Seize the day!

thank you
firstly i have to thank cheong for getting me to the starting line and
a big hand to the organisers for a well organised race except for 1 big problem, pls read on

have not being running for at least 4 weeks due to many reasons/excuses
thoughts of running 21km was very painful, especially a cramp prone person like me
during the race week i ran from mon to thu about 6 to 8km each run
with so little mileage and no long runs the only logical thing to do was run easy

on sat nite i told myself i'll do a last minute check on my preparations once
my 2 sons and my wife is asleep, i think i fell asleep before my sons!
the moment i opened my eyes i was in a panic state
time check 5.20am whew what a relief
did the necessary and was out the door immediately
later realise i forgot to put on my time chip & ion bands

there seems to be so much wind in my stomach
was burping a lot and even almost vomit before reaching the starting line
met cheong, cs, kenneth, jessica & ow
cheong put me at ease and said that the wind was probably due to anxiety,
just relax and it should be ok

free loo
my plan was to tag cheong, as he is nice company & his pacing is just right for me
i even tag along to the dataran merdeka basement car park loo before the race
there were 2 loo attendants, 1 collecting the 20 cents fee & the other making sure u pay the fee
they were very strict, some runners gestured they did not carry any coins/money, the attendant
quickly replied that the free loo was upstairs, i wondered, free loo? where?
later many were seen using the free loo throughout the race, behind the bushes and so on
same as last year they use the huge drums to set the race mood at the starting point
however last years beat was more encouraging but i guess its better than none
we started at 6.30am, cheong, cs & i ran together, chatting & joking as usual

the big problem
all was well until we collected our power gels
there was no water at the water station right after the gel station
i shouted out loud 'what the hell, how come no water ah?'
i saw some runners drinking from bottles left on the road by earlier runners
desperate, i did the same
and if my wife finds out she probably nag me for the rest of my life
as i am writing this report, i am coughing and feel a sore throat coming
hopefully its not because of the water i drank from whoever you are! eewww

my hopes of having water at the rest of the stations was gone
and the end is when i need water the most
but fortunately as it turned out only that station had no water
the rest had plenty of water and 100plus
good job organisers! insert applause here

h2231
as i was enjoying the atmosphere & running easy along
a man, looking pretty old, overtook me
i followed him, he seems interesting, most old people do
a girl was stretching probably due to cramps
the old man shouted words of encouragement
i shouted 'nice legs'
once a safe ear away from the girl the old man laughed
and we started chatting
he is from singapore & 65 this year!

finish
nearing the last few kms i was so glad that there were plenty of water/100plus
stopped at every station and enjoyed 2 cups while walking
traffic control was also good throughout the race, insert applause
finished in 2hours 21minutes 53seconds gun clock time
had cereal & 100plus, stalls well organised, no need to queue, insert applause
i had to rush off, was not able to enjoy the rest of the goodies provided
and also miss the chit chat with the rest of wonderful runners

# posted by Newton @ 7:25 PM