Weekend and the 4 x 3km relay

Let me start off by congratulating my teammates, Fong Phong Lim, Ronnie and Tan Song Hua.  Without them, we the Pacesetters “B” team, would not have finished 3^rd in the Men’s Open division.    But before that allow me to give you a brief run down on what happened on Friday and Saturday.

 

Friday- Work became hell-ish.  Got KNN-ed from the boss.  Was in his room twice.  I’m trying as hard as I can, damn it! The only thing exciting to report- An el’ cheapo (but delicious) lunch at PNB Park were with Jamie, Newton and Geraldine.  Then I joined Jamie and Newton for some cendol, before it was left to me and Jamie heading towards Citisquare.  I headed to Ultimate Sports (the newer) and found the (apparently) original Live Strong Nike band!!! There was also another pack of 3 Nike bands in red, blue and white, each of which represented a message.  The blue was “confidence”.  Can’t remember the rest.  Anyway I greedily bought them without any 2^nd thoughts.  And then I went to the other Ultimate Sports, which in fact is the older and original shop.  Jamie and I saw something in the bargain bin that caught our eyes- an orange coloured Nike Prestos.  After enquiring about the price, we were shocked.  And definitely tempted.  Jamie tried it on and what struck him about the shoes were the very very breathable mesh, superb cushioning and “unbearable” lightness.  Plus it had very good reflective features.  After trying them on, I succumbed and decided to buy them.  Price:  RM140.00 which is a fantastic deal for a pair of Prestos.  Jamie told me that “the circle is complete”, meaning I wore Prestos for my first ever race being the MPSJ 10k, and now I will wear them again this coming Sunday.   I was really excited to try them on in the evening.  Alas, work came along, and my meetings with my boss, meant that I could not run because I worked late and I had an early dinner appointment to meet.  Meanwhile, by 630pm my sore throat had worsened and my nose was stuffed. 

 

Saturday- I woke up feeling awful.  I didn’t sleep much and was tossing and turning.  Even with the air con temperature set at 17 C, I was sweating.  My throat felt awful.  I was breathing through my mouth because there was so much stuff in my nose.  After breakfast, I went online briefly and it was then that I felt the onset of a fever.  I went to bed again after that and after an hour’s worth of nap, I woke up with a fever. 

 

I had to attend a wedding dinner that night.  It was held in open air and the heat was unbearable.  I pity those who wore suits because it was so hot.  Luckily I chose not to wear my jacket.  Still my condition worsened and by 930pm, I decided to leave the dinner and go home.  I crashed on my bed and set the alarm for 6am. 

 

Sunday- I only woke up at 610am.  When I checked my phone, there were already 5 missed calls from Ronnie. He must be really excited with the race.  Talking to him yesterday, I could sense that we (Ronnie and me) were under some pressure to run a decent time because our 2 other teammates are really fast runners.  I felt awful.  My head was throbbing, and the fever was still pretty bad.  I popped a Clarinase (to clear my nostrils) and 2 Panadols (for my headache), and had a Strepsil on my way to Bukit Jalil. 

 

Groggily I walked to the stadium and saw the gang there- Ronnie, Siew Mooi, Adam, Jason, Sim, John, Kelvin, Tey, Li Sar, Jessica and dad, a few fellas from Kg Pandan track, and the Pacesetters.

 

After sorting out everything (bibs, race registrations, etc) we were finally ready to start the race.  The list of runners for the Pacesetters team “B” was arranged in the following order- Fong, Ronnie, myself and Tan Song Hua as the anchor.  More details on the race can be obtained from Ronnie’s site, but all I can say is this-  I think I ran as hard as I could under the circumstances.  I was ill.  My finishing time was 11:25 (for an approximate distance of 2.9k), well off my time trial best of 11:11 but when I finished I was beat.  I was really dizzy and went to the stands and leaned back for a quick shut eye.  I “woke” up after 5 minutes because I wanted to see how Tan Song Hua fared as the anchor runner.   When we saw him entering the track, Ronnie and me quickly went to the track level to shout words of encouragement.  Tan Song Hua was labouring, and his arms were flailing about.   But there was a determined look in his eyes!  After he finished, we found out our position- 3^rd!!! That means a first ever podium finish for me! Woo hoo!  Later we were given our medals (with “THIRD” engraved on it, instead of the usual “FINISHER”) and gift vouchers of RM100.00, plus many photos taken. 

 

So, to summarise- The race started out and Fong was the first runner- by the end of his leg we found out we were in 2^nd place!  Then came Ronnie’s turn, when we found out we were in 3^rd place, before I ran and we down in 4^th.  Luckily Song Hua really picked up the pace to climb back up one spot, to 3^rd. 

 

I must say that if not for the efforts of Ronnie, Fong and Song Hua we would not have been able to attain 3^rd place.  I was the slowest runner in the group.  Ronnie was running really hard too- he was really giving it his all, and I could tell from his face as he passed the baton to me.  With my illness, I barely hung on and it was up to Song Hua to win us back 3^rd place.  Overall a job well done.  Ronnie and me really soaked in the atmosphere.  It was my first time ever!  I probably did not deserve it based on my performance, though.

 

Anyway it’s Monday- the worse day of the week.  I have a meeting to attend.  How am I feeling?  Put it this way- if you could hear my voice, you would find it, “sexy”.  Nose is still stuffed. 

 

Hope you guys have a better day than me.