I was rotting at home for a while already when a friend asked that I joined them for a race in Pulau Perhentian, a beautiful island tucked away in East Coast of Peninsular. Perhentian Island Challenge is a 11km race circuit including 600m swim. I was not confident of my fitness level but he gave me reassurance that I will be able to manage just fine. So, I signed up and decided that it would be an excellent opportunity to bring my family for an island getaway weekend at the same time.
We gathered at Kuala Besut Jetty at 0830H and departed not long after. As the boat heads towards the island, my heart was leaping with joy as the beautiful ocean view slowly comes into view. I never realized how much I missed the sea of Malaysia until then. I can almost see a pair of invisible arms extended towards me from the crystal clear water, welcoming me to jump in. And I started t regret for not wearing my swimsuit for the boat ride. I guessed I must have been away for too long.
As we approached the island, the leaves on coconut trees that lined the beach started to sway in unison in response to the sea breeze, adding to the magical feeling I already had. We had to delay our union with the sea as my stomach started to growl in complain, so we unpacked “nasi kerabu” from home and sat on the verandah eating, peeking towards the beach from time to time.
Then it’s time for the sand and water. My nieces and I changed into our swimsuit in lightning speed and was in the water in no time. It was so refreshing, and I tried hard to remember when is the last time I felt so good, totally relax, and just enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by crystal clear water and nice sandy beach. Good time glided by without you realizing, very soon the sun is low on the horizon and we went and sat on a pile of rocks watching it disappear, leaving a sky of beautifully colored clouds. Another day had passed.
The next day is the PIC day, I woke up early and joined my fellow friends crossing over to the starting point after a hearty breakfast. It was a long wait before the race actually flagged of; meanwhile there is top spinning and Malay martial art display during the opening ceremony. When we were finally flagged off, the merciless sun is already high in the sky, burning into my skin. I started to run a little until I came to a steep slope, looking up I immediately decided that I will just enjoy the race rather than pushing too hard, it’s unlikely that I will win anyway. However, a friend made sure that I did not end up to be the last to arrive at the finishing line by following me closely, I tried to encouraged him to go ahead but to no avail, so I was left with no choice but to keep going at a faster pace than I had intended on doing, few times I was so tempted to stop that I actually cursed him for not leaving me well alone.
The race was not as hard as I had imagined, but certainly not a morning stroll in the park either. Most of the route is slightly hilly, with small and sometimes muddy paths and we also passed by some villages, where I looked at the villagers sipping cold water with envy. There is also a 100m walk carrying a 4kg sack, right before our first water point. The race was fairly well marked but a small hiccup occurred when we got to the point where we were to swim the 600m course. Earlier we were informed that we will be swimming back to where we started, so that we can leave our shoes on the beach and come back for it, but this is not the case. So after some brainstorming, we got a few plastic bags, packed our shoes and others into my friend’s bags before we hit the water. I decided to go ahead as I was sure that the guys will soon catch up since as far as I know they are much better swimmer than I am. However, I was proven wrong, the guys struggled as the bag hinder their strokes and hurt their skin, so they ended up moving at a much slower pace than they would have done under normal circumstances, so I arrived at the other end before they do and spent some time playing in the waves, even got hit by quite a big wave and ended up with sand all inside my swim suit, that is really uncomfortable, serve me right for being playful, sigh..
The walk up the 500 steps that followed was really breathtaking, both in terms of the beautiful view and the steep walk. We could not resist from stopping and looked back at the view, taking photos and making appreciative comments the whole time. I think this could easily be the most beautiful 500 steps in my life. Leaving the steps, it was only 30 minutes walk downhill towards the finishing line. As I approached the village, I heard the crowd and started to move faster as after 5 hours walk, I just want to get to the finishing line and get it done. One friend decided to follow my pace while the other lacked behind, deciding to continue at the original pace. We continued just a little further before heading to the beach where we were led to perform a series of rather silly and pointless obstacle. I later found out that it seems silly when we did it because the water level had gone down. We made it to the finishing line in a little over 5 hours. We were constantly looking back as we were nearing the finishing line, to see if the other friend was behind us, but to our amazement, he was not. This baffled us as we were sure that he was not too far behind us! The team captain decided to go looking for him after he did not arrive 30 minutes later.
Only when we were back to the place we stayed did we find out that he was already there, it appeared that he missed the turning and ended up at another village, where we started in the morning, assuming that is where the finishing line is. The village is another 30 minutes walk away; poor guy did all the extra distance and wondered why no one was there when he got there. I felt slightly guilty but was abashed that this could have happened, as we only part when I could already clearly see the finishing site and hear the crowd, too much assumption on my side, I guessed. For that, I guess an apology is in place and also for laughing at him after. My bad, sorry my friend!
This is an eventful and yet relaxing weekend for me and family. The next morning I spent dipping in the water the whole time, not doing much just enjoy the feeling of the water wrapping my body, caressing me gently. When I finally stepped from the jetty to the boat to leave, I looked back and wondered when I will be back here again, back to the embrace of the crystal clear water.
