32nd to 38th

The week started with all activities towards completing the necessary forms for the Emerald Co. - cop setem hasil, ambil gambar passport, hantar email minta tangguh tarikh melaporkan diri, poslaju untuk courier kan dokumen-dokumen tu semua. At the same time, the waiting game started. Day after day, I was anxiously waiting for the call/email from the Emerald Co., to give the clearance on my medical checkup result so that I can eventually tender my resignation.

At the same time, my boss called three of us one afternoon, mentioning his plan to keep three of us plus another two (from the total of 13 staff) in the division. The company is downsizing, with deployment of staff to subsidiaries to happen throughout the year. I gave a hint to my boss, asking what's his plan if anyone of us resign. Luckily he didn't get what I asked him. Probably, I'm the least expected to go. Anyway, will keep this thing to myself until everything has been decided.

On Thursday and Friday, I was out of office doing some field work on one of the services that we are offering in the region. This task took me to lots of places where I never thought reachable via bus. I had to hop on and hop off buses and moved from place to place by bus. Haven't done that for a while.

Friday wasn't really a good day to me, at least for half the day. I was quite curious why I haven't heard from the Emerald Co. after a week. A medical exam result shouldn't take this long, I assume. But, instead of calling the Emerald Co., I called the Occupational Health Service (OHS) in Prince Court, asking whether they have submitted the report to the Emerald Co. or not?

True to my worry, they haven't! The staff in OHS told me that they have yet to receive report from the Cardio department. Damn! So I had to call Cardio, the staff nurse told me she needs to check with Dr Y, and promised to call me back. I waited long enough but couldn't help myself from calling them again. Staff nurse said doctor is busy bla bla bla. Almost lunch break, she called and told me that Dr Y has prepared the report, it's already in the system and she blamed the OHS for not extracting the system in the system.

I asked her, who in OHS should I talk to. She said she forgotten the name but will call me back after prayer to give me the name. After prayer, she didn't call. So, I called but she refused to give the name. Instead, she told me that Dr Y hasn't done anything with my report citing his busy schedule and will only do so today. Damn! What took so long, 7 days to be exact to write a simple report - an OK or NOT OK?! One argument led to another until it forced me to lodge a formal complaint to the Customer Service Department (CSD).

The person in CSD promised to investigate the matter and would call me back later. Yes she did two hours later, she said the doctor at OHS has just received the report from Dr Y and will compile everything and submit to the Emerald Co asap. See... it can be done in less than two hours! I sensed that Dr Y totally forgot about it and what if I didn't call to follow up? And OHS is another stupid party, they knew of the pending report and why didn't they follow up with Dr Y????

Anyway, I hope everything will be resolved this week. I'm not sure if the official complaint I made would affect the report in a negative way? I don't know...

Sabtu, the highlight of the week. Malam tu aku akan berlari dalam the first Open running competition dalam hidup aku. Siang tu aku dah rehat secukupnya (aku rasa) dan petang tu bergeraklah ke Putrajaya, area Palace of Justice. The atmosphere was great, the spirit of the runners was sensational. Aku akan lari dalam kategori 7.7km dan memakai bib putih. Pelari-pelari full marathon pakai bib kuning dan half marathon bib biru. Jealous aku tengok those with blue and yellow bibs. Dan diorang tu ramai yang aku rasa lebih tua dari aku, tua banyak pun ramai. And they look amazingly fit and having fun! Macam lari marathon ni tak pressure apa dan not abig deal.

Aku yang nak lari 7.7km ni pun dah kecut-kecut perut ni. Anyway, aku berjanji pada diri aku untuk berlatih lebih gigih dan tahun depan kalau tiada aral melintang dan panjang umur, aku akan ambil bahagian dalam kategori paling koman pun half marathon (21km). Yeay!

Race category 7.7km started jam 9pm. Aku agak sewaktu di garisan permulaan tu, aku dalam kelompok yang depan-depan juga lah. Tapi bila dah dilepaskan, rasa macam ramai gila pelari-pelari ada di depan aku. Lepas tu, yang potong aku pun punya lah ramai. The first 2km tu, aku rasa macam nak give up, macam tak boleh nak teruskan, macam nak mula berjalan je, macam satu badan aku sakit-sakit, dengan jalan berbukit around PICC pulak lagi.

Tapi bila dah lari dalam 25 minit tu, aku rasa macam dah dapat rentak, badan dah adjusted dan aku tak fikir nak dapat top 400 dalam kategori 7.7km untuk dapat medal. Yang aku fikir, lari macam yang aku biasa buat kat gym bawah 60 minit, jangan berjalan, habiskan race dan collect sijil penyertaan. Tengah lari tu, nampak adik aku pulak tengah berjalan, aku kata "Cepat lah weh lari..." Dia pun lari, tapi dia lari laju dan potong aku. Dah lagi 2km nak habis (tak silap aku), aku rasa the urge to stride, panjangkan langkah. So, ramai jugaklah yang aku potong. Ada yang dah berjalan, ada yang dah tercungap-cungap.

Bila gantry start/finish tu dah kelihatan, lagi laju aku lari. Akhirnya sampai jugak aku ke garisan penamat dengan masa 50 minit 35 saat. Dan lagi best, aku dapat nombor 392, dan dapat medal!! 400 peserta je dapat medal ok?! Dan medalnya macam ni laa rupa bentuknya....



So, not bad lah kan for the first try?! Dan yang lagi bestnya, aku rasa running a running contest ni adalah satu hobi yang sangat sangatlah baik untuk kesihatan dan tidak membebankan dari segi wang ringgit, tenaga, buah fikiran, dan sebagainya. At the same time, dapat juga kawan-kawan baru, selain mengekalkan kelansingan and... can take you to places.

Bulan depan ada satu lagi night race, the Energizer Race di Cyberjaya which aku dah registered. Dan lepas larian Putrajaya tu jugak, aku terus registered untuk Bidor Half Marathon bulan April nanti. Dua-dua races tu aku amik yang kategori 10km. More races to come, maybe Stan-Chart KL Marathon, Penang Bridge Run, Borneo Marathon ke, tengok lah. Yang penting, aku kena tingkatkan latihan dan usaha. Dan akan banyak lah t-shirt, sijil marathon dan lagi best kalau banyak medals!! Go!! Caiyork!!!