The last time I ran a 7km race was the Olympic Run 2004. I must admit I am a lazy person when it comes to race registration. Thanks to the Pacemaker League Captain Ronnie See and his friends who are ever so helpful to register on behalf of others. It is people like them who spur others to run in races.
I try to make it a point to run a new race or route every year. Klang is 42kms away from my home. I got up at 4:45 a.m sliced up the freshly baked bread, ate a banana and drank the 5-in-1 tongkat ali ginseng coffee. No powerbar or powergel. I will be relying on herbal power. Left home at 5:45 a.m, by 6:05 I was already approaching the NKVE Bukit Raja Toll - too early. Parked at the club house stadium. The atmosphere was very relaxed, no barricade, no ribbons, horses, live band singing, runners came with children to run in the team event, almost like a family day.
Less Fats please
Racers no matter what shape participated. There was a category for paraplegic. This is encouraging and a positive approach to promoting a healthier lifestyle. The obviously obese VIPs who came in batik and slacks but wore sporty brand new Mizuno wave shoes. Perhaps, the Wave technology could help them to lose the excess fats.
At the starting line, I surveyed the C-Category runners and found C255 was the biggest number. With a total quota of 150 medals, I must run within 60 percentile of the Junior Veteran group. My thoughts were 50 minutes qualifying time for 7 km is achievable (this proved otherwise!). The teenagers as young as 13-year-olds were group together with the seniors, the oldest being 77-years-old. The organizers gave an award to the oldest participant!
Right after the count down, we zigzaged squeezing through a narrow exit. I programmed myself to run at 6min/km pace. The teenage runners were sprinting like there was no tomorrow. The older runners were cruising like I want a better tomorrow.
The route was an interesting one with many shortcut opportunities. We ran on an old look-alike WW2 bridge running parallel and just beneath the main bridge, crossing the foul smelling muddy Klang River. I observed the seniors skipped the water-station while the juniors wallop the 100 plus. There was one segment one could see the "S" double U-turn. This is where the controversy started. Since no ribbons were used, some runners cheated by cutting across the divider pavement. I remember overtaking a tall burly loud wheezing C-category runner only to see him reappeared some 100 meters ahead of me! Perhaps he has mastered the art of teleportation. Perhaps he wants a medal; Medal of Felony.
When my stopwatch clocked 40mins, I assumed I should be very close to the finishing line. Another uphill and I should be heading back to the stadium but alas that was not the last hill. The final and steepest uphill was the last km. 10km-ers; Draco Loong and Boon Seng greeted and overtook me. Both were very strong on the hill. Boon Seng was the one who helped me register for this race.
48 mins
2 minutes left from qualifying time and I was still ascending the Sulaiman Park hill. Is this route 7km or 8km? In front there were 2-3 runners in my category, all gung-ho and not giving in to walking. Weaving through the cars, which were courteous enough to slow down almost to a halt, I ran on a narrow 2-foot width gap path between the drain and the cars to avoid traffic obstruction and to shorten a 90-degree turn.
C for Consolation
Coming downhill, it was the approach to the stadium. C255 was in front and just when I tried to put up a sprint, he accelerated away. At the finishing line, there were so many alphabets: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J.... until I had to slow down to count from left, 1-2-3...yes...3rd lane for C. Some runners ran into the wrong lane.
The official gave me a tiny dark green piece of paper, which read C-103. I think it meant 103rd position. I walked towards a C-tent, handed the slip and collected the certificate with a medal inside. I have forgotten to stop my new Nike Triax stopwatch, which by now had run past 52mins. I estimated I must have completed around 51-ish mins. The organizers continued to give the certificates and the remaining medals. Mee Peng had completely missed me. I saw her extending her neck glazing at the horizon waiting and probably worrying if I had passed out!
This would be my first medal received not merely for finishing but within position. It’s a small consolation for a lucky mediocre runner.
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