Never Again!

That's what I told Zaini after I finished my Seremban Half Marathon. No, not never again running a half marathon or running but I told him I won't ever ask him to drive me over to Seremban to run in this race again.

There were a small number of female half-marathon runners at this event, but every time I saw one of them before the start, I went OMG! OMG!
1. The runners were all fast and seasoned runners
2. This race only gives out limited amount of medals.
OMG! OMG! Omaigad!!!

But I have to give credit where credit goes.

Pros :

• Punctual start. A member of Negri Sembilan royalty flagged us off and yet, he was there before 6.30am! Respect. Other members of VVIPs in Malaysia should take heed of YAM Tunku Dato' Seri Utama Naquiyuddin ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja'afar example and follow suit on time management.
• Ample water stations, stationed at every 4km and also cold sponges too. If I'm not mistaken, there were three sponge stations. Gatorade was served!
• Cheerful student volunteers manning the water stations, ever ready to pass us cups of drinks.
• Sprays were also available at most water stations and at the finish too.
• Plenty of officials taking down runners numbers along the route. (Is it a pro? eheh heh)
• Very patient Seremban drivers. Yes, some of them whizzed past us but none honked at us. And at junctions, most actually slowed down and gave way.
• Nice route despite me getting conned thinking it is generally a flat route. Hahaha

Cons :

• Except at certain junctions, no road marshalling. We ran at our own risk, making sure we kept to the left to avoid getting run over by cars. By the way, NTV7 Feel Good Run wasn't such a feel good run today as 3 female runners were ran over by an unknown car. o.O
• Some of the traffic police were more keen about letting cars move on, than they were at making sure runners cross the road safely. I had to wait for a freaking 2 MINUTES(!) at a junction while the cops ignored me and other runners there and kept on letting cars pass. I finally had enough and ran away from the junction to a stretch that I can safely cross the road without the cops' assistance. No, I don't appreciate the unwanted "rest" that I got courtesy of the cops.
• Merged with the school kids doing the 10K at the last 2K and boy... imagine sharing a one lane road with cars and motorbikes (and lorries) AND a gaggle of school kids who were having fun doing their Sunday walk, completely oblivious to road safety or road etiquette, let alone about runners' etiquette.
• Nobody bothered about me at the finish line. I wasn't even sure where to head to or what to do after crossing the finish line timing mat. The Women's finish area had a white banner thingy obstructing the way so I hesitated there. While standing to find another way to pass through, a female volunteer finally noticed me and passed me my cert, medal and a lucky draw coupon.
• There were plenty of vendors selling ice cream and whatnot. But the Milo vans were packed with kids and I think that was the only refreshment booth at the field, apart from another one serving... diluted grape flavoured drink(?)
• No snack packs. We were given a lucky draw coupon instead and I got a snack pack. Oooooo bestnyer! 

When the half-marathoners were flagged off, the road we ran was filled with kids walking hand-in-hand happily oblivious that half-marathon runners were barelling through. I tapped a few on the shoulders and told them to move to the side. At that time, I wasn't annoyed at them (yet) but was worried that someone might run into them and both (walkers and runners) could get hurt.

The first km was a mess for me. My running skirt/tight kept on slipping down and I had to keep pulling them up. To make matter worse, I was wearing a rather short 2012 Penang Bridge Marathon vest. *slap forehead* Buat malu saja. Uhukhuk

Approaching an incline at around KM4, I met a lady runner (and marathoner). Girls being girls. We were like "hey! I have that same skirt" and "Yeah, bought it at MWM expo" that sort of talk. LOL 

My lovely boys waited for me at KM11. Zaini took shots of other runners (and me, of course!). Raimie ran with me for a few metres to give encouragement to me. Love them to bits, I do. ^^

This is how we run. Side by side with vehicles.

Raimie joining the "runners". Or should we say, school kids on a Sunday outing.

I really had a beef with some of the kids at the final 2km. I was already in a foul mood for taking a forced 2minute rest at the junction because I could not cross the road, courtesy of the "helpful" traffic people who just ignored me and a couple of other runners. I don't mind waiting to cross safely, BUT for 2MINUTES????? Standing under the sun for 2minutes when you already ran 19KM and all you want to do is to finish and rest????

It was here, at KM19 that half-marathon runners merged with 10K runners. School kids up ahead!

Just as I was running up an incline after the junction, in front of a Petronas station, two boys saw fit to run side by side me. They were talking in Tamil but the gist was, they were making fun of this auntie and wanted to outrun me. You want to show you run fast, go ahead la boys. But you DO. NOT. HAVE. TO. KEEP. BUMPING. INTO. ME and obstruct my way. By the way, I totally smoked them after 100m. *smirk*

Then, at the final 1.5km, it was almost impossible to run. I tried. When it was a downhill stretch. But again, some kids seems to take offence (or maybe got excited) and decided to sprint ahead of me each time I passed them. Again, you want to outrun me, by all means go ahead. BUT. PLEASE. DO. NOT. SPRINT. AND. STOP. RIGHT. IN FRONT. OF. SOMEONE who is also running. It's dangerous. Both of us could get hurt.

The one lane road going down was packed with school kids and they were completely disregarding their safety and was hogging up the lane. It would be OK if the road was closed off to traffic but it wasn't.

I really marvel at Seremban drivers' patience because despite these morons causing them a traffic jam, no honking were heard. AT ALL.

As I was running towards Parkson, I felt a bit confused. Tired is one thing. Seeing the front of Parkson completely filled with people and nobody showing the way to the finish line is another. Runners blocking the road right before the entrance to MPS field was another matter. I shouldn't be the one to say "excuse me, I need to pass" when all I want to do was finish, right? 

Oh yeah, before I forgot. Kids... If you start your 10K "walk" even before the half-marathoners were flagged off, don't you think that you're cheating? I noticed a group of them when I was running the first 3K. Zaini noticed a number of them too, all wearing the K and L bibs. Bravo kids!

Some of you may say that this is a small thing. BUT you start doing something bad small first before moving on to do bigger wrongs.

Can you see the massive crowd at the tent area and also the long queue in the forefront? Those were part of the 10K crowd.

Tired la...

This is the only photo I took with other runners there. I was feeling so tired and grumpy... I didn't want to linger any longer. Congrats Edan on your win!

Thought wanna eat breakfast at A&W but sooooooo many people!

So we ended up having a Subway breakfast. Well, the boys did. I can't seem to eat (was feeling vomitty) so I only had a cup of coffee.

My certificate of completion, a Royal Selangor made medal and my lucky draw goodies. They don't give out mineral water to finishers but instead I had to redeem my lucky draw coupon to get this. Haish.