My Mind Not Made Up: So I joined another fun run ...

Okay, so I'm already out of work and what do I do? Spend a considerable amount of money joining another fun run ...

I don't know, for some reason, the day after yolorun KL 2019, I felt like joining another fun run ... It could be because of the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, or it could simply be because I enjoyed it ... Whatever it was, even though I no longer have a steady income to hold on to, I went through a local website listing upcoming running events and came across The Music Run by CIMB 2019 ...

Firstly, I checked the venue of all these running locations ... It had to be in Selangor, at the very least, so a number of those runs got eliminated ... Then, it had to be a venue where it is easily reachable, and The Music Run by CIMB 2019 was held at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, which can be easily accessed by LRT ... It was about a month to go till the event, so I did doubt whether I could register ... When I went to the official site, registration was at 94% ... Then I looked at how much it cost ... A whopping RM95 ... The early bird price was RM85, but of course I missed that window ... So, there I was, figuring whether I should spend 95 bucks on a race that was only going to get me just a shirt and a medal ... But in the end I just decided "Why the hell not" ...

I read somewhere on the website that participation can reach 20K ... I was astounded by the number ... I mean that is huge ... But, they weren't kidding ... There was a lot of people on that day ... For my wave alone, we had to be released in batches due to the sheer amount of people ... I wish I was a drone so that I could capture the melee ... The race course was a little iffy though ... There was one stretch of about a kilometre long, where one had to make a round, and it was divided by cones ... I mean, anyone could just skip and jump ahead of the others by going sideways, and I did see a few do that ... But, I paid fricking 95 bucks to enter this event and by george, I would run the course all the way ...

Of course, I didn't run all the way ... At one point in the run, we came to an elevation of sorts ... Maybe just about 5 degrees, but I was already sort of catching my breath, so I stopped and walked instead ... But I walked as fast as I could though ... I remember stopping a couple of times and walking for a short distance ... It got me worried as I was trying to finish the course in as little time as possible ... During one of these times, I checked my phone and found to my surprise that I had only ran for about 40 minutes and had covered quite a bit of the course ... I thought, "That couldn't be right ... I only slow jog ... I don't run" ... But when I finally crossed the finish line, I checked my phone again and I think I must have finished the course in about 50 to 55 minutes ... That is a personal best actually ... I finished 5km in under an hour ... But maybe next time I should set a timer, just so it is more accurate ... A reason why I did quite well could be because there was music playing all through the run ... They set up speakers throughout the course and we were blasted with top of the pops, so maybe that got me going a little more faster ...

I finished before 7pm and by 7.30pm, I headed for the LRT station ... I should have stuck around, at least to watch the music festival ... I mean, I paid 95 fricking bucks ... But it rained and I was wet and sweaty and sticky and all I wanted was a hot shower ... Plus, I was thinking the toilets would be filled with people and that would be gruesome to deal with ... But if it hadn't rained, maybe I would have stuck around and I would just close my eyes and hold my breath if I had to use the toilet ...

Anyway, it was a good run, better than yolorun 'coz I finished in under an hour, but I wished it hadn't rained ...

One of the freebies we got was a CIMB water bottle, the kind that looks like a refillable pack ... Anyway, upon reaching the venue, I had finished all my water 'coz I'm a thirsty camel and there weren't any water stations while we waited outside the stadium ... I was feeling vexed 'coz I was thirsty and I didn't want to start the run like that ... They delayed the 10K and 5K speed event because of the drizzle but my wave started at its appointed time ... Anyway, just when I thought I was going to die of thirst, they finally let us in to roam around while we waited for our respective starting times and I rushed to this spot ... Boy, was I thirsty ...

Alright, if I'm not mistaken, you're not supposed to eat before you start running, so I was surprised to see all these people buying food and eating like there's no tomorrow ... Okay, so I'm exaggerating ... Nobody ate by the truckload ... Still, one is not supposed to eat before a run but perhaps these people were like me, just for the fun run, which is divided into three waves, and I figured that these people were in the second or third waves which was more than an hour away at the time ... Then again, I looked closely at some of those people's bibs and I could swear that a few of them were in the 10K and 5K speed and leisure runs ...

While I was busy taking photos of the food stalls and people milling about, I didn't realize that the makeshift chairs and tables were made of recycled paper ...

Upon closer inspection ... Well, The Music Run by CIMB 2019 has tagged itself as the first running event in the country that is carbon-neutral ... You even have to download certain apps in order to buy food so that there would be no paper receipts ... At least my money went to a good cause ...

One of the music performers prior to end of race ... I could't really tell what music genre they belong to but it was some kind of funk jazz I think ... Not bad actually ...

Another band was The Venopian Solitude ... Also couldn't tell what their genre was ... Maybe some pop-infused ethno-jazz ... Anyway, one of their songs had some really funny lyrics, but only a Malaysian could understand the humour ...