Bidor Half Marathon

Place : WHERE ELSE?
Time : 0700
Distance : 21.17km (maybe less)
Terrain : Generally flat, with undulation for about 30% of the course, but the slope was not too adverse
Elevation : 60m change for total course
Weather : Cool weather at the beginning, a bit warmer towards the end but still comfortable.

We arrived at Bidor the day before at about 4pm, collecting the bibs and had the famous duck noodles. I also got some Power Gel to try out (RM6/pack, Buy 6 free 1). I grabbed the strawberry banana, double latte and green apple packs. Made a mistake of not checking the USE BY date and later realised they would be expiring in June and July.

My kids liked it and my wife and I loved it as it came with a herbal soup base. You can either have it with noodles or rice.

At RM6.60 a bowl, it's a bit on the pricey side, but it is something you would love to have once in a while.

By the time we finished, it was about 5pm so we made our way to MY Gopeng resort. The whole journey took about 45 minutes as the signs were not very clear. In addition to that, you would have to take a 'kampung' road for about 5km. The last km would be better described on "borderline off road" at best. I guess they could have done a better job in advising the road conditions.

The whole place looked like it has seen better days, and not surprisingly, we were the only guests there for the day. The accomodation was sparse at best (something out of the P Ramlee movie "Bujang lapuk".

At RM50/pax, or RM200 for 4 of us for 1 night's stay and a simple dinner, it's not something I would say worth the dough. My kids got to do something new though. The operator was kind enough to provide some fishing rods for them to fish with.

The amount of sleep I managed to get was about 4 hours at most, due to the "additional residents" in the kampung house.

We left the place at 5:50am and arrived in Bidor at about 6:40am. I had made the rookie mistake of thinking the start off time was 7:30am when actually it was 7:00am...nuff said.

Managed to get a short jog in with some stretching before lining up for the starting line.

As the starting area was narrow, the starting was slow but things opened up about 500m after when we hit the open road. I settled down into a comfortable rhythm and took in the sights and sounds of the quiet country side. I felt really relaxed with the run, even though the terrain was undulating at certain areas.

It was only then I realized that I had not consciously thought about my race strategy. Going at about 5:25/km for the first 2km, I was thinking about maintaining this pace for the first half, and pushing harder for the 2nd half and try and do 1:52:00.

I managed to complete the first 11km in 59:16, so the target pace was on track. Pushing a little bit harder, I still felt comfortable although my right heel was indicating some stress (meaning there would be hell to pay after the race!).

I opened the first Power Gel pack (double latte flavoured) and gulped it down with some water. It didn't taste as bad as what some people said but some of it does need some washing down with water. I did get a kick from that and felt some energy boost for the next 10 minutes or so. I did the green apple later at 15km mark and it also did good for me. No stomach upset or problems which you would normally here about.

Heading towards the last 4km, I caught with Mr. YS Lee, one of the pacemakers, and we were chatting for a short way. Surprisingly, I did not feel the stress of talking and running that I had imagined. In fact, it actually made me more relaxed. Hmmm...food for thought.

After the 18km mark, he made his move and I think finished about 45 seconds ahead of me, although I was maintaining a 5 minute/km pace. Heading towards the last bend, somebody overtook me with some pace. As the finish line appeared 200m ahead, I poured all my efforts in overtaking the gentleman and managed to finish a nose in front of him! My top speed registered was 23.4km/h, higher than what I've managed to attain in previous sprints.

My time of 1:51:38 was something that I did not expect, but you can't say I'm not pleased.

All in all, it was a good experience and hopefully, I will be back here again next year!

Post Race note : I did end up a bit washed out after the race, like I did 30km and a bit of a headache when we reached home. Not sure whether it was due to the lack of sleep or the power gel.