The Walk - 12 Hours | Travel Blog

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January 6th 2008

Published: March 5th 2008

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Bim Bam Boom

The Beginning

We were there early....

Is this Joanne? Mei Yun asked.

I looked at the article and there she was. Joanne was in some sort of press conference. I read the article further and found out that it was the 4th Penang International 12 Hour Walk. I quickly called Joanne and got her to fax to me the form to which I promptly signed up.

To get a medal, we need to finish 24 Km within 12 hours..... Ladies - 18 hours. How HARD could that be?

Next was to get a few more crazy people to join me. It was so easy to TRICK a few more people. SH Lim, Ee Liang, Lilian, Ee Ling, Boon Chien, Peng Yew, Zi Qian all said YES. They thought this is some kind of 100m dash. Yeah, sure.....

The day of the race soon came.

Wow, we are fast! Boon Chien exclaimed as we pass the start/finishing line for the very first time. The truth is, I was walking at a very fast pace. Was I too fast? I was. By the 15th lap which was around 16.2km, I was close to giving up. My legs were about to give way. However, looking

Starting Soon

A lot of people. Lots of walkers. Sleep walking later?

at Boon Chien who was beside me and Ee Ling who was in front of me, I had no choice but to strive on. The next few laps were one of the hardest time in my life. Every step was like the last step before my legs would give way.

Every 3 hours the food break came. It was not compulsory to stop and I could see SH simply grabbed a cup of Indocafe, downed it down his throat and continued his journey. His aim was simple but noble. 'I maybe the ldest amongst you but I will show you that age is not a factor'.

Peng Yew and Lilian walked together to offer each other support. Ee Liang was just a little behind. I think it was because he tried too hard, stepped too hard. After a while, I could see his face showed pain and he wanted give up.

Zi Qian was extremely fast. Boon Chien, Ee Ling and I could not even keep up with him eventhough we were fast and we lost sight of him on the FIRST round itself. How fast was he? Within the first 3 hours, Zi Qian was placed

Registeration Building

This is the building where we got registered.

18th of the total field which was amazing because it consisted of professional walkers!

SH Lim was a loner but he was in no mood to be slow. His intention was simply to finish as many laps as possible.

Food breaks offered some breaks from the ever harder race. It had started as a race but now, well, more like a fight for survival.

By 7a.m, I had reached 34km and had ZERO intention to continue. Suddenly, at 7:30a.m, the announcement was for everyone to complete one more lap or we would be disqualified! We looked at each other and said, come on, this is not the time to give up. Ee Liang was not around because of the unbearable pain on his foot.

Surprise, surprise, Ee Liang soon turned up. Slow he may be, he intended to finish the race. He did. We were so proud of him. If he was a 'SHE', I would even give her a hug. Haha....

What happened after the race? Take a look.

Would we join again? You bet we would!!

Additional photos below

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