Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

The inaugural NILAI 3 HALF MARATHON was held on Sunday, 27 March 2005 (after being postponed for a month due to clashing with Sepang F1 Run) at Nilai 3, Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus. This Half Marathon was a Rakan Muda Project jointly organized by Majlis Perbandaran Nilai, Majlis Tindakan Pelancongan Negeri Sembilan, the Negeri Sembilan Amateur Athletics Association (NSAAA), Nilai 3 Wholesale Centre and the Hash House Harriers Chapters of Negeri Sembilan and with the sanction and blessing of the Negeri Sembilan Sport Council. It offered many attractive prizes among others a Pasar Rakyat Nilai 3 Wholesale Lot valued at RM75,000 and a Perodua Kancil car. Probably the only run in the whole universe that the lucky draw prizes was more lucrative than the prizes for the winners of the run. We've Got Bugs! I have never seen so many bugs in a run before. The second half of the 21km route was infested with bugs. They look like ants with wings. Thank God they didn’t bite or sting. They came out in swarms after we entered the Arab-Malaysian Industrial Park. No kidding! They were present along the way, from there on, right up to the slope up back to the Start/ Finish point. There was no other choice to run though it and this was not easy since they were everywhere. This means getting out of one swarm into the next. I was short of running with my arms waving frantically like a mad man to keep the bugs away from my face, my ears, my eyes, my lips and my nose. At one point, one bug flew right into my left eye. Luckily, I was able to brush it out my eye. It was a nightmare! Imagine how hard it is trying not to breathe while running when you hit the swarm, afraid that they will be sucked into the nostrils and then crawl into the sinus cavity to lay eggs! (Insert Macaulay Culkin-ish scream here! Hahah!) Some bugs perished kamikaze style - stuck to my face, arms and legs ….due to sticky mixture of sweat and sun block on my skin. Not my fault! No, sir. Enough about bugs, let’s rant about the run proper. The day started early when KK picked me up at Projet station at 5:30am. Car was full. KK picked up John, Amy and Tan earlier. We reached Nilai toll about 6:05am. Noticed a bunch of cars parked by the highway after the toll. I could tell that they were runners, from their running gears and I saw a couple of familiar faces. I was navigating KK, using a map that I obtained yesterday from the Nilai 3 Center. We decided to drop the map to follow a convoy of six traffic cops on their bikes who we assumed were on their ways to event. Great! We were right and we got some police escort. A train of cars tailed from behind. This was surreal. We felt like VIPs. We reached Nilai 3 in about 15 minutes later. Distributed the stuff I collected yesterday to the rest of the gang. Applied some sun block to my face and limbs and I was ready to go. Go where? Go to toilet. Heheh! Went to the toilet for a pee and later found that there was not a single drop of water from the tap! What a shame! And they thought of promoting Nilai 3 as a tourist destination? (Insert tsk tsk tsk sound effect and head-shaking here). Guess I had to run with dirty hands and wash them at the drink station then. Thank goodness I didn’t have to do the big business this morning.