Determination @ GE30km

I was totally unprepared (yet) to take part in a 20km or 30km race for this year's Great Eastern run event. But, for the sake of absorbing the 'mood' for a race, I went to witness the event at Lake Garden, KL on a nice Sunday morning yesterday.

It was tough getting up early on Sunday morning, which was the reason for me arriving there at 8.15am where some of the runners were already on their ways back to the finishing line. And since it was my first time being there at Bukit Aman/Lake Garden area, I had to spent few more minutes extra finding a place to park my car. The whole area was full with vehicles, mengalahkan car park kat shopping complexes.

I made my way (after asking for directions from few people) to the Start/Finish point. Few runners have already finished their runs, both in the 20km and 30km categories. My basic maths would say, "They started running at 6.15am, and by 8.20am-ish the 30km runners have already finished? Wow, amazingly fast. 30km in 2hr-ish. Gilo, memang gilo punya determination."

I spent quite some time standing by the finishing line, enjoying the view of the happy runners thrusting their ways towards the finish of their grueling 20km or 30km runs. Some raised up their hand and smiled in victory, some just ran in as if nothing were in front of them, some gushed through as it was a 100m race, and some finished the run hand-in-hand with another friends.

Some of the photos below might not tell you the whole stories, but at least it lead me to be tempted enough to sign up for next run events myself. I don't even know most of the runners (and I bet they don't know me either), but one thing for sure, it was the determination that brought them to the starting line, and finishing up the whole journey on their own.

Respectful, indeed.

The fun of being at a race event did not stop there. I then spent few more minutes at the booths where all the runners sat down, or stood up, with their friends talking and sharing their experiences to each other. I met (read: saw) few more triathletes/runners which I get to know them through their blogs which I sometimes read (kalau cakap SELALU baca blog diorang kang, dituduh jadi blog stalker pulak, haha).

One of them is Abu Power. Yang lain-lain tak sempat nak snap photos coz I had to rush back early.

Last but not least, talking about determination, it's not only important for the runners/triathletes. I'm sure enough, this photographer below has much higher determination to be there from the beginning until the end, to snap photos of almost all who ran and finished the run, nonetheless whether he knows them or not.

Ok, now not only that I'm tempted to run longer distances. I'm also starting to have the temptation to upgrade my photography hobby (hobby ke?) to a DSLR.

If only I can afford it.

Macam biasa, me enter frame sikit standing on the right with Aini bebola api and another ex-schoolmate