Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur...now known as "phonegate"

Ok...well...as much as I have no desire to continue to rehash what has become a major embarrassment, I have to talk about SCKL and the 1/2 marathon that was not, for me anyway. Now for a moment let me explain me, I know you all don’t care, but it my blog so deal with it! I am a Virgo and far more than that I am a Monkey and I am an Earth Monkey...I do exhibit some of the monkeys more positive traits in that I am a motivator, I can be quick-witted, inquisitive and flexible. I am loyal, self-assured, sociable, artistic, polite, and competitive. I do also happen to have quite a few of the monkey negative traits, I can be reckless and impulsive, in the past I have been jealous and suspicious at times with good reason and I can be very stubborn. So with that being said. I flew into KL, and spent a good deal of time with all the great I-run folks and my friend Thuan, I had fun getting lost walking around KL, could not for the life of me figure out the light rail, and spent way too much time and money on taxi fare, got $150RM stolen from me in the market, but chalked it up to experience and had a great time anyway, so who cared! Got some rest in a nice Hotel, Hilton Doubletree you did me right, nice room, great view and I got to spend some time talking to the Kenyan runners who were in town to win the thing! got down to the race venue in plenty of time and other than being tired, I felt good, my legs felt good the weather was not bad...got to watch some of Spain and France Euro cup game on the really big screen...it was all good, except for one thing, I did something I never have done, EVER. I brought my hand phone. Now I don’t ever do that because I don’t want to worry about where it is and if it will be stolen or not. There came a time when I needed to finish getting ready so I put my bag down, dropped my phone into the bag, or so I thought, and then packed everything up and moved on with the group. We had walked on for about 15 min and I had this nagging feeling, something is wrong, so I looked in the bag for the phone and....it’s not there, so I dump the bag out, nothing. I remember as I was getting ready earlier, looking to my right and seeing these two young men sitting against the fence...OMG I dropped the phone and they or someone, picked it up...it’s gone...so here is where the positive monkey traits give way to the negative ones and the flexibility and self-assuredness becomes impulsivity and I panicked. Every horrible story of people having their phones stolen and their bills run up with calls to Russia, 100's of texts, and then if all that does happen and it’s not till hours later that I call to suspend the line, then the question is asked, "why didn’t you call." My problem is, I want to run, but I cannot do both, and now, the number for my car pickup is in the phone, so I am challenged with finding a Taxi at 4 something AM...I tried to I really did, there was nothing on the street so the idea of going back to the hotel, making the call and coming back to the race was almost at defcon 4. I finally find a cab, and it’s like 5:00AM now, the race goes off at 6...so I can make it...not. See all the roads are closed between the venue and my hotel...so the taxi guy is working his butt off to find a way back...20 min later we finally get to the highway and then another 10 min and we are at the doubletree...so I race to the room grab my ipad, call maxis...get someone pretty quick, do what I need to and totally forget that everything is in Roxanne's name! So now I have to call her at what is now 5:45 and wake her up to get her passport #...I don’t know it off hand. I wake her up; she stumbles through getting me the info, because I just woke her up. Finally I get the number, call Maxis back and do what needs be done...look at the clock...its 5:50AM...So I could go to the venue and start whenever I get there, so I head down to the taxi queue, and find that there are no taxis there and the last guy, who was also looking to get to the race, waited 25 min...I figured that even 20 min late I should be fine, with the amount of people. So I wait, and wait, and wait...it gets to be 6:30 and nothing, so at this point...Its over...my KL adventure has closed...I am disappointed, angry, embarrassed. In hindsight I should have stayed...If you’re listening Lim Yee Ling...I should have stayed and raced...to the others who said the same thing....I should have listened....I did not though, I made a decision and good, bad or ugly...what is made cannot be unmade (accept a bed and coins...they can be melted). do I regret it yes, is it out of character for me to quit...huge yes...please though, let this be the LAST telling of this story I have kicked myself in the ass more in the past 48 hours than any of could hope to have done...that is not a challenge though, in case any of you were planning to come by and give it a shot...there will be other races and I can only hope that I will get to do them with the friends that I have here in Penang.

So, moving forward now...The next race will be in Singapore, a 10k that is part of the "Tri-Factor Series", then there is the Peace Run, here in Penang, then the 1/2 Marathon in Hunter Valley NSW Australia...so plenty more time to redeem myself!