My Lucky No 7 @ Standard Chartered KL Marathon

Hello readers! Apologies for the lack of updates but things were pretty hectic when I came back from Melbourne as it was another wedding week for one of my beloved penyeris, Tasha (will get back to this later!)...

Anyways, my body decided to shut down on me 5 days before my first marathon back at home... I was down with a viral fever and a blocked nose... Not a pretty combo! So, I was resting as much as I can so that I could still run and complete my lucky 7th marathon :)

But, the body decided not to rest the night before the marathon so I feared that I might stop halfway through the run :S (Oh, the challenges!) And so I had to face the fact that to finish the marathon would be an accomplishment already... So, I pretty much got ready at 2am and drank and fuel up as much as I can to stay awake for the next 5 to 6 hours or so before heading to Captain's place to go to KL... 

It took the Gs and I to finally agree to what we were going to dress up as a week before the biggest race in Malaysia... So, we were scrambling to find what we needed to wear a few days before that... Bumped into familiar faces at the starting line as usual...

 

Goofing around before the race... With our very own 'perempuan melayu terakhir', Mawar...
Salute her for wearing that to run the entire marathon!

Pic taken from Mawar

The marathon category was flagged off at 430am, a much earlier timing this year (thank God!)... Eventhough I started feeling sleepy and tired just before we started running, I kept telling myself that it's going to be my day to conquer the streets of KL with my legs and I ain't going to let my blocked nose or tired body to ruin it! After all, I 'waited' for 2 years to do so ;) 

The 42.45km route

I was cruising the first 10km or so with Azim aka Fotuenti and I've had a few hiccups between 10km - 14km, where it was getting harder to breathe with my blocked nose... It was sucky that the aid stations didn't have any tissue as I was desperately trying to clear my nose as my breathing was irregular... Kept distracting myself so that I could breathe normally throughout the route... I managed to caught up with Kerel just before the 14km marker, and from there onwards we both decided to run and pace with each other until the finish line while Fotuenti zoomed away from us... So much for running the marathon together again huh? :P 

We were both running, walking and chatting at the same time... I was grateful that I actually had a companion given that I wasn't in a good shape... The weather was kind to us for the first 20km+ of the route and just before we entered Jalan Ipoh... The policemen did their jobs at manning the traffic to make sure that the runners are the priority in the streets on KL yesterday... And it was an overwhelming experience to be pounding the pavements of KL... I guess it's true when they say that there's no running place like home ;) 

Hey, that's me :P

At Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

I found out during the run that Kerel was doing his 2nd marathon and he was aiming for a PB, so we decided that as long as I didn't get another round of PW (after Sundown), we can do this at our own pace, be it by walking or running... When we entered Jalan Ipoh, the sun was glaring down on us... Zebra tan lines! :P We were motivated by an Indian uncle at a petrol station who did not stop cheering each and every runner that passed him by... Bless him for that!

Goofing around at Jalan Ipoh

Pic taken by Leong Kwan Weng

And when we entered Jalan Kuching, we knew that we were not that far from one thing that I've been looking forward to during the run - a cup of cold coke at FMV's kedai runcit after the 36km marker at Bukit Tunku!!! It was also so good to see KD, Balqis and Syah there with Kak June... Thanks uols! Kak June, what an angel she was for doing her bid in supporting the runners at the final 6km of route... Thanks a lot Kak J again and the coke did recharge me to run all the way to the finish line! :) xx

Thank God for the kedai runcit!

Pic taken by KD

One of the funniest moments during the run was that when we were running at Bukit Tunku, we saw the 6 hour pacers were catching up on us... And Herr G aka Irwan was one of them... At the u-turn point at Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, Kerel told me that Irwan was catching up on me and he started to call my name for a number of times and I quickly ran as fast as I could and kept shouting back at him to not chase me in my native language... We made a few people laugh at that time... Thanks Irwan for the 'push' :P It was truly a comedic moment ;) 

I decided to run all the way to the finish line once we were at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman because I wanted to do a 5:50 finish... All of the supportive photographers were there at the road and of course had to stop here and there to camwhore ;)

Pic taken by Louis Ong

It was at this stretch that I saw many familiar faces such as Ian, Azri and Mr TehTarikMemoirs that were encouraging me to run all the way to the finish line.. And even had to drag Kerel even though he wanted to stop a couple of times... Sorry babe but you know what was my goal :P

We both conquered the streets of KL and crossed the finish line at an official time of 5 hrs 47 mins... Felt so lucky and grateful to be able to complete another marathon... Alhamdulillah for that! And it's not a PW!!! Phewww!!! Take that restless body and blocked nose!!! :P 

Moments after crossing the line...

Our first time running the KL marathon too!

Congrats on your PB Kerel! You shaved off a good 33 mins from your previous one!!!

So proud of you and it was superfun running with you :)

Now, if you haven't guessed at what my Gs and I were dressing up as... We were the 'bobbies'! ;)

The Gs with the new marathoner...

Congrats Speedy Drama G on your maiden marathon with an awesome time of 4:39! 

Who says that you can't be speedy even while dressing up eyyy? ;)

Next will be Apprentice's turn to run her maiden marathon all the way at this year's ING New York City Marathon! Woot!

Pic taken from Marlin

With our living angel, Kak J...

Thanks again! xx

Pic taken from Marlin

Oh, wait! Who is that? :P

Pic taken from Marlin

The one that decided to leave me due to my 'slow' pace :P

Congrats on your 4th one!

Pic taken by Izuan

The organisers were at their own league as they did a superb job for this year's installment... Kudos and congrats again to Rainer and team for pulling off an awesome day for all of the runners! I am DEFINITELY coming back in 2013 with a vengeance baby! ;)

So another marathon under my belt and I couldn't ask for a better place to do my lucky 7th one :)

Time to start training for Chicago! Oh yes, no more slacking off! Now, where's Captain? ;)