I really challenged myself over the three consecutive weekends from 15/7/2006 to 30/7/2006. Here is what happened.

I have done some events over marathon distance before. My first long distance run over the marathon distance of 42.195km was the 60K charity run in November 2003. My next long distance run was my KL/ Maran run/walk (200+ km over 3 days, sleeping over at Indian temples) from 8/4/2006 to 11/4/2006. I cherished the memory of such events and the friends I made while doing them.

I was therefore happy to agree when I was asked recently to participate in a 100K run/walk charity event on 15/7/2006. I called 2 other friends I met during the KL/ Maran run/walk to join the 100K event. Instead of wearing sandals like during the KL/Maran event, I decided to try the black rubber shoes I bought 2 weeks earlier at a grocery store in Ringlet when I joined a group of trekkers to climb Gunung Irau at Camerons Highland. They cost RM3.90. This story is partly dedicated to these rubber shoes.

The 100K event is well described by pacesetter runner KC Leong who calls himself a penguin runner but I must add a damn fast penguin (sub-4 marathon penguin!!). KC's website is KC & Sunshine Runners at http://penguin-r2.blogspot.com.

So with permission of KC Leong, I reproduce the description of the 100K event posted by him on his website on Friday, July 14, 2006.

Pleace click here to view photos taken by KC Leong.

Running a 100-km Charity Run

Running 100 km? Wow! It must be an extraordinary feat. Yes, this Saturday 15 July at 6pm, Mr.K H Ngae, a marathon runner from Pacesetters Club, will take on the challenge - for a good cause. He is participating in a 100 km Charity Run in aid of kidney failure patient, Ms. Chew Lee Tee. Together with him are Bruce Wun and Dr. Tan (the Hawaii Ironman) who are doing the walk/run category. Encik Adnan, another Pacesetters Runner, has also signed up. Three other walkers that he met during Batu Caves/Maran Walk are joining him too.

Chew Lee Tee, 34 of age, is a primary school English teacher in Johor Bahru. Her hometown is in Segamat and she completed her higher education in UPM Serdang.

Being an active person, she has taught at the Sunday School in Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple at Brickfields and was active in the counseling unit of BGF. She is presently a resident at the Compassion Buddhist Meditation Centre in Johor Bahru.

Ms. Chew is undergoing dialysis three times a week after being diagnosed with end stage kidney failure in 2004. She continues to be a bubbly person despite her present health condition.

She dreams of living a normal life again and has decided to go for a kidney transplant in China, which is estimated to cost RM120,000-00.

Her story and appeal for donation appeared in Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh on 30 March 2006.

The Triathlon Association of Negri Sembilan has decided to help by organizing a 100 km charity run on 16th July 2006 from Subang Jaya Buddhist Centre to Port Dickson. Participants in the run are asked to raise fund from the public to assist Ms. Chew.

According to the organizer, there are about 30 participants in this event. More than half are the temple devotees who will do a long, slow walk (target time for them is 24 hours). The ending point is at the Lukut Dialysis Center. (The ending is actually 90K, with the runners/walkers having the option to run an additional 10K loop. ) Ngae hopes to reach there by 9am or 10am, Sunday with a target time of 15 hours.

When asked what motivates him to take part in this charity run, his reply: Firstly, I was asked to assist and it makes a small difference to Ms. Chew. Secondly, I can test my physical and mental state in a supported event, i.e. there is back-up team. This is the same reason I did the Batu Caves/Maran walk/run in April. Thirdly, I do not have to travel a long way to participate. Well, there is no special training for me. I just tried to be familiar with a pace of 9 min per km during the training.

Start Time and Running Route
Runners will have to report at Subang Jaya Buddhist Temple at 5pm on Saturday, 15 July for a blessing ceremony and then the event will be flagged off at 6pm. The runners will follow the LDP route until the turn off to Taman Puchong Utama and then join the old road to Dengkil en route to Salak Tinggi and Lukut. The cut off time is 24 hours - 6pm on Sunday 16 July.

The Organizer
The Triathlon Association of Negeri Sembilan is the same organization which organised the 60K run in Lukut/Port Dickson/Siliau back in 2003 that Mr. Ngae took part also. That run was to raise money to buy dialysis machines for a charity dialysis centre in Lukut. The runners managed to raise about RM80,000 in 2003 and the money was used to buy 2 dialysis machines.

--End of KC's Report--

My 100km Event Report

On the afternoon of Saturday 15/7/2006, the participants and supporters gathered at the Buddhist Association building. I was warmed by the presence of many pacesetters running buddies (KC, Chee Wee, Hooi, Raymond, Richard, Patrick, Jenny, and Tony) who turned up to support the participants. I was also highly motivated by the various support emails I received from all my running buddies and hill trekking group.

