Place : Stadium Shah Alam
Distance : 21.7km
Weather : Cloudy with some haze
Terrain : Hilly! (470m)
Route : Busy, with a lot of traffic as route along main roads.
Goodie Bag : 1 T-Shirt...that's all.
Cost : RM35 Early Bird for 22km, RM25km for 8km.
Prizes : Certificate, and medal for top 100 finisher for Men Jr Veteran and Women
Pros : Many many water stops and sponge stations.
Cons : Goodie bag? What goodie Bag? & no mileage markers.
This was the first half marathon I would take part after the SCKLM and was really looking forward to running around Shah Alam for a change.
However, the last 2 weeks had been pretty slow, as far as my running was concerned. Last Sunday's planned long run was washed out, and my weekly mileage was at a record low 20k.
As I was outstation the whole week, running was limited to the treadmill (BOOORINGG!) because of bad road and traffic conditions outside.
After all the excuses above, you can pretty much guess that I expected not to get another PR for this run. As the saying goes "If you think you can't, you definitely can, not!".
The race participation number was announced at about 9k plus, a pretty good level of participation. With prize money offered, the Kenyans were there again, with a good number of participants from Singapore and some from Thailand. Our regular PR runners were also there.
The race started off without delay, WHICH WAS GREAT! My fellow runner, Lee, made a passing comment on the punctuality by our opposition leader against the race in Ipoh. "Leadership by example! That's the way!" How true, and I couldn't agree more.
From the first km, the hills were rolling up and down, up and down. I was relatively familiar with Shah Alam, but it never occurred to me that it was that hilly when I was driving around...
This is definitely not a race for "Hill Phobics", as it was the main challenge factor.
Moving through the heart of Shah Alam got "difficult", as the volume of traffic was building up quickly. The wonderful vehicle emissions was the 2nd challenge factor, especially for those doing the 22k.
Through out the race, I was doubting myself, more because of the lack of miles in the weeks after the marathon. My body was actually doing quite ok, it was more on my Heart Rate, which was hitting 180-188. This was quite similar to the Siemens Run, but I did slow down, to ensure I didn't keel over going into the 2nd half (LOL!).
This race probably represents the biggest positive split I have ran in a race (as you can see above), percentage wise, excluding the marathon.
As we closed in the final 2k, the route joined up with the other categories and I had to zig zag through.
The final 300m was quite enjoyable, running to the stadium through the underground tunnel, and finally exiting at the finishing line.
I was relieved to collect my medal, as I though I would not have finished within the top 100 for the Men's veteran category.
There were Milo and 100 plus, but we didn't see any food...how sad!!
As there was no other reason to hang about, we made a quick exit and left by 9.10am.
It was a pretty OK race all in all, but I really hope the route would be towards the more scenic parts of Shah Alam for years to come.
