The Running Diva Malaysia 2016.

On 12th and 13th of March, we said YES! to two events back to back. Call us crazy! We were holding on to our #gigih2016 hashtag! Even though, these 2 events were just 6 days after the Malaysia Women Marathon Race Expo, and despite the fact that the Lady Boss/Head Baker had to fly to Bangkok for Bull Run, we said YES!

We really looked forward to opening our booth on Race Day. We just wanna have that feel and experience, and see what we can accomplish. So, on the 12th of March, we had The Running Diva Malaysia and the 13th, the UEM Charity Run (will tell more in the next post, ok?).

NM Galaxy is the organizer for The Running Diva Malaysia. NM Galaxy puts itself as Malaysia's Sports Event Management Expert. The Running Diva Malaysia was the first race to kick off many more race events conducted by this company. NMG is also the company you go to if you want to hold your own race. They can help you organize from A-Z, all that needs to be done, from recceing the location, lay down the route, up to clearing up the mess after the race. Cool yes? Who knows, one day we will have The Marathon Baker Race!

The Race Director, Ariff Syafik, also our ambassador, gave us some rough ideas of what to expect, in terms of crowd, time bla bla.. Opening the booth on Race Day is challenging in a different sense. We have to be at the booth very early in the morning, before the runners arrive. (I noticed that other exhibitors came late.. but since this was our first time, we wanted to be punctual and be in the good books of the organizer.) But, the best thing is, we get to go home as early as 10 am! 
Wee hee!

So, by 5 a.m, we arrived with our cooler boxes filled with energy bars, Liquid Desserts Kopi Ais, Thai Iced Tea and Thai Iced Green Tea. 

Early morning selfie. This was taken before Subuh. We were just following the theme #bukansekadarselfie !

We were all hyped and excited. I was nervous though, cos the Lady Boss insisted on running this time. Because of the MEDAL!! Can you believe that? So, she left me to man the booth by myself! Cis!

But this is an awesome medal, beautifully done by the NMG Team also. I don't blame her! So pretty! So Diva!

Ariff was kind enough to find an abang sado to help me. And boy, he helped me a lot, from : carrying the cooler boxes, up to looking for cellophane tape for me. Sometimes, I didn't have to tell him what I wanted, yet he could actually read it from my face.. 
Talk about chemistry in half an hour!

Thank you Hilmi for being the saviour of the day!

Since this was kind of a laid back race, the Race Director allowed us to do whatever we want. So, we decided to have fun with the runners! Our ambassador, Syed came up with the idea: Tap for Energy! Syed carried some RunBananaz in his backpack, and after KM5, he gave away RunBananaz to anyone who tapped him for FREE! How cool was that?

Though next time, we have to remind him not to run too fast. Oh well, kaki panjang, how lah?

I learn a lot from the Lady Boss. Me, being the kaki bangku, and her being the kaki lari. Terms that were alien to me before, are alien to me no more. That week, I learnt of the salt water. Runners carry salt water when they run. It is common for athletes to drink salt water to prevent cramps.

The one in the purple bottle is the salt water. This link tells you how to make one.

Gelap-gelap lagi dah berniaga. Early bird catches the worm, yes?

There was a Pre-Race warm up session by Curves Malaysia, a fitness centre for women only. Then, everyone queued up to get ready for the Race Director to flag off the race. There were two categories; 5KM and 10KM . Everyone who completed the race gets a medal. Best kan? 

Lady Boss along with Bursa Team getting ready to run.

Runners all set.

.. and the Race Director flagged off the Race...

.. then went to make his rounds afterwards ensuring everything was tip top.

The highlight of The Running Diva Malaysia was Elizabeth Tan. She was supposed to run and have fun with her fans (us!) during the race. But, unfortunately, she was down with influenza and had to stay home instead. But, we had fun anyways, cos we had a surprise birthday party planned for our Lady Boss that day! 

Zet didn't see it coming.. and I tried my best to shut up and not complain to her about things that didn't go as I planned. (I talk to her about everything under the sun when it comes to things like this, so it was kinda hard for me to keep my mouth shut).

Syed and I had discussed about celebrating the Lady Boss's birthday like a week before her actual birthday. But Zet was everywhere and we could not catch her. So, the The Running Diva Malaysia race was the perfect place to celebrate, though 3 weeks late! 

I ordered the best cake in town, Pandan Gula Melaka Cake by Iheartdesserts and Pecan Caramel Brownies by Brown Butter Bakes. Both were hits that we didn't get to take a proper picture of them.

My country so hot. Gula Melaka Caramel melted!

Picture taken from Brown Butter Bakes FB Page. Honestly I am not sure if this is the Pecan Caramel Brownies, or the Mega Sumpah Sedap.

And when you have Ariff on board, a planned small-do turned out to be an unforgettable slot for Zet! She was called up on stage to present the Top 3 prizes to the runners, and after that, a birthday song was played and we were all up on stage with the cake and balloons. Of course she was surprised that she wanted to cry. And of course I get the : "SAPA PUNYA IDEA NI HAA?" afterwards.

Surprise! Surprise! 

I really thank Yamini for helping me man the booth while I go up on stage with the rest of the gang.

I wanted to cancel off the balloons cos it was kinda last minute. But, Ariff sounded that it was IMPORTANT. Thank goodness this was made possible by the Balloonism team! And thank goodness that Ariff insisted, cause it would be plain without the balloons. The look on Zet's face.. priceless!

Happy Birthday Runny-licious Diva!

