10.05 am Set off from hotel in happy mood to go airport. Flight is at 12.05
Stopped to put petrol. The machine refuses to take my credit card. The attendant didn't seem to know what to do. Told him I reverse to another pump. He insisted I try again. Finally, made him pump the petrol and I will pay cash. Shit.. he didn't pump it all the way to full. Now I have to stop again to put in that little bit more before returning.
Drove on... holy cow.. we end up on Penang Bridge and its jalan sehaleh all the way. Started to panic. Barely 45 minutes to reach airport to check in. Have been trying to find a way up the bridge for the past 2 days and failed and here we here up there when we don't want to! Can't seem to find a way to u-turn until the end. Have to stop to ask for directions and than kena pay toll. Which was fine but we still have to drive the 8km back to Georgetown and find the airport.
Less than 45 minutes to go before the plane takes off and we are nowhere near the airport. It's a mad mad rush as we sped through the roads desperately looking for directions to the airport.
Somehow, we managed to end up at the airport with less than 20 minutes to go. Screeched to a stop at the departure hall, 2 of the girls ran out with the passport, the other 2 unload the luggage and I drove off to return the car. Just like in the movie!
Made it by the skin of our teeth. The check in had already closed but thankfully, it was a man there and probably impressed by the sight of 2 ladies running towards him, he reopened the counter and they managed to check in.
It was also smooth sailing at the Avis counter. The girl did not insist on a visual inspection of the car, told me it's okay if the petrol tank is not full.. I suppose they have my blank charge slip after all. Gave her our rambutans and banana which we had planned to eat while waiting for the plane.
Managed to board the plane with 15 minutes to go. Back at JB, it was plain sailing until we alight at custom. Couldn't find my tickets for the bus for the continuing journey and in the end had to pay again. This time made sure put the new tickets in my pocket. Can you believe it.. at Singapore side, the tickets go missing again. What the &*($!
Anyway, it was a good experience. The whole trip. I enjoyed the experience of driving around in a foreign place, trying out the nice food. The race was so so. Didn't really like the way it was organised (which means I won't be back). And I enjoyed being the thorn among the roses!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Penang Bridge Marathon 2007
2.55 am. Went to the hotel lobby. Taxi not here yet.
3.00 am. No sight of taxi
3.05 am. Ask the hotel to call and check what happened. Taxi driver says he come at 3.30am. What the ^&%#! He's supposed to come at 3 am and bring us there by 3.30!
3.15 am. Taxi turned up.
3.40 am. Reached the USM. Road closed. Had to get down and walk. Taxi driver say only 1km. 1km my foot! Took us 15 mins to walk there! Sweating like hell. Registration close at 4.15am. Will we be on time!
4.00 am. Finally located the place where they are distributing the wrist band. Why can't they issue it at the number tag collection? M is asked to go to another site to collect hers so we split from there. Followed the crowd and walked across the Padang
through a housing estate and back onto the main road. Sigh, why can't they site the start point nearer? Took me almost 10 mins to walk there. Maybe this is the organiser's way of getting the runners to warm up?
We are doing the half marathon. This is my first major race for the year. I am not aiming for a PB. I just wanted to use this race to assess myself and see whether I am back to full fitness. So far the signs have not been good. The past few runs I have took 2.30 hours or more to complete 20km. In fact, the last 22km run was completed in almost 2.45 hours!
The crowd was huge. From the registration list we saw on Friday, the largest turnout was for the half. There are only about a 1000 runners for the full (in all categories) compared to almost 5000 for the men's half. Most of the runners were wearing the event's tees and a lot of them looks very young - in their late teens and most of them are in groups. I am stuck about 50 metres from the start line. I have a bad feeling!
4.30am. The race is on! Er what race - everybody was still walking. Struggled to go to the front but the crowd is too massive. 1.20 minutes it took me to cross the start line and even than couldn't run. About 10 minutes into the race and there are many walkers all over especially the young teens. They are walking across the width of the road. It's going to be a long run.
Finally up the bridge. At least a little bit of space to run. More and more walkers now. Than there are those kamikaze's runners - chiong for 20metres than walk than chiong and they criss cross the width of the road without regards for anybody.
First waterpoint. There is no more water! I couldn't believe it! So early in the race and they ran out of water? Luckily it was still early and I was okay without the water. The weather wasn't so good. I had expected a crisp cool weather, being so early but unfortunately it was just like another night in Singapore, hot and humid.
Didn't recognise anybody. Than saw this guy wearing a World Harmony Run t-shirt. Went nearer to him. He was listening to the ipod and damn - running with his eyes closed. Was he sleeprunning? Decided to 'wake' him up from his 'sleep'. Told him he damn good - can run with eyes closed! He opened his eyes to stared angrily at me. Gave a shout 'Singapore' to him and quickly dashed off before he hatam me.
