Jogging @ KLCC Park

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We’re running out of parks to visit. Looks like we might soon be going back to our routine. Bummer. There are only so many lakes you can go run around, I guess. Well, this Sunday morning, it’s the KLCC Park. It’s not easy, I tell you. Do you have any idea how it feels to be walking through the Shopping Mall and not … actually shopping? (Partly cos no stores are open at 8am, and partly cos I’m here to exercise my body, not exercise my credit card). It’s agony. But having said that, I do like the feel of a quiet, empty mall. It’s almost like being in a place of worship. You feel a sense of awe, of reverence, makes you want to drop down into a lotus position and start to meditate. We don’t do that, of course. Instead, we march past it all and go out into the 20-hectare park.

The fountain area is full of workers hard at work cleaning it out. Yeah, they should. Clean up the garbage before the 10am lepak crowd throngs the place to hang around on the steps, throw rubbish on the ground and have Ramly burger picnics on the tiled floor.

Anyways, the KLCC Park jogging trail starts here – somewhere to the right of the fountain area, where the Convention Centre is. So used to being on tarred road all the time, I’m not used to the rubberised path, but it’s definitely easier on the joints. Looks incredibly inviting too. By then, there are quite a lot of people at the park – families, kids, photographers and several serious runner-types (you can always tell from their tanned, toned arms and legs – sigh).

I really like it here. Beautiful wide open spaces, plenty of cops around (just in case you decide to run amok and you know, tunjuk perasaan or something), quite a number of drinking water fountains – while I would never drink from them, it’s nice to see that they’re there. There’s also a kiddie playground right in the centre of the loop.

The entire trail is about 1.2km – a lot shorter than I’d expected. Along the way, though, you get to enjoy plenty of nice views …

… like the sight of ongoing construction …

… a humongous mosque (it wouldn’t be Malaysia if there weren’t a mosque nearby now, would it?) …

… and of course, the splendorous Petronas Twin Towers …

… I love the sight of the towers and no matter how many times I see them, they never fail to impress. I love how they loom majestically above everything and can clearly be seen no matter where you are in the park.

If I had to work in KL, this is where I’d like to be. Come 6pm, when everybody’s all busy crawling their way home in the mad KL traffic, I can nicely put on my workout clothes and go let off some steam in the park, come back up, shower and then, when traffic has eased, go home. Ah, that would be the life. Unlike where I’m working now (which shall remain undisclosed), there’s nothing green within nowhere. It’s very pathetic. Only plenty of lousy longkangs, rows of haphazardly triple-parked cars and a contingent of notorious snatch thieves that prowl the streets at lunch time. Sure, there’s a gym two minutes’ drive away but I don’t feel like paying money to climb stairs that aren’t there or run on a ‘road’ that goes nowhere.

We do our customary one hour thing and then, head out of the park and back to the mall. We toy with the idea of breakfasting in one of the cafés but decide against it cos we have no cash on us. Besides, nobody wants a bunch of sweaty, stinky girls sitting in their establishment, scaring away the customers.

Walking through the mall again at 9am, we’re again burdened by the guilt of being there and not buying anything. It’s a crime, I tell you. But when we get to the machine and have to pay a parking fee of RM4 for a measly one hour, the guilt quickly dissipates. Hmm. Guess my purse gets a workout after all.

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Tags: exercise, fitness, health, jogging, KLCC, park, running, twin towers, walking