Preoccupied Subconscious Mind

Sleeping last night, I had a nightmare, but it wasn't as bad as nightmares are supposed to be:











And I woke up to a chase sequence showing on AXN. I turned off the TV and thought "Damn, I'm dreaming about running." My subconscious mind is now so preoccupied with the new-found love of running. This is good. I'm having dreams about it. So now lets make it a habit instead of just thoughts.

I won't be joining the Mizuno Wave Run this Sunday, but I'll show up at the Terry Fox Run, a charity run for cancer, later that morning. I'm hoping to meet Azwar, Mary, Faie, Bacin and few other pipot.com frequents. It's about time I put some faces to the names.


Next week I'll be beginning my General Practitioner posting. The uni basicaly wants us to compare both government and private primary healthcare setup. From prelim runs we had during semester 2 and 4, I'm guessing the government clinic would be more interesting lah. Private clinics ni, you see cough, cold and fever almost all the time. In government clinics, the perspective of illness is broader. In just 2 weeks being posted in Klinik Ampangan, we saw 2 cases suspicious of pheochromocytoma. If a private GP sees even one during his practice, he'd go get a lottery that very day.

For the whole week, session will start at 9.30am. Wooot! Yeah. Finally I can get some morning run done.

Puasa is coming in a week's time. Running? Well, based on answers I get from the triathlon forum, there will be less run. The forum frequents suggest I run either before sahur (before-dusk meal), before buka puasa (break fast at dawn) or after terawih (a special prayer done only during the fasting month). Running before sahur is definitely out. Mana aku nak lari?? Banyak harimau belakang rumah aku oi. I think I'll run after terawih the first few days, just to get myself into the rhythm of fasting. Then later when I've evolved and adapted to the state of dehydration, maybe I can run before buka. Hey, if Darwin is right, by the 27th day of puasa, I'll evolve into a camel. Wooot!

Apa-apa pun, this puasa, AKU NAK JADI KURUSSS!!!!!!!!

Putrajaya International Marathon 2006

It's the Putrajaya International Marathon 2006, and I ran in the half marathon event. 21 pain in the ass kilometers (actually I only ran 12 km. DNFed because I injured my ankle). This was my second half marathon event, and my second DNF. Haha. Both due to the same reason. I had fun anyway. Here was what happened that day.

Woke up at 5.10am and quickly got ready. I got everything with me this time, except I forgot to leave something behind. Didn't have time for my morning dump, so I had to run with the half kilo extra weight. Haha. While driving, I took my homemade PowerBar, something I call the PowerPack (I shall share this in the future). Psyched myself up with some rock tune from The Who, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Richie Kotzen.

When I arrived, the marathon event had just started. I parked my car and quickly took my wudhu' and performed Subuh prayer at the car park, next to my car (later I found out the organizers actually prepared a decent surau. Not bad.). I changed, and met Chee Yoong near the starting point. Did some stretching and before I knew it, BOOM! We're off.



One km into the race, my right ankle starts to complain. Adoi la. So I stopped and loosened the lace, which helped. Ahhh. Best. It worked. I didn't aim high. Cukup la running at 7kmph. Everything was ok. Until it was at about the 10th km, the ankle complained again. I stopped and massged my right foot. No good. So I limped the next 2 km. Managed to come across one dude. He said 'Bang, jangan paksa diri, bang.' Yeah right. I kept on limping. At some point, I was hopping on one foot. Sampai la kat the 12th km. Ok la. I give up. Tak sanggup dah.



This was where I stopped and waited for the support van. It came and there were already 2 girls in the van. The paramedic had to take both of my numbers off, he said for technical reasons, and promised to give them back when everything is done. I never saw them again. Chit podah. Takde souvenir aku kali ni.



I was brought to the medical bay. First, a lady approached me. From the trembling hands, I think she's a medical student. Then another doctor (pictured) came to check my foot. He's one cool dude. He said:

Cool Doctor: Sprained ke cramped?
Me: Sparined.
Cool Doctor: Hmmm (examining my right foot). You've got flat foot.
Me: Yeah, I know.
Cool Doctor: You know what to do, right?
Me: Rest, ice and painkillers?
Cool Doctor: Exactly (handing me some painkillers). Take one now and another one later tonight. You should be ok.

Haha. Why do I think he's cool? Because he understands runners' ego and respects it. Hahaha. No fuss, no kerek-kerek. In return, I respected him. Allah bless him.

At the recovery area, I met Chee Yoong. He finished the race at 2 hours 25 minutes. A huge blister on his left foot was staring at my face. Well worth it because now he's got something to brag about.

I was cooling my right foot in the ice bath when an African dude (very obvious from the accent) who was sitting opposite me began a convesation. He asked:

Kunta Kinte: Iz eet yor ankol?
Me: Excuse me?
Kunta: Yor ankol. Yor foot. Da one yor cooling down. Iz eet yor ankol that's painfool?
Me: Oh yeah. My ankle. I sprained it.

He noded, then dipped his socks in the ice bath and started wiping his legs to cool them down. Then he wiped one time too high, exposing his schtincker. SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why must I witness it!!!!!!! Arggghh!!! I fled the scene quickly. Sicko.

All in all, the organizers did a very good job. Hell, they better do, since the fees was set at RM30. A lot of booth were set up that gave a lot of freebies. And with details like setting up a surau and all, they really did their homework well.

My aim in the future? Well, I'm demoting myself from 21k race events. From now on until I'm fit enough, I'm only going to run in 10k events. At least I get to finish it and get a medal or certificate. That's a lot better than just a piece of cloth with numbers.

*Pictures are courtesy of www.pacesetters.com.my