The bridge seems to stretch on and on. There are no distance markers except some weird distance markers for the full marathon. Even those didn't make sense to me the way they are spread out. Saw some full marathon runners on the other side of the road. Started looking for familiar faces again. Finally saw IMD and Teelee running together. Shouted a loud 'hi' to them. Now managed to past a few woman running the full marathon. In fact, they are all walking. I estimated the distance for them should at most be about 18km. Walking at such early stage?
Finally I reached the uturn. Time taken about 1:08 hours. Is it 10km or 11 km already? Really had no idea. Managed to get 2 cups of water. Decided to take a pack of the powergel and leave the jelly beans. The return trip is just the same monotonous run. Continued to run at the same constant speed maybe 7min pace. Am overtaking more and more full marathon runners. I am very surprised. They started 1 hour earlier and most should have cleared this sector by now.
Picked up the pace a little bit but soon ran smacked into a big crowd. It's the 10k fun runners and the kids are everywhere. They had started their run 1 hour later and are now doing the return leg. Sign :( how to run like that! Anyway, that's mean I am near the end.
Finally, saw a sign that said '1km to go' on the way down the bridge. My watch shows 2:03 so that could be my 21km timing I supposed. Reached the end and was given a medal and a blank certificate. Total time taken 2:09:07 hours. Quite surprise. Based on the pace I was running at, I had expected to finish in about 2:20 but anyway am very satisfied with the time since it translated into a less than 6min pace for the 22.3km distance (if it is actually 22.3km)!
The organisation at the end was just as bad. The drinks soon ran out and by the time M came back, there was no more drinks. She completed the run in 2:18:04 hours which was a PB for her as it was better than her last year SCSM half marathon which was shorter.
Crossed over to the other field and it was better - free milo, corn fakes, fruit juice, coffee, yakult but the queues were very long. The goodie bag collection was in a separate building. After that went to find the 3 ex VRP girls before going back to the hotel.
3.00 am. No sight of taxi
3.05 am. Ask the hotel to call and check what happened. Taxi driver says he come at 3.30am. What the ^&%#! He's supposed to come at 3 am and bring us there by 3.30!
3.15 am. Taxi turned up.
3.40 am. Reached the USM. Road closed. Had to get down and walk. Taxi driver say only 1km. 1km my foot! Took us 15 mins to walk there! Sweating like hell. Registration close at 4.15am. Will we be on time!
4.00 am. Finally located the place where they are distributing the wrist band. Why can't they issue it at the number tag collection? M is asked to go to another site to collect hers so we split from there. Followed the crowd and walked across the Padang
through a housing estate and back onto the main road. Sigh, why can't they site the start point nearer? Took me almost 10 mins to walk there. Maybe this is the organiser's way of getting the runners to warm up?
We are doing the half marathon. This is my first major race for the year. I am not aiming for a PB. I just wanted to use this race to assess myself and see whether I am back to full fitness. So far the signs have not been good. The past few runs I have took 2.30 hours or more to complete 20km. In fact, the last 22km run was completed in almost 2.45 hours!
The crowd was huge. From the registration list we saw on Friday, the largest turnout was for the half. There are only about a 1000 runners for the full (in all categories) compared to almost 5000 for the men's half. Most of the runners were wearing the event's tees and a lot of them looks very young - in their late teens and most of them are in groups. I am stuck about 50 metres from the start line. I have a bad feeling!
4.30am. The race is on! Er what race - everybody was still walking. Struggled to go to the front but the crowd is too massive. 1.20 minutes it took me to cross the start line and even than couldn't run. About 10 minutes into the race and there are many walkers all over especially the young teens. They are walking across the width of the road. It's going to be a long run.
Finally up the bridge. At least a little bit of space to run. More and more walkers now. Than there are those kamikaze's runners - chiong for 20metres than walk than chiong and they criss cross the width of the road without regards for anybody.
First waterpoint. There is no more water! I couldn't believe it! So early in the race and they ran out of water? Luckily it was still early and I was okay without the water. The weather wasn't so good. I had expected a crisp cool weather, being so early but unfortunately it was just like another night in Singapore, hot and humid.
Didn't recognise anybody. Than saw this guy wearing a World Harmony Run t-shirt. Went nearer to him. He was listening to the ipod and damn - running with his eyes closed. Was he sleeprunning? Decided to 'wake' him up from his 'sleep'. Told him he damn good - can run with eyes closed! He opened his eyes to stared angrily at me. Gave a shout 'Singapore' to him and quickly dashed off before he hatam me.
