Monday, April 18, 2011

The Energizer Night'mare' Race!

My thighs are still aching from my recently concluded 21K Energizer Night Race last Sunday. I'm happy to say that I managed to complete my 21K race in under two hours :D And the thrill of actually being able to run on the Sepang International Circuit was one I will cherish for quite some time.

Unfortunately, that's the only good thing I can say about the race. I don't even want to bother with explanations on how badly organized it was that every single runner from the event, including myself is screaming bloody murder at the organizers and demanding for refunds.

You can just read all about on numerous Facebook postings, the Malay Mail Online, the Star Online and also my Happy Feet blog. To say it was a shambles is actually giving them way too much credit. Both wifey and me felt totally cheated by the organizers and have sworn off buying any Energizer products forever.

I have never in my entire running life ever participated in a running event that was this badly organized to the point no one had anything nice to say about it. Imagine sweating it out on the roads, struggling up the many inclines and on the verge of getting cramps as you cross the finish line and end up being told that you're not going to get your finishers medal because of some incompetent organizing.

Worse yet, we runners were called hooligans and they even had the police come chase us away from demanding what was ours in the first place ... siggghhh ... really disheartening, I tell you. And all I wanted was just to have a good nights run.

Aside from that, the run was easily exhilarating. It was my first competitive 21K in years and to come in in under 2 hours was satisfying for me :D All those months and months of training is finally paying off. I'm even more happy for wifey who ran like the wind and crossed the finish line in her category in some incredible timing, good for you honey :D If you keep this up, you'll be able to run in 21K's with me in a few months ... hehehe ...

That bad race experience hasn't dampened my running passion though and today after finishing up work on that document scanning software we were working on, wifey and me signed up for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon in two months time. I'm taking part in the 21K again (not ready for a full marathon yet) and she's in the 10K. So it's back to training again tomorrow to prepare for that race. Hopefully it won't be such a letdown as the Energizer Night Race.
.

16 comments:

  1. One of these days I'm gonna complete half marathon in less than 2 hours, but I'd give it few years to myself lmao. Congrats on the run. Sucky organizers, I read about it in misc sources, gawd, it's so terrible I hope won't came across this kind of marathon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. did they at least gibe you a torchlight or mebbe a spare battery? hehehehee

    Energizer sure is getting a lot of bad press... they sure don't know the power of the internet... and the social networker.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Holy crap! You complete a 21K race in under two hours? That's awesome & amazing!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I read about it yesterday in the Star. They sure are getting bad press, and I don't pity them one bit.

    Anyhoo, congrats for the run! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gosh, not getting anything after finishing a race like that is plain ridiculous. But good for you and wifey finishing it in good time :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi nick..
    Long time no come here..
    It's good to know you finished your marathon below 2 hours...it sucks to know the organizer was unorganized with the event...next time buy duracell batteries if you need one..hehehehhe

    ReplyDelete
  7. Maslight - Take it slow, the key word to completing a 21K or even a marathon is progression. Start low and move up the mileage gradually :D

    I don't think anyone can screw up a race as bad as these people did!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anny - I managed to get the free headlamp which I now only use when I go to the toilet as nights ...hahaha!

    Yes, the social network can be good if you're good and bad if you're hopeless! It's a double edged sword.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Meleah - Thanks :D I was expecting a little better timing but I'm happy nonetheless :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lina - They deserve all the cursing. It was a total disaster, I tell you!

    Thanks :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sriyany - It was disappointing to say the least. But at least we both were happy with run :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. KadusMama - Hey, good to see you around :D Are you back to blogging or is this one of those sneek, peek and cabut thingy ... hehehe ...

    Duracell's is my choice of batteries from now on :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Not really back to blog...but in case any of you thinking whether i'm still around in this world..yes i am! hahaha Might stil be a chipsmore..now u see me...now you don't.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Firstly, well done for completing something I could only dream of! Secondly, can't believe an organised race could turn out to be so unorganised. Must have been very disheartening.

    ReplyDelete
  15. KadusMama - LOL! Well, once in a while better than not blogging at all, ya :D

    ReplyDelete
  16. The World According To Me - Thanks :D It was one of the world's worst organized races and utterly disheartening.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment on ANYTHING GOES!