A run in the sun: Sutera Harbour 7K Charity Run 2009

I wanted to blog about this yesterday but I was too pooped to do so. So, after a good night's sleep, I thought I'd write about it this morning before the details of yesterday's event became fuzzy.

We arrived at the Sutera Harbour for the run just before it started, and boy, the place was absolutely full of people. Many were wearing the official t-shirts, but quite a number as well were not. I suspect they joined the run just for the fun of it. The Sutera Harbour 7k Run is a yearly event, and I'd say it's almost like a big community event. It's basically a charity event: the recipients of the proceeds from the event being the Sabah Chapter of the Special Olympics and the Sabah Thalassemia Society. And while this is only my second time joining this, I think the turn-out every year is huge. This year, according to newpaper reports, more than 10,000 people showed up in support of the event!

The event has some interesting traditions in keeping with the number 7 theme. It starts at 5.07 pm, that's 1717 hours, and if you finish it in 77 minutes, you're eligibile for a lucky draw. I remember the first ever time it was held, and it was held on the 7th day of the 7th month in 2001.

Anyway, we brought Adelle along for the run and she was pretty excited about it as we had been telling her about it before this. But, surely you can't expect a two-and-a-half-year-old child to walk the whole seven kilometres would you? So, being the smart parents that we were, we brought along her stroller - for her to sit in (which she did most of the time any way). My wife did the pushing since I lagged behind trying to take some decent pictures of the event (which I didn't). I tried to catch up, mixing a brisk walk with the occasional short-distance trot. The funniest thing was, as I was making myself out of the hotel grounds, I already saw a number of people returning!

I was quite surprised by the weather. It had been raining the past two days in the evening with strong winds but the weather was just perfect yesterday: no sight of dark clouds, and not a single drop of rain. The sunset was quite beautiful and it wasn't very hot, so conditions were just about perfect. I finally caught up with my wife and Adelle just past the half way mark, and we walked together after that. All of us reached the finish line but I think it was past the 77-minute cut-off time, since there was no where to register ourselves for the lucky draw when we finally crossed it. Oh well, another time perhaps.

There was other programmes lined up for the evening: a concert by several local artistes, a lucky draw, foodstalls to buy food from, and others, but we didn't stay. We just helped ourselves to some of the free drinks that were available (Adelle has discovered the good taste of 100 plus!) and then left. Since I parked the car quite a distance from the starting line, I had to walk another kilometre or so to get it and pick-up my wife and Adelle.

It was a fun-family outing, and I'd highly recommend it for a healthy family do-together activity if you've never joined it before. For more photos, please visit my photoblog.

Adelle getting into the swing of things at the start of the run.