Recycle And Run!

Just a few days after returning home from our two-weeks vacation, we joined a race in Putrajaya. The entry fees weren't in cash term but we sent in recyclable items as our entry fees so it's almost a free race.

Raimie wanted to enter a running race and be like Mommy and this particular race had children category with a not-too-intimidating route. The Desa Park City Run would've been great as his first entry to a race but hey, can't bang my head if we were too late to enter it. Just get on with our lives and find other races to join.
So this is a special event for us. Raimie's first running race outside of school. Yeay Raimie! I registered the whole family because well, it's a free race. Zaini however decided to accompany Raimie doing his run and so didn't run the 7K. Everyone has matching t-shirts that we can wear now though. hehehe

It was a rather havoc run for me. Runners were still registering and collecting t-shirts & bib numbers when the race was flagged off. I had just came out from the loo that time so I started way back at the end. And not being totally ready, I ran with a parched throat. Thirsty! With all the "huru-hara" (definitely not good to collect bib numbers on race day for me); I forgot to drink before starting my race.

Thank goodness there was a water station at KM2.5 but that was the only water station! I should've brought along my own bottle. My itchy and swollen throat condition wasn't helping either.
I was wearing the same get-up I wore while running in Japan. Bright idea. NOT! Got completely overheated halfway through the race. To make matter worse, my tummy was rumbling. I was running on an almost empty stomach. Seeing a lot of runners nonchalantly cutting short their route (those who are in E & F category : Men & Women 19-40 years old. You guys were wearing the www.sisa.gov.my shirts too, for goodness sake!) choosing to make their route a 3K instead of the full 7K was so dampening for me. Any thoughts of getting the limited medal was quickly brushed aside so I just ran and walked my way to the finish line. It turned to be a "couldn't be arsed" run for me, yesterday.
Raimie however did good. He ran and walked the whole 3K and made it through the finish line. Good for him! I am so proud of my boy.

Despite the havoc and "huru-hara" of the race, I have to commend the people manning the registration, collection & t-shirt distribution counter. They were efficient and did things fast so we didn't have to queue long. And they were quite nice people too. :)

They even distributed goodie bags after the race. Plenty of mineral water handed out freely too. No Milo van though. huhuhu

Pretty festive atmosphere at the run, with lots of events slotted. Saw plenty of buses with "rombongan" coming in too, and they came complete with picnic baskets. What a nice way to spend the Sunday morning. 

But I hope race organisers, if they are doing this again next year (I sincerely hope they do!), to ensure proper starting of the race. 7K runners were supposed to start first followed by the 3K participants but from the starting line, I saw few runners in the boys category running too. That gave them like a 15 minutes advantage from the boys/girls runners that waited properly for their category to be flagged off.

Also, I do sincerely hope that we runners not "cheat" our way through the run. The joy of running is to run the distance and make it to the finish line. Not by doing your own shorter route. What is the value of your medal when you know that you didn't do it properly?

But then again, I suppose most of the participants running were doing it for fun, so why am I being so righteous about it, eh? xD
Anyway, happy to say that the limited medal of the Larian Jom! Kitar Semula is added to my collection. ^^

Comments

  1. wow, another race straight after your trip!! and it's a family race this time!! i guess this is good, you all run together.. how sweet yeah??

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  2. oh, you should have tangkap gambar of those cheaters and post them here!! and highlight www.sisa.gov.my.. errr, BTW, isn't sisa meaning crumbs or refuse in malay?? wakakakaka, huhuhuhuhu~~

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  3. eih, if all three of you are going to run in all the marathons, i can imagine your house would be hanging with medals here and there.. what a view!! haha~~

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  4. Fun run or not, no cheating!! Congrats to the young man!!

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  5. How sweet, a family run! Congrats for yet another medal.

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  6. I echo June, cheating is a no-no!

    Congrats to you and the little fellow :D So, you running Newton or not? You definitely running MPIB and Mizuno, right?

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  7. @SK,
    Didn't really plan to do any running so soon after the vacation but the lure of 1. free race 2. Raimie being excited to run "like mommy"; prompted me to sign the three of us to this race. ^^

    Anyway, not really running together. Zaini ran with Raimie and I ran alone. Zaini opined I have a better chance getting a medal out of us three. ;p

    yeah, sisa = crumbs/leftovers. Those wearing the "sisa" t-shirts are staff from the Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal dan Pembersihan Awam, I suppose.

    I'd love to have a whole "almari" full of medals from all of us. That would be so cool, right? :)

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  8. @KJ,
    Thanks! We are so proud of him. Hopefully there'll be plenty more fun races for him to join. :)

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  9. @HappySurfer,
    The feeling of getting a limited medal is AWESOME! :)

    I hope we'll have more races to enter together, although we might run it together in future. ^^

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  10. @Nick,
    No to Newton. When I asked hubby, he just told me flat-out that I'm crazy. LOL

    Only doing the MPIB. No Mizuno too.

    Anyways, have fun at your New Year Newton Challenge. Conquer those hills! :)

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  11. Oh! The race was not really that well organized. So chaotic?

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  12. How come runners can cheat? Shouldn't there be someone guarding the route and at places where runners can do short cuts?

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  13. Congrats to Raimie! So is he going to be a jogging addict like his mom? : D

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  14. @foong,
    It's a bit chaotic because they still allow people coming-in with recyclables on the day of the race to register and we only collected our bib numbers & t-shirt on race day too. And the fact that, I think - most of the 7K strong participants are mostly people out enjoying a morning walk rather than a Sunday run (either that or was being made to enter by their various government departments. heh)

    I've seen people cutting short routes at a few races already. Race marshalls are around but they cannot be everywhere. And actually, the onus is on the runner to have integrity and not cheat.

    I don't think he'll start to be addicted to running just yet. He just likes the fact that Mommy always comes back with a medal. ^^ But I sure am glad & proud that he did his 3K! :)

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  15. So Raimie did get to run with you :) Look at him with his medal, so precious :)

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  16. @Jellybelly,
    Technically, he didn't run with me. Hubby accompanied him doing his 3K while I went ahead and finish my 7K. But yeah, we all entered the race together. ^^

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  17. I totally not aware of this run:) btw..good thing ur Raimie is following ur footstep..I dont know if one day my daughters can run with us, girls are so manja.
    Btw..I can imagine if running dgn huru hara like that..I always run with bottle water with me...sbbb water station mmg not enough for me:)

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  18. @screamingmommy,
    I was totally expecting a small turnout for the run, because not many were talking about this run beforehand, but I guess the lure of a free race made a lot of people entered. I was told 7,000 registered for the race! @.@

    Maybe after seeing you two run, the girls finally becomes interested running too? ^^ I ni tengah actively looking for races for son to join, with me. ;)

    Yeah, I totally should bring my own water bottle with me in future.

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