Monday, July 30, 2007

Penang Bridge Fun Run (24 June 07)

Penang Bridge International Marathon is one of the biggest annual events of Malaysia. This is the only time that the bridge that connects Penang Island and mainland of Peninsular Malaysia will be closed. Imagine that running or even walking on the Penang Bridge that is no car and specifically closed for runners.... it should be fun. So, I decided to participate in the Fun Run category this year. The fun run category is opened for participants of 13 years and above. The distance is 10km and participation cert will be given to runners that finish the distance within 2 hours. This was my first time participated in the run.

I joined Lai and her friends for the trip to Penang on 23rd June. I met some of them before, like Hui Meia, Cheng Mei, Sew Yong and Keen Yee. The world is small. Hui Meia, Keen Yee and I were actually university course mate. Hui Meia was our senior and Keen Yee was from different major. Besides the run, this was also a “makan-makan” trip. 9 of us traveled from KL in 2 cars and reached Ipoh by 9 something in the morning. We went to restaurant Ming Court to have dim sum. After the heavy breakfast, we proceed our way to Penang Island and checked in Anggerik Lodging around 12.45pm. There were a lot of participants stayed there because it’s near to the starting/ending point of the run. We then went to Queensbay mall to collect our t-shirt. In the evening, we walked around the check out the exact place for the registration the next morning.

24 June 07, we woke up at 3.30am and had some light breakfast. All of us walked to RECSAM to register ourselves. RECSAM was crowded with people that we could hardly walk. This place was the registration place for quarter run and fun run. Fun run started at 5.30am. About 8000 persons participated in the fun run. Started from RECSAM, all of us ran towards Penang Bridge. I felt very tired after running slowly for half an hour, so from running, it’s turning to fast walk. After making the u-turn at the mid of Penang Bridge, I stopped for a while and walked slowly. The sky became brighter and brighter. Overlooking Penang Island from the bridge, I slowly run towards the finishing line. It’s tiring but somehow it’s fun. By 6.55am, I had finished the run, feeling excited and exhausted. Sew Yong saw me, took a picture for me and told me to look for others at the Milo booth. Ding, Chak and Keen Yee had finished earlier. Soon, Hui Meia arrived. Lai had also joined in the run even though she hurt his leg during training. All of us managed to finish the 10km distance.

The run was completed. So, we went to “makan-makan” again. We had our lunch at Lorong Selamat which near Komtar. Before we went back to KL, we stopped by Ipoh for the white coffee. The last stop was at Bidor for its famous duck noodle.