Nice knowing you... MARATHON!!

"Where do I begin...
To tell the story of how great a love can be..."

ooopppssss... sorry babeh... that's Andy William's song "Where do I begin".. I don't wanna talk about that. I wanna talk about something else. Let's talk about MARATHON.

5th March 2006, a day when I ran my 1st marathon race. I still can't believe it myself that I managed to finish the 42km run. Thank you to my pair of legs for not giving me any major trouble. Here the story goes....

4.00am; arrived Dataran Merdeka and straight went to the 'room-to-let' at the Dataran underground to change into my running attire. Met Zahrin & he helped to tie-up my time-chip onto my shoe. Warmed up a bit, in my nervous mode. Zahrin gave few tips based on his previous marathon experience, this year is his 3rd time. Placed my belonging at the booth and searched for anyone I knew. Suddenly I heard someone shouted out my name, looked around and saw Emilia waved to me to come over. We chatted for a while, she told me about her Hong Kong Marathon 2006 stories and is still unsure about her performance for KLIM. I really admire and salute her, she's great and she've got all the guts, that's all I can say. Later saw Stupe, Bac & their friends. Went over to surprise them b'coz earlier I told them that I'm not coming due to my 'mental' disturbance & turbulence. Stupe took some pix of us, and later heard the FTAAA announcer called all runners to be in the 'kandang' for the flag off.

5.00am; all runners were released, and I was very far behind still taking my sweet time, still couldn't believe that I'm about to run a marathon route. Asked myself, am I doing the right thing to my feet? Leaving all my sadness, worries, anger, emotions behind, I started my run slowly. Talked to Heng, a Chinese guy who already did 5 marathons. Then saw Stupe suddenly came out from the bushes as what everybody told me, the famous "spot" for all runners during a marathon start. Heng left me after 2km, and I ran at slow pace again. Passing MidValley, I catch up with another guy, Ong of Cheras, who seemed so uneasy for doing his 1st marathon too. He's so nervous and felt that his legs will be giving him some problems during the run. I told him that I'll accompany him until certain distance. We talked and talked and later I realised that we're already reaching the old airport at Sg. Besi. Stopped and grabbed 2 cups of 100plus.

6.00am; After so long, I looked at my watch and realised that I couldn't reach the 10km split time I'm supposed to do. At the 1st 10km mat, it showed 1.13.. damn!!
Continued running with signs of frustration.. Stopped again to grab 100plus.

7.00am; Upon reaching Cheras, stopped at a petrol station toilet. Left Ong behind, just couldn't wait for him, his legs started to give pain due to his new pair of shoes which he didn't "seasoned" it in the first place before the marathon. Continued to run and run and run until I saw Stupe's bonbon from behind with Adilah. Passed Stupe & said "I'm sorry, I can't stop running, gotta go, bye bye!!"

7.45am; reached Jln Sultan Ismail and met with all the half-marathon & 7km runners. Met Haris, Steph & Jai. Couldn't count how many times I've stopped to grab the 100plus. Run and run and run again at my pace.

8.30am; refreshment station Kg Baru, the Powerbar booth saved my life!! The Powerbar guy gave me one sachet of powergel, but later saw Ah Thiam standing nearby, I stopped at Ah Thiam, just to chat and congratulate him on his finishing at Ironman Langkawi the week before. Before I left, Ah Thiam gave me his sweetest smile and another 2 sachet of powergel. Thank you Ah Thiam, my heart gone melt with his smile, but quickly remember that I've got another 12km to go. At 30km mat, under the bridge, the marshall shouted out loud my timing which I knew I'm already way behind my target time.

8.45am; At 35km, suddenly, Azir, the cyclist, came near to me and pace with me. I really wanna thank Azir for accompanying me right after the 35km till the last 1km to finish. We talked and talked and talked and all I could remember was I didn't feel any pain on my legs. Thank God!! Maybe the conversation made me forget about any pain. Thanks Azir, I just can't thank you enough!!

9.45am; The so-called "double-hill" was really tough, just climbed slowly enjoying the rising bright sun and the familiar route. I saw there were still so many guys way behind me, some were already limping and walking. I couldn't turbo speed anymore but just run and dragged my legs, with my adhoc plan in mind, to finish the race at sub-5.30hrs.

10.00am; Already near the Wisma Tani, passing by the JKR building, just ran with Azir still pacing next to me. Azir's sweet face keep smiling and inspired me to run all the way.

10.10am; 1km more to go... my heart goes pumping happily.. right after Bank Negara, I suddenly cried like a baby hoping that no one saw me, luckily I'm wearing my shade and Azir has left me because he was not supposed to be seen pacing with me during the run. I don't know why I cried, stupid me, but I remembered whispering a name to myself. After the runabout, saw some pacesetters members cheering out and giving thumbs up, I turbo-ed to the finishing and stepped on the last mat which clocked 5:18:01. Heard Haris called out my name, last year's KLIM where Haris did his 1st marathon, I called out his name.

10.18am; Felt so relieved that I managed to finish the 42km run without any major pain or injury. No one waited for me at the finishing line, nevermind I said, I wait for myself...

Finally, I did it, I still can't believe it. My 1st marathon finisher medal!!


It was really a sweet, sad, lonely, sober, emotional, longest run I've ever been through. I think, maybe that's one of the reason why I cried.

KLIM'07, we'll meet again, I promise.

www.klmarathon.gov.my