Start Family Holidays with a Marathon
/
The best way I can imagine to kick off family holidays is to run a marathon, of course. That's why in just 5 weeks I will be in Malaysia running Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon. Why? Because I will start on a high, with a big bang! and then relax (read - recover) discovering Myanmar for the next couple of weeks (well, to be honest there will be not much relaxing, I'm going with my husband and his idea of travel is to move all the time; walk, talk, see, explore... I always come back more tired than before... but also super happy).
It's slowly becoming a thing for my marathon travel that I find inspiration from some random Facebook posts and ads. This time it was just an advertisement from one of the airlines... sale on flights to Asia. It got me and got my husband in the right moment.
We didn’t really have any real holidays for the last two years. Mostly because last year the roof happened, I mean totally leaking roof that needed urgent replacement. What can I say, the house is old and requires some serious TLC on quite regular basis. Any way, soon after New Year's Eve we were sitting at the table dreaming what we would love to do this year. Of course, we would love to travel again. Then I found this ad... that was it! Quick search and we both came out with... Myanmar, flying through Kuala Lumpur.
I wouldn't be myself if I didn't search for marathons around and yes, I found one - Kuala Lumpur Marathon on 21 May. The time was perfect and the place was... well... hot again! Never mind, if I could survive running in Singapore, I surely can in Kuala Lumpur.
In 2017 registrations were to be open on Monday 16 January. I hopped on their website as soon as I could and... ouch! found out they require a passport number to register. I had a passport, but it was valid for less than 6 months and I was just about to renew it. I wasn't sure what to do. Then on Wednesday finally decided to contact the organisers and ask for help... and visited their website... 'OMG!!!' I screamed to myself. My heart sank. I couldn't believe in what I saw. Almost all races were sold out!!! I totally panicked and as quick as I could registered for the marathon with my old passport, hoping I could somehow change it later or bring both (new and old) to pick up my race bib.
I was super lucky. By Thursday all races, including the marathon, were sold out! However, just after I registered I got a very nice and professional reply from the organisers that they would be happy to update my registration with a new passport number when I get one.
Any way, despite my passport worry and unnecessarily waiting two days to contact the organisers, registration process is a breeze. You go onto their website www.kl-marathon.com, select Registration, put all your details (including passport number) and pay with a credit card.
There are many distances to choose from: a marathon, half-marathon, 10km, 5km, and for the young ones Kids Dash in 3km or 1km. Prices for foreigners are: USD $60 - marathon, $55 half-marathon, $48 - 10km, $43 - 5km and kids 3km or 1km - $15. Prices for Singaporeans are slightly lower - all the same numbers but in Singaporean Dollars.
Standard Chartered Bank Credit/ Debit Card holders (Malaysia issued only) will receive a 10% discount on the registration fee when registering online.
And that would be it for KL Marathon registration, except one thing - if you're really keen on this race be warned - keep an eye on their website and sign up as soon as registrations are open. This event sells super quick - 3 days and all places are gone!!!
