Putrajaya Night Marathon - The Half

Date : 6 February 2010
Time : 8:30pm
Place : Precinct 3, Putrajaya
Weather : Warm and Humid
Terrain : Some undulation, but not extreme.
Course : A bit of loop the loop, but fine for most of the way.
Organizing : Five star! Value for money! Thumbs up!
Distance (GPS) : 21.28km
Time : 1:52:15 (1min 25sec off PB)

This event was very thinly veiled as the substitute for the "KL marathon" which was normally held in February before 2009.

With new sponsors and organizers, with the race being supported by FTAA, it seems that they have hit off on the right note, with all the right priorities in mind and addressed.

The race started on time and minimum fuss. This time they did a count down, lol!

As we headed off towards PICC the crowd thinned pretty quickly after the first 500m. It was great to see Putrajaya at night. There were many 'jewels' of the night, with beautiful lighting in some of the key buildings in Putrajaya. PICC looked like a space ship which just landed, lol!

By the time we finished the loop around PICC, we started to catch up with the tail end of the full marathon runners at the 4km mark. We ran the next 12km together, and it really helped as there were many 'rabbits' to chase.

2 unusual things about this race; One was the pace of the normal running kaki. It seemed slower than normal. Secondly, because this wasn't the main event, competition was much thinner at the top 10%, hence it was a good ego booster for me, haha.

The first 11k went on a pretty even pace. It was on the 2nd 10k, where I started to feel the strain. With the lack of some quality mileage, I could feel my pace drop off and the strain on my right heel bursitis acting up.

Moving into the last 3km, I felt like I was doing a 5:10 pace but it was more of a 5:25 pace. It really shows that there is a difference when you run alone and when you're chasing down somebody in front of you.

I did multiple 'drink walks' at km8, 14 and 18. I gulped down a powergel at km14. Did it help? I think so, but I can't say for sure.

In short, was I happy with race? At RM35 for a nice vest, medal, bun, multiple drink and sponge stops, chip timing, free powerbar snack, good traffic control and "FREE PARKING", what more can you ask?

Was I happy with my time. I have to say yes, with the mileage that I've been doing.

The only not so good thing I'm taking away from this race is the recurring bursitis in my heel. The muscle may have shortened to the point that there has been additonal strain on the tendons. Guess I have to make it a point to ice and stretch more often after runs.

With the Energizer run coming up in Cyberjaya next month, I hope that the experience will just be as enjoyable.

SC KL Marathon

Place : Dataran Merdeka
Date : 28 June 2009
Time : Before the cock crows 4.58am
Terrain : Easy if you're running 21k, not so for 42k.
Weather : Raining at the start, then cloudy all the way.
Traffic : Heavy, should have contra flow lah. Not well planned.
Times :

10km - 0:59:40
15km - 1:30:46
20km - 2:01:10
25km - 2:31:15
30km - 3:01:40
35km - 3:33:44 (Slowing Down!)
40km - 4:11:04 (Slower still)
42.78km - 4:29:21 (Final dash, if you can call it that)

My slowest 1km split was 8:21 at KM38.

The BIG day has finally arrived.

I hardly got any sleep although I was lying in bed at 9.30pm. I think I only slept at 1.00am.

Before you know it, the alarm went off at 3am. 2 hours better than nothing kua...

Manage to stuff 2 cups of water, a cupful of oats + milo + soya milk, with a cup of 3 in 1 nescafe. Didn't manage to unload all "unnecessary weight", hence was worried of offloading half way into the race.

We were out by 3.45am and at Padang Merbok 30 minutes later. I left the wife and kids to catch some zz while I strapped up and headed out to Dataran Merdeka.

The good thing was that I didn't need to register again and just did some stretches and look around while the rain came down in a drizzle.

I line up about 30 meters from the starting line, anticipating the pacers' balloons to go up accordingly. Strangely enough, it was a no show although it was clearly indicated in their runner's guide.

There was a countdown done by the announcer who went "6 minutes to go!", then blah blah, blah, "5 minutes to go" blah, blah, blah...you get the idea. The start was a bit funny though. He announced 'the race is going to start shortly!'. The next thing you know, BANG! off went the starter gun. No 3,2,1 or anything of that sort. Everybody was startled for a few seconds before moving.

The race started quite well, even with the rain until KM6. I started feel twinges in my left hamstring. That got me worried and thinking if I had to walk the remainder 36km, it would take another....hmmmm 10min/km x 36, 6 hours! *%$#

Anyway, I kinda shoved it at the back of my head as everything else was ok. The twinges were there until KM33, when everything else started hurting.

For first 33km, other from the twinges, everything was quite smooth. I ran pretty conservatively because of that, though.

I took my "special power juice" (2 red bull + soya milk in 750ml bottle) when thirsty or from the water stands when there weren't too many people. The banana servings at KM15 was heaven sent, as I did manage to pick up my pace after that.

