King of the Road Malaysia 2013

16.8km

Running on Empty

Part Two of Weekend Run Combo

Sometimes we do crazy things. Someone would later go on to call it crazy brave.  Some would call it insane. Doing two runs in two days is no joke.  I know a certain 'always smiling runner' who recently did two FMs in two days. Met him in both the Putrajaya Night Marathon doing 42.195km and the Adidas King of the Road doing 16.8km.  Both times he called out my name.  The big difference between him and me apart from him being five years older is the fact he is a much faster runner than me.  So he gets more time to rest in between runs.  When I signed up for these two events and distances I didn't think, I just did. In retrospect it was a foolish thing.  Then again I have always plunged in head first and then worry about the consequences.  That for me makes life fun.  If all of us were so predictable life would be boring indeed.  Kept reminding myself this was 58.995km over a span of hours not days.  I would start PNM at 8pm and then KOTR at 6.45am. So I had little or no time to recover in between.

Those who read my PNM post will know that I clocked 5:46 for my PB.  What that meant was that I had more time on my hands.  Time to head from Putrajaya to Sunway Pyramid.  Time to eat and rest.  Sleep however didn't come easy. One hour sleep, a quick shower, and I was at the startling line 5 minutes before gun time.  The good thing was that I stayed so close to the race site.  So if I had to crawl back to my room I could in fact do so.  The bad thing was I wasn't even warmed up before the race started.  This was the highway run along the NPE. Just the sort of run to prepare me for a return to Penang.  Had no illusion of clocking a fast time. On paper I could easily dip under 2 hours.  Tell my kaputed legs that.  From the start I knew I was running on empty.  Tried as hard as I could to get going.  Managed to struggle on for the first two km.  Nice to see so many fresh legs around me.  How I wish I could run in the bouncy way that many of the youngsters did.  My feet felt like they were encase in lead.

Starting on empty (pic: Deo AH)

Saw a couple of familiar faces.  Some called me by name, which is always nice.  How I wished to have a running buddy then.  Did meet up with fellow stragglers.  Chatted with a couple of them.  What I didn't want to do was get injured.  This was for me a sort of fun run.  Wanted to experience a shorter race with about 11,000 participants.  In the beginning it felt like a tight squeeze along the highway.  Slowly but surely it thinned out.  There was no need for me to look at my watch.  Knew my time was a disaster.  The feeling of utter hopelessness was there.  Badly wanted to finish this. Had not come all the way to go home without two medals.  My biggest fear was that the sweeper bus would catch up with me.  The nice auntie far back was still walking gamely on.  If she could do it so could I.  My legs were still after all attached to my body and I wasn't cramping or anything like that.  What I needed was something to spur me on.  A quick call to MBF did the trick.

Meeting up with Jimmy Teh (pic: Jimmy Teh)

Saw the sweeper bus slowly approaching with some 4km to go.  The nice chap tried to persuade people to hitch a ride with him.  Lots of them took up his offer.  Was hoping even more would so, so that the bus would move ever so slowly.  So I still had time.  Walked and jogged on.  Struggled to put some distance between me and the bus.  The kms were going but so very slowly.  This was not what I had envisioned. When the bus finally caught up with me the guy did try to persuade me to hop on.  I said no.  There was no way I was going to hitch a ride if the nice auntie behind me hadn't.  I salute her! She kept on going.  When we reached a tunnel section the sweeper bus didn't follow us anymore.  Kept on going.  One more tunnel followed straight into the home stretch.  Saw MBF cheering me on.  Managed to hit the finishing line on two feet.  Then got a banana and my medal.  Quickly sat at the sidewalk and ate my banana and drank the water they gave me. Waited for MBF to come.

Totally kaputed (pic: Jimmy Teh)

Met up with the nice auntie again.  And there was Mohan as usual with his trusty camera cheering us on.  We took pictures. He had come to support both runs this weekend.  That was much appreciated by many of us. Did I bite off more than I could chew? Well the answer is yes and no. If I hadn't eaten and slept and just went for it am sure I could have easily done 60km.  This is not an idle boast.  What killed my legs was starting from zero again after doing so much.  Maybe if I had held back during PNM things would have been different.  Of course there was no way I was going to give up on a chance at a PB when my legs were going so good then.  Will I run KOTR again?  The answer to that is a resounding yes! The atmosphere was really nice.  The KOTR crew went all out to cheer us on.  This may have been a short run but it was very well managed and the runners were well cared for.  How I wish more short runs were this professional.  There might not have been a finisher t-shirt but the Adidas race top was simply fabulous.

The nice auntie and I

Nasa and I

My medal

Thank you Mr. Postman...

When I returned to Kuching something was waiting for me in the mail.  It was a fulfilment of my new year's resolution. When I first saw Mohan wearing it I said to myself I wanted one too.  However little did I know the price of getting such a race top.  Am hoping to wear it at my next marathon.  Nothing beats wearing something we earn.  Running FMs has done me a world of good. My health has improved tremendously and I have made many new and wonderful friends.  This race top is just the icing on the cake for me.  Am hoping it will spur me on to even greater running heights.  Thank you to the awesome people at Marathon Maniacs for accepting me into their fold.  My running journey will forever be a long one, made much easier knowing that I have the support of people who have run so many marathons behind me.  Yes I am itching to run, but recover I must.  Come my next marathon I hope to do the Maniacs proud. Happy running always! Maniac #7614 signing off.

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