Report MII Insurance and Takaful Walk

By Aiman Cheah Tiong Chap

Date : 20 July 2008
Venue: Dataran Merdeka

It is an event that I was not sure to compete after returning from Kangar. While the journey to Kangar was only 8 hours, it took more than 9 hours to return to KL from Kangar by Transnasional. I had a good sleep in the bus despite the pain in my right leg.

I had decided to see the masseur after dinner. Coincidently, my son was having slight fever when I returned from Kangar. So, that would save me time from going to the clinic too! I was lucky because I need not wait long for my turn. My son got his treatment first. His warm body cool down immediately after the massage and he looked more comfortable. Then, it was my turn. It was not as painful as the first encounter and I was crossing my fingers that I would be fit for the race in the next 7 hours!

My son woke me up at 5 a.m. for his milk. My daughter also woke up early.
She had slept at around 6p.m. that night! She was excited because of the colouring contest.

I did the normal chores before waking up my wife. We all got ready by 6.45a.m. That is the good point of being a competitor. If I were to officiate the event, I would have to report by 6.15 a.m. I was not very confident of doing well, just hoping to be among the top 30 – at least a medal for the effort.

I was lucky to be on the fifth row at the starting point. Starting would be very poor if it was any further. I was near Mr Jagjeet Singh and his charges. Mr Tan Khee Meng was also next to me. I had a good start and I trailed Mr. Tan Khee Meng. He had a good pace and I found it very difficult to get past him.

Every time I passed him, he responded by overtaking me in seconds! However, I had the better of him when it was going uphill. I was quite lucky because my right leg did not bother me so much. Perhaps, after the punishing pace in Kangar, the body had adjusted itself to the pain. I was also trailing Mr Raiei. I took the opportunity to overtake him about 1 km from the finish. It was not long for me to be in front of him until I started to bite the dust again. He proved to be better when going downhill.

This time he finished ahead of me in about 50 metres. I only finished in 13th place with the time of 36 mins 22 secs in the 5km men veteran category. Quite a disappointment to finish outside top 10. It was below par performance because there were so many ladies who walked past me and I could not even catch up with them. Need a lot more training to go a level up. Perhaps, I will have a better luck next year?

One good thing about this event is that no one accuses me of running! Why should I want to run in a walking event when there are so many running events all year round?

My daughter was a bit disappointed because there was no colouring contest as advertised in the form. I did call the number given earlier and was told that registration can be done on site. Perhaps it was a last minute cancellation.