Putrajaya

At least 9 hours of driving + 4 hours of sun + 3-4 hours of grumpiness due to lack of good directions = absolutely manic weekend.
Throw in meeting old friends in the unlikeliest of places, and you get a pretty good weekend.

We drove up to Putrajaya on Saturday. We were trying to leave earlier in the morning, but kept on getting delayed for one reason or the other. As Kale said, he smuggled his brain in my suitcase when I went to China, and I must have left it there. I on the other hand, must have checked my good mood at the door cos I was awfully grumpy and disgruntled for the better part of Saturday. First we didn't have directions to the hotel, then we didn't know what time the race briefing at another hotel was, then we didn't know how to get to the other hotel, then we didn't have the immigration cards.. etc etc... you can see how things quickly spiral downhill from there.

So anyhow, the drive up to the hotel was pretty uneventful, with Kale taking the helm. I dozed off for a bit, but all in all, the ride felt really really long. Got to the hotel at about 3ish, had a mild issue with the reservation counter (he couldn't find our reservation), and finally managed to check in.

Met up with Tyson and Olivia, and while they went for a dip in the pool, we embarked on the fun mission of finding the race briefing hotel, which turned out to be another 30-40 min drive away in crazy M'sian traffic. Fun. And the only directions that Kale was able to get for a bit?? "Well, you go straaaiggghhhtt..... " No reference at all as to which way I'm going before I go "straaaaiiigggghhhtt"..

Got back, and I was GRUMPY. Hadn't eaten anything substantial the whole day (I had only had half a packet of bbq chips all day and it was already 5pm). Scarfed down a granola bar.. and we headed off to the mall in search of dinner. Had chicken rice, and introduced Tyson and Olivia to Rotiboy.. mmm..

Came back to the hotel, had drinks at the lobby lounge while listening to a VERY androgynous lounge singer and then called it a nite.

Woke up insanely early at 5:10am. Ordered room service the night before so Kale had a kid's omelette for brekky. Loaded up the car and head over to Putrajaya proper for the race.

Started at 7:30am..and the weather was actually nice and cool... for a start. Tyson, Olivia and I found a good spot to watch the action and managed to catch a couple of pics. The Kenyan guy was the lead guy, and we were using him as our marker for each lap of the race. The first 10km run was pretty uneventful.. the Kenyan came flying by like it was a 100m sprint... Kale came by, a tad bit slower... but still smiling. Hit the transition and man, you can tell Kale's not a runner, and definitely a cyclist. Made up a good decent amount of time on the bike... and came in off the bike probably 7th or so in his category. Then came the torturous 10km run in the now really hot sun. We were sitting in the shade watching and we were still uncomfortably hot. These guys were running in the blazing sun.. man...

Anyhow, the last 10km took significantly longer for everyone, including the Kenyan... Kale rolled in in just over 3 hours. Think the lead time was somewhere around 2:45 or so.. Official results aren't out, but I have to say I'm really proud of the boy. He hasn't run much, nor ridden much in the past couple of weeks. And to quote him "this is the first time i've run 20km in one day". Man.

So yeah, he did 80km in 3 hours...20km of which were on foot. Impressive.

We had lunch, more rotiboy, and then headed back to wash up and check out. Headed back to the mall (for the 3rd time in 2 days) for some coffee and then sent Tyson and Olivia to the train station before we drove back. Got back to the Singapore end of the causeway at around 730, and I was pooped. Driving in M'sian traffic with tailgaters is seriously stressful. We were in line at immigration for what seemed like forever. Finally made it to CPK for dinner with Jim, Jessy, John and Ivy to catch up with Jim before he heads back to Dubai on Monday. Was an ok dinner.. was honestly too tired to really appreciate the food. Was nice meeting up with them despite my zombie state.

Came home, unpacked and crashed. Am feeling like crap today. Really really pooped. Wonder why. Didn't have a chance to download the pics from the weekend last nite. Will try tonite and see if I can get some up on the blog.