Another adventure begins!

Well, I've finally done it... I have finally registered in the next marathon run! I figured that since I performed terribly at the whole mountain climbing thing, maybe I would do better at some lower level stuff.

There are basically several categories for the marathon and I of course would not be participating the most difficult category... the full marathon run that has a distance of a freaking 42km!!! That's just crazy. The second most difficult category is the half marathon run which is a 25km trek... and you guess it right... I did not register in this category.

So, the next category available is the quarter marathon... a 10km distance. So, this must be it... you said... and yes, I would like to register in this category, but unfortunately, it is just for people at the age between 13 and 15 only. Sure, with my youthful and innocent looks, I could have pass off as a 15 year old boy, but I need to show the organizers my IC and I am definitely not into IC fraud... so I did not register in this category as well.

Huh? Is there a one-eighth marathon? What are you nuts? I would have walk more than that distance when I shop at 1 Utama alone. What I did register in is the Fun Run. Despite its name, it is still a challenge (well, at least for me it is :P). The running distance is 10km... same as the quarter marathon... I don't know why they want to create another category for it.

Unfortunately, the organizers think that this category is negligible. All the participants in the first three categories would receive a medal and a certificate of participation if the finish the trek within the stipulated time. However, those who take part in the fun run will get the certificate of participation only... without the medal even if they finished within the stipulated time. Also, all first 15 runners who completed the run will get prizes for all categories EXCEPT for Fun Run. They really have to kill the FUN out of a Fun Run. And oh, I need to pay RM10 as well!!!

Oh, did I not tell you that this run is going to start around 2 to 3 am? With the howling wind smashing into your face, we had to run in the opposite direction to brave the force of nature and with our dripping sweat, the Mistress of Wind will breathe her cold breath unto us, causing us to shiver despite we are fueling our body by burning body fat.

Of course, after my challenge upon Mt. Kinabalu, that kind of petty cold draft would have no effect on me. In fact, after my trip to Sabah, I still did occasionally make a short hiking trip to the hill near my place and I must say that it provides no challenge at all! This is the hill that I had my near death experiences during my first hike as described by my first post! Now, just as I predicted, it is just an anthill.

There are however, some aspects in the Fun Run that bothered me. For one, I had to complete the 10km trek within 120 minutes. Any longer than that, I would get nothing from the marathon... well, except maybe a t-shirt. My previous mountain conquering feat failed because of time and I haven't really had any experience in running for 10km, so I have no idea if it is considered lots of time or not. I did once walk for a period of 120 minutes non-stop. I was in a gym in Subang trying out their 30 days free trial and they have monitors in front of each treadmills which broadcasts Astro channels. At that time, a new movie was showing on StarWorld and thus, I kept on walking on the treadmill until the movie's over! That was over two years ago, but I think I can still repeat the feat... now I just need to transform walking for two hours to running for two hours!

I am competing with those in their teens in the Fun Run since this category is for those of age 13 and above and I'll be damned if I cannot finish within the time limit while they can... yes, this is a point of no return. I've failed once and I shall not fail again.

Already, several master plans popped up in my head. I shall go to train in my company's gym EVERYDAY inclusive weekends. However, during the weekends, in the morning, I shall continue my hiking practice and also jog around my housing area. This is the first time that I notice a housing area that does not have stray dogs... so no more dogs chasing me when I jog :)! I shall set my target to run 15km within 90 minutes. With that, even if I feel sick during the actual day of running, I would have some cushion to fall back into... so, what do you think? Is this plan great of what? :P