Limping Marathon Runner

6am!! TLR's alarm rang. I want to sleep some more!! The weather is nice to curl up under a warm comforter like a cocoon. But, it's time to get up after all.. we will have to "navigate" to the football field, which happens to be the starting point. Since we had problems finding the LongHouse last night, we should move out earlier, just in case.

Breakfast would be provided after the race. Hence, I did not take any food at all. We started walking towards the direction where most people are heading to and the sound from loud music and people talking over the microphone soon appeared to be closer. The event ground is already filled with participants, volunteers and officials. The Fitness First team conducted a short warm up and we took some more pictures before moving to the start line. That was when we saw Ham who was there with her friends. 8.15am (or so) the wild category was flagged off. We started out trail run! The mild category started 15 minutes later. It was still early that we ran on the road and we were soon greeted by gentle trails. The first mud pool came where I cross it rather easily. I heard people shouting that their shoes were stuck in the bottom. Poor souls. Tighten your laces! We had to do some ascends.. steep slopes. Practically, if you see ropes... you'll know that you need them. We sort of went back up and then back down to be greeted by streams. The sound of rushing water is quite clear and distinct. We had to climb up the slopes then stairs before reaching near the LongHouse area. But, that is not the end yet. There was still another 2km to go. Some twists and turns, up slopes and down slopes before we climb in and out 3 large pits that were 2 metres deep. The next obstacle .. .. mud pools!! Two mud pools, approximately 5-8 metres long?! I can't be doing TI in those!!! Crossed a row of tyres. We had to climb and cross 2-3 man made ramps before crossing the finishing line! A quick check at our timing, I found that my watch still caked with mud!!! SV has been a good race partner. He is usually ahead. But, always waits at the start of the obstacles. We collect our finisher medals. Well done, SV!! And me ... of course.

We had a quick shower and claimed our well deserved breakfast. Let me see... there were cereal, maggi mee, sandwiches, bananas, ice milo, and more ... burp! IMD's babe was lucky enough to win a Swatch SKIN watch through lucky draw!! How lucky! All of us went back to shower PROPERLY before getting changed and ready to check out of the hotel. We took the bus back to the Genting Bus Terminal and saw Runwitme. It was the first time seeing him in person. More chit chats on the upcoming races and we took a picture before we board the bus back to Puduraya. I managed to catch some sleep even on this one hour plus ride. We took our late lunch, where I had a Cheese Nann. Nothing is complete with a wash down with Teh Tarik. Our bus back to homeland was a little late during to traffic and the carbon monoxide build up did not help at all. So ... our bus brought us back to YongPeng and then to Woodlands checkpoint to conclude our trip out for this weekend!! Fun!