OCT 22 -- With our politicians’ alleged thuggish behaviour and my recent experience with injustice in the Syariah system giving me renewed enthusiasm for body combat class, I thought I would write about something fun for a change: running.

A few weeks ago, I ran the Reebok ONE Challenge and followed that up with the Standard Chartered KL Marathon.

As runners who braved the Reebok 18.95km race (yes, we measure these distances to the metre) in Putrajaya would agree, it isn’t about the half marathon distance (almost) but about the willingness to add on to that run, physical challenges and obstacles. The phrase gila babi just seems so inadequate when you think about it.

I had earlier chickened out of the Viper Challenge in Sepang due to inadequate preparation on my part. That one involved wading through dumpsters filled with ice cold water, crawling through rivers of mud and pretending to be tightrope artists crossing tinny planks with muddy shoes. And running 20km. Nah, I passed on that one this year. No point getting injured to tunjuk macho.

So I did the Reebok ONE Challenge instead. I found myself at the crack of dawn lining up in the start pen with a few thousand adrenaline junkies who had signed up for this race. 

After almost 10km into the run, we came to the first of nine obstacle courses; a 15k-kilogramme sack had to be carried across a 50-metre bridge. There were a lot of macho yells and animal grunting (mostly from the men). This one petite girl carried a sack on her shoulder with so much gusto and enthusiasm that it looked as if she had been looking forward to it all week. She probably had been too.

Next was swinging on monkey bars. I went with the penalty instead: 20 burpees (I cheated and did less) with a son of a gun in an orange tee (the Orange Man, blogger and sports enthusiast) and a clipboard screaming his lungs out at us. 

Next were other challenges which included clambering over a number of road barriers, running up a hillside to go up and down a series of steep dirt mounds euphemistically labelled as “anthills”, going downhill through a forest trail littered with treacherous roots and branches, navigating a tyre obstacle course and scaling a high wooden wall. Coming at the tail end of this run, limbs aching and sore from unaccustomed self-inflicted abuse, this wall was the Berlin Wall, imposing and formidable.

But you know what? Everyone was excitedly climbing up, shouting encouragement to one another and helping when necessary, especially when people were stuck on the top of the wall, including yours truly. 

The last kilometre involved clambering over a pair of parked 4WD trucks. The race ended with a humongous brunch. Even had air batu campur. Sakit, penat and kenyang indeed.

The wee hours of the morning of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon saw a gathering of a different sort: people who had for some reason or another decided to run the full marathon: 42.195km through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. 

Many were running for fun. Some for a cause or charity, nak test power, or just to see whether they could do the full distance and make it to the finish line.

A guy with yellow spiky hair was running to highlight and raise funds in support of the blind. When I saw someone running for this cause last year, he ran the entire course blindfolded with two guides. 

This spiky hair guy ran tethered to a car tyre. A car tyre! I hope he made it and didn’t DNF (did not finish). I also hope nobody tripped over the thing. 

Looking at the various bibs that morning, there were a lot of people running in support of cancer and in memory of their husbands, mothers and other departed loved ones. A few ran in support of the Bersih and Himpunan Hijau movements. I wore the red ribbon in support of AIDS awareness.

The marathon route took us through Brickfields, past MidValley Megamall, alongside the Sungai Besi military base and the old Istana Negara. It was bloody warm even at such an early hour. 

By the time we passed DBP, I think we were all silently praying that it would rain but it didn’t happen. The ambulances and medical teams were very busy that morning dealing with runners who had fainted or suffered from severe cramps and exhaustion. Next was the road to Cheras and then onwards to Bukit Bintang via Jalan Tun Razak. We waved at the bands enthusiastically banging their drums next to KLCC.

In Sentul, I almost lost it, having to deal with the sights, sounds and smells of breakfast being served and enjoyed at various roadside warungs. Can you imagine running past somebody eating nasi lemak and sipping a mug of teh tarik after having run for more than two hours at this point on nothing more than water and an energy gel? I saw one runner dashing out with a teh tarik bungkus, I kid you not. I tell you it was pure torture and I ran the last 10km thinking about nothing but having a steaming glass of happiness. 

To the two cute girls wearing bunny ears and matching pink outfits at around the 28KM mark, thank you for being out there supporting us while we ran down Jalan Kuching in the blazing heat. Please be there next year and bring friends. To the family who were nice enough to shoot at us with water pistols and water rifles in a sincere effort to cool us down, thank you for that but please aim lower next time, I got shot in the nostrils at close range. A big shout out goes to the Bukit Tunku community who never fail to disappoint by coming out with ice cream, ice cold drinks and even curry puffs. I always love your signs and and I totally agree with one that said that “Runners will survive the zombie apocalypse!”

All in all, it was another great year for Standard Chartered KL Marathon and I wish to mention that it took guts to postpone the race from its earlier date due to the haze onslaught. I congratulate the organisers in putting together yet another exciting and memorable race. I hope to run it again next year but you won’t catch me running it with a tyre!

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.