Oh, how I love MPIB Run.
No, I'm not being sarcastic here - I truly actually enjoyed the race, warts and all. Or more specifically, I enjoyed the route. Being the ever-attentive listener that I am, after the race I overheard many people commented about the 'hilly' route, and how the last two or so kilometers took them by surprise ("What? 12km runners have to go straight ah?")
But the hills - yes. Maybe because it's a short run - 12 kilometers. If it's a half marathon then I would probably be cursing all the way myself. Alas, fresh from the crushing (or starving, huh) disappointment that was the Newton Challenge the week before, I've learned my lesson.
This time I come prepared. Cue evil laughter.
I said evil la - NO.
Before the race:
I set my alarm at 1:00 a.m. Enough time for me to prepare some light breakfast for post-race (Gardenia bread with chunky peanut butter), and gather all the stuff that I needed to bring along (my Cloudsurfer is ready and raring to go). I left my house at 2:30 a.m.
"But Hafeez, you are still way too early," I imagine some of you said. "Trust me - I have plans," I duly replied.
Because it's early hours of Sunday morning, the PLUS highway was mostly deserted; and being the ever-courteous driver that I am, took one of the most relaxed driving ever, cruising at between 60-70 km/h, all the way from Bangi to K.L.
As caught on the AES camera near Kajang...
Since learning from own experience that bread alone is not enough to carry me through a running race (thank you, Puchong), I was determined to have a slightly heavy meal three hours before the race starts. So you see, THAT was my plan - to have, what was actually, a very late dinner at a very early hours.
I arrived at 3:30 a.m. at here:
...to have a plate of this:
Oh boy you are so not going to finish the race after this
Why do I even order that? I just wanted to eat something. I didn't care about carbohydrate (complex, simple, what what), or the fact that it's an oily food - but it's dinner.
And I haven't got to talking about the race yet, haven't I? Huh - if none of the stuff above interest you, skip to below.
The race:
The race started with the female 12km category first, and later followed by the male 12km. I like that a lot because obviously the organizer understands deeply one thing or two about motivation.
Motivation
And you'll need tons of it because right after you cross the starting line, you take a right-hand turn into Jalan Berjasa (the name is a goldmine for lots of puns) where you are greeted with this:
There were lot more of it throughout the route which I couldn't be bothered to take the photo of, but, and here's where I justify my saying of I enjoyed the route a lot - you actually spend more time going down the hill rather than up the hill. A number of the inclination was pretty steep, yes. But overall this is a very speed-oriented track. It's good if you want to do paced runs.
And that is actually the source of my enjoyment - lots of 'catching the wind in the hair' moment. That, plus the lively Cloudsurfer, running has never felt so much fun.
Which is the other plus point here - towards the end of 2012, I found myself struggling with my motivation in running. I asked many times myself: "Why do I run? Why not walk, or sitting down, or heck, even just lying down in front of the TV?"
I have lost that sense of enjoyment in running.
But on January 6th, 2013, running through parts of K.L. that I never knew even existed, and aided by the excellent On Cloudsurfer that keeps on impressing and surprising me, I have found once again the reason why I run.
I have found once again the reason why I join all this races.
It's not for the t-shirt or the finisher's medal or the freebies. It's not for the free breakfast served after the race.
A man did this to my bib. How dare he. HOW DARE HE.
A friend (whom will be joining his first ever 10km next two Sunday) once asked me what is it about running that makes it so enjoyable. I just smiled. I had no words to answer his question, or even to explain what do I get out of it. You have to experience it yourself - you run the distance, along with thousand other runners of various physical fitness, and persevere to the finishing line, then you will know it.
It's not in the start, it's not in the finish, but it's in the moment of it - it's in when you are running.
And I have forgotten that for my last two or three races back in 2012. How silly of me.
Thank you MPIB Run for giving me the venue to rediscover the reason why I run, and thank you Cloudsurfer for highlighting and hot-steel-stamping it in me.
Did they... did they serve free ice cream as well? Damn.
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