KL Marathon 2009 (& carbo lunch at Bar Italia)

I did it! I really did it! The past several weeks leading up to the event I was filled with self doubt. Two weeks before and I still hadn't done a full 10km. Then there was also the problem with registration. Hunky's colleagues who were suppose to drop out decided that they were running the race after all. How bloody inconsiderate. I had almost abandoned hope. On Thursday, I suddenly remembered Facebook! Within half an hour, a friend called up to say she was dropping out and I could take her place (Thanks Shireen! Get well soon!). On Friday, battling rain and KL traffic, I arrived at Dataran Merdeka to get my race pack only to find hundreds of people stuck in a queue that was not moving. The rain had caused some power failure which caused the organiser's system to fail blah, blah, blah... It took me close to 2 freaking hours to get my bloody bib. Some woman in the next queue even fainted. Dramanya. Well, I knew for sure that I would run the race faster than it took me to get my race pack!

Last night I slept fairly well and woke up to the sound of rain at 5am and Hunky trying to convince me not to run. "Its raining you know, I don't think we should go". My reply, "We're going". I think we repeated this conversation about 4 times before he gave up and got out of bed. We were very early but the place was already buzzing with activity. By 6:45am, all the kiasu people were lined up to go. FBB, AC, CS, Hunky and I were practically the last ones. The atmosphere was amazing and the sun was just barely out. I wish I had brought my camera with me to snap some pictures. Ignorance is truly bliss. I had no idea what I was in for. Hell, I didn't even know that the race had started because it took us a while to get past the starting line. When we crossed the start, it was already 7:05. It was amazing for me to see the mass of what looked like white ants slowly marching up the ramp towards Jalan Tun Sambanthan. Soon after, I had lost sight of AC, CS and FBB. I was not quite prepared for the steady upward incline of the run. Thank God I've been running on a incline at the gym. Still, this one felt like it was going on forever. At the halfway point, the soles of my feet were starting to hurt. Annoyingly, Hunky was barely breaking a sweat while I was puffing and panting in a very unladylike way! At this point, all conversation had ceased. All that could be heard was the steady thumping of weary feet on the tarmac and the incessant beeping of my heart rate monitor. I insist on wearing it because I tend to push myself too far. By the 7th km, everything was starting to hurt. My knees, my back, even my abs. Abs? What abs? Never knew I had them. The last 3km stretch was misleading. I thought we were home free on Jalan Raja Laut as I could see the runners just on the other side on Jalan TAR. Unfortunately, the earlier turn was for the 21km runners. I just remember thinking "Awwwwwmannnnnnnn!!!". We carried on until we hit Sultan Ismail before turning onto Jalan TAR. That was probably when I picked up the pace. Clocked in at 7:25am. 1 hour 20 minutes or so. My first (very mini) marathon!

We met up with Lyrical Lemongrass was still waiting for Bald Eagle to complete his 42km. (Well done Bald Eagle!). It was great to see Nigel and Allan of Just Heavenly waiting at the tent too and they were thoughtful enough to nourish us with water and bananas. Thank Heavenly because the queue for the drinks was impossibly long! No sign of Cumi and Ciki while I was there. Hope you guys had a great run!

I was feeling sore but energetic which I came to realise was just the adrenalin still pumping away. Once I got home and had a shower, I was suddenly very tired. I resisted the urge to nap even though Hunky had dozed off in front of the tv. Shortly after, we met up with Rafs and Dween at Bar Italia for some much need carb overload. After all, according to my HRM, I burned 890 calories today! I ordered the orecchiete pasta with cream, pepper and grilled ham. It was hearty, simple and exactly what I needed. Hunky ordered a ham and cheese panini which was rather small and expensive at RM32+. Are they nuts?! Service was also pretty erratic despite us being the only ones there. Rafs and Dween did not get their food until we were 80% done with ours. And we are not fast eaters let me tell you. Dween's aglio olio was so-so. Rafs wolfed down her spaghetti with courgettes and prawns in tomato sauce so I'm guessing it was good. The ice cream is homemade here and bloody fantastic. The large portion which is a hefty 2-3 scoops is RM26+. We tried the coffee and hazelnut. Both equally as moreish. I would not recommend coming here just yet as they have many issues to iron out still. There are some lovely things on offer at the menu but just be prepared to to fork out money and wait for food and service.

Bar Italia is located at 29 Jalan Berangan. Get more details from A Whiff Of Lemongrass