Penang Bridge International Marathon 2009

I have talked the talk, it was now time to walk the walk.

With just four sessions of training amounting to a total distance of 27.5km, 22nd of November was finally just a day away. As if the lack of preparation was not bad enough, I found myself stuck in office, being swarmed with telephone calls and escalation emails from 1.30pm all the way to 10.30pm; all these shits while my colleagues were having a good time munching away at our department's annual dinner in the newly opened Hard Rock Hotel Penang.

Since I have to report myself in at Queensbay Mall by 3.15am, I figured that it would be pointless to return home after work, thus opting to take a short two hours worth of uncomfortable nap before my colleague came to pick me up at 2am.

Not even two kilometers out from our office, we saw a man lying on the pavement by the side of the road with his motorcycle in the same state as he was - motionless - five meters away. As he was being tended to by two other motorcyclists, we drove past them and reported the accident to a group of idling traffic policemen, barely 300 meters away from the spot.

Me: Encik, kat belakang sana ada accident. Ada seorang tu terhumban kat tepi jalan.
Traffic policeman: Accident? Ha... biar dia mati la.

If you find it hard to comprehend the Malay conversation above, try the English translation below:

Me: Sir, there was an accident back there. A victim was thrown off his motorcycle and landed on the roadside.
Traffic policeman: Accident? Bah... just let him die.

Wow, somehow I was not surprised to hear him utter those despicable words; he was a civil servant after all and they were meant to make all the right things go wrong. *rolleyes*

Sensing no help from them, we gave up and proceeded to our destination. At the back of my head, I could not help wondering if he would have responded in a better manner if we were a bunch of foreigners instead.

Due to the sheer number of cars been parked haphazardly near Queensbay Mall, we had to leave our car in front of a colleague's house in the Pantai Jerejak residential area. From a distance away, we could feel the carnival-like atmosphere with music booming loud in the background and rows of tent being erected, each distributing freebies that were more or less related to the marathon.

With less than ten minutes to go, I dunked three bananas into my mouth and did a series of minor warm up, only to realize that I have not drank even a single drop of water since I woke up. With no time to hesitate any further, I picked up an unfinished water bottle that had been left on the roadside and took a few full gulps. Sounds familiar?

I think there was no gun off or maybe I was too far at the back to hear it as I did not even realize that the half-marathon runners have been flagged off - we were just following the crowd, walking forward, presuming that we were being led to the starting line - until I saw our Penang Chief Minister, YAB Lim Guan Eng waving to us from the side of the road.


To have the Chief Minister up at this ungodly hours, I must say that I am very impressed!

I joined this race with two objectives in mind:

• complete the half-marathon in less than three hours
• do not stop running until I reach the finishing line

Forking out RM40 to torture myself for 21km. What has this world comes to?

Based on the time I clocked during training sessions - 5.5km in 40 minutes - I should be able to survive the whole ordeal if I did not overexert myself along the way. In fact, I started out so slow that it took me 25 minutes to reach the very same point that the women category runners hit in 10 minutes!

-sigh-

I spent most of my time looking down at my own two feet alternating between each another - pulling me a step forward at a time - to avoid myself from subconsciously following the pace of other runners. However, once in a while when I looked up, I bore witness to many things that I did not get to experience in my normal everyday life.


The new marathon statues along the coastal highway.

For example, I saw a man with deformed right leg, limping his way along with other runners, undeterred by the number of runners that zoomed by past him early in the race. Meanwhile, RUNWITME managed to capture a funny video of this firing squad which I had totally missed.



Since this is the only once-in-a-year opportunity to set foot on the Penang Bridge, I truly enjoyed my run along the whole stretch with the strong sea-breeze flowing through my hair. Apart from the various stations providing drinking water, 100 Plus, banana and iced sponge, the organizer even set up a group of drummers at the middle span of the bridge to pump the runners on.


100 Plus stations were usually the crowd favourite hence I only grabbed drinking water for a few gulps before throwing the bottles to the side of the road; another once-in-a-year event where littering is tolerated.

I managed to maintain my speed until the 15km mark when my right leg joints started to feel loose but they were not bad enough to warrant a stop or walk. After doing the U-turn at E-Gate, I started overtaking other runners to motivate myself further by imagining that for every runner that I overtook, I got to absorb a small portion of their energy to push myself on and no, it was not a joke.


2 hours and 45 minutes later, I stomped my right foot - where the Championchip was tied to - on the finishing line mat to mark the end of my 21.0975km non-stop run.

My only gripe was the long queue at the finishing line due to the medals and lucky draw coupons being distributed too near to the front. Relocating them a little further to the back should do the trick.


My colleagues and friends that ran along with me in the same category.


MISSIONS ACCOMPLISHED!

Full marathon next year, anyone?

Thailand 2009: Day # 1

Phew, the Penang Bridge International Marathon is just a few days away and I have been dedicating most of my free time to get myself in shape for this special event so do pardon me for the lack of update in this blog.


I am somewhat sceptical about the above claim.

Anyway, if you still remember the hardship that I had to go through to get my passport done, I finally get to put it to good use by tagging along with my colleagues for a six days trip to Thailand. Call me an idiot but due to the various worries I had in my head prior to the trip - influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, political instability in Thailand and first aeroplane flight in my life - I have to calm myself down by handing over my treasure key to my girlfriend for safekeeping.


The key to priceless treasures.

