The Virgin Marathon

I have been procastinating in writing this report for a long time, thought I might just finished it before the new year (Chinese New Year) Let me start this post by not talking about me but my friend, Aaron Lau.

So what so interesting about this guy? For the fact that he is a "drug-dealer" (he has a pharmacy business)? Nolah, not that. Looking at the pic on the left, you must have thought he's like a "Tai Ko' in one of the KL triads, ya?

This is how the story began....

One day, when we were eating at a coffeeshop in Pandan Perdana, I told this guy that he should join the Singapore Marathon. Told him how amazing this run is, not just because it was well organised, but for the ladies that are taking part in this run, thousands of them. Unlike the local races here, the ladies there really "dress up" for the run. That got him interested. One thing lead to another, he told me in the next few days that his friend in Singapore had registered for him for a 42.195km run...a FULL (FOOL) marathon! I said "WHAT?!! Lu siau meh? (Are you crazy?)". Well, you see Mr. Aaron here has never done a run before let alone running a race. Ok..he has done some jogs before, you probably could count by your fingers in the number of runs he has done in a year. Told him, "You better start training for it". Seriously, this guy had not even wore a short since primary school! (That's what he told me. Well, you can actually tell when you see him in shorts....very fair one!!)

His friends laughed about it & even his parents (and even me). One of his good friend in S'pore, who happens to be my ex-classmate even said this when I told him Aaron is runing the full marathon, "What?! You must be joking! I tell you ah, after 5km, he will give up!" Told that to Aaron and his usual response, "Ka Ni Ma Sai!".

"You all better watch out, I'm going to run pass all of you!"

Fast foward to racing day...we had a good laugh in the morning of the race, everyone looked relax going into the run. I helped Tomatoman and Shine to bring their bags to the baggage area as the queue was a long one. They had to rush for the start of the marathon race. However, I was in time to witness the start of the race. Didn't see them though, except for Vincent. Mind you, about 14,000 runners in the full marathon category. Their race starts at 5.30am, mine (21km) doesn't start till 6.15am. A long wait.

I didn't feel too well just before the start of the race. At 6.15am, my race started, I had a good start as I was standing right in front of the starting line. Felt good at the start but was cautious not to go any faster as I have not been running much. Was looking for a 1:45 finish. But at half way mark, my body just started failing me, also no thanks to the zig zagging pass the marathon runners. Tough thing to do....the organiser don't seem to be able to find another route to separate our category all these years. Anyway, I tried looking for other known runners in the marathon since I'm passing them or they are on the other side of the road. Only saw the double "R" Raymond & Raymond (a.k.a. Tomatoman & Dr. Rum). Vincent & Aaron were nowhere to be seen. Didn't see Shine either.

I had a hard time finishing my race, body just jammed up after the halfway mark, got worst turning into the city centre passing the starting point. Anyway, I just thought I was going to get the same medal and my placing wasn't really that good anyway, I just gave up running. So I had to jog back t a turtle pace. Thought that I wouldn't meet my target time but in the end I managed to clock in at 1:43. Felt exhausted. (Caught a fever the next day after the run). Anyway, I went to change to my dry shirt and waited for the rest to come back. First I saw Vincent coming back, man, he broke my own PB by 5 mins (I'll get that back one day!), then saw Ray @ Tomatoman coming in, and few of the Pacesetters or Pacemakers gangs coming in. Shine came back a little later, so I head for the tent to find them. Only saw Vincent at the tent. So, we waited for Aaron to come back before heading back to our apartment. 5hrs, nowhere to be seen, 5:30, 6hrs, 6:30 went pass, still no sign of him. We were worried he took an ambulance back or something like that. Where could he be?

7 hrs passed by, finnaly I saw a known figure, walking slowly back. There he was. I told him to speed up as he was near the finishing line and he did.

Well he did managed to finished in style.....

This was his final results:

NAME: LAU AIN FOOK
EVENT: Full Marathon
DATE: Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
BIB/DIV: 9698 / M3034
TIME: 7h:3m:16s (gun) / 6h:57m:4s (net)

Usually some people will say they will never run a marathon again, especially ones who have not done much runs before. As for him, he was already looking foward to the next one.....Gold Coast Marathon in July. Even suggested I be the treasurer in collecting savings for the run. But with his and my work commitment, I doubt we will be able to make the trip! As of this point, I have collected RM0.00 savings!! Haha!

Well that afternoon all of them was sleeping like a pig........ brokeback mountain??! Don't sue me guys!

Some people even need to adjust their alignment after the run! And what was Aaron doing on the far right?!

This is how you walk down the stairs after running the marathon!

But in the end, everyone had fun and we just chilled thru the night. So a Big Congratulations to my friend Aaron aka Mr Ka Ni Ma Sai, in finishing his virgin marathon! Lucky he didn't bleed in the first try!!

Looking foward to going back Kuching!

Happy Chinese New Year to you all!