It's Not PBIM But I'll Live...

* PBIM - Penang Bridge International Marathon

There'll sure be a deluge of race reports posted for those who participated in the PBIM and I'll have loads of fun reading them soon, I bet! :) And congrats to all those running and finishing PBIM! You guys did great!!!!

For me, no PBIM yet. Instead, on the same day the PBIM, I joined the IOI Community Run and did 7.7K. My last race for the year. I would love to join some of the races scheduled in December but we'll be away and I value my vacation more than running a race! xD

The day prior to the Run was ominous for me.

On Saturday, we endured traffic jam from Seri Kembangan all the way to IOI Mall in Puchong, because I needed to pick up my race kit. Arriving there, and going in the mall, I realised that I somehow lost the parking ticket that Zaini passed to me moments earlier. After searching for it in futile, I told the now already pissed-off Zaini to let it go because I'll just pay for the lost ticket. What for frowning and fretting over split milk, right? Especially if it's me who had done the spilling! xD

I woke up at 4.00am on race day to get ready (which includes a whole load of stretching) and at 5.30ish, the rain decided to pour. Zaini already *complained* about the ungodly hours I wanted us to be at Bandar Puteri (6.30am, by the way) and the jam, the lost parking ticket and now the rain, I was ready to DNS (did not show) the race! But of course, Zaini drove me there without much prodding despite me telling him that it's OK if I don't run today. Ah, all the drama!  Kakaka
Arriving the race venue, the first order of business was making a pit-stop. I had my first toilet break at the market nearby, the Puteri Mart. Of course plenty of other runners making a stop there too. *^-^*
The stage area. The warm-up session and kickboxing session were held here later, by Fitness First Instructors.
My own warm-up session. Raimie sportingly accompanied me while I was warming up. There sure were plenty of runners putting on their game face, doing their warm-up sessions. Hmmm... I thought all hardcore runners had gone to Penang.

Then another pit-stop at the portable toilet. Loooong queues there.
and then, the warm-up session by Fitness First. Can't really see the stage area and didn't really understand the lady who were giving instruction. I thought she said "break" when she meant "breathe". Adoila... make sure your pronunciation correct or people like me cannot understand what you were saying. huhuhu
At the start of the Run. Can't really run any faster since the human traffic was bad. xD It took an effort to swerve amongst the runners and it sure didn't help when after 150-200m from the starting line, there was already an incline runners had to face. Plenty of runners decided to stop and walk. I know I'm not fast but in my mind, I was like - "Keep to the left, keep to the left folks" to the walkers just to avoid colliding into them especially those who sprinted as suddenly as they stop in the middle of the lane. ;p

I was running blind in this race, that is to say; I have no idea how the route was beforehand. And for some reason, my Nike+ started to register my mileage in miles instead of KM and I really don't know how to translate my pace in miles! @.@

I decided to run at a conservative pace and checking on how far I ran only occasionally because I had to mentally convert the miles I clocked in back to KM. Maths so early in the morning! Ugh, my head hurts! Kakaka

Three inclines later, I arrived at the water station. I was hoping for a Gatorade drink (after all, Gatorade supported this Run) but only gotten lukewarm plain water. I should've brought my own bottle. :(

As with my trainings, I realised that I am now becoming quite lazy in pushing myself. I mean, you won't see me running at a  pace that made me wanna puke anymore these days. Also, I only can pick up my pace later in the run, usually in KM3-4 despite doing all the warm ups earlier. I wonder how I can rectify this and yet not make me hit the wall way before  the finish line?
One of the early arrivals, puking. I think Zaini told me that he was in top 5 or something.
A few more metres towards the finish line! Wooohooo!
Barely managed to get one of the limited medals given out. 200 medals for Men Open and just 100 medals for Women Open. Raimie told me that I am great and that's all I need! ^^
I think I only saw two group of runners in costumes. One guy (whom I think I saw at PNM too), running in a white work shirt and holding an Astro boy figure and this family here. Cute, aren't they?
There were clowns at the Run
and few carnival games too. The Oligo stand had a looooong queue so I skipped that, queued for my goodie bag instead (another looooooong queue) while Zaini went and pick up a few cups of  lukewarm Gatorade for me.