I left my motorcycle in Alan's house and his father fetched us to the airport where we held our rendezvous with our Thai colleague, Samarn. Nothing much to describe here except for the fact that our flight FD 3542 was delayed by around 20 minutes. As this was my first time on an aeroplane, I was pining hope to get the window seat but alas, I was assigned to the seat next to it. This was a Thai AirAsia flight, so I more or less ignored all the in-flight announcements as I had a hard time making out their English that was laden with Thai accent.

Around one and a half hours later, we touched down on the Suvarnabhumi Airport and it instantly became the very first landmark in Thailand that I fell in love with. Even though our aeroplane did not have the privilege to drop its passengers off into a gangway that is directly connected to the airport terminal building, they have buses waiting to transport us there.


I love the design of the see-through elevator!

The Suvarnabhumi airport terminal is such a humongous building that we had to grab a copy of the free airport maps to prevent ourselves from walking in circles!


The departure floor's row F, G, H, J, K and L. This goes on until row W.


I bet the garden itself is even larger than the Penang International Airport building.

Our first mission was to hunt for lunch and after getting ourselves slightly lost, it did not take us long to gobble down all the food.


S&P's yummy deep-fried pork spare ribs.


Ten minutes later. *burp*

We did a minor tour around the airport while looking for a way out. Trust me, as a stranger in a massive four-storey building with glass doors on all floors, you would be under the impression that certain doors are meant to be entrances only and if you were to take a step out of those entrance doors, an ear-deafening alarm would be triggered with the airport security personnel popping out of nowhere like ninjas, ready to stuff you into a wooden crate and deport your sorry ass back to your country of origin for flouting even the slightest law there (longest sentence ever!)... well, something like that. :P


Mess with us and we will suffocate you with an extra large plastic bag!

Once you are out from the airport terminal building, there are various forms of transportation that you can take to get yourself around Thailand such as public taxi, airport limousine, the Airport Express bus and if you are really up to the challenge, walk.


We hopped on the free shuttle bus which brought us to the nearby bus terminal.


Five minutes later, we were in another bus, on our way to our hotel near Khaosan Road.

Samarn booked us a standard double room each in Sawasdee Khaosan Inn. The room rate for a standard single room was almost the same hence he felt it much wiser to opt for the standard double room instead.


No you perverted basket, I did not bring back any special friend to share the queen-sized bed with me.


However, if you are itching to call for one, there is a box of condoms on the refrigerator for your convenience.

Half an hour after checking in, we found ourselves in a pink-coloured taxi, on our way to the Chatuchak market. Public transport in Thailand is very efficient, a far cry from the situation we have in Malaysia. Not only do the taxis here run on meter with reasonable fare, they come in so many colours that I would have mistaken them as M&M's candies if I were without my glasses.


Samarn claimed that the colours are part of the Thai government's proposal to make the traffic jam looks less stressful. No joke!


Chatuchak market, the human version of Bangkok's worst traffic jam.

We initially just strolled along the market's parameter as it is wider compared to the alleys in the market itself. Just like our local markets, there were no escaping beggars but the stark difference is that the Chatuchak beggars do not just sit there with hands held high nor do they bug you. Some - especially the elderly and visually-impaireds - sang karaoke with a speaker hung around their necks while doing their rounds.


The younger generation would usually try something eye-catching, like performing freestyle football in such a cramped space.

I also noticed a group of students in uniform - presumably members of their school band - playing a wide variety of music with an open violin case filled with coins placed in front. I could not help but to wonder if such freedom would ever be granted to our students back home. In my opinion, I find nothing wrong with showcasing your ability in public and earning a little pocket money along the way as long as it does not hamper your higher priorities. Haha... who am I kidding to think that our government would endorse such a talent building initiative? Not only would the pupil be subjected to suspension from school, non-governmental organizations would intervene and sue the parents' asses off on charges of child exploitation and abuse. Malaysia BOLEH!


This guy went to the extent of dressing up as a cyborg just to distribute pamphlets.


We attempted to navigate ourselves into the narrow alleys but did not last long, no thanks to the crowd and the cloudless sky did not make the situation any better.


When all hope seemed lost, this coconut ice cream came to our rescue. It was so good that I could not help salivating whenever I heard the name Chatuchak being mentioned.

We spent quite some time on our dinner as the dishes were way too spicy but they were definitely good. By the time we returned to our rooms, it was already dark even though the clock just stroke 6.30pm. After cleaning ourselves up, it was time to hit the party at Khaosan Road, where the whole stretch of road would be closed to vehicles in the evening.


Based on the amount of neon signs, you can more or less guess how long this road goes.

Khaosan Road was flanked on both sides by cheap hotels, pubs, massage parlours and convenience stores. Talking about convenience stores, I find it hilarious that there were three 7-Eleven stores on the same road itself. Either the business must be pretty darned good or there was a big fail in the business planning stage.


You can find a lot of mini stalls selling all sort of delicacies ranging from simple fried noodles to exotic deep-fried scorpions.


It was the 31st of October, hence Halloween party was in full force.


I guess this must be where our politicians obtained their fake degrees.


The biggest signboard in Khaosan Road for a product that I never get to use. *blush*

After a few hours of eye-washing, we headed back to our rooms with a few bottles of beer, worms and scorpion, ready to 干杯 away my first night in a foreign land... only to have Alan fell asleep with all the snacks locked along inside his room.

-sigh-


The scorpion who died in vain. T_T