The KL International Marathon Race Kit
I think KLIM 1/2 is one of the best way to see KL in 3 hours (or less depending on how much horse power your feet have).
What? 16th AmBank Kuala Lumpur International Marathon
Where? Dataran Merdeka
When? 17 March 2007
Distance: 21km (Half Marathon)
What? SMART Tunnel Run 2007
Where? SMART Tunnel, Kuala Lumpur. (Where else? Heheh!)
When? 11 March 2007 (Sunday); 7:30am
How long? The run covered a distance of 16km, with 12km (through and fro) inside the SMART tunnel and the remaining along Jalan Davis / Jalan Tun Razak.
Why? The SMART Tunnel Run was held in conjunction with the 75th Years Anniversary celebration of Department of Irrigation and Drainage.
What is SMART? SMART is an acronym for Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel, a project under the Federal Government initiated to alleviate the flooding problem in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur. The project is implemented through a joint venture pact between MMC Berhad and Gamuda Berhad with the Department of Irrigation And Drainage Malaysia and the Malaysian Highway Authority as the executing government agencies.
Messy start. The man with the megaphone was SHOUTING to the runners back off to the INVISIBLE start line underneath the START banner, threatening to disqualify those who didn't. What are we? A bunch of cows? Gee...if you had put the barricade there at the first place, this would not have happened. I was so annoyed because these people are supposed to be "experts" and have been organizing roadraces in Malaysia for umpteenth years. SMART RUN but STUPID ORGANISER. Isn't ironic, don't you think? (Insert Alanis Morrissette tune here).
Then, we get STUPID VIPs who arrived late to the race compound, "ploughing" their ways into us, the runners at the START line a few minutes before the run. What if someone get injured? Can't they park further away and walk their big @sses to the start point like the rest of us? Who asked them to be late? SMART RUN but STUPID VIPs. Insert eye-rolling ceremony here.
This is the first time I have ever run underground. I was kinda looking forward for this, as the SMART tunnel is the longest in South East Asia and second in Asia.
I remember my experience crawling in the Cuchi tunnel during my trip to Vietnam. It was a hellhole, wide enough for one person to crawl through. Cuchi tunnel was build by the Vietnamese against the American during the war. It was horrible. I am glad that with modern technology, we could build big tunnel like SMART tunnel. So, I am not going to complain how hot or how stuffy the air can be in the tunnel.
Running inside the tunnel was quite boring actually. Nothing much to look at but big jumbo fans at the two entrances, florescent lights and posters proudly announcing that the SMART tunnel is the solution for KL traffic and flash flood woes. Thank God I brought my MP3 Walkman, loaded with podrunner mixes.
What? EELEK? Ayoyo...They ran out of water? What about the people who started much later?
I pity those runners who came after us. I heard complaints from many runners that they were forced to go without water, drink tap water and some even drank from someone else bottles (leftover on the floor). This is UNACCEPTABLE!
They started giving these shiny badges to the participants of the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon (KLIM) circuit runs in 2005 when AMBank became KLIM main official sponsor. Got my 2007 version this morning before sweating it out in a 2hours round the Lake Garden run. I hope I get to collect many more of these babies in the year to come. (Insert "Peace" sign here).
