Potty Pot Putrajaya...

By Frank

It's 3.33am as I lay on my bed waiting for my hair to dry. And while doing so, let me make use of time to blog about my run earlier at Putrajaya.

It's the second night long run in conjunction the upcoming Sundown Marathon 2010. The sky opened up in the evening. I initially though of starting my run earlier at 7pm, but I guess the person up there didn't agree with me. The rain got heavier, but that didn't stop me from going to Putrajaya. Yeah, I'm taking the risk and upon arriving, the rain stop! Gamble paid off here. Hehehe...

And so at 8.05pm, I started my run and did 8.5KM minus the loop around the Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC) and also the big roundabout at the Prime Minister's office. As I got back to the car, Lawrence has already arrived but Keat Seong and Jennifer was no where to be seen. Waited till 9.15pm before we decided to go ahead without them. Spotted a few other runners too and this certainly made the running atmosphere here much better.

I pace with Lawrence for about 7KM before he dropped out as he had a late dinner and wasn't feeling comfortable at the tummy. Continued on myself and by the time I got back to my car to rehydrate myself, Lawrence arrived shortly. He used the run walk combination well and after a short rest, we continued on.

Keat Seong and Jennifer did come and started their run on themselves. Cheang also did come and ran solo. As I completed 22KM, my adidas adizero Tempo gave out some weird noise and I decided to change to my ASICS GEL-Trainer 14 and continued on.

This third loop, I decided to run the PICC loop as it will give me some extra distance. Completed it successfully and rewarded myself with a sip of my Endurox R4 which I carried since I changed my shoe earlier. However, my stomach started giving out weird signals later and upon arriving at 28KM, I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped running and was in need of the toilet! I was at least 2KM away from the nearest toilet and by walking, it will take me at least 20 minutes to arrive there. The AGONY!

Luck was on my side. A Malay chap who was ferrying fluids to the other runners via his motorcycle slowed down beside me to ask if I was joining the Firefighters Run the next day. Replied him that I am not, and while he is preparing to leave me, I asked if he can etch me back to my car. He agreed and I hop on instantly and off we went. I was really glad to be back at the car and dashed straight to the toilet.

After making my deposit, I accompanied Lawrence with his third loop, and this was my warm down run. A 4KM run to total it to 32KM. Not a fast time, but I was glad I made this far. Hobbled towards Keat Seong and Jennifer to have a chat with them. Both did 21KM as Keat Seong had some discomfort on his ankle.

My left calf stiffen up and looked like a rock in just a short while after completing my run. It felt really uncomfortable as I have just ran an ultra marathon. I couldn't stretch properly and had to sit down to massage it according to the flow of my bloddstream. It got better and by the time Keat Seong and Jennifer was about to leave, Lawrence came back victorious as he completed 30KM. Well done!

Chatted while we rested and it was certainly nice to have catch up with him again. It's been a while. At about 1.15am, we made our way home to have a well deserve rest.

An improvement over last week's run. Probably it was due to the weather. I was actually hoping to be a humid run actually as I do want to suffer a little as it will benefit me in the later stages. Besides, I ran most of the run on concrete pavement as it will be the same thing at Sundown Marathon this year. The potty pot issue at 28KM nearly cancelled out my run. I swore that if without that Malay chap's ride back, an "explosion" will have happened near the lawyer's department. Phew... My many thanks to him.

I think my hair is dry now and I shall try to sleep. However, 1 question remains. How am I to sleep if I keep visiting the toilet due to the amount of water I drank? zzZZ...