Supporters and runners from Pacesetters.
Back row: Sifu Hooi, Richard, Raymond, Ngae and Tony.
Front row: Jenny, Bruce, Chuah and Patrick.

Ms. Chew Lee Tee and the runners: From left: Dr. Tan, Joo Ngan, Ms. Chew, Bruce, Chuah and Ngae.

There was a short blessing ceremony by a monk at 5.30 pm and Ms. Chew Lee Tee gave a "thank you" speech after that. A group photograph was taken for the participants and supporters before the flag-off.

Group photograph of participants and supporters.

Just before flag off.

A monk flagged us off at 6.15 pm.

"Remember the pace: 9 min per Km," I kept reminding myself. "Resist the urge. It is going to be a long night ahead. Don't get injured. Stay relaxed. Above all, stay within limit and finish the course. Of course, if something goes wrong, be prepared to stop."

The 3 KL/Maran walkers (Ngae, Krishnan and Dr. Devinder) starting off.

Ironman Ong (FRIM Pacesetter) took off right at the start. He would finish first in less than 13 hours later. He was accompanied by a young runner all the way until at 70Km where the young man had to punch out.

My group came next, consisting of myself, Jason Lim and 2 Langkawi Ironmen Sam Matsunaga and Steve both expatriates working Malaysia.

At the 8.3km stop just after crossing the Toll Plaza of LDP Highway heading towards Puchong Perdana, we stopped as arranged by the organizer earlier to wait for everyone to have a light dinner. There was some confusion as the marshals had not seen Ironman Ong and his young running companion crossing that station. Where were they?? As I was supposed to take care of the front group, I started calling to check whether anyone has Ironman Ong's mobile number. After a few calls, I was then told that Ironman Ong had taken an earlier pedestrian crossing and proceeded without waiting for dinner. He knew the way to go.

For dinner, Mr. Krishnan (a walker I met during KL/Maran Walk in April kindly offered the participants home-cooked idli, putu mayam and vegetarian dhal plus teh tarik and Nescafe!! What a kind soul. When the food came, most of the walkers had caught up with us and we all had a light and pleasant dinner. I spent about an hour at the dinner stop andI felt all charged up after that. About an hour later we restarted and headed up the pedestrian crossing over LDP and headed towards Puchong. From there, we turned towards Cyberjaya. By then it was dark. All the Ironmen and runners were together up to that point.

My group then broke away. The four of us would stayed together until after 50Km just before Sepang.

The old Puchong-Dengkil road leading to Cyberjaya was not recognizable to me. It is now a dual carriage way, but still a very winding one. We were lucky to be provided with a two-page photo-guide by the organizer showing all the junctions and turn-offs. There were some junctions with no signages at all and we would have been lost if not for the photo-guide. We passed through some kampung houses (Pulau Meranti) and turned into Cyberjaya. We looked out for Petronas station and then the fire station and then out of Cyberjaya and were then back onto the road to Dengkil.

At the Petronas station just outside Dengkil (38Km mark), we had a drink stop and were greeted by three of Steve's friends. It was around 12.30 am. I thought to myself, this was going to be my "new marathon PB". It was going to take 7 hours or more to finish the marathon distance. That stretch was rather messy because of roadworks. The street lights were out and it was a narrow old road. We had to be careful with the oncoming traffic. Around 1 am we went through Dengkil town.

Out of Dengkil town, we continued on the old narrow road in darkness for about another 3Km. We were prepared with torch lights and hazard flashlights. Suddenly, the sky seemed to brighten up. It was just after 1am and we were at the junction to the new Salak Tinggi Highway (40.8 Km mark). It was a 6-lane expressway (including emergency lane), straight and brightly li, and hardly any cars! The four of us were all on our own. I began to feel the "chi" my friends promised to send to help me on the way. We would go on that highway for about 13 km, passing very near to KLIA.

So far so good, my RM3.90 rubber shoes were doing great. I was feeling relaxed.

On the highway, two of Steve's friends did on-line skating and kept us company from 1.30 am to 3am. One of them drove and followed us. They helped the support vans to give us food and drinks.

Somewhere near KLIA, we turned left at an interchange and continued on the highway towards Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi/Nilai. As we approached Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi flyover interchange, Steve's friends bade us goodbye and turned back to KL in their car. We went off the slip road and were back on old country road. We were at the psychologically important 53.5 Km mark. "Ok, we are more than halfway," we told each other. It was after 2am and it was dark all the way. Luckily Sam and I had torch lights, as that helped us to avoid stepping onto/tripping on a big animal carcass lying on the road in the darkness.

