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WARNING: ALOT OF PICTURES. So please be patient, sit back and relax and take your time to read alright? :)

The final running event of the year for me! Penang Bridge International Marathon 2009 is over! Sadly, my timings did not improve but in terms of running, I think I did :D

*Note: Thanks William for some of the lovely photos.

Saturday - 21.11.2009

Rise and shine peeps!

Everything was set and ready to go. Me and my gf woke up around 6.00am to get ready for our journey. I picked up my friend, William from his place around 7.30am and headed for some breakfast before the long journey to Penang. We decided to have our breakfast at Village Park at Damansara Uptown for some nice steamy hot Nasi Lemak :D (my favourite nasi lemak place)

My favourite place for Nasi Lemak. In my humble opinion, the best one I've tasted so far.

Me and my sayang ordered with fried chicken

William's order :) with sotong!

Once done, we were on our way to Penang...probably around 8.10am. Getting there was pretty easy, just look out for the Ipoh signboard at the begining. When we were near Ipoh, the signboards began to include P.Penang and Georgetown in the list so we know we're close. By the time we crossed the bridge, it was already close to 12pm++. So it was like 4 hours drive include a couple of pit stops? Not too bad i would say but thank God for the safe and smooth journey as it was pouring lightly almost the entire journey.

Our first destination was Queensbay Mall to collect our race kit. It wasn't hard finding the place as there were signboards all over the place. I did miss a couple of junctions but hey...it was my first time to Penang okay? :P So lost our way at first but we manage to find it anyway hahaha.

Decided to park outside as we were just there to collect our race kit and goodie bag

Crowd was so-so only. Probably because it was drizzling.

Cheap cheap..get your vest and shoes!

William found the collection booth

Queuing up for our turn ..doh

My sayang continued walking around snaping pictures:) Of course, booths for Salonpas

Digi! As they were 1 of the sponsors of the event

STILL queuing because that uncle infront is collecting for a group. Normal la....

Don't play play..Dell sponsored Alienware laptops for their system. Trust me...its HUGE.

My bib number :) Nak beli toto?

Checking through our stuff to make sure we get the vouchers :P

William and I checking our championchip details at the Championchip booth.

With that done, we took this final picture and headed to Krystal Suites hotel

Me and William too busy checking out the place till I forgot to take a picture with my sayang. So she took 1 by herself. Sorry sayang *hug*

After collecting our race kit, we headed to our hotel, Krystal Suites to check in. I cancelled my room bookings because Andy already booked a suite with TWO rooms and his friend couldn't make it for the event...so ok lah I'll share with him. Since Andy wasn't around yet, we lepak at William's place first.

Reception area

Cute :D

We were waiting for a friend's friend before going out for lunch but it just took too long. So we gave him a call saying we'll go out for lunch first. With that said, we proceeded for some lunch based on a food guide that William brought along. We went for some nice Ocien(Fried eggs with oysters) and other hawker food. Check out the pics :D

Pork Noodle

The ocien which was rated 3 stars in the food guide published by The Star(max rating is 3 stars)

Macro!

My Wan Tan Mee

The shop...really old school.

When we first got there, we didnt know what to expect till the food came. OH MY GOD it was delicious. The ocien was the best one I've ever tasted. The ones I've tried in KL can NEVER match the one at that coffee shop. The wan tan mee was not too bad either. The style is slightly different because it has some fried wan tans along side with some normal boiled ones. The noodles were just nice and not soggy. William said it could be that Penang Wan Tan Mee style is like this. And the best part of all, its cheap. RM3.40 for a large plate and RM2.50 for a small one. The fried ocien was for 3 person and the cost was RM15...so I assume its RM5 per person but anyway it was satisfying.

With that done, we went back to the hotel but because I missed a turning to Bayan Lepas from Georgetown, I was going back on to the Penang Bridge...sigh..wasted...an additional RM7 for the toll and 10mins! FUCK la.

Anyway, once we were at the hotel, Andy had already checked in so we were finally able to rest and shower. After showering, I was checking out the goodie bag and preparing my running vest for the run.

*Eh actually, I forgot to take picture of the place...but my sayang did snap afew shots of the room*

Slept for about 1 hour before we headed out to Queensbay Mall for dinner. I forgot to take a picture with my sayang earlier at the race kit collection area....so luckily we had another chance :D

*muacks*

Upon entering Queensball Mall, it looks really new but William said its about 1 or 2 years old? But anyway, its still considered new to everyone haha. We had our dinner a.k.a last carbo loading at Kim Gary :)

Order order..Andy and his sayang(the leng lui la of course)

Random shot :P

All of us took set meals...so everyone's meal came with Yin Yong :)

Borsh soup :D Basically, tomato based

My pork chop + rice + some kimchi meal set

William, Andy and his gf ordered the same set, mixed seafood with rice.

