Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Port Dickson Triathlon 2009

This is my first Port Dickson Triathlon. My very 2nd Olympic Distance race (1.5k swim.40k bike. 10k run). I got a lil excited over it, the night before the group of us drove up north. I don't know whether because it's like a mini break for me, or if it's pre-race jitters. I think it has to be jitters, i forgot to bring my house keys off my own car, and i forgot to pack my cycling and running shoes into my car for the race. 

It poured on Saturday morning, as i made my way to Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore to collect my passport. Yes, i the champion realized that i lost my passport on wednesday night while packing for the race. I managed to get an express one done, as a cost which i really don't want to bring it back up. Upon collecting the passport, i made my way to meet with the rest of the group. Had a pretty hearty breakfast, and made our way up north.

I really didn't give much care to the race, nor training preparations. I've been running, and hoping that will pay off. We went ahead with carbo loading at the night market in Port Dickson. Obviously, Reeves had a bad run-in last year with dirty water... and stuff. So he kept telling me not to drink the drinks. 

Race day --- woke up, Julian informed me it was raining. Woohooo... i screamed in delight, and wanted to hop back into bed. Alas, just drizzling. Went to have a light breakfast, we were pretty late. But seems like everyone else is also late. Got to the race site, packed everything up. Went to look at the sea. Realized it was never going to be a Personal Best (PB) course for swim. Damn those who told me FLAT swim. The winds were picking up, and the swells were huge. Didn't check my timing. 

Got out on the bike. Oops... forgot my race tag. Hahaha, at this point, i had this smile on my face thinking "i better 
not tell anyone how many races i've done, to forget i need my race tag". The bike course was relatively scenic, going through plantations, and temple, and palm tree plantations, and not to mention, piles of COW DUNG. Rolling hills with no major climbs, but still proving a little tough for me, who hasn't clocked enough mileage on my bike. Towards the end of the bike, i just rolled and spin back to the transition area. 

Finally put on my race tag, and running shoes and off i went. Had to keep telling myself not to walk. At the U-turn mark, i was still running. And i couldn't be more glad. And i had this smile on my face throughout the run. Nothing could stop me by then. Somehow i think i might have PB-ed my 10k run. Let's pray the results share my thoughts. 

And if anything, this song rang in my head : 
"Every step you climb another mountain, 
Every breath it's harder to believe, 
You make it through the pain, weather the hurricane, 
to get to that one thing. 
Just when you think you're going nowhere, 
just when you almost gave up your dream,
then take it by the hand, then show you that you can. 
There're no boundaries..."

yes...secretly, i like Kris Allen... :) well not such a secret anymore. 

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