On the Mizuno Wave 10km Run

Joined this one today. But ended with quite a disappointment. The run was held in University Putra Malaysia (UPM) you see, but prior to the run, there was no information as to where the starting point was. So upon picking up my friend from Bukit Jalil Sports Complex at 6.30am in the morning, thinking we would make it to the venue in time by 7am for the flag off at 7.25am, we were so wrong to have such thought because we didn't know where to park the car. So it ended up we parked so far away from the starting line, as most other late comers did, that even the walking distance alone was approximately 2km or so.

By the time we reached the final turn to the Sports Centre of UPM, as we were walking uphill, we finally saw the huge group of Men's Open runners running down the slope. Damn, we were late for the flag off. But that's not all, the idea of just joining into the crowd had to be brushed off because we thought we needed to start at the starting line, in order to get the accurate timing for our certificate later. Who'd know, the starting line inside the stadium, which, from the point we saw the whole chunk of the runners, was about 800m away!

Therefore, while all the other runners started at 7.25am, we only started our run at 7.38am. Freaking 13 minutes behind! Not to mention I already started running up the hill just to get to the starting line a few seconds earlier. The regret slowly crept in, that we should have just turned around and joined the crowd, ignore the certificate, and finish the race in time for the medals.

But we didn't. We were too straight a guy to adhere to the rules. So alas, the 10km run was a give up from the start. We were basically the last in the Men's Open. It was only at about 4km or so when some of them slowed down to walk did I managed to overtake and joined in the the 'tail' of the crowd. Even with a persistent pace of 8km per hour, I failed to overtake the slower part of the crowd to get into the front half of the crowd which could probably entitle me the finisher's medal.

So by the time we reached the stadium where the finishing line was, the medals were all gone. Though I was pretty convinced I finished my race in about an hour, which I suppose was the average time for most runners. I mean, there's still a chance I could be one of the last few to have the opportunity to have the finisher medal around my neck right? I mean... well... Too bad we started late and failed to get into the crowd. Or maybe I was too hopeful...

Daymn. So disappointed.

Note to self, next time round be PUNCTUAL! LOLs.

And apparently, we weren't the only ones. On our way walking back to the car, we overheard someone said, "But I thought got 1200 medals for each category, so I ran as fast as I could, but still couldn't make it." As late as us probably?

Another lesson learnt, sometimes it's better to cheat. LMAO.