My sayang's dinner set: Unagi :)

With our stomachs filled, we decided to walk around before going back to the hotel. We were seriously stuffed to the max. I manage to find that Toilet Bowl Restaurant where everyone was talking about its weird concept. Since we didn't dine there, I did not enter the place to snap afew pictures...pai seh la...so took some from just the outside :)

T Bowl!

Erm, interesting? :D

I grabbed some extra stuff from the Jusco Supermarket before going back to the hotel. While walking back to the outdoor parking area, we spotted something!

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Super Mobile Toilet!

Ada sink ! hahahhaha

For da Men

Ladies had lesser mobile toilet stationed but it was there la.

By the time we got back home, it was about 8.30pm. I couldn't sleep because I was still very full from dinner. Tossed and turned while trying to sleep but I just couldn't. In the end, I only slept like 2 hours 50minutes perhaps? I woke up around 12~12.30am to prepare myself for the run.

Sunday - 22.11.2009
Went to do my "business" and took a warm shower...I already prepared my vest and running stuff before I slept so it was blur-just-woke-up-proof hahaha...just take and pakai. Its early in the morning and with so little sleep =.= blur like cock.

And since I couldn't get the Injinji socks from Choi earlier, I got myself some surgical tape and taped my toes which I know will get blisters. I found out about when I met up with Ija to collect my fuel belt which she helped me to buy from Singapore. We did a short run and I noticed these particular 2 toes were having minor blisters after that session.

Simple yet it works :) No blisters during my run.

:D Simple solution while waiting for my Injinji Socks

I would like to thank Ija for her suggestion...its nothing new but I haven't done it before. I took a pack of Oral Rehydration Salt before I slept(mixed with water la of course). And after breakfast...I took a packet of ORS as well and drank lots of water. Like I said earlier, I woke up around 12.00am...1 of the main reason was this. To hydrate myself properly because it was said that the body takes approximately 2 hours to be hydrated properly? I heard this during the running clinic held in conjunction with Standard Chartered KL Marathon by Mark Williams.

My breakfast: 1 Milo, 1 snicker bar, and 1 raisin bun :) Nope..no coffee. It causes dehydration

Soon it was 1.30am and everyone began gathering at our place(Andy's suite). Last minute check and we were off!

We tried to be serious......BEFORE the run

We failed :P

Notice my 2XU calf guards? :D

My sayang wishing me luck :)

Race report

First up, let me show you the half marathon running route:

As you can see, the starting and ending point of the run is the same place, infront of Queensbay mall. We arrived at QBM just in time to see the FULL marathon runners flag off. Sadly, no cheer leaders but we had some er...Dragon Boat drummers? I couldn't see the front because it was just too crowded.

I didn't bring my camera with me because it couldn't fit inside my fuel belt T.T. So sorry about that. For the HALF marathon category, our start time was 3.30am. We actually had to wait about an hour before it was our time to run...cold...had to use the toilet a couple of times haha.

As there were a lot of promotion guys and girls going around asking if we wanted to try Salonpas and Breathe Right, I chose the latter. Getting close to 3.30am, the emcee began to call out to all Half Marathoners to gather at the starting area. I did a short run 10minutes to warm up before 3.30am. My left foot was hurting a little but I used my heel to land so hopefully it won't be bad. Drums were getting louder....lots of cheering and BOOM! We were off.

The starting point was REALLY a bottleneck area. Too many people and the starting point arch was quite narrow....but soon enough, me and William passed through the arch, championchip scanner was beeping like crazy and we began our run with a slow pace.

I've said this many times but yes ...once again NO PROPER TRAINING. Work was crazy over the past 2 months so all I did was short run from last week of October to the very last week before this run. Anyway, I was going to take it REAL nice and slow because its 21.1KM, why pecut laju laju? I see so many people accelerating SOOOOOOOOOOO fast but I still spot them after afew KM :) Slow and steady peeps! Its a long journey :D

Everything was just nice and steady for me. William and I were pacing each other just like KL Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009. Once we were on the bridge, we were looking forward to the U-Turn point. While running, we spotted our friend Pueh Tien who was busy capturing pictures and videos of the event. Thanks dude!

William and I at the 1 minute 30 second mark

We passed the center of the bridge and STILL no sign of the u-turn point till probably an extra 1KM or so. It was at this point where my left foot's pain started to worsen. After a couple of KM, William needed to stop and walk but I told him I can't stop to walk because the pain will be worse if I walk. Funny but its true. So he told me go ahead....I carried on running although slower pace.

