Mizuno Wave Run 2010

I was never really an athletic kind of a person. I am the kind of person who prefers to use her gray matter than her other body parts.

Never excelled in sports during primary/secondary school.
Excelled more in academics and more active in competitions that required speaking, writing or performing. In short, yes, I am a nerd.



But somewhere around Form 2, I realized one thing. I may have gotten last or second last in short distance races, such as 100m and 400m. But i usually get top 5 in 800m, 1500m and 3000m in my school. It's amazing how I beat my other girlfriends (whom are much better in all kinds of sports and much sexier) in long distance races and how I got number 4 in cross-country for 3 years in a row. Maybe I got larger lungs.

So when someone asked me to join this Mizuno run which is about 11km, why not?
I bet I could survive it.



This is the route.



So at 5.30am, Meng Leong with his bionic ex-schoolmate, Khai Sim picked me up and we head for UPM. We reached there pretty early, around one hour.









So the flag off was at 7.15am (for the females) and 7.25am (for the males).



There we go. Run, run, run.






I ran at a constant pace, as what I have trained in the gym. I usually targeted myself 5km for 30-35 minutes. The most I have trained was 7km for around 40 minutes plus.

However, after 5km plus, I felt like dying. I could not run at that pace anymore.
I started pushing myself but my body was not being cooperative.
I was frustrated, angry at myself and started blaming myself for everything.
Why didn't I train hard enough?
My parents and other friends were shocked when I said I was going for the run.
They asked if I could handle it.
I replied, "Yeah! Why not?"
But there I was struggling to keep up, with more and more people cutting ahead of me.
I was actually determined to get a medal back. But I know I would fail to do so.

I feel like waving to fellow people on the ambulance or the people on the bikes to take me back.
God knows where they would take me.
And besides, stopping means quitting. Quitting would be the last thing I would do.

I feel like a vacuum cleaner. I suck.
Perhaps I could find a cliff to jump from. No face to face the world already.
I was looking everywhere but could not find a perfect place to jump from.
I started hating myself.
Why did I brought myself to this?
Why do I always pretend that I can do things, without making sure of my capabilities?
Why do I always take on too many offers, work, projects when I could not manage them all properly?
Why do I always hide my feelings, and worse still, pretend about things, and thus, wrongly misrepresented myself?
Why do I always pretend to be strong?
But in fact, I am a weak. With no special capabilities, talents, whatsoever.
Once again, my confidence shattered. I felt I had hit rock bottom of my soul, to the point of giving up.

Then, I remembered what Meng Leong said:
"Try to take it slow. Don't push yourself too hard. This is your first time. It is important that you finish the run. Try not to get lost. I wouldn't know how to find you then."

I realized getting lost is more pathetic than not getting a medal. So I jogged at a slower pace with his words ringing in my head. "Focus on what you are doing, not on your goals, you will be able to perform better then".

I remembered the story he told me about. The journey of his althletics.
About how hard he trained, how determined he was and his many achievements.
Whenever you mentioned his name, "a great athlete", people would say.
His qualities are very much admirable and rare to find these days.

My mom once said that the best thing about me is that I do not quit easily.
She said that I was a survivor.
There was once in Standard 4, I came home crying because I got 64% for my Pemahaman.
I withdrawn myself for awhile, bought many BM exercise books and eventually scored 90% + , although it took almost two years for me to achieve that kind of result.
I got the "Murid Terbaik" award and also for the best written karangan.
Sometimes, I came home looking depressed with my job.
Bank jobs are very stressful. But the knowledge and experience you gained are priceless.
She told me countless times to quit my job and focus on my studies.
But I insisted to stay by convincing her on my vision.

I guess it didn't matter now if I didn't get a medal.
Failing once doesn't mean failure in the future too.
As long as I completed the run.

As I walked and jogged, I happily waved and smiled back at other runners.
I gave thumbs-ups to the a woman holding her little daughter's hand (around 7-8 years old i guess) as they tried to continue moving on with their worn-out faces. The woman smiled back at me.
I posed for photographers, with "peace" and "thumbs-up" signs.
I started to enjoy myself very much.

Finally, I reached the finishing line. And guess what?


Not a medal, but two.

I am kidding. Those were Meng Leong's and Khai Sim's medals.

They achieved a remarkable record of 55 mins and 78 mins each. Great job, guys!




I got the idea of posing with their medals from these runners from Philippines.

Haha...they are cool people. One of the guys look like the tattoo guy from "The Expendables" with his shoulder length hair.

I ended the run with Xin Wei, whom is few seconds ahead of me.

Some pictures with friends.

Then, we're off to have brunch at Bandar Puteri, Puchong. Wanted to have lunch at Chillex, but sadly, it was closed.

So we end up having brunch at Old Town.


Khai Sim's food



Meng Leong drinking like a small thirsty boy.



Khai Sim posing for Meng Leong.


And me, refusing to look at the camera.

This is my first time joining a run and it was a wonderful experience.
Would I go for another run? Well, count me in!