At 57 Km we hit Salak town and it was around 4am. We went through Salak and continued straight along the road toward Sepang. Somewhere after that Jason and I broke away from Steve and Sam. The two of us would run together for most of the remaining 43 km.

Sepang was the important 70Km mark. Ok, 70% done. All under controlled and relaxed. No reason not to complete now. I started to do my calculations. I told Jason that we would probably finish before 12 am. My original target was 10am. I did not plan for the one hour dinner break. I was looking at the sky which indicated a sunny day ahead. I was concerned. I normally want to finish my marathon by 9-10am so that I can avoid the punishing heat. But I really could not risk going any faster. My priority was to complete the full 100 Km .

I started to do some walking. But my toes hurt when I walked and the ache eased when I go into a slow pace. So I had to keep the slow pace for the rest of the way.

It was daybreak. The saying "New day brings new hope and new challenge" bought a whole new meaning to me. With daylight, I could then start to appreciate the wonders around me. We were going through a stretch with panoramic view of the Guthrie oil palm estates and endless green rolling hills. Unfortunately, it also showed the hilly terrain ahead. I could see the cars ahead on the hills really high up beyond the oil palm estate. Those hills!!!! And we had to get up there on our tired legs! "Mind over matter now. Just 20 plus Km. Think of the weekly Hartamas run. Think of the other runners who were doing the Seremban Half Maratho." Now the milestones were taking their time to come into view.

We came up to the junction to Bukit Pelanduk which lies 2 Km away from the main road. We were not turning in. A lot of things came to my mind. First the JE outbreak that hit the pig farmers there some years ago. A sign said "Dragon Fruit Farm". The pig farmers were a resilient lot. They turned to dragon fruit farming after the disastrous JE outbreak which killed many pig farmers and the pig farming there. I also remembered my dear friend, HB Lim who died of cancer in November 1999. He was originally from Bukit Pelanduk and had been a close friend since university days. A talented man, Chinese scholar, accomplished Chinese painting artist, and CEO of a listed company when big C hit him. I remembered his phone call and the lunch appointment when he broke the news to me. "Edwin, it is big C" as he gave me a bear hug. I remembered the feeling. Again the grit and determination of the human spirit.. HB was really really strong in spirit through out his final journey. For 1 ½ year, close friends walked the final journey with HB. I remembered the last night when I bade farewell to HB at Subang Jaya Medical Centre, HB was then too weak to speak but he could feebly waved his hand without opening his eyes. HB was gone the next day noon.

As I lost myself in these thoughts, somewhere around the 80 Km mark, Jason suddenly broke away and was going fast. I could not catch him. I decided not to risk injury in order to keep up with this young man. So I ran alone.

Finally Tanah Merah estate came into view. Hurray! 81Km and 81% done. A few km later suddenly I saw Jason sitting at a curb and Ironman Yap (who ws the safety director for the event) was with him. I stopped and checked if Jason was okay. Jason said he was feeling very sleepy and needed water to pour over his head. The support van was not around. After 5-10 minutes, Jason decided to carry on and I followed. Yap walked with me (my run was now really slow) and he was telling me that he was very concerned about Jason.

It was about 8 am when Yap told me that the first runner Ironman Ong had already finished 90 Km and decided to end there. Jason and I would be the next finishers. The dialysis center at Lukut which was the finishing line happened to be 90 km. To actually finish 100 Km would mean one had to do an extra 10 km by running off the finishing line for another 5 Km and then u-turn back to the finishing line again. Yap was then really concerned with Jason who seemed to be swaying in his run. From behind, I could see Jason swaying more than usual. Yap noticed that Jason eyes seemed to be closing on and off. He felt that he had to exercise his discretion to ask Jason not to do the extra 10 Km. Yap instructed a volunteer to go ahead to the junction ahead and guide Jason to take the right turn and finish at 90 km.

It was getting sunny and hot by then. I had a comfortable run with Yap pacing beside me all the way till the Lukut Junction (the 89K mark). Initially he also suggested that I should cut short to 90 Km like the two runners before me. He accompanied me for about 45 minutes, and he felt that I seemed to be in good enough condition to do the optional 10Km if I wanted to. I looked to the junction ahead. 89 km mark. Turn right, 1 km to finish line. Turn left, 11 km to finish line! Time: 9.30am. Weather: Sunny and hot. To go or not to go the extra 10 Km (another 2 hours under the hot sun)? Tough call for me.

