Somehow, last weekend was an exception. I signed up for KL International Triathlon, swam it, bike it and ran it like any ohter triathletes and tri-wannabe wants it (i'm in the latter category).
The whole celebration started on Saturday as i went to pick up the race kits for me and Steve. I then went to OP President open house which serves great rendang that i lost count on how many plates of it that i ahd (i'm protien-loading, not carbo ;-)).
Then later than night, everyone in the family, except my 2 busy sister in law, went for a vegetarian dinner in Metro Kepong. Dad's a fulltime vegetarian, so, it's better to forgo the foie gras and creme brule and settle for something healthier (frankly, i only found out that foie gras is actually duck...).
My two wonderful sisters. Though they are a pain sometimes. Ma was drinking tea.
Me, wifey and mum in law. Which i call, Mum.
We don't usually takes family picture, this one is one rare moment.
Moments like these are even rarer....
My sisters bought me a cake. very thoughtful of them!
I then cut it after they mumbled sang me a birthday song...there is a wedding dinner going on, don't want to UP them la!
My sis birthday was a month ago...hence, i also share with her la the cake!
We went back after that, full. Obviously. The restaurant's food is great. I've eaten in many vegetarian restaurant before, but so far, this is the best, affordable and this isn't the first time we are there to eat.
Wifey bought me the shirt that you saw in the pic. Pre-birthday gift wor...hehehe...
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Woke up at about 5am on Sunday and was given a birthday kiss by wifey. Went to take a shower and applied enough vaseline to even lubricate a faulty joint in any trucks. No more chaffing, i hope.
by 5.30am, we left the apartment. One thing about living in a highrise as opposed to landed property, your car can never be just outside your door. And to make matter worse, low ceiling height in the parking area will not make it possible to mount the bike ONTO the car inside. Wifey drove the car out and i placed the bike on top of the car and drove to titiwangsa.
There was already a crowd by the time we reached there. Morning jogger seems to be confused by the sudden influx of bicyles and people in tights and some in tri-suits. Adilah and Steve arrived soon after. Adilah managed to sign up two more of her regular friends to do Tri for the first time. Tri Virgin, as some of us would call them.
we got our body marked like some cow to be sent for slaughter.
Saw my junior from RMC, young 16 year old chap, on his first full tri. Well done Ju Shen. He came with his dad, also an OP, and his two younger brother, which will be enrolled there in RMC.
I saw Azwar and his lovely daughter and wife.
At 7.50am, Mr Chan had all of us standing next to the lake. We were briefed and a few international participants were introduced. Race started at 8am sharp and everyone just ran into the lake, unwary of possible giant Toman or mutated leeches that might just snap/suck/bite/eat us up.
This is my first time swimming in Lake Titiwangsa. It's a ex mining pool, which means, at it's deepest portion, it might even be the home of some lochness monster (malaysian version of course).
Water was murky but surprisingly it taste just like tap water. It got me thinking for a while, either the water is clean enough to be drank like tap water, or our tap water is as dirty as the lake's water!
Your take.
The first 750m was kinda easy as i appeared at the end of the first lap to run to the second lap. I swam a bit faster this time (always breast-stroke) and true enough, unless you are fit or strong enough to go freestyle all the way, it's better to stick to breast stroke as i find myself swimming at the same speed as the person infront, beside and behind me.
I finished the swimming and ran to the shower, which my wife managed to snap a picture off.
No, that's not Mini-Me. I'm backing the camera.
I ran to the bike area and saw Steve about to leave. As usual, he swim faster than me, as per always. Also, i was lapped by Azwar twice.... hehehe...
I wore my shirt, don the race number and the helmet and reached out for one Cloud 9 chocolate, which is why my face appear constipated.
And as i was exiting the transition area, Purple shouted to me and gave the thumbs up sign. I had to do some explaining later to wifey over this incident :P
I came in from cycling and took anohter Cloud 9 for energy. Took my glucosed filled bottle along as well. Sorry, mouth was full of those sticky caramel filled chocolate.
I saw steve as i was coming in from my last lap of cycling. He already completed his biking and was runing the first 3km.
This is Super Steve. No ordinary Canadian could do what he does.
Adilah on her first tri...Her initial fear of being swallowed by the lake tortoise didn't come true, obviously!
And this is Steve, lappping me on the running, he finished his 9km of run and i'm just finishing my 6th Km. We managed to pose for pic :D
Somehow, i felt that i wasn't running as fast as i should. Maybe it is because...i don't know...leg felt heavy...lung felt ok, but leg was heavy.
me, 500m to go to the finishing line. I'm grimacing in pain. Suffering on my birthday. Paying back the pain my mum had to endure giving birth to me 29 years ago.
Steve finished a good 10 to 15 minutes infront of me, coming in at about 2H30mins.
Meanwhile, dumbass me came in a goof 10-15 minutes after him...no official timing yet, but at least i didn't lose to Ju Shen, which almost beat me, by the way!
Pic with Azwar and his cute daughter! Well done bro!
Me and steve. He had finish changing by the time i came in from the race...
Ju Shen, me and Steve after the race.
I do not have the official time as i didn't wear my watch. infact, all i know is i just swam, bike and ran the whole course.
I was also told by my wife and one more person that i did 11 laps. I thought i did 10 laps. They said i should had come in after i counted 10. But i guessed i did 11, because after i counted 10, i thought i did 9, and the 10th is the last lap. Nevermind then, at least i did an almost 40km bike, as the distance was actually about 35km as per what was told by Mr. Chan during briefing. I should had counted the bumps...there were 17 in each laps...hahahaha...
I went back happy. Having my wife and another tri emdal to my name, on my birthday!
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I went back home to my parent's place as mum called wifey to bring me back for mee suah. Just a symbolic gesture for my birthday. It's akin to wishing me a long long life la!
Mee suah, dried oyster, mushroom, chicken breast meat, 2 eggs. All in Ikan Bilis broth...yummy. I almost cried eating it...a bit sentimental la while eating it!
Ma was sweet enough to cook this for me. My dad bought me some of my other favourite food and he even cutted the honeydew for me to eat...felt like some VIP yesterday!
After that, i went to Mum's house, My sister in law bought me a shirt. More present for me birthday boy. hahaha...felt like a kid again, really.
Then, i decided to share the finisher medal with one more triathlete in the house.
Murphy, which went missing for a few hours on friday. He escaped the house through some hole in the gate and went on to do his own triathlon before wifey found him stuck at the neighbour's gate. I suspect he swam the drain, ran with a few cats that most probably beats the dog out of him and everything, except cycling.
I'm Murphy, The Tri-Doglete.
many thanks to all that had wished me on the day before and yesterday. You guys and girls certainly made my day.
Also, many congrats to Adilah for doing her first Tri. To Terrence too and also one more of his friend. Also to Purple that did the relay for the first time and vouch to do the sprint next triathlon meet in Melaka next year.
For those friends that had joined the PCC ride, please furnish me with your report, please.
:D
and one more, before i end the report.
I went home, did my laundry and while putting the clothes to dry, i noticed that the sky was extremely clear and blue. It made me felt so ever happy...Maybe the Big Boy up there is wishing me a Happy Birthday too.
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