Ipoh International Run 2010

[the draft was written on 18th July, 2010 and tweaked and continued on 25th July 2010]

and it was over. just like that.

see how fast time flies? just a few months ago, YB was strangely bitten by the running bug and signed us up for the IIR and i was so amused! early this year, i was going through the Pacesetters' calendar of events and suggested to him on several runs and he was adamant that we were NOT going to sign up for this and that anymore.

a turn of events and we find ourselves busy this July running, with every Sunday taken up - from the IIR 2010 to the BHP Orange Run today and the Shape Run on 31st July. besides that, i'll have to attend trainings for the Rat Race and man, it sounds insane but i'm happy!

picking up our bibs and goodie bags.

i heard a lot of bad reviews about last year's IIR and so, we didn't expect much from this year's event. apparently some runners boycotted this year's IIR due to last year's crappy event.
that's the environmental-friendly goodie bag with our names written in caps on it. i felt like a school girl with her school report card, to be honest. =D


we arrived at the Stadium Indera Mulia with 15mins to spare for the flag off time. uhm yeah, we're never early!

usually at most international marathons, participants would just hang around the start/finish line for the flag off. for the IIR, we had to pick up our starting tag in the Jabatan Belia dan Sukan's compound and was NOT allowed to leave the compound thereafter until informed. gawd, we were 'locked' in and forced to warm up or do whatever you needed to do in that area. it was like prison with limited time out of the cell!

during that time, the lady on the sound system repeatedly announced that the flag off time for the half marathon was at 645am whereas the 10k would be flagged off at 655am.

we were pleased with that arrangement as last year, i read that the 10k runners ended up doing the 21k as there was no proper signage at the fork of the route! tsk tsk. so perhaps with a different start time this year, it would prevent some confusion.

so we thought.

however, to our dismay, we were flagged off together AGAIN this year. the senior participants voiced out their unhappiness at the announcement at the start/finish line and the emcee was obnoxious enough to mention that "hey, i'm just doing my job. if you're not happy, drop me an email after the run!"

REALLY! i think he shouldn't have retorted so rudely. if you were professional, you'd react calmly to the boos and hisses from the crowd, ok? *shrug* i don't know, but that's just my take on it.

we were also informed that once we hit the new mosque at the end of the road, half marathoners were to turn right and the 10k runners to keep left. one guy said, "what new mosque??? i'm not local, how should i know!!"

anyway, with such a lovely flat terrain, it was easy to keep the pace and enjoy the scenery around you. among the roads, i was most enthralled by Fair Park area. reaching the crossroads at Pantai Medical Centre, the traffic was building up and drivers were honking impatiently.

a motorcyclist wanted to move in and was told off with a loud "HEI!!!!" from the traffic policeman.

(only during runs do i respect the policemen for doing a good job holding up the traffic!)

come Jusco, it was more or less the 15k mark and YB headed off on his own. no way did i wanted him to keep me company as i was slowly down just a bit and he was itching to speed off without me! it wouldn't have been fair on him, hehe. =)

on and off, uncles would overtake me, or i'd overtake them and then later on they'd overtake me ... it never ends.

come 18k, it became a bit boring. with the stadium in sight, you'd think your run was over but nope, you'd have to trudge along for the rest of the 3k. (after the run, we realised the entire route was only 20.3k!)

i didn't like the finish. it was from behind the stadium and towards a finish line with traffic cones lining up the categories from A to H (i think). there was no cheering, no crowd, but the mingling students merely reminded me of Sports Day in school.

it was old school with MBI's staff a) recording our bib no on the position chart ad b) giving us a tag with our position number on it, to be brought to a booth to have the same registered on a list, AND THEN you move along to another booth to collect your medal.

the guy at the medal booth had the cheek to ask me, "ada register?" -____-

our usual 'after the run' pic, as the camera is always left in the car!

the stupid black starting tag. *roll eyes*

the last runner in category A, the Men's Open, passing us by at 10.10am. he has police escort, how grand! he wasn't too pleased to have u snap his picture.

we were earlier told by one of the road marshals that he is one of the brothers to the girl who was sponsored to swim across the English Channel. another brother had passed us by 5mins earlier.

surely it's some form of child abuse, to make a young child run 21k???

(more here, if you want to read a more detailed and hilarious account. =))

~
lunch was then somewhere in Falin, on the way towards Menglembu. the stall was famous for its itty bitty fish balls, as you can see.

30sen a piece!

i must confess, however, i was like a fidgety 5 year old who didn't want to sit still in her chair throughout the meal. i kept looking around for him, the lil pup.

i really wanted to play with it! it preferred sitting under the table behind ours.

its owner later came by from across the lane and pick it up by the neck and locked him up in the house. ho ho, no way of escaping and gallivanting around for the lil pup!