There were plenty of traffic drama during the race. In between the route and at intersections, we could hear vehicles honking and drivers complaining to traffic police about the hold-up. I heard one traffic police saying "Keep on honking" to those irate drivers. LOL

Then, at the start/finish line where all the runners are now milling around, a car decided that it had to pass  through that road and were honking aggressively. Even if all these runners gave way to him, he definitely couldn't pass through because of the medal and certificates table were blocking/closing the road. And runners were still arriving to the finish line! The driver was booed loudly but I think that he felt that we runners somehow did him wrong because he actually stepped out from his car to pick a fight. Like, for real? What makes him and his one, single car so special against 4,000 runners, anyway? We runners pay our road tax for our vehicles too, you know. Unless of course, he owned the road lah...
We didn't wait for the lucky draw and decided to head back early and had our breakfast at Bandar Puchong's McD. Breakfast for me was hotcakes because I needed my sugar boost!

Raimie was stoked and had actually said that he wanted to enter a race in future. OK, so now Mommy just needs to find a fun run to run with her son! :)

Comments

  1. yes the reports will come in throngs :) but hey drama2 pun u ran jugak dari orang yang tidur (me included) hehe .. good job and wont be long before your son lace up .. boleh train dia untuk kids tri :)

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  2. @KJ,
    Waiting for the reports to be up in droves. Now, seeing all those updates at FB first. ^^

    You know, when my son got to know about PBIM (since I was talking about incessantly) he actually asked me how come we are not going there. LOL

    Yeah, mula2 train lari. Then train to ride the bike & swim pulak. As of now, nak swim pun dia dah malas. huhuhu

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  3. Congrats, getting a limited medal is always priceless :) Glad the earlier drama didn't ruin the run.

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  4. @Nick,
    I actually forgot that it was limited. It was Zaini who reminded me afterwards because he was at the finishing line looking on the medals being given out. Glad I got it. And made my son soooooo proud of me. ^^

    And yeah, glad I went on to run despite the earlier drama. I was feeling so guilty making my family go places they didn't want to go in the first place. And now, I wanna do this again and tackle all those inclines better! xD

    Next up, MPIB Run! You gonna be there, Nick? ;)

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  5. Looking great, girl! Congratulations for making the medals list! Nice looking medal. One more to add to the medals chest, eh?

    Yeah, the weather is not too cooperative these days.

    Btw, haven't come across that piggy sign before. Is that for toilet? So cute..

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  6. A great run! And look like you have lots of fun in this local event :)

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  7. @HappySurfer,
    Thanks. :)

    Good thing the rain stopped before the race otherwise Zaini and Raimie won't get out from the car and be with me. Myself, I don't mind running in the rain. ;)

    That piggy sign is for the market actually, not the toilet. ;p

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  8. @Neoh,
    I did despite the initial misgivings. ;)

    Waiting for you in-depth PBIM report. Coming up soon, I hope? :)

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  9. Keep up it dear, you did well...

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  10. @eugene,
    Thanks man. ;)

    Hope I'll get better & faster running races. :)

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  11. Wow! What a nice story about your run! I enjoyed reading this!! : )

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  12. So everyone wearing white T shirts and you wore pink? Really stood out! LOL!

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  13. LOL!! Break and breathe is a huge difference! Haha!

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  14. Oh! Do you feel impatient and stressed when you want to run faster but is held up by the crowd of slow runners?

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  15. Haha! Running and doing maths at the same time? Pretty tough multitasking LOL!

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  16. What?! Lukewarm plain water? Arghhh!

