KL International Marathon

Dataran Merdeka

Kenapa? Tak percaya, ker? hehehe That Sunday morning, 5 Mar 2006, I and IWS woke up very early at 5 am, quickly siap and by 5.40 am we were in the car already heading to LRT Station Bandar Tasik Selatan. We could not drive to Dataran Merdeka since all major roads going towards city center had been closed to give way for the marathon. This is my 3rd consecutive participation in the marathon since 2004. On last two races i took part in the 10km run but this year, the organiser only offered 7 km run....they called it 7km Fun Run...kekeke.

We reached LRT Bandar Tasik Selatan at 6.00am, just in time to catch the first train to Masjid Jamek. My office mate, Kamaruzaman was already there earlier than me. So, by 6.30am, we arrived LRT Station Masjid Jamek. I quickly put on my kain pelikat over my runnning shorts and went to the next door Masjid Jamek to perform my Subuh prayer. Looks funny with my running shoes on, even ada bebudak tegur "Pakcik nak lari ker?" Puikkkk...they called me 'Pak Cik?" Again? I quickly answered" Ngapa....tak boleh ker lari cam gini?" Geram betul.

When i went out to the mosque main entrance, my other office mates, Roy, Zaifunizam, Mazia, Zalia and Suriayani were already arrived. Only Zaifu and Mazia have taken part in previous race while Roy, Zalia and Suriayani were all first timers. We then applied some minyak kuda to our legs...kononnya nak kasi power. When i was in primary school, this minyak kuda were said to give us extra strength during runnning...macam kuda. Whatever it is, i need it to warm up my legs before the run.

By 7.00 am, we all proceeded to the starting point. Before the registration, i met Abang Din, who is IWS's cousin's husband. He is already 50 and will be running in the 7km run like me. Aisayyyy...kalau kalah, malu ni...i said to myself.I, Abang Din and my friends did some last minute warm-up before we lined-up at the starting point. At approx 7.20 am, the siren blew and off we go...start of our pain and torture (sendiri cari punya).

As i passed the stage on my right hand side, i saw my grand uncle who is the FTAAA President standing next to the KL Mayor and AMBank (the Official Sponsor) president, i think. I started to waive my hand at my grand uncle and suddenly all of them on the stage waived back at me. Malu....kakakaka. OK,the first few hundred meters, we can't actually run since there were thousands of people on the street. Kena kuak orang dulu. I looked into my GPSr (Global Positioning Device receiver) which i brought along showed that my next turn will be some 500m away. OK...i kept on running. Belum letih lagi....still adjusting my steps and breathing. I saw Zaifu, Mazia and others in front of me. Tak pe...i said to myself. About my GPSr....i hv just bought it in Singapore two weeks ago. This tiny device (as big as a Nokia handphone) tells me where my current location, where i am heading to, time to reach destination, distance covered so far and also my current speed and so on. Really interesting. It is actually a multi-purpose navigation device that use satellites signal in the sky to calculate your position on earth. Sounds hi-tech...hehehe. Whatever it is, it helped me a lot by distracting me from pain and tiredness as i 'played' with it along the way. In some occasion, it also made me a bit demolised when the reading indicated that i have 5.5 km more to go! :-(

Back to the race....as i saw Masjid Negara at my left hand side, we all ran along the flyover going towards Jalan Hang Tuah.....that was where we can see Stdium Merdeka on your left ahnd side and Dewan Bahasa on the right. When we reached that junction, we turned to the left and ran towards Jalan Imbi. It was quite a long stretch until we reached the end of the road where we can see Bangunan LTAT in front of us. We quickly then turned to Jalan Bukit Bintang, passed by Marriott Hotel, Planet Hollywood and Lot 10. Then we turned to Jalan Sultan Ismail and move on until we reached Maju Junction in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. By this time, I was already running like a zombi. Run and run and run and run. To make things worst, there were Nike's bill boards placed along Jalan Sultan Ismail stated something like "There's no finishing line...keep on running".... Rasa nak terajang ajer. I realised that I have already overtook all my friends and left them behind...chewahhhh. I tried to look around, searching for familiar faces that i would know but could not find any. Lifebloom??? Where were u?

I gained my strength as i turned into Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and my GPSr indicated that the finishing line is 'just' 1.6 km away ahead of me. I openned up my steps and moved faster. Semangat lak. I could see the full and half marathon runners running side by side. By this time, they have covered almost 35 km and i was just struggling to complete a 7 km fun run. Aparaaaaaaaaa. Some of them looked less exhausted than me.

From far...i could see already the domes of Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad. Semangat. I must not gave up and the most important thing....kontrol macho because i know my dear IWS willbe waiting for me at the finishing line. I sped up (and i began to see stars in my eyes) ...passed the final junction and entered in front of Dataran Merdeka and i saw the finishing line. As i reached the finishing line, i bend down my torso as if i was running in a 100 meter dash....gaya punya pasal. The official at the finishing line gave a a green coupon that entitled me to collect my certificate and medal later. Phewwwww.....i felt so relief and of course so damn exhausted. Checked my GPS and it showed my timing was 57 mins. I congratulated myself...hehehe. Frankly, that was my best timing so far. I thank god that i managed to complete the race safely. This time i have succesfuly broke by own timing....not by wrist like during the last Putrajaya Marathon in Sep 2005 ;-)

I gathered all my colleagues and we all went to a nearby mamak shop for a super heavy breakfast. All on me ...on the company expenses....kakaka.

Thank you all. See u all in the next race ....