Taking on Malaysian suburbs...

...and the height of naivete.

Yey for the bling!

It was a sleepless night. No, I was not excited. I went to bed early to get enough sleep and I was off to dreamland the moment I lay down on the hotel bed and shut off the lights. Then in the middle of midnight, prank calling disturbed my peace and I was not able to sleep again.

Sweet Carbo-loading :)

Oh well, fast forward 9 hours later. I was able to finish my second pikermi in Malaysia, CICM Responsible Care Run 2011. Maybe I was ready for the race toting my water bottle as the hydration stations would be far from each other. The race went through smoothly. I didn't get a new PR and I realized I was getting slower as I put on some weight. But that's okay. I guess finishing strong is more than enough. But the events surrounding it almost drowned out the good things about the race.

the stage

Hang-overs

One of the best views of the route

I like the route. The scenic trees dotting the roads cooled the air and provided shade when the sun was up. The next-to-nothing traffic with only a few cars interrupted by our sporty gallivanting. And most of all, the mainly flat surface with few unsteep slopes that is PR friendly.

The singlet and the medal

There are medals for every 21km runner who crosses the finish line in 3 hrs. In PJ Marathon, only the first 200 finishers for each category gets one. So, this is officially my first bling in MY.

And the singlet. The New Balance singlet is comfy to wear and has better fabric than the one in PJ Marathon. These makes the 50 RM registration so worth it. 

Hang-ups

Second race with hydration stations spread at app 4 kms from each other. Is this a standard set-up here? It's a good thing it was not that hot today.

I like the route BUT I didn't realize it was just too far. I almost cried as the meter rolled on almost forever. Call me naive as I am new in town. And it's not the organizers' responsibility to get me there but I wish the organizers provided some shuttle service to lure more runners to join. And I was lost twice. Once during race packet pick-up and on raceday itself. Good thing, we reached Setia Alam Welcome Center just in the nick of time. And after the race, I couldn't find a taxi that was leaving. I called the cab company but they said there was none nearby. A taxi was parked by the events area and I had to wait for the program to wrap up (I didn't get to bring an iPad. sic.) for the driver to return and ask him to take me to the hotel. He didn't but instead dropped me off at KLang station where I took a train to KL Central then another train to Kelana Jaya where I was gonna take a bus or taxi to the hotel. I only took the train to KL Central and got off from that station and joined a new group of friends to watch Manny Pacquiao battle it out with Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time.

And that my friends is the biggest hangup of the day--though totally unrelated to this race. What the heck happened?! Tell me.

Next week: Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011. I'm stoked!