Stories and Thoughts

December 16, 2008

1st Putrajaya 12-hours Walkathon

13 – 14 DEC 2008: It was a great and meaningful experience for me that I’ve joined the 1st Putrajaya 12-hours Walkathon. I’ve started my training since few weeks back in order to prepare myself for this event. And for the past few days, I was kind of nervous and worried that I couldn’t complete the 24 km limit, as this would be my very 1st walkathon event.

On the day itself, we reached pretty early to Dataran Putrajaya so that we would have enough time to collect our goodies bag and setup our tents. Putrajaya is a very nice place with plenty of wonderfully designed and built bridges and buildings. More than 500 participants had participated in the event where our team consisted of 10 very close friends of mine. For men-open category, we have to complete 24 km within 12 hours to receive the medal. While for women-category, the limit was 18 km.



The walkathon started punctually at 8pm where I took almost 6 hours to complete 24 km with some breaks in between. I felt pretty relax for the 1st 10 km where I walked averagely 11 minutes per km. Took a 15 minutes break after completed 14km for a light dinner cum supper. I could felt the muscle-ache after the short break where the last 10km thereafter was a terrible and painful experience, where it was totally a different experience compared with marathon. I took a short nap at 5am after completed my 25th km and woke up an hour later for another 1 km, where my total distance was 26 km.

It was great that all of us had successfully completed the walk and received our medals. Anyhow, what made us happier was the support given by some other close friends. Thanks a lot to Kia Liang & wife, Ding and Meia who paid us a visit at the middle of night. A small action done that meant a lot for every one of us, especially when we were so tired and de-motivated. It touched deeply, at least for me. The walkathon was officially over at 8am (14th) where the prize-giving ceremony was conducted at 8:30am. And for the lucky draw, I almost got the grand prize as the winner was A036 while my number was A037.

Add Image

The organizer has done a good job in planning and organizing the whole event. Simple food such as fried mihun, fried rice, nuggets, sausages etc. were served along the event with some remote toilets located at various locations around the route. However, the weather was bad with some rains at the middle of night where we felt glad that we had our tent ready.

I’m still feeling tired and sleepy now though. Guess it will take some time for full recovery. And for all my team mates, I love every one of you and you all are always the best!!!

19 comments:

TZ said...

dude, you take a nap... remind me of the story of the hair and tortoise... :p It's very taxing to walk during midnight for 6 hours... Way to go bro...

Anyway, it's fun... i should have participated.

Little Prince said...

YAY~ congrats.

[SK] said...

so you did an extra 2km?? wow..

bravo for making it!! i would say this is something rather challenging and it actually trained you up for great determination.. what an experience and you've got it!! :)

Fable Frog said...

wah~ first time heard midnight run de! that place scary or not at midnight ah?

KY said...

TZ: Story of hair & tortoise? Hmm..never heard of it though. Anyhow, it was fun if you have enough training before that. Perhaps next year? :)

Silly Little Prince: Thanks a lot for dropping by. :)

SK: Initially I thought of only walk for 24km, but a bit paiseh looked at other people who kept walking though it was raining. So end up I walked for another 2 km. :) Yeah, very great experience it was.

Froggie: There was 24-hours walkathon last year, and it was reduced to 12 hours this year probably due to the hot weather during noon time. It was very safe as it's just in front of the "Palace of Justice". Anything happens, just drag the criminal into the building.

Twilight Man said...

Whoooaa! You still looked fresh after 24km. My balls would easily catch fire in between my legs even after 5km! You were damn great! ... Thanks for inspiring me to start running again.

.:: Ant ::. said...

Must try next year. Must have been so much fun ...... and walking "kangkang" thereafter! wakakaka ^_^

+Ant+

Danny said...

so now u can eat like nobody business la? since u burnt so much fat during the walkathon...;p

KY said...

Twilight Zone: Hehe, those photos were taken before the walk la. After that, no mood to even look at camera. Yeah, 24km was tough enough for me. But looked at those ppl who can walk up to 60-90km, I really have to salute them. Wondering how would their balls look like. Hehe.

Anton: Are you sure to join next year? Yeah, I was walking "kangkang" for the past 2 days. Today feel much better.

KY said...

Danny: You are so right. I ate a lot on last Sunday after the walkathon. Kinda regret after that and now gonna stick back to diet and jogging plan. Pity me.

Medie007 said...

hur hur
congratulations! :D

RunWitMe said...

Congrats! SO, you were the group with the xmas hats...I was there too. I'm still writing my blog on the subject. Feel free to dropby.

ernloy said...

interesting walkathon! i din know u can take a nap in between :)
can consider to take part when i am back in msia next time...
anyway, congrats!

Chris said...

What? walk 12 hours?

KY said...

Medie007: Thanks...:)

RunWithMe: Yes, I'm in the Xmas Hat group. Really glad to see you here. Will check on your blog. You must be an expert le.

ernloy: Yeah, can take a nap whenever you want to. And wherever as well.

Chris: Yeah, 12 hours and those people can really walk non-stop without rest. Scary!!!

jue said...

aiyah, they didn't reduce from 24hr to 12hr lah. both are independent event by the same organiser. 12hr walk used to be held in penang for the past 4 years and 24hr walk was held in genting bi-yearly. last year was held in dataran kl coz genting not sponsoring.

this year the organiser decided to bring the walk down to kl for logistic purposes. good lah coz we don't have to spend so much again after pbim.

congrats for completing the walk.

KEVIN MEETS THE STARS said...

Hi! So you were one of the xmas cheery ones at the walk. Keep up your effort. It was fun and challenging. It really pushes you to the limit and test your mental and physical capabilities. Good job!

KY said...

jue: Ah, I didn't know about this. As some of my friends joined the 24-hours walkathon lasy year and I could see how painful they were. Bet I won't have the courage to take the 24-hours challenge yet. :)

Kevin: Yeah yeah, I was one of those in that group. It was really challenging during the event. But once you completed it and think back, it was fun and memorable.

Frank Chong said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm sure you had fun at the walk too. Congratz!