New tricks for old dogs

I have an extremely sore derriere right now.

Something quite unexpected.

I thought with all my running (cewah konon lol) i would just breeze thru yesterday's walkathon but boy, was i ever wrong!!  i completely forgot that although both deal with forward motion, the mechanics are different.. and so are the muscles used.  apparently walking uses a lot more of the gluteus maximus than i'd thought lol ;p

I now waddle like a duck. serious.

Saturday nite saw my head spinning with so many possibilities.  golfman would be off to a golf tournament so that would leave me with time to do away as i wished. my options - the sunday morning session at the dataran, or the usual plodding round the tasik, or giving the anggerik walk 2010 a try, or go intai2 my gf at dataran merdeka where the siemens run was being held.  after giving the matter some thought, i decided it just wasnt the right time to meet up with juney bcos its her daughter's maiden run and they'd surely want to bonding2 together la.

So i was thinking, why not give the walkathon a try? sunday morning lenggang kangkong wasnt such a bad idea and it would be quite a new experience for me (cant even remember la the last time i was in a walkathon lol).

As usual, there was a little drama in my otherwise monotonous life, perpetuated by me of course. i got to know about the walk thru a friend on friday and information was pretty scarce.  i had nothing much accept for what was detailed out on the form. it was open to all malaysians and there was no fee involved - it was for free but you needed a bib to participate and for that you needed to register.  there were several categories and mostly it was for a distance of 6km.  flag off was at 7 am @ the kwsp/umno selangor building in seksyen 11.

Simple right, but i got it mixed up somehow.  i parked my car at the state mosque bcos i thought the event was held at dataran merdeka shah alam.  when i reached the area not only was it in semi darkness (around 6.45am) but there wasnt anyone there either.  oh maybe a lost soul or two but not the crowd i was expecting.  luckily i had the presence of mind to bring along my participating form (which i had faxed earlier) so i was able (with a lot of difficulty bcos of my failing eyesight the font was too small) to make out the details.

Thats when i realised i was at the wrong place!!

With only 10 mins left, i had no choice but to run bcos although it was actually just round the other corner,  it was quite a distance to cover in such a short space of time.

Ha ha ha. to cut the story short i shouldnt have bothered. when i arrived registration had only started and me, who was soo very the lambat, got herself the first bib no. for the women veteran category - 001 in bright yellow (yes its colour coded lol).

Throughout the event, it became quite apparent that time didnt appear to be the organizer's main priority. so used to races being flagged off on time, the wait seemed endless to me. after an unnecessarily long & elaborate senamrobik session (15mins would have suffice as a warm up session), the 'gun' finally went off at 8.30am.  yup. an hour & a half from the stipulated time.  but of course i cant complain much bcos it was after all a free/community activity.

 Lining up for the 'senamrobik' session

Thankfully the weather was good, making the 6km walk not the scorcher i had anticipated.  all along the way i had to keep reminding myself that i was in a walkathon and not to break into a run lol.  walking fast is NOT as easy as it seems (thus the sore butt ekekeh).

I finished good.  on top of the usual medal & cert, i even won me some cash money for coming in 2nd (not much but 200 is still nothing to laugh at)!! hehehe.. yup, there was nobody more surprised than me that morning. and although i actually missed getting myself a shiny new red bike for not pushing harder (bikes only for all 1st place winners), i'm happy bcos it never crossed my mind that i'd even get a placing!!

 Nestle & digi vans

Finishing lanes

There were also lots of freebies & give-aways... free flowing milo & popcorn, hampers & stuff for the lucky draw, balloons & pouches from digi (the main sponsor i think).  yours truly was also 'lucky' enough to get something for the lucky draw - a chunky summer-ish bag.

Alhamdulillah, tak la ku sangka.  not too bad for a morning's walk eh ;p

[I'm also considering more power walks in my routine to tone up my glutes heheheh]