When I first heard about the ASEAN Unity Run 2015, I did not hesitate to register for it. It's an inaugural event held in Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur with the aim of promoting unity and harmony among the participants from Malaysia and the ASEAN region. Organised by Aman Malaysia, a movement which promotes initiatives and campaigns on unity and harmony, the ASEAN Unity Run offered three categories - 21km, 10km and 5km (two subcategories: fun run and stroller run, which was to set a new record for being the largest stroller run in a single location). This run was indeed timely as Malaysia has just concluded hosting the 26th ASEAN Summit as the Chair of ASEAN 2015.
I ran in the 10k category. 10k is my most comfortable distance by far.
But actually, I was nearly disqualified for this 10k event because I reached the starting line late. In fact, very late.
The flag off was at 6:15 a.m. I arrived in the city around 5:45 a.m. as planned but I was unable to find any parking near Padang Merbok. Much to my chagrin, I was turned away by a guard at Dayabumi complex as the parking basement was closed at that time. I then decided to park in Central Market and walk to the race venue, but when I turned on the Maps app on my phone, the walking route to Padang Merbok shown was estimated to take one hour. It was impossible for me to get to the starting line on time! I briskly turned back, hopped in my car and drove off to Padang Merbok. I chanced upon DBKL headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut and noticed a few cars coming in and out of the building. Perhaps I could make it after all if I carefully followed the sign to the visitor parking and found myself free parking lot. But alas, the visitor parking was closed too. If that isn't Murphy's Law I don't know what is! When I looked at the clock on the dashboard and it showed 6:10 a.m., I knew in the depths of my heart that there was no way I could make it to the start line by 6:15 a.m. This was beginning to feel like my nightmare for a race. Maybe I would wake from the nightmare and find myself waiting for the gun to go off at 6:15 a.m. Sigh, one can only dream at this juncture. For the record, I've never been late to a race and the ASEAN Unity Run would be my first.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a vacant lot in the staff parking area in the DBKL Complex. As time was of the essence, I had to make a judgement call - do I commit a misdemeanor by parking in a designated lot for staff or risk being disqualified from the race for being severely late? My love of running in races won me over so I parked my car among a fleet of DBKL vans and ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the starting line in Padang Merbok. Forget about static warm up, I was having the most intense dynamic warm up to this race.
Fortunately for me, the friendly marshals did not stop me when I showed up at the gathering point for 10km event; instead, they directed me to the starting line. Interestingly, I noticed that there were other late-comers too and they didn't look flustered like me. Note to self - keep calm and carry on..
And then it dawned on me that I did not have any of my accessories with me - my indispensable iPhone arm band, wrist band to wipe sweat off my face and my Garmin watch. Thank goodness I wore my bib at home before getting into the car. At a stressful moment like this, it was reassuring to know that my run would be timed with the presence of the timer chip behind the bib. So I'm good to go, yeah baby!!
Without wasting any time, I made a dash to the starting line and was comforted by the sound of my chip registering my run.. That beep from the sensor was the most beautiful sound I heard on the whole morning! A victory in itself for making it to the starting line.. Phew!
It was still dark and eerie as there were no other runners around me for the first 100m or so. Slowly as I picked up my pace, runners started appearing before me: left, right and centre,... and soon I was starting to pass them by steadily - one, two, three, four and more and more until I lost count as I progressed in the race, stronger and faster.
My pace was steady throughout. Without help from my Garmin Forerunner 220 or the Runkeeper app on my phone, I didn't know the pace I was doing. Whereas I normally would heed the external cues from the stopwatch, I decided instead to pay attention to the internal cues - my breathing and how my body was feeling at that time. I felt naked somewhat without the 'wearable technology' i.e. my phone and GPS watch, but I could rest assured that the timer chip would give me a finishing time later. I gradually got into a comfortable pace and breathing rhythm. And I felt good about the run.. The legs were warm and the strides steady.
On the inclines, I noticed that my legs were slightly heavy so I changed my running form to accommodate the terrain. I took smaller strides and kept my feet as low as possible to the ground and body upright. Surprisingly, I didn't slow down to a walk, which I almost always do in other races when encountering inclines.. It was perhaps because I was paying more attention to my body... Life is full of unexpected lessons to be learned and so is running...
Despite the initial setback, I finished the race at 1:07 clock time... and when I received the official results today, I was pleased to learn that my net time was 55:43. It's in fact, my best 10k time for 2015.
Gun time: 1:07:40
Net time: 55:43
Rank: 48 out of 970
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| Go out and crush it, not matter what! |
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| Asean Village |
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| Minister of Youth and Sports in the 5km Fun Run |