On power gels, I took 1 at KM22, half at KM28, another 1 at KM32 (provided by POWER GEL), the other half is KM35 and the last one at KM38; 4 of them. Never really thought I would need all of them.

As we hit the Istana flyover KM33, which was quite steep, quite a number of runners started to suffer cramps. At that point, I was feeling good, but I was thinking of the wall coming up soon.

As I slowly made my way up the highway to Jalan Duta, the slight slope increase ever so slightly until it becomes noticeable. At KM37, the wall was slowly taking shape. I had to walk a bit every 500m.

By KM38, it deteriorated to a half run/half walk as the cramp twinges became more frequent. That's when I pulled my mental strength together, asking help from God, to give strength. Although I'm not a particularly religious person, I do believe that the Almighty one is always there and every time I ask for strength, I felt a tingling sensation in my body for a short boost of energy. Hmmm... I have never thought of running a marathon as a path of spiritual learning too :)

I spent about a minute trying to call my wife but just sent an sms instead. It was then I realized I was really cutting it close for my goal time of 4:30.

So near yet so far, I willed myself to push harder and strangely enough, the cramps didn't come in the last 2 km. As I accelerated down the stretch, the realization of finishing the marathon within the goal time became apparent.

I caught a glimpse of my son taking my picture as I approached the finished line. I looked at the clock 4:29:21 with 10 meters to go and the feeling of relief and a sense of personal accomplishment washed over me.

I had done it! A goal set when I was 21, trained 6 months and ran more than 1000km, through pain and injury of my achilles tendon in my right heel, was finally achieved.

The feelings that I have now as I type this posting is similar to the time I climbed to Gunung Tahan over 8 days.

In a way, it gives me insight that each man or woman does have control over their lives to a certain extent. It also instills a belief that everybody who has ran a marathon, he or she believes that they have a say in the direction of their lives.

With this, I'll close this posting with a saying I heard somewhere from a popular email - the environment influences only 10% of our lives, the rest of it depends on how we react.

Pre Marathon Blues

Had a real experience of enjoying the outdoors while collecting the bibs for the run. All in all, I really agree with a lot of other runners that this ranks high among the worst bib collection organized by a "oku-nizer".

Standard Chartered really needs to be careful on who they pick to organize the event as the ground staff seems to be lost on what they are supposed to do.

Sure, the rain didn't help but any event organizer worth his salt prepares contingencies for most, if not all situations. What more if it's raining, in Malaysia!!!

Fingers crossed, hopefully they improve it tomorrow and have a smooth event on Sunday....

SCKLM 10 weeks to go 30km LSD

Place : Home
Time : 6.23am
Distance : 30km

Woke up quite early 5.20am but was on the verge of dropping off back to sleep, when my better half pinched me with her toes to remind me that I was a man on a mission and a task at hand this morning.

I prepared two bottles (750ml) mixed with Red Bull and 100 plus. The plan was to do the lake side, Kota Kemuning circuit, come back and switch bottles and head out towards the Bukit Kemuning, Econsave side. Target time was about 10km/h on average, 3 hours in all.

It took quite a lot of time to get ready, getting some oats and coffee in me, settling the morning business, plastering up my toe and lubricate areas that would likely chafe.

It took me a good 40 minutes before I was out the door.

The temperature was perfect, no aches or pains, and everything was good to go.

I did the first 10km slightly below an hour, feeling good. The scenery at the Kota Kemuning lake was beautiful as the sun came up. Noticed that there were quite a number of regular participants in the races turning up at the lake for training.

As I was returning times slightly below the target pace, I decided to slow it down a bit as my HRT was above 160.

My 2nd 10km was also below the target pace, but I took shorter and less walk breaks that I had in the previous LSD, as I felt pretty good.

Coming towards the 20km mark, I was slowing down. The temperature was slowly rising as the sun was blazing with nary a cloud in the sky.

By the end of the 20km, I decided to stick as close to home as possible and dumped my belt at home and returning every time I finished a round to take a drink off my 2nd bottle. Also changed to my sports glasses as the sun was really, really bright.

After the 25km mark, things started to go downhill quickly. With the proverbial wall looming, I was struggling to maintain my pace but pushed on only 1 outcome in mind. Finishing the 30km run at whatever time.

I decided to finish the final 5km without stopping for hydration. Feeling the pins and needles in the legs, I was guessing I was hitting the "WALL".

Pushing through the the final kilometers, it was apparent that the "mind over matter" thing was not all BS.

I packed on the ice on my right heel just in case the Achilles flared up again. Rested the sore muscles and took a nap later to recuperate as I had to leave for Singapore in a few hours.

All in all, a fine run and looking for to the Bidor run. Hopefully, I can get in a couple of runs in Singapore and taper to about 30km before the trip up north.


Finally, I clocked in 3:01:31 and