Seremban Half Marathon 2010 - Chasing the Pewter

Some of us decided to sing N9 anthem that morning :)

Another blast at the weekend. Packed like canned sardines and just enough window for a breather before sofa gripping Tour de France and World Cup final on the tube later tonight. The days passed by so fast with the usual routines day in and day out. The weekend had me juggling more than I can hardly handle but sure was a terrific one.

I only logged 2km pounding with my kids on an evening weekday and that particular Saturday morning. Followed further with a quick breakfast and rushed away to farmers' market before fresh veggies and fish got wallop-ped. Four slices of tenggiri and 5 ikan selar robbed me RM38.70. A basket full of bayams, carrots, tempe, caulie flower, long beans another RM18.00. Earlier nasi lemak for breakfast wasn't enough, so we had Sausage McMuffins and black coffee after that. Then to Bangi as adviser to wifey's dress-shopping agenda. Kumon driver 12-1pm. Swim classes for kids and me from 3-7pm. Got lowerback ache from those breaststroke postures. A late meetup with a friend that can't be posponed ended my day at 11.30pm and I was still mingling around with the bibs to make it more aero-dynamic before bed. Ammah!

Alarm went off at 4.00am but I overshot 46 minutes. Lucky me Det's message came in and I had only 14 minutes to tumble. The worse preparation for a half marathon - always. The drive on PLUS Highway in the early morning was soothing, especially after having a rough day before. We talked more about the current issue on "jaguh kampung" vs foreign participations at our races. We stopped at the R&R just in time for dawn prayer and contemplating about morning chores. "Nah! Don't feel a think. Let's continue to Seremban la bro."

Seremban was hectic at 6.30am due to the event. As we dressed up and still a bit dazed, all those earlier contemplation came in one go. Pee, defecation, bib pin-up, mini breakfast had me looked even clumsier. Choit! We have only 15 minutes left and the makan-angin drive took most of it. Just enough time to cross the splish-splosh field onto the starting line and a few photoshots of buddies. BANG! Haza and me almost caught by surprise when the gun went off. "Eh?! Dah start la!" and we were still standing in the middle of the 10K runners doing their warmups. I thought we were the last. We were joined by Ijam right after A&W corner and just about to start the Gold Coast Marathon chit chat, a second surprise caught me. "Weh! They open the road for traffic already la! Liao!". We were in the middle of the road and those traffic were ready to stampede their way with bright headlights behind us. Phew. This is getting interesting by the minute. Haza had to bail out from the camaraderie for a pit-stop at Shell moments later.

GCM chat was about to continue with Ijam when suddenly Hailmi CAR overtook us with some gimmicks. Been a while I saw Hailmi after his Ultra Sundown. Then Midon CAR pulak blasted passed us with his B222 bib number and he wasn't gimmick-ing. He just faded away into the crowd. We came upon bro Wibowo 20 minutes into the run for a fast and tiny lambungs. The third interesting stuff got us at the first "water station" right after the hospital junction. Yes, as anticipated, the local was selling bottled water. Didn't quite get the price since they just about to set up the table but it was a blast for a laugh.

The laugh didn't quite last long when we were caught at the first long granny. Sky was perfect, enough to enlighten us with the spectating view of the incline. My HRM starts freaking out as I tried to keep up with Hailmi while Ijam silently paced himself at the rear. Phew! That was one mother of all hill. Yeah! Wait till you meet the rest of it.

I got lost with the route as I tried to recall the map. I remember passing through Taman Warisan Puteri - they have nice houses. Then Hailmi informed me that we just passed Stadium Paroi which I didn't realise. We were busy talking most of the time. It felt like any other weekend LSD when we were proned to traffic hazard - lucky the route passed through quieter roads. I felt like doing a gym workout by this time with air badak in one hand and the camera in the other. Hanging the camera onto the Spibelt wasn't a good idea as it kept on banging on my balls-of-fury. Decided to ditch the air badak at Paroi water station after swigging half the bottle. Then it was Sikamat area which was noticeable from lots of Sikamat signboards. Sikamat school, Sikamat Police Station, Sikamat this, Sikamat that. Pace was still going steady and so was the chatting. Though I asked Hailmi to just leave me if he wishes to but he chilled and stayed and joke around instead. We met Det and barefoot brother later and more jokes flew around especially with a pair of St John's girls. We got free Salonpas for that. Hahaha!

Kasi pakai ni bro! Barang free nih!

The race started getting on my nerve as we pounded the remaining of Sikamat when I started asking disturbing questions to Hailmi. "Bro, berapa jauh lagi?" - it sounded more like questions from my 4 year old kid - perhaps resulted from the constant eager pace earlier. Hailmi told me that once we reached the Raja Melewar Institute, things should be better. Ye ke bro? We have ran 1:30 into the race and my plan to hit sub-2 hour seemed doable. "4km lagi bro", so he said. We had some more mini climbs and it's becoming taxing by the minute for me. Another shock came upon crossing a four cross when nobody was manning the busy junction. We were shouting all the over the place trying to inform our presence to the eager motorists. Phew! That went safely.

The crowd grew bigger as we joined the 10K runners. It was a sea of white cotton tees and most of them were school kids. They had all kinds of shoes on and some even ran with tumblers, bouncing all over the place. The final incline was there smacked 100 yards infront of me which I decided to let go of the pace. Hailmi and Ijam left for their final triumph. I decided to engage smaller gears wiggling through the field of cottons. It was an endless climb. The roundabout signage at the top seemed like a mountain of hope. Walked and ran before I saw Hailmi had slowed down and was waiting for me. Alamak! Bro, don't make me guilty when you can run all the way to the finish which I knew only a click away. He responded with encouragement that the final dash is only a grasp away. I obliged and gave the final push vrooming through the ever increasing crowd. It was a hard push downhill back towards MPS field and we were pounding the tarmac like never before. I didn't dare to glimpse at the HRM as it freaked out madly until approaching the finishing gantry and it was minus 1 minute 20 seconds before two hours. Double Phew!

Headed our way across the muddy field towards the Milo station and indulged ourselves with the bestest Milo ever. My first Seremban Half Marathon medal was awesome. Selangor Pewter tuh! It was worth the labour going after it - so I thought. All in all, it was a great run simply organised and that should be the way for all other races...maybe. Made our way back to the finish line to greet the rest and met Deo, Zaki, Farid and the rest of CAR. Sorry I can't stay around bro for chats. Have to rush off to Putrajaya for my kids tri simulation clinic.