor dengar diri sendiri bercakap.
Sep baik takde.

So they were let off. And we cheered and cheered. We watched them until they were nowhere in sight.

Silly camera phone can never snap on time. Argh

And then my children looked up to me.
Now what?

Now we wait.

So kami pi kantin dan makan.
Talk about killing two birds.

Ikut resam nasi lemak kantin.

Sedap dan murah. 

goreng pon sodap 

After 26 minutes, we heard the MC announcing the arrival of the first placing runner.
Aik? Lajunya.
Kalut-kalut rush balik kat race site.

Aku tengok sorang-sorang cross the finishing line
1,2,3,4,5..(alamak, podium nak habis)
6,7,8,9...
Just as I was about to look elsewhere, Chiam spotted his old man.
We were cheering, and jumping and clapping. All three of us. Aku nampak paling buruk kot.
And trying to take pictures at the same time.
Which of course came out crappy.

Camera phone aku ada reputation taknak snap at the right timing.

( yang depan tu category budak sekolah 3K) 

Tengok tu! Dia snap tinggal bayang je. 

Harun hashim sungguh. 

But he did it.
No 10. in 32 minutes.
We were pumped.
The kids were really happy ( mostly sebab papa bagged a prize)
"30 hengget je?" kata Chiam.
Jadi la tu. Janji pulang modal.

 Yay!

Ate, takdele besinye koman benor yeop.

The prize giving went smoothly. We didn't have to wait long. The prize money was given promptly and only first 3 finishers had to wait for the prize giving ceremony ( which I heard was held late).
Not bad for a small race. Good quality medal and despite all the lateness, it went smoothly afterwards.

And finally I've officially became a penonton!
I've embraced the other side!
Which is not so bad provided there's nasi lemak.
But then again, nothing can go wrong when there's nasi lemak.

something okay and not okay

It is okay to strike a pose biting your well earned medal at the end of the race.
It is not okay to take several dozen pictures posing the same way and posting them online every 5 seconds.
Your friends just might wish the next picture will be of your chipped tooth wedged on the medal.

It is okay to say " I've finished the race in the 25th position!"
The feat itself is respectable and not everyone is podium material.
It is not okay to say, " I got number 3 at the first 500 metres until those damn Kenyans caught up with me and I finished 25th". Everytime.


It's totally okay to congratulate your female friends for getting a good placing.
It is not okay to say that women are comparatively slower runners and if your friend was a man, she'll get dead last.

It's okay to encourage a newbie friend to race.
It's not okay to comment that getting 40 minutes for a 5K is kinda slow .
He's called a newbie for the obvious reasons okay.

It is okay to like talking about running with your running buddies.
It is not okay to blabber on about the fundamentals of runnning and bring out all the jargons of the sport to anyone not remotely interested.

It's okay to be proud of what you've done so far.
It's not okay to constantly gloat.
Macam goat.

It's okay to be competitive. It fuels  the run.
It's not okay to dengki-mendengki.

It's okay if you like to sign up for races every other weekend.
It's not okay to abandon your family plans for these races.
The key is moderation. orang lain pun tak meluat dengan hobi kita.

It's okay to join races every other weekend.
It's not okay to constantly whine about your various injury because of this. Hey, you asked for it.
Be real, relaxlah. You are not a robot. Humans need time to heal. Okay, what about people who are constantly racing and not getting injured? Well, I guess they're superhumans and most of us aren't built like that

It's okay to wite your blog post.
It's not okay to write it while the course speaker is blabbering on with things you have no idea  of.

I'm not taking a jab at anybody. Mostly I'm making fun of myself and other silly things I've done or encountered  in the past 4 years of racing.
It' s all for a good laugh and a slap on the forehead so chill.

Mostly I'm bored because I'm stuck here in a 4 day kursus aim to bore the hell out of me.
The only highlight of my day is running on the gym's treadmill. I'm not even looking forward to the buffet.Sebab tak sedap. Huhu.

Sorry of the typos. I'm tapping this on my hp. Maybe wW will be kind enough to edit later.

Have fun guys :)

The Oath (?/!)

Let's face it, since my last race, I've been kinda neglecting my runs.
Kinda? Who am I kidding?
Mosta.

I've only ran about 3 times since. Sure, I had that oncall thingy ( again!) last week which was a pretty valid excuse not to run. But I  have no excuse for overeating.

Yep, I've kinda been doing that a lot these past few weeks.
Kinda? Who am I kidding?
Mosta.

