I did it!!!!

YESSSS.....I did it!!! - running in style

THE PRE-RACE

Arriving PD and checking in at PD Golf and Country Resort

Registration at Admiral Marina
- Cipang, Bandit and Budin

Triathlete wannabes -
Me, Harry and Cipang (all first timers)

Tough guys from the same school showing off their A-shape body
Cipang, me, Harry and Kam

SWIMMING - 400m

At 4.00pm, after body marking (rasa macam lembu lak...siap ada nombor kat badan) and got every stuff prepared at the transition area, we adjurned to the marina. There were more than 150 participants in this sprint event. I put on my swimming cap (supplied by the organiser-must wear, otherwise disqualified) and goggles and we were given almost half an hour to warm up. I jumped into the water (sea...actually)...busssshhhhhhhh. Wowww, dalamnya. I swam here and there to warm up. Then the organiser gave a briefing while were in the water......penat siul, nak floating. I wasted lots of energy there. At approx 4.30pm, when the air-horn blown, everybody started to swim like mad.....macam-macam style ada, mostly front crawl/freestyle. The first 50 meters, i could not swim properly due to the crowd. Habis terlanggar and terpegang sana-sini. Kena terajang pun ada. So I just let everybody passed me. Dalam hati...biar lantak korang pergi dulu la. Bila dah tenang sikit, baru aku start swim.....stroke by stroke. I must control my breath and save my energy, otherwise i wouldn't be able to sustain. I knew very well that i was not a good swimmer, kalau setakat 50 to 100m boleh la...ini 400m beb. Kalau aku pancit kat tengah-tengah tu, kat mana aku nak paut? Setan betul.....baru 50m aku dah pikir macam macam. I tried to be calm. All I could see was green...dalam laut hijau, depan hijau. Sea water splash from other swimmers kept on hitting my face. I must get through this swimming event, by hook or by crook....I said to myself. I couldn't turn back by now, people would laugh at me. I must go ahead....celaka. Ngapa la aku gatal pelir masuk benda ni. So, i must make sure i complete this event.....even being the last person. However, when i looked back, i could see more than 10 swimmers behind...strunggling like me also, or just did like me, slow and steady....lega. At least i wasn't the last person. 100 meters....so far so good. I took the first turn to the left. I could see one race official on a kayak on my left hand side. Dalam hati kata, kalau aku pegi paut kayak tu, best jugak, boleh ambik angin sikit. Actually in a triathlon, we are allowed to hang on to the kayak to rest. Tapi, i moved on and dah nampak the 200m marker, a bouy. That was where everybody will make a u turn and swim back to the jetty. Cisssss bedebah, diaorang dah start u turn, siap selisih lagi. Diaorang ni tak penat ker....relek la woiiiiii. Sampai ajer kat bouy tu, aku paut kat bouy tu...ambik nafas. Tercungap-cungap. Baru setengah jalan.....ada lagi setengah. I continued my second half, made a u turn and swim back to the jetty. Masuk ajer second leg ni, problems started to come. On reaching 300m, i started feeling tired. Rasa semput dah datang. Relaxxxx....i said to myself. Ada less than 100m lagi. I did the breast stroke with lesser stroke. I just wanna reach the jetty. By now i could clearly see other participants already running from the jetty to the transition area. Biar lantak la diaorang. I have my own problem here....now my left legs dah start nak cramp. Jari-jari kaki kiri dah kena cramp dulu. Ya Allah ya tuhan ku, jangan la aku cramp....tolong laaaa....50 meter jer lagi. Kalau aku cramp, ada dua kemungkinan, either aku lemas kat sini (kayak pulak jauh) or life boat datang pickup and i can forget the whole race. Panik mula datang and my breath mula jadi irregular and i have less than 30 meters to go. OK, i said to myself, i must do it now...it is something like do or die. I change my swimming style to front crawl or free-style .... stroke by stroke to the jetty. Giler....dah tak ingat apa-apa dah, apa nak jadi...jadilah. Masa ni la jugak terbayang muka anak-anak, wife, mak segala. That's right...apa nak jadi, jadi la. Kalau nak lemas, biar la aku lemas kat sini, kat sebelah Tan Sri Shamsuddin punya yatch, A' Khaleq. Air laut, jangan kira la, entah berapa gelen dah terminum. Tiba-tiba, bila i toleh depan, aku dah sampai rupanya. Aku pijak ramp kat jetty tu and cuba berdiri......jatuh. Berpinau....terhoyong hayang macam kelasi mabuk naik ke darat. I just walked slowly on the marina. Lepas hilang pinau baru aku start lari ke transition area. Quite a distance jugak, almost 400 meters.