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  17. So Raimie is getting inspired to run it seems LOL! Good for him! : )

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  18. But I have to agree with Zaini on waking up at ungodly hour for the run! Haha!! And all the obstacles you have to go through - the jam, the lost ticket, the rain etc - you definitely have the passion for running!! : D

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  19. aduh, gadis ni so long winded today!! spent pakcik 5 minutes to read word by word from start till the end in the train just now!! pening lah @_@

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  20. hmmm, that is the consequence of asking the favor from other people.. if you can drive yourself, then you will have all the freedom and do not need to be shown black-face right?? kekekeke~~ :D

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  21. wow, i think you've been enjoying your run a lot, i mean enjoy watching and speculating rather than just running..

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  22. because you can just write so much in details of the whole process, from before the starting until the post finishing, haha!! :D

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  23. zaini also participated in the run?? you said he was in the top 5?? so where was his medal?? but why only 100 medals for the women?? discrimination!! or maybe there were just a lot less women participants??

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  24. eih.. sempat ke untuk breakfast McD?? haha, ooopss, sorry, you started around 7am right, should anyhow finish running that 7.7km within 4 hours lah, hahaha~~ :D

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  25. Congratulations!!
    OMG! Run 7.7 km!? You are awesome!!

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  26. @foong,
    Thanks. I got so much to tell, and this post became very the long winded. Glad you liked it, though xD

    Easy to find me, wearing pink amongst all the whites, right? The same thing at Putrajaya Night Marathon too. Very easy to spot me. LOL

    Pig sign - I went to a wet market for a wee-wee session. That's about the only place open at 6.30am! ;p

    Some people pronounce the "th" with a strong "t" sound so that breathe sounds like bret, south sounds like saut, forth sounds like fort, etc. I have a hard time comprehending because of my poor English. ^^!

    Nothing worse than lukewarm drinks especially when you need to perk up with a cold one!

    Yup, after following me at races, he now wants to join in the fun too. Good for him. I'm gonna look for a fun run (that don't clash with the ones I want to run long) and run/walk with him next year. ^^

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  27. @SK,
    Pakcik wear his reading glasses or not while reading this in the train! Maybe that's why pakcik got headache. But pakcik, thank for reading the post, word by word. ^^ Muaks!

    If I drive myself, then this endeavour would be just about me. Since Zaini has to drive me around, I "forced" the whole family to be with me. Right? I need my family support and I really, really do appreciate my two boys willingness letting me do this. <3

    I am very the "kaypoh" one. I like to look around, see people front, back, centre not only while running but in daily life. I like "observing" people (and badmouthing them later in my blog) LOL

    No... Zaini didn't participate in the run. I meant the guy who puked that got the top 5 placing. Should I change the sentence?

    Less medals for Women - well, that's how it's always been in races that offer limited medals. Much less medal offered in the Veteran category too. And yes, I think there are less women than men especially in longer distance i.e half marathon or full marathon.

    Breakfast at McD until 11.00am right? Betullah, can finish in 4 hours and still able to go McD for breakfast! LOL

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  28. @ECL,
    Thanks! "Just" 7.7K. *^-^*

    I'll be doing a 12K Run on 08.01.12. Now trying to "pyshco" Zaini to let me enter one on 15.01.12 too. He told me to just run to the race venue (it's nearby our house - about 7-8K away) as my warm up for the one on 15.01.12! huhuhu

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  29. Wow.. I memang cannot do something like this.. But you rawk! Keep up the good work.. Maybe the driver jealous he didn't get medal also? :D

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  30. @Bella,
    I think you can! :)

    Good owrk, eh? My hubby kutuk me saying hrat I ran so slow, plenty of fatter, older ladies arrived earlier than me, which is unfortunately true. huhuhu

    The driver? Belum breakfast lagi kot and us runners made him drive further than usual. xD

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  31. Good job beb!! i went for Penang bridge, tu pun last mins:)

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  32. @screamingmommy,
    Can't wait to read about your PBIM adventure! :)

    Last min pun, yg penting dpt lari ^^

    BTW, planning to register for SCM KL on 24.6.12 tak? I'm gonna try do half-marathon there nnt. :)

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