KL Marathon 2005 Trip Report

We have signed up for the KL Marathon (various races) and have prepared ourselves to drive up in a convoy, following members of the SAFRA Running Club.

I was going to do my first ever 21km race. My wife, Beverly was to do her first ever 10km race. So is Adrian, my friend (10km). This will all be our first races in those categories, and come what may, as long as we complete with timings, we will record our Personal Bests (PB). Race Day did come, and we all did well. I recorded a 1hr50min for my 21km and collected my large silver finisher's medal. Beverly did well to emerge top 100 in her category, recording 1hr6min for 10km, and walked away with a nice finisher's medal too. Adrian did well to record his best ever 10km time of 1hr3min, and because he was in the men's open category (very competitive), Adrian just missed out on the medal. A quick check with the final official results indicate that I ran 1hr50min and was placed 35th in my category, and was the best Singapore time in my category. Even extending that to all the categories in the men's 21km races (Overall Results), I still had the best time from Singapore....Hmmm, maybe there were nobody else other than me from Singapore running 21km...Ha Ha...Please check out the Race Report for RACE DETAILS.

The winners circle at KLIM 2005

Now for the trip. We gathered bright and early at 6.50am at the Bukit Merah mobil station. Westly, Jack and Lee (Chean) who are not running, will join in my car to KL for their shopping and eating fiesta. My car were to follow Adam's car. We made the morning introductions, and set on at about 7.15am. We reached the Tuas second-link quite easily, and soon we were zooming along the Malaysian N-S Highway (speeds will not be recorded here for obvious reasons). We reached Yong Peng at about 9.30am and met up with another car. We had a scrumptious breakfast of KL Yong Tau Foo.

We continued on after breakfast, and all were in good spirits after some good carbo-loading. We drove very smoothly, and after about 2.5hrs, we were in KL. We briefly lost contact with the 3 front cars, but with Jack's local knowledge, we made it to Hotel Malaya first. How surprised the others were when they saw us later. HaHa. We gathered and the runners went to Concorde Hotel to collect our race packs and bibs. Westly, Jack and Lee went shopping.

We took an easy LRT to the expo area. The collection process wasn't very smooth, but still we went through without much problems. I was disappointed with the goodie bag, as there was only 1 lousy cotton singlet. The 10km bag had a cotton T-Shirt, which some thought was even better. We then bought a promotion of PowerBars and got a free water bottle. We headed to KL Plaza area and visited the Lillian Too's feng shui shop with Paul, Yean, Tong Ling and gang. We then headed back to the hotel at 6pm.

At Race Expo With SAFRA Running Club Members

While waiting for Daniel Lim to pick us up for dinner, Beverly and I prepared for the race, pinning up the bib numbers, putting aside gear and fuel for the race early the next day. At about 7.30pm, Daniel picked us up for dinner at Jalan Mutiara. This was a seafood place, with good steamboat. Jack, Westly, Lee, Beverly, Daniel and myself ordered a good steamboat for 4, side dishes of yummy fried pig's organs and spare parts (those we see in HK and Malaysian movies, and always wondering how nice they taste). They were yummylicous. We ate our fill, and it was one good carbo-loading session (which proved to be great for the race the next day). I felt strong during my race, not even a little tired before, during and after, and I think that steamboat dinner had a lot to do with it. Great Stuff!

After dinner, we went to KLCC and saw the Twin Towers in its night granduer. It looked very illuminated and majestic, and when Lee tried to take a photo of me and Beverly together with the Towers, she found that it could hardly fit us in. We told ourselves that we will be back one of these nights to visit this part of KL again. Beverly and I went back to get our early rest, while Lee and gang went to paint the town red. Back in the hotel, after some last minute wash up, I was soon sleeping at around 11.30pm. I was awaken at about 2.30pm with a thud, and found myself on the floor. Beverly was shocked to find that I had fallen off the bed. That bed was too small, and in the process of rolling over in my sleep, I found that it was not my 'Super-King' bed at home. Ahhh...I was in KL to race, remember? After that, I didn't quite sleep well, and was awaken by the alarm at 4.15am.

Yah...time to prepare to meet Yean and Tong Ling at 5.15am to walk together to the race start point (around High Court area). Beverly and I did a quick wash-up, took a piece of banana and coffee for final fuel, put on our race gear, and off we went. It was a short walk from the Hotel to the start point. We reached there at 5.45am; did some warm up, took some photos, checked in the bag, went to the loo, and was soon ready for the 21km start. Do read my race report for exciting details of how the 21km run went for me.

The SAFRA Running Club at KLIM 2005

After our respective races, we waited for most of our friends to come back, especially those from the much longer marathon (42km) race. I met Sukaimi, The Lonely Runner, and took a photo with him. I apologized to Sukaimi for not being able to join him for lunch the previous day with the PaceSetters. I was still on the N-S highway then, remember? We were cheered that my friends at the SAFRA Running Club all returned with very good results. Sok Hwa came in 8th and won $800, Derek came in 25th and won $200. The rest all did their Personal Bests; Joen Yen, Adam, Sam, Hock Soon all did well to go under 5hrs for 42km. Paul, Derek, Sok Hwa did well with sub-4hr marathons. As usual, the Africans swiped most of the top awards in the men's category. China swiped most of the top positions for the ladies categories.

The Lonely Runner & The Dream Runner @ KLIM2005

We had a good wash up, quick lunch of wanton mee at the Hotel's nearby coffee-shop, and checked out at 1pm. I collected my car from the very complex car-park (you will know what I mean if you have ever been to one of these KL multiple-trayed car-parks). Our 3 cars were on the road at 2pm, back to Singapore. We stopped after 1.5hrs at a R&R for some good coffee, and proceeded on to Gelang Pateh for dinner.

We had a superb dinner (thanks to Adam's recommendation) at Gelang Pateh. Broiled Chestnut Duck, Frog-legs with wine in soup, fried tou-miao, chilli-crab. It was very nice, and really helped nourish us runners again. It was our reward for the good work we put in the morning races. At the dinner table, Chua calculated that those who ran the marathon expended 3,500KCal, I expended 1,500KCal in the 21km, and Beverly expended 720KCal in the 10km. So, we could afford to indulge. We really ate our fill. BURP, BURP!

We left and did a final petrol top-up. The price was only 1.45 ringgit. Westly said that was even cheaper than pumping petrol in Singapore $ terms (even without conversion). So, Westly got quite enthusiastic, and pumped till the car overflowed with 'juice'. We crossed the causeway smoothly amidst very light traffic, dropped off Westly, Jack and Lee together (I swear that was the last time I saw them till now). I was so tired, I slept before midnight when I got home. I woke up well-rested to compile this report.

Looking back, we had a albeit short, but wonderful adventure and experience. Do join us for the next overseas adventure in due course.

The Dream Runner