DH and I left KL on Saturday along with Mom and Dad and big sis and her family. We reached Penang at noon and decided to have lunch in town first before checking in at the hotel. The check in time was at 3 p.m anyway. And then we had cendol at Penang Road. The cendol was excellent. My only grouse is that there were a lot of people there and there was nowhere to sit, so we had to finish our cendol really quickly. And then we stopped by Queensbay Mall to meet up my BFF who was running with me on Sunday to pick up our race kit.
Hello Penang!
Us at the collection counter. Half marathon next year? :P
The view from our room
Essential items for the marathon. Vest, running bib, salonpas and make up. Gotta look pretty while running :P
Early on Sunday morning I woke up at 4.30 a.m to get ready. BFF and I thought of taking the cab, but DH volunteered to drive us to the start point, bless his heart. I have a suspicion that he was afraid to leave us in the hands of a cab driver at 4.30 in the morning. We were lucky that we left the hotel at 5 a.m. coz we got lost trying to get to the start point since some roads in town were closed for the marathon. We arrived at the start point at 6 a.m. just in time to warm up and get ready for the marathon to start at 6.30 a.m.
Cheerful faces at 4.30 a.m. We weren't so cheerful 3 hours later LOL
Fellow marathoners walking towards the start point at 6 a.m.
At 6.30 a.m. sharp a gun was shot signalling the start of the marathon. OMG there were so many runners! I had to slip past some of them at the starting point to get ahead. I was running steadily for about 2 km (my BFF and I were separated already at this point). 3km in and I started cursing my BFF under my breath for talking me into running the marathon with her LOL. By the time I reached 4km I was already looking out for the water station. According to the runners guide, the water stations were placed every 3km. Liars!!! The first station was at the 5km mark! As soon as I saw the water station I felt like lugging the whole carton of mineral water bottles with me LOL. I took a few chugs, careful not to finish the whole bottle at one go coz I didn't want to make myself sick. By the time I reached the 7km mark I was alternating between running and walking towards the finish line.
And guess what? I finished the race in 1 hour and 26 minutes! Hoooray!!! The furthest I had run before this was 7.2km in 1 hour and 9 minutes, so I was pretty excited to finish in under 1 hour and 30 minutes. Plus I got a medal to show for it! It was by far the craziest thing I had ever done in my entire life and I was glad I did it. I had so much fun! Sure I was exhausted but I really enjoyed it. And to do it with my BFF was another plus point for me.
Tadaaaaa!!
Us with our finishers medal :)
Indeed!
Stopped by a massage parlour after dinner to give my feet some well deserved TLC. The owner's adorable son had a go at massaging my feet LOL
Me and DH before we checked out of the hotel
So there you have it. My first marathon experience. I have another marathon this weekend which I will be running with my buttcheek. I'm crazy, I know :P
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Yesterday I received a note from my babycenter friend asking me for my address coz she wanted to send me something in the mail. I don't know what it is but she said that she got it from her friend and it helped a lot when she was TTC. I swear I stared at the note for a good few minutes. Here was a girl whom I've never met and had only communicated via babycenter and she was sending me something in the mail to help me through my TTC journey. It was such a nice gesture that I felt like crying. Thank you so much Melissa. Though we have never met (I hope one day we have a chance to meet), you and all the girls in our group have a special place in my heart.
Much love,
Congrats on your first 10k marathon, I'm deeply proud of you!! Xo!
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