I looked up again at the junction, a giant billboard said "Welcome to Port Dickson, Glory Beach Resort" with a right turn arrow and a picture of really inviting blue sea and the beach. It brought me back to my windsurfing days. I could feel the cool sea and gentle waves lapping my feet as I windsurf. The call got tougher. Decision… decision… decision…. Then I heard Yap hollered to the volunteers at the junction: "This guy is good to go the extra 10 km!!". Well… Yap made the call for me. Of course I could still turn right and finish the 1 km. (The organizer told me later that after the first 2 runners finished at 90Km, he expected everyone to finish just 90 km. He nevertheless hoped some really really stubborn guy would actually do the full 100 Km. Well he got his wish!)

I crossed the road to do the left turn, thereby committing myself to do the extra 11 Km. I told myself to focus on the next 11 Km. "Just 27.5 times around the Kampong Pandan track. Just up to Hartamas Petronas station." I was not having muscle trouble. Only my feet were aching like hell, but I did not feel any blisters. Will my black rubber shoes get too hot for my feet under the hot sun? All alone now, I crossed under the PD Highway and one car pulled up beside me and the driver asked for direction to PD beach. I told the driver to make a u-turn.

A few PD hashers at the roadside were tooting a horn and shouting at me "On..On…". I shouted back "On…On". The sun glared ceaselessly. "Ok, think of the Maran run, it was even hotter in the afternoon sun, and this is still morning sun," I motivated myself. At 10.30 am I was approaching Siliau junction, where I was to u-turn to Lukut finish line (now 5 km behind me). I felt I should be able to finish the full 100 Km by 11.30 am. Usually I would discount the last km in a race, because our body would then relax and let us draw on all the reserves and power to finish.

Finally the big tree at Siliau junction came into view. I went up to it and u-turned. UnderI the shade of the tree, I did some stretches, took my last drink and a banana from the support crew (my 18th banana through the night and morning). Then I headed back towards Lukut town and towards the finishing line, another 6Km away. Traffic was getting really really heavy, with many oil tankers passing me. I ran on the curb most of the time. Nothing was going to stop me now. I was happy and relaxed. Yes, a full 100 Km! I crossed the PD highway flyover again then crossed the Lukut Junction for the second time and on to the town and to the FINISH at 11.35 am.

Ms. Chew was there to welcome the finishers. I received my finisher medal and then saw that the three Ironmen Ong , Steve and Sam already finished. Jason, who finished after Ong, had gone to sleep. All of them opted to finish at the 90 Km mark and I was the first to finish the full 100 Km! I then hoped my Maran walk kakis would do as I did.

At the finish, looking relaxed. My RM3.90 rubber shoes that took me 100km and I had no blisters at all!!!



Ms. Chew Lee Tee with the early finishers.

Out of the 34 participants, 3 finished the full 100 Km and 10 others finished 90 Km. I, Krishnan (my fellow Maran walker) and Dr. Tan did the full 100 km. The last participant to finish came in at 8.05pm (26 hours! What endurance!). As expected, all finishers were regular runners, walkers or Ironmen. But then again, I really credit those who had not walked 10 Km but could complete 40-50 Km, and did so over 16-17 hours through the night!!

I completed the 100 Km in 17hours 20minutes (including 1 hour dinner break). I started at 6.15 pm on Saturday and finished 11.35am on Sunday. I would have come in 3rd position for the 90 km (the optional finish) and was the first to finish the full 100 km.

Dr. Tan related to me later on what happened to Bruce. Bruce had laid off running for one solid month to watch the Fifa World Cup matches. He watched every single match including the 3am matches. He ran ahead of Dr. Tan at Dengkil and just after Dengkil, but he couldn't carry on. He was picked up by a support van and was ferried to somewhere after the 53 km mark where he got off to do his "pit stop thing" . He then had trouble climbing back to the van and had to lie down on the roadside. Eventually Dr. Tan saw him and gave him a drink of Gatarode and called for IV drip to be brought by medical support team. When the drip came, Bruce was already better and did not want to be put on dripped. He was then ferried to Lukut in the support van.

Surprisingly, after the event, I seemed to recover faster than after a normal marathon. I believe the reason is I did the event well within my limit.

Update on the Charity efforts
"What was the most notable accomplishment I felt in the 100 km event? Finishing the distance was of course important for me but more importantly, the participants and their generous supporters and donors managed to raise RM88, 000.00 for Ms. Chew!! This sum together with what was raised through the newspaper earlier was sufficient for her to go for her kidney transplant operation in China in the next 2 months. Let us all pray for her.

Out of the RM88,000.00 raised in the run, Ms. Chew Lee Tee and the organizer had decided to give to other charitable organisations a sum of RM40,000.00 which Ms. Chew felt was in excess of what she needed for her kidney transplant. RM10,000.00 was given to Sekolah Rendah Lukut to enable it to complete its computer class room extension and RM30,000.00 was given to Mawar Dialysis Centre Kidney Hospital Extension in Seremban."