New Balance Pacesetters 15km Run 2009

On Sunday, I woke up to a loud sound of cengkerik at about 4.15 a.m. It didn't sound quite like cengkerik, and I was so scared that there's a katak pisang in K.Tine's room. Let's not even go there! My alarm clock was supposed to go off at 5.15 a.m.

The reason why it was set that early was because I was all set to accompany my husband to the New Balance Pacesetters 15km Run 2009 at Lake Garden. Jan, my sister in-aw came along with us.

Getting ready at home

We left Kajang at about 6.15 a.m and arrived at Lake Garden at about 6.30 a.m. We parked quite far from the entrance, together with the rest of the participants. There were so many people taking part, Jan and I were so amazed. I guess we have yet to comprehend the satisfaction gained from getting up very early in the morning and running 15km for the sake of a medal.

Anyhow, we accompanied Rafiq to the starting line, took some pictures until the event started at 7 a.m. We also waited for the women event to start before going on a morning walk.

Almost 7 a.m.



And he is off!

I didn't know the distance we walked but I remembered circling Lake Garden and passing Carcosa Seri Negara. I remembered a time when I heard running steps behind me and when the person passed us, it was one of the participants. We were like, "Whoa! It's only 7.50 a.m! Are you done already?" There was also a time when we passed a group of monkeys and prayed that they won't come near us. Luckily we didn't have any food with us because if they gave chase, we didn't have any energy to run anymore.

When we reached the Lake Garden entrance, we saw many participants entering too. They were about to complete the event. I was hoping my husband was not in front of us because the purpose of me accompanying him was so that I could see him end the race at the finishing line. We were there at 8.30 a.m. and saw that quite a number of people had finished the race and had even changed and were on their way back.

Whilst waiting, I saw some of Rafiq's friend and also Andrew Tan, the Amazing Race Asia contestant who came in 3rd in the first season. I was truly amazed when I saw some senior citizens who also participated, which means that age is no barrier in this kind of competition.

Finally, at about 9 a.m., I saw Rafiq's figure, running amongst the other contestants. There were still others behind him. Watching him run past the finishing line was one of my proudest moment in life. When I married him almost 5 years ago, I don't think he saw himself doing everything that he is doing now.

HE DID IT!

Proud wifey

Rafiq's No. 1 supporters

With fellow participants

YES!!

It doesn't matter if he even came in last, what matters is the fact that he took part in the competition and finished it. I sure see myself waiting at some other finishing line in the future, insya-Allah. You definitely do us proud, Rafiq Khan. I hope I will live to tell this, and your other succes stories to Faiq, Aira and our future generation!