Prior to signing up for the Koh Samui Marathon, I’d been asked if I was interested to join them in Langkawi to support the participants and to recce the route for Ironman. Now that I wasn’t able to be in Samui, I’d called Ronny Yong, a fun-filled 50 something year old gentleman whom I’ve met through one of my friends back in my college days.
“Hi Ronny!” I recall saying. “Something happened and I can’t go to Samui already…” I continued.
Before I could even finish, Ronny welcomed us with open arms and told us that we should then just join them for a quick getaway at Langkawi then.
Food, accommodation, transport and even the itinerary of our travel! Amazing…
Day 1
We took a ferry over from Kuala Kedah and subsequently after arriving at the ferry terminal in Langkawi we took a taxi to rendezvous with the group for dinner. I was then introduced to more Bukit Jalil Running friends.
We met Mang Sir (his nick name), Suki, John, Loong and many others. They were all very interesting people. It was obvious they came from all walks of life but we all shared one single thing in common… we all love to run! At dinner, I started to notice that my feelings of despair and disappointment were starting to ease away. Though tired, with a very sore and blistered feet, the food and company was absolutely enjoyable.
Oh, the reason why I had super blistered covered feet was because I decided to run my heart out the night before – barefoot. I knew that would be the result of my stupidity but I thought, so what?
I was limping around Kuah town with the rest of the gang in my Vibram Five Fingers. Strangely enough, it felt better to be doing slow bouncy runs on my blistered feet as compared to walking. After dinner we took a drive down to a happening spot by the beach just for a quick walkabout and subsequently we just called it a night.
The plan was to get up early the next morning to be at the starting line of the Ironman to cheer on the participants!
Hardly any of us woke up in time for that…
Day 2
By the time we got up, it was almost 10am. Sleep was blissful, though my wife and I had to share a single sized bed. We got up, went out and had breakfast. We decided to do a little sight-seeing and along the way, we zoomed pass several Ironman participants who were already on the 2nd discipline of their race, cycling 180km. We honked at them and cheered, and the guys cheered even louder when they spotted pretty female participants! Hilarious!
We then visited several tourist spots like Dr. Mahathir’s Bread Shop and the Langkawi Cable Car but it wasn’t very productive as there were just too many people. None of us managed to get onto the cable car ride; the queue was just too long!
We decided to rush back for a quick lunch as we wanted to be at the finishing line before the winner of the race got back. We’d estimated that he would be back within 8 hours or so, and with some quick mental calculations, we decided we should be at the finish line no later than 3pm.
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom… we were back Dataran Lang where the finish line of the Toughest Race on Earth was.
A grueling feat covering a distance of 3.4km swim, 180km worth of cycling, and 42.195km on foot came to an end at 8 hours 22 minutes 31 second for the Champion! All these participants can almost reach
A couple of photographs, a snap here, there and we were off to see other participants who were just coming in for their transition. It was a sight to remember… the poor tortured souls were blatantly expressed on their faces. Some limping, some throwing up but there were also many that were giving the thumbs up and smiling positively as they continued their journey to greatness!
We left and headed back to our apartments, and as we got back – we realized that the final leg of the race, the marathon was 4 loops of 10km that passed right outside our temporary residence! Darn, we should’ve just stayed put at our condo and they would’ve just came to us!
We stood around while some of us went up to freshen up. It was almost 5pm when we got back. I met familiar faces like Frank some of his friends. It felt good being so close to the race. We then drove out for dinner and had another feast. Over dinner, we were discussing over dinner on whether we can become pacers or mules for those runners who needed the extra push. We weren’t doing it for any reward or attention, but we felt that it would just be good if we could just do something nice! I cannot imagine going non-stop for 15 – 17 hours and not being able to complete the race. It would crush me, if I were the participants.
So after dinner, John and I geared up and we picked runners whom we felt needed some additional motivation and ran with them.
“Do you need a pacer sir?” We asked. Some said no, some said sure! It was a night of running… as we helped about 5 people complete their race. We carried their water, talked to them to take their mind off the pain and we paced them to get a better time. As we ran, I recall how much I admire their spirit, determination and discipline. The race was only a small part of the commitment. It was the training that drains you… the hours and hours of repetition required. I know what it feels like; I am after all training for an Ultra Marathon so I kinda know what it feels like.
The race ended at 12.30am with the last participant coming in only a few minutes short of disqualification. How great a sense of achievement it must have felt for her…
It was then, I decided after doing my first ultra in May 2010.
Ironman 2011 will be my next goal.
