New Year Run 2006

Yesterday was the Pacemaker New Year Run held at Taman Tasik Perdana.

At 5.40 am, I arrived at the starting point/parking area, I could see a large red/white umbrella on the sidewalk. The volunteers and some runners were milling about and chatting. My first urgent task was to rush to the toilet which have been opened early for the Run.

After collecting the goody bag from PM21, I walked back to the car to stashed it away. Within 30 minutes (by 6.15 am), virtually everyone had shown up. Caught up with Sim who came from Johore Bharu. Pm19 looked sleepy while PM1 was looking anxious and tense.

I followed PM1, PM 26 and wife? and Adam to the designated water station about 300 m away. the path was dark and slippery at some spots. We decided to postpone the start from 6.30 to 6.45 am because it was too dark to run safely.

At 6.43 am, I carried the Malaysian flag and stood on a park bench. Everyone counted down from ten to one After "zero", everyone shouted "GO", I lowered the flag and the runners were off and away. I had to run too so I handed over the flag to Ryan Teoh and began running after the runners.

The first four laps I covered in about 55 minutes faster than my planned pace. Even though I was runninng faster than normal, I did not manage to overtake more than 3 runners. Everyone was running at blistering pace.

I had to stop at the water station on my 5th lap to do , umm some business behind a tree. After this lap, I felt the urge to do a 2nd "business" and had to slow down. The route itself was very pleasant to run on with many trees and at some areas, a view of the lake.

At the water station, I lingered for a few minutes to chat with the volunteers.

I think it was after the 6th lap that I considered abandoning the run to rush to the toilet. But with the encouraging words from PM5 and PM19, I decided to "hold it in" and continue running and walking when the urge to s*** appeared .

Somewhere on the 8th lap, I met Ah Loong who was walking along the route to pick up the sign boards. I stopped and borrowed 20 cents from him for the toilet entry fee. Then full speed run to the closest toilet 600 m away. Ahh , what a relief when I could finally let go.

Finally managed to finish the 9th lap in a time of 2 hrs 13 minutes.

After the race, we had a fine time eating, drinking and talking. I also had the chance to give away some trophies and pop the grape juice at the end ala Formula 1 race.

Thanks to Ronnie, PM 21 and parents and the volunteers for making the Pacemaker NY run a reality.