IRR - Part IV

I arrived half an hour before 12 but got myself entangled with an old friend. He was manning the Powerbar booth. We caught up with lots of stories but mostly with our passion for being a weekend warrior. He's into mountainbiking, my old hobby. Been two years now since my last dirt days. Perhaps I'll make a return after KL-Marathon. Aiyo! So many things to do la dude. Where you wanna put the much awaited trail runs with RBU pulak?

I startled to find all the lanes were half full and it was only 10 minutes before 12. Aiyo! What's my plan? I stood at the Full Marathon first but the progress was slow. Hardly moved an inch. So I decided to hit the 10K lane to collect Alwin & GFs' bibs. It was so-so, not so slow but still move like snail pace. This little guy punching the IC number into the laptop, I almost wanted to assist him. I recall having faster service with FTAAA only by turning the A4 pages of printed namelist. Slack!

Now, I have to move back to Full Marathon lane only to understand that there are two lanes for bulk collection. Second Aiyo! Syah and June were already 40 person infront of me. Shuk was three person behind me. There were CAR buddies and Azmar and Dicky. So I was chit chatting to and fro and the lady exactly behind me giggled eveytime we threw jokes. Oh! My fullest respect for her. She stood there to collect her husband's bib. Hubby serving with PDRM in Malacca and she never failed to give her support at all races. And her hubby is 42! I wish I could meet this guy.

When progress was too much on hold, Golazo took the initiative to open up a new lane for Bulk Collection. That reduces about a quarter of the queue but pace was still poor. Most of us did our PW in bib collection every year. I wonder how it would look like if these guys handle Boston or New York Marathons. People might end up a week to get to the counter. Ammah!

OK dude. Chill. Woosah. Woosah.

There. My race bib. My bestest  gratitude to all my running friends. My kampung dudes. RBUs, GKLs for all the jaw-aching runs. For being there, virtually and on the tarmac. My special thankfulness to the loving people whom contributed to my Run For A Cause campaign. You guys are the greatest. The total donations as of today is RM1,105.00 and these are for National Cancer Society of Malaysia. Total collected for NCSM by donating runners and organizations is RM90,663.00. The total charity collection from KL-Marathon for all charity organization is RM254,195.00.

Blessed are those who give without remembering. And blessed are those who take without forgetting (Bernard Meltzer)