The bridge seems to stretch on and on. There are no distance markers except some weird distance markers for the full marathon. Even those didn't make sense to me the way they are spread out. Saw some full marathon runners on the other side of the road. Started looking for familiar faces again. Finally saw IMD and Teelee running together. Shouted a loud 'hi' to them. Now managed to past a few woman running the full marathon. In fact, they are all walking. I estimated the distance for them should at most be about 18km. Walking at such early stage?
Finally I reached the uturn. Time taken about 1:08 hours. Is it 10km or 11 km already? Really had no idea. Managed to get 2 cups of water. Decided to take a pack of the powergel and leave the jelly beans. The return trip is just the same monotonous run. Continued to run at the same constant speed maybe 7min pace. Am overtaking more and more full marathon runners. I am very surprised. They started 1 hour earlier and most should have cleared this sector by now.
Picked up the pace a little bit but soon ran smacked into a big crowd. It's the 10k fun runners and the kids are everywhere. They had started their run 1 hour later and are now doing the return leg. Sign :( how to run like that! Anyway, that's mean I am near the end.
Finally, saw a sign that said '1km to go' on the way down the bridge. My watch shows 2:03 so that could be my 21km timing I supposed. Reached the end and was given a medal and a blank certificate. Total time taken 2:09:07 hours. Quite surprise. Based on the pace I was running at, I had expected to finish in about 2:20 but anyway am very satisfied with the time since it translated into a less than 6min pace for the 22.3km distance (if it is actually 22.3km)!
The organisation at the end was just as bad. The drinks soon ran out and by the time M came back, there was no more drinks. She completed the run in 2:18:04 hours which was a PB for her as it was better than her last year SCSM half marathon which was shorter.
Crossed over to the other field and it was better - free milo, corn fakes, fruit juice, coffee, yakult but the queues were very long. The goodie bag collection was in a separate building. After that went to find the 3 ex VRP girls before going back to the hotel.
Penang Penang
Day 1 Penang - First stop, 
to collect the number tag and t-shirt.
There isn't a big crowd but it was not very well organised. First, had to queue at a counter to make payment. Than had to join another queue to collect the number tag and vouchers. Finally had to queue again at another counter to collect the t-shirt! The faces say it all!
M's name was on the list but no race number was given so she had to join another queue to get a number. Luckily, the uncle there must have like there - he went and collect the t-shirt for her and even gave her a plastic bag>) That's why she smiling while the rest face black black!
Next stop was lunch, before we went to check in and than tea and than dinner. More on our food here
Day 2 - We continued our drive around Penang with a recce to the race site. Of course like the previous day, we went for many impromtu sightseeing around Georgetown as we bravely tackle the roads. Those of you can imagine driving with 1 female woman vehicle commander. I had 4! But thanks to their bright eyes and street smartness, we eventually found our way to all our destination and also managed to 'accidentally' found the famous Penang Road Chendul.
Pictures of the trip here
to collect the number tag and t-shirt.
There isn't a big crowd but it was not very well organised. First, had to queue at a counter to make payment. Than had to join another queue to collect the number tag and vouchers. Finally had to queue again at another counter to collect the t-shirt! The faces say it all!
M's name was on the list but no race number was given so she had to join another queue to get a number. Luckily, the uncle there must have like there - he went and collect the t-shirt for her and even gave her a plastic bag>) That's why she smiling while the rest face black black!
Next stop was lunch, before we went to check in and than tea and than dinner. More on our food here
Day 2 - We continued our drive around Penang with a recce to the race site. Of course like the previous day, we went for many impromtu sightseeing around Georgetown as we bravely tackle the roads. Those of you can imagine driving with 1 female woman vehicle commander. I had 4! But thanks to their bright eyes and street smartness, we eventually found our way to all our destination and also managed to 'accidentally' found the famous Penang Road Chendul.
Pictures of the trip here
Road to Penang
We wanted to go for a short holiday. Nothing too expensive or far. Decided on Penang since we last when there more than 10 years ago. Decided also to do the Penang Bridge marathon at the same time. Together, with the 4-ex VRP gals, we set off from Kranji MRT on the 
Than we took the
to
Senai Airport has a beautiful feature wall - inside the men's toilet!
It is actually the urinal!
Our transport to Penang Island:
Haven't been down on the tarmac for so many years. Nowaday it is all aerobrige.
Than we took the
to
Senai Airport has a beautiful feature wall - inside the men's toilet!
It is actually the urinal!
Our transport to Penang Island:
Haven't been down on the tarmac for so many years. Nowaday it is all aerobrige.
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