Mizuno Wave Run 2009

I have just arrived back in Spore, driving from the KL home. I am feeling tired, sore, with a stuffy nose, dehydrated, headache-y, and physically empty. The feeling was pretty much the same on Saturday when we all arrived home in KL, to the point that the Mizuno run was in serious jeopardy. I went to the bathroom as often as I had food, and drink, and was empty. The only thing that perked me up on Saturday was that I managed to buy my Powerbar drink mix at the race “expo” at UPM.

We got into the outskirts of KL in the early afternoon Saturday. This was a little quicker than planned because we had to turn into Serdang to locate UPM and check out the race route. Whilst it looked somewhat straightforward on the map, we got lost and took some time actually locating the start point. Found the race “expo” although no one there seemed to be able to tell us for sure what the route was, where it started. A bit of a shame because up to now, the organizers have been very knowledgeable and pro-active in getting everybody’s kit and bib distributed. All we were told were to follow the signs along the route, which we did.

The signs stopped somewhere after the 5k mark. There was a gate that stood locked and everyone turned back, and we turned back as well, to look for the other signs. Oh well, this wasn't the first time we could not walk the route - it had happened at KOTR 2009 and our lack of local knowledge of the hills stymied us.

Nisa, her sisters, MBZ and I arrived a shade before 7pm on race day Sunday. Many people were already there and cars were parked everywhere. We had to park a small distance away, down a lane running into the UPM golf course and I think there must have been some 50 odd cars on both sides of the road. We hurried to the start, got out starter bands. The start was crowded, and the weather was overcast - perfect.

To me, at least, the race has 2 components – a woodlands route as well as a road running route. The woodlands route took the race into the forested area of UPM where the lanes are narrow. Everyone was crowded onto the lane and the pace was dictated by the slowest runners. This is also the hilly bit of the course so no complains there from me. The woodlands route took some 2k before the race opened up onto the roads of UPM. Once on the roads, I managed to pick up some pace, establish some rhythm. Cresting the slight slope and coming down towards the 5k mark, I saw the bloody gate was now open and we would be running on the public roads. This is unknown stuff.

The road running route took us out of UPM and after 1k or so, we came back into UPM. More road running and short brutal hills and it was back into the woodlands and this is where it got tough. The hills that seem benign on the outward journey were now steep, with the last one going into the stadium daunting. I got passed by many because I had to walk. Even though I was running in the veterans category, I lost hope of medalling.

A small sprint to the finish and the race ended for me. I smiled a lot after the race and I could see so did Nisa after she arrived at the finish. The crowd was good, I could at least keep up with some of the faster ones (but only for a part of the race) and the route was tough, made so because of the hills but mitigated by the overcast weather. The Fastwitch was a dream. The thrill of running was the same as the day we started and we were both looking forward to our last race of the year in December, in Singapore.

The real let-down was when we got to our cars. Every car on the left side of the road got broken into. Some had their windows smashed, most others had their locks broken in; all had their valuables taken. These runners did not look pleased. Thank God, our car was on the right side and everything was intact. It was sheer luck that we chose to park on the right, and not the left. Nothing mars a positive experience more than something like this.

Hang on there..I did medal..for Jamie!