It was a fun event, I must say. Below are some pictures that we managed to capture. Credit to our ambassadors, customers and especially to the Running Malaysia Magazine for all the photos. We were so excited to go on stage, that we forgot to ask anyone to take our picture!

Food for sponsors.. Yes.. for Elizabeth Tan also, of course!

Founder of MisFydKrafts , Founder of the exclusive modern crochet, dropped by before we left. Awesome crown she made for Aizat. Miss Fyd also conducts crochet classes. So, follow her FB or Instagram if you like creating cool stuffs like her.

When we dedicated the Choc Diva energy bar to Aizat, we know that he is the only one who can carry this title. Buy Choc Diva now! The cape is also MisFyd's creation.

Us with the sporting ambassadors. 

The Bursa Team. Congratulations Hanita! Podium lagi!

Syed tested to see if he was sado enough to pose like this.

This was our first experience opening a booth on Race Day. We learnt a lot in a day, especially on what to expect from the crowd. This experience allowed us to manage our expectations in the future. Even if we had to wake up super early in the morning, we didn't mind. And YES!, we would love to do it again. Thank you to NMG for inviting us.

Malaysia Women Marathon 2016

Marathon Baker was very honoured to be invited to showcase our products during the Race Expo of Malaysia Women Marathon (MWM) on the 4^th  and 5th of March, at Bandar Rimbayu, Kota Kemuning. MWM is an annual event dedicated for the ladies in Malaysia, and this year marks their 4th year of encouraging ladies to run, with the theme Run Sisters Run.

The runners collected their Race Kits during the Race Expo days. This, we find, was a good opportunity to get to see many runners on that day. Sadly, we missed the ones that got someone else to collect for them. Even so, there were MANY people who turned up at Bandar Rimbayu! Bandar Rimbayu is a new premier township with modern amazing designs. Check them out here!

I personally think that the Race Director, Karen Loh is brilliant. Read about her interview here. There were interesting programs during the Race Kit Collection days. Many other exhibitors also participated such as Colombia Asia Hospital, Impressed, Nashata hijab sportswear and many more. The highlight of the Race Expo was the Women's Dialog with distinguished panel of speakers : Stephanie Case, Datuk Marina Chin, Airin Zainul, Jeri Chua and Sue O'Brien, moderated by Freda Liu.

It was our first proper booth Set Up, with THE MARATHON BAKER plastered on the top. Oh boy, were we proud! It was also our first time selling on Race Kit Collection Days. 

Entertaining visitors.

#gigih2016 has been our favourite hashtag to use among ourselves. So, we are broadening our horizon and ready to try opening our booths at different times. We started selling at 10 am and by 1pm, most of our flavours were SOLD OUT! It's the crowd, I must say, and of course because we gave free testers. Most of the time, they fell in love after they get a taste of our homemade energy bars. (No need any love potion here!).

Lady Boss, Head Baker kept on updating her instagram and Facebook Page on the sold out flavours, making our ambassadors uneasy to see if their brainchild products reached the Finishing Line.

Notice the fan! It was so hot that we had to bring a fan!! 

On Day 1, Choc Diva was 1st at the podium, followed by KacakCinno, and err I can't remember who won 3rd place. Syco Bar didn't appear anywhere close to 4th or 5th.

That made our ambassador Cikgu Syed Syco make an appearance on the 2nd day to make sure his Syco Bars race to the Finishing Line! It was so much fun! Yes, Choc Diva still won 1st place on the 2nd Day too.

We took a break when Cikgu Syed Syco came. Phew!

We dedicated the Choc Diva to our ambassador Aizat, because he is a natural Diva, all the time running with creative outfits and beanies made by MisFydKrafts. Choc Diva is made up of granola cereal, dates, sunflower seeds, wheat germs and dark chocolate. It is like eating chocolate but with lots and lots of goodness and definitely the benefit of giving you the energy to finish your race.

BUY NOW!

KacakCino's original name is Cappuccino Almond. We named it KacakCino because the students of our ambassador, Cikgu Mat, calls him Cikgu Kacak. And since Cikgu Mat was the one who gave the idea of this bar, hence the name.

KacakCino is a Protein Bar. This protein bar contains 23% protein and is the highest containing protein among all Marathon Baker's product range. We use Syntha 6 Protein Powder for this bar, and it is the perfect Post Run bar for you!

With almonds also as one of the ingredients besides oats, dried cranberries and flaxseeds, this makes KacakCino the best bar to be eaten after your race. Protein helps you recover faster. Almonds have omega 6 that performs exceptionally well in aiding recuperation, rebuilding your muscle tissues and helping your muscles develop and grow.

BUY NOW!

Despite having to be at the booth for long hours, we had fun opening our booth on Race Kit collection day. I personally think that the runners were laid back and not too tired to listen to us explain about our products. And they brought their purse to shop. So, yeah! The fact that there were plenty of activities planned for the MWM Race Expo, I think that's one of the main reasons why our products were SOLD OUT before time too! Also, MWM is a famous event, and the number of people signing up for this race has increased tremendously over the four years, was a also a factor.

  

The MWM Crew and fellow exhibitors said that our booth was the busiest, with so many people dropping by. We are so blessed indeed with the support. Thank you everyone who came to taste and purchase!

A taste of fame! Filling in for the Lady Boss. I did not know what I said. I hope no one was listening.. Really, everyone was busy :-p

And of course, Nasi Beriani treat by the Lady Boss! Nasi Beriani Pak Anjang memang the best lah! Of course, Marathon Baker's team needs carbo loading too on booth days!

Thank you MWM for this experience!