KL International Marathon 2008

Marathon = lengthy, long winded and epic. That's the definition of marathon coming from Thesaurus.

I've never been in a marathon before so why did I want to participate in one? There are 3 main reasons for this.

• Go the distance. I wanted to test my limits to see how far I can be pushed.


• Having an Ipod strapped to your arm looks pretty cool


• Being able to run half naked in the streets of KL.

Did I train for this? Not really. I probably only ran 3km on random days in a week one month before the marathon. Sometimes it's only 2 days in a week that I ran that distance or even shorter. During my training, there was this nagging pain at the back of my right knee after 20 minutes of jogging. I was pretty worried because I was going to 3 countries immediately after the marathon and if some tendon got torn off, it'll throw a monkey wrench in my travels. My travels consist of a lot of walking because I'm a cheap bastard. Hence , the concern.

A few people told me that it's not feasible to complete a marathon with this kind of pathetic training. I agreed with them but I also wanted to prove that the legs may give in halfway BUT not the heart. Semangat.

Anyway, there I was , at Dataran Merdeka,4am, with Eric Carmen (He's the singer to the song "All By Myself") We were flagged off at 6am and without any proper training and a pain that I know will start to emerge after 30 minutes to my right knee, I have come to accept that I'm a GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT!

The first song on my Ipod was Maroon 5's "I Won't Go Home Without You". Rnning alone, the darkness, the silence of dawn, the pitter patter of other jogging shoes and with the right song, it's just so peaceful....

The route and I won't go into details here started at Dataran Merdeka and then Mid Valley-Sg Besi Highway-Pudu Jail-Bukit Bintang-Hard Rock Cafe-Maju Junction-Dataran Merdeka.You get the drift on the distance. 21km and more like 3 hours of running.

An hour later, approaching Mid Valley, I had already taken off my singlet and decided to run half naked all the way. My close friends will know the reasons for my desire towards nudity. It's a bad desire. Here's one example on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQoDjCm3SKA).

Pudu Jail

Why so grumpy Mr Policeman?


I hope LV will sponsor me for next year's marathon

Upon reaching the Sg Besi Highway, the pain in my right knee has started. I soldiered on despite having to angle my right foot to at least 15 degrees while running to ease the pain.

930am, after 31/2 hours, I reached Maju Junction with this incredible pain that I had to endure from the Sg Besi highway. Thoughts of giving up ran through my mind. If I continued and something serious were to happen to my leg, I have to forgo my travels to Bangkok, Turkey and Dubai or should I continue and go the distance?Maju Junction and Dataran Merdeka(Finishing Line) was only at least 2km in length.

Limping towards the finishing line

I paused for a minute and took the weight off my left leg. On my Ipod, I now selected the theme to Rocky by Bill Conti. You all know how the theme goes. Listening to the theme, suddenly an adrenaline wave of enthusiasm and gusto rushed throughout my body. I continued eventhough I was limping quite badly but as I reached the finishing line, there were other participants and on lookers and even the DBKL staffs were shouting encouraging words and clapping their hands. It felt good to hear the cheers. Out of nowhere, someone shouted "Oi Pakai baju lah!!" Where did that come from?

Finally, after nearly 4 hours and an excrutiating pain that I endured for 2 hours along the way, I went the distance......half naked.

So, what's my next "Glutton For Punishment" activity? Solo camping trip in the jungle and I've never camped before in my life....