TRANSITION AREA

Kat Transition area - ambik nafas, minum air, relek jap, pakai singlet, stokin kasut, on GPS, check bicycle, pakai helmet and bawak turun basikal.

CYCLING - 12km

Memula ingatkan i hv to cycle 18 km, tapi organiser dah pendekkan jarak kepada 12km ajer. Agaknya diaorang kesian kat kami-kami ni, ha ha ha. Aku amik basikal and terus berjalan ke cycling punya starting line. Kat atas blue carpet tu, dilarang kayuh basikal. Either u walk or run with your bike. Kalau gatal nak cycle jugak, cubalah.....sure disqualified. Sampai ajer kat starting line, aku terus kayuh...keluar dari kawasan hotel and turn to the right towards a roundabout. Marshall, polis trapik semua ada kat kiri kanan jalan....perggggghhhh, glamer jugak. Triathlete la katakan. Sampai di roundabout tu, we were directed towards the PD-Seremban highway. Wowwww...i was riding on a highway. Kayuhhhh...kayuhhhh...dan kayuhhhhhh. On the other side of the highway, i saw cyclists already cyling back to the hotel. Siut betui...lajunya diaorang ni. Aku kalau tak sebab berenang pancit, dah sure aku boleh potong diaorang. I cycle relek dengan Harry. Kereta-kereta yang potong semua kasi hon....kasi semangat la kononnya.


Tengkiu...tengkiuuu. Aku ambik nafas dan kumpul balik kekuatan yang ada. Jauh lagi beb. My GPS only showed 2km and i hv another 10km to go. Jauh lagi. 12km ni is almost equivalent from my house in B.B.Bangi to IOI Resort, Putrajaya. During my training, i hv cycled several times from Bangi to Kelab Tasik Putrajaya which is around 15km. So i thought this time tak de hal lahhhh. Kaki mula rasa tegang, especially kat pangkal betis. I still wear the same cycling short that i wore earlier for swimming. Still wet. Masa cycling ni cuma takut satu benda ajer....tayar pancit. I didn't bring any spare tubes. Kalau tayar pancit, memang angkat tangan ajer la, balik ke finishing line naik trak askar. So far so good.....i and Harry cycled side by side towards the junction where we hv to make the u turn and cycle back to the finishling line at the transition area. After that u turn, Harry started to show his true strength....i was left more than 200 meters behind him. However, i only managed to catch-up with him...at the transition area! ha ha ha

RUNNING - 3km

Ahhhhh....3km was kacang to me. I hv been running for 10km many-many times, 3km was just chicken feet...that's what i thought earlier. 3 km also was equivalent to my astronaut selection test last year. Lepas aja transition area, bila aku nak start lari, kaki kiri tiba-tiba rasa nak cramp lagi. Aduhhhh.....frustnya. So i continue jalan ajer la for about 500m...which i wasted a lot of time. I could not run at all, bila nak lari ajer, cramp. Teringat masa kat RMC dulu, we all makan kicap sesudu setiap hari...kononnya tak mau cramp. So, after about 500m, baru la aku dapat lari. Keluar aja dari kawasan hotel, this time kena pergi belah kiri pulak. I ran for about 1.5 km and reached a check point where the race officials issued an orange ribbon. This time, lari memang tak de masalah. I ran back to the finishing line and sempat jugak selisih dengan participants lain yang belakang i, including Harry and Bandit. Kira OK jugak la. At least bukan paling corot.

Akhirnya, sampai jugak ke finishing line. Alhamdulillah. Syukur banyak banyak. Taking part in a triathlon was my long time dream since my schooldays. Although it was just a sprint event, kira triathlon jugak ler where all the three elements, swimming, cycling and running were there. The experience i've got from this kind of race is very much different from other marathon/10km races that i hv taken part before. It also gave a different kind of satisfaction la..... ahhhh, u all takkan paham. Whatever it is, I am determined to come back here next year, insyallah!

Special thanks to my wife, my children and my maid for being there to provide all the supports....morally and logistically. Also to Harry and other OP friends who took part and showed their moral support and psycho each other...hahaha.

Next event: Bangi Utusan 10km run - 30 Jul 2006 (kena slow down sikit, engin dah tua)