It doesn't help that I'm hungry all of the time.
Seriously, no kidding. ALL of the time.
I used to have breakfast and be quite  full till lunch time but now it's like ;
breakfast at 7 am, then by 9:30 tummy starts grumbling again as if completely forgetting I had an egg sandwich 2 hours before, then after a snack at 11 am, I get the hunger pangs again and it'll go on and on for every 2-3 hours.
Worser yet, if I ignore the hunger, my mouth will get all payau, and it'll  be a retching fest.
And I'll be retching like crazy behind my mask at work and my assistant will be like, " Why are you making eyes at me like that?" or " You look funny."
( they still haven't got a clue in the office)

My parents are thrilled at the prospect of overfeeding me during these times.
They'll ask me repeatedly if I'm craving this and this and that and that.
Which I don't. I don't really crave anything in particular. I only want food in general.
Like the last time I was pregnant, I innocently asked my dad the difference between nasi kandar and the normal nasi berlauk at the mamak.
" Why? are you craving?" he asked, eyes gleaming.
The next thing I knew, he brought home a big bungkus of nasi kandar.
I'm not kidding. Bungkusan sebesar kepala budak.
Semua dia taruk. Ayam, telur, lembu, kambing. Silap takde burung unta je, kalau tak , tu pun dia sumbat.

My mom pulak is a traditional believer of eating for two. Although I've told her repeatedly that, technically, it's actually eating for one and a quarter. You only need to add 300 calories per day. She hates it when I go all scientific on her.
When I eat my meals back at the kampung, she'll eye my plate and say, " You're only eating that?"
SETIAP kali.

Don't get me wrong. They're great help. They care so much.
But in terms of gaining weight healthily, it's not helping.
Especially bila napsu nipis when I'm hungy ALL the time.

So I made a deal with myself yesterday when I officially hit the 2nd trimester mark.
That I'll eat frequently in small amounts.
 No more  piles and piles of nasi lemak sambal lebih  to keep my tummy full till noon . ( not to mention bloated)
A healthy breakfast of sandwiches or kuihs or noodles with a granola bar, fruits or some jajan nuts in between. ( note to self: it's either/or not and/with)
No cereals since suddenly I'm allergic to milk ( go figure) .

And run regularly.
And not to fuss about the pace and mileage since it's now  more about how much time I spend on the mill.
And to  ignore that blog of a running pregnant mama who claims she runs at a 9:30 min/mile easy pace ( ah, phooey!)
And ignore that urge to sign up for small short races.
 Ugh.

Eat regularly, run regularly.
I know I'm making a fool of myself for making the oath here.
But it's the only way I can keep it.
 Mosta.

Taiping International Marathon 2012- 10K *PR

I had many qualms going into this race.
The first issue was training. I hadn't trained much since Ramadhan due to fatigue. Sure, I managed to squeeze in running 3-4 times weekly but my mileage was comparatively, poor.

The 2nd issue was my condition. And relative to that, my fitness.

I had to take 5 of these babies on a daily basis

So  I did a few research on the net. What I summed up from the articles, forums and a few blogs were :

1. Avoid over-heating and dehydration

     2.  Get an 'okay' from a doctor first.

Okay, number 1 was easy. Number 2, not so much.
It's really hard to convince any one of my doctors about running in my condition ( most of them are old school, I guess) so I resorted to the only Dr I know who would give me an easy yes.

" So you've been running regularly?" he asked.
"Of, course"
" And you haven't experienced any pain or discomfort while running?" he drilled again.
" Nope. Only, sometimes I feel that I need extra effort to run at my previous easy pace. Other than that, I feel fine"
 " I guess it's okay to go ahead racing. Be sure not to overexert yourself," my husband nodded his approval.

Ye, saya main kotor.

So on Friday, I went to Padang Esplanade to pick up our race bibs. They advertised in the website that racing kits can be collected from 1pm to 7pm. So after picking up my kid at school and lunch, I parked near Dewan MPT just to find a long queue of school kids also waiting to get their bibs.
The organizers haven't even set up the booth yet. And these kids have been waiting there since 12:30pm.

So I was too lazy to wait and decided to come back later to pick it up.
I came back at 3 pm to see that a booth had been set up in the middle of the field. Surprisingly, although there wasn't much of a line, it took me 20 minutes to pick up the bibs because they had some sort of confusion with online registration and stuff.
I had a feeling this race would be in chaos right then and there.

So on Sunday morning we left our kids at my parents' place with a promise to Mom that we'd be back at 8 am. My parents had to go pick up my sister's graduation robe in Penang so they had to leave as early as possible to avoid the holiday traffic ( as if).

When we reached Kamunting, we saw some runners already into their first 30 minutes of racing (I assumed immediately that they were half marathoners). They were racing most of the time in pitch black so I wondered how on earth were they going to see the route markers ( what route markers? I found out later)

WW asked me a few dozen times regarding the starting time of our 10K. I repeatedly told him, according to the website that it was supposed to be 6:30 am. Plenty of time for us to either do our prayers, go potty and do some warm ups.

As there was no make-shift surau ( no surprise), we decided to just pray by the road side. Not  long into our 1st rakaat, suddenly I heard the loud familiar whack of the gun off and the pattering feet of people running.
 I was praying and panicking at the same time. Were those runners in our category? Did they push ahead the gun off time to 6.00? There goes WW's PB, I thought.

