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?