Soon after the bridge, it was once again back to flat road and I tried to maintain pace again. It was a mix of walk and run...painful but still manageable. I spotted Rashid and his gf too....going at a steady pace but faster than me of course. We chatted for awhile before he zoomed off :P I didnt want to delay him.

Once near the E-Gate where they had the championchip check point, i looked at my watch and was like WAH, 2 Hours 20mins! And I sort of remembered the route and I was thinking I COULD do a sub 3 hours 21.1KM. Sadly, this joy was short lived because my left foot gave up on me when I was probably close to the remaining 4 - 5KM of the run.

At this point, I HAD to walk. I'm not trying to be dramatic but the pain was really bad. I was walking when Yenn Shin spotted me and had a short chat before he carried on running. After more walking, Pueh Tian spotted me again and said afew more KM to go! gambateh. I gave him a thumbs up and I tried running again.

Manage to run a little...but still had to walk most of the time till I nearly had cramps at the 18~19KM mark perhaps? It was near some brightly lit Condo(Villa something..can't remember the name) right before the last junction before turning into Queensbay Mall.

In the previous 2 Running event(New Balance Pacesetter 15KM and Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009), I cramped up REALLY bad RIGHT BEFORE the finishing line, how fucked up is that? This time, I wasn't gonna repeat that mistake. I decided to WALK till I can see the finishing line before I "act-like-I-ran-the-entire-way" finishing pose.

As I was near the finishing line, I started running and with my arms in the air(I think. LOL *dramatic music please) I crossed the finishing, stopped my watch and it showed 3 hours 10minutes XX seconds. Disappointed but I'm really really happy that I did not cramp up badly. Really regretted for not training properly for this event but hey, there are always other events! 2010!

Results from the website:

Name: ANDREW CHIAM WEI HAN
Position: 2065 out of 2833
Country: Malaysia Official Time: 03:12:19
Net Time: 03:10:19 <== this is the one same as my watch lor...more or less :D So I was right hehe
Bridge Turn: 01:20:14 ( 10KM mark?)
E-Gate: 02:23:58

My previous timing for Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009(Half Marathon 21.1KM) was about 3 hours 8 minutes. Although timings are worse than before, I felt that I improve in terms of running.

First of all, cramps came at a very later stage but it didn't "bite" my legs. Calves were fine but the cramps were on my right leg's quad muscle. I stopped for awhile when it first hit my leg...I just stood still because it nearly made me cramped up real bad. I walked slowly all the way back to Queensbay Mall area which is the finishing line.

Anyway, we all rested at the Crocs booth till everyone arrived. I was desperately looking for water but only to find the 100Plus booth. Fine, I took about 3 cups of 100plus....the good thing is that the 100plus drinks were nicely chilled which was nice especially after such long runs. I know I was dehydrated because I had a minor headache ever since after the run. After some scouting, I finally found a man handling the mineral water boxes and asked for afew more bottle for the rest of the gang.

Andrew : "Hi uncle, can I have 3 - 4 bottles of water?"
Uncle: "Nah nah..take take ...take more oso can....go wash face and mandi oso can"
Andrew: "Er..okay. Tenkyiu"

While balancing er...6 bottles of mineral bottle, I made my way back to the meet up area and rested for a couple more minutes before we headed back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel we.......

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Cam whored!

Me and my sayang :) and my hard earned medal :)

We decided to check out by 12.00pm so before that, we all showered and took our nap because we were totally zapped from the run.

*Extra note: My friend David was also there for the same run, we did meet up before and after the run but sadly, no pictures....ARGH so sorry David.

After telling Andy and David about the ocien we tried on Saturday, they wanted to try it as well so.....all of us went there AGAIN for our lunch :D Bwahahhahahaa

This time, I ordered the pork noodle(dry).

Lorbak...William said this uncle's lorbak is really old school and nice

Indeed, this was GODLIKE

Another view :P

The gravy that came with the lorbak

Chili for the lorbak

And finally
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The
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OCIEN!

Old school lorbak stall. The uncle on the left with white tshirt is the seller.

Brings back memories huh?

Once again, makan banyak banyak...it was time to depart back to KL. It was really nice to have everyone's company but what I'm really happy is that my sayang was with me in this trip. Here are some final shots of the bridge on our way back to KL.

I arrived back home(gf's place) around 7.20pm....what a long trip. I was hungry so I had dinner first even before showering...haha! After settling down....I just sat back and just looked at the finishers medal.