Immediately after our salam, I approached an uncle walking by, with my telekung and all ( must have freaked him out) to ask.
" Excuse me, what category did they let off just now? Was it the 10K?"

" No lah, it's the half marathoners" said Uncle, not even fazed by my attire.

" What? I thought they were to be gunned off at 5:30?"

" No lah, the organizers delayed it to 6. "

Oh, macam itu pun boleh ka?

With a sigh of relief, we went to the port-a-potty to do our respective businesses as there was no line ( no line!)

At about 6:30am, all of us 10K runners, with cable -tied hands (!) aligned ourselves at the starting line.
WW went to stand at the front of the pack to secure a PB. I reminded him, no podiums please as we had to get back early. I who wanted to run the race at an easy pace just stood with the masses in the middle and grinned from ear to ear. I couldn't see anyone familiar but I sengih-ed anyway.

lightning shoes 

So we were gunned off. Most of the runners went flying past. I got sucked into the excitement and forgot my promise not to overexert myself. For a split second, I even contemplated on targeting a sub 60 with my condition.

Then we got to Bukit Doremon, a steep incline and I thought, okay, screw that.

So from there I got back to my conquest to run happy at an easy pace. I say conquest because for me, seeing all those other runners running fast, it's really an effort to tell myself to calm down and take a breather.
Ye, saya agak kiasu. ( JJ slaps herself around a bit with a large trout)

1 mile into the race, I did a self check.
Breathing : Ok
Overexertion: No
Dehydration : No. I carried a water bottle
Overheating : possible.

It was kinda hot. But I was glad to see black clouds rolling into the horizon. Yay, rain!

I ran halfway with a guy who paced me till the 5th km. We had a nice conversation about the weather and other stuff. I even offered him some water from my bottle when we saw the first water station was out of water. I lost him sometime after that chasing this lady with a cute purple shirt. I planned to thank him post race but I couldn't remember how he looked like.

The 1st water station lady told us that there would be water and sponges in the next station. But when I got to the next station, they just ran out of sponges and I was really hot. It rained a few drops and we had to battle running against strong winds but at times, it was still hot.

When you're running leisurely, you tend to notice things you hardly ever notice before in previous races.
I started to appreciate the scenery, the early morning coffee shop aroma and newspaper vendors, the flat as pancake roadkill in the middle of the road and I started to notice that runners, when sweaty, they tend to smell like coconut husks. And that people hardly talk to you unless you talked to them first.

When I got into town,. I knew that I was almost done with the race. I still had a smile on my face and although I know I am never photogenic when it comes to race pictures, I smiled at every camera I saw whether they were pointing at me or not.

 WW came from around the corner, already minutes after finishing his race to cheer on other runners.
I gestured for him to come and run with me.

Macam jalan-jalan je?

( Thanks Sean Wong for the pic) 

We ran side by side with me grinning macam kerang busuk and him encouraging me to hasten my pace as I was so close to the finishing line.
I ignored him and ran like my bapak's race.
Realizing that, he encouraged other runners to pass me instead. I joined him, telling a school girl behind me, " Come on,faster. You can surely beat me" and slowed down for her to have her glory.

So I ran to the finish line, seeing a couple of my staff at the sidelines cheering me on.
It was never a prouder moment.
I felt so happy I could pull this off.

I did not glance even once at my Garmin during the race and ran by feel. I expected my  Garmin to display a 70-ish minute finish but it gave me an extra surprise to see this:

 A bit over-distanced, but that's okay.

And I was even more elated  to calculate that if it wasn't over distanced,  I would finish in 63 minutes .

So that's it folks. My *PR.
Although that's almost 10 minutes off my 10K PB, but no biggie.

His and hers 

WW achieved his PB of 46:54. Unfortunately ( or fortunately) he missed podium and only secured a 12th placing. So immediately after the race, after collecting our medals and goodie bags ( wasn't much swag), we kept our promise to Mom and got home. Major bummer that we didn't get to meet other familiar faces there but a promise is a promise and we also had a long day ahead what's with shopping and eating and visiting my best uni mate in Kedah and all.

I heard some major complaints about the race today. It was all expected to me. I gave a few heads up in my previous posts but I guess everybody signed in , expecting  the organizers to improve.

I went into the race expecting the worst, so I braced myself for bad things to happen along the way.
They ran out of water, they ran out of wet sponges, they had no route markers and hardly any road marshals but I guess I was prepared for that.

At least the medal was nice. 

Nevertheless,  I had a good time. I never smiled more in any other races than I did yesterday.
This will be my last race for the season as I'm entering my 2nd trimester.

I will still be running regularly, hopefully throughout my pregnancy so I'll still have something to yak about here.
And I will still be at a few small races, to cheer WW on. So maybe I see some of you guys there, okay?
*PR = Pregnancy Record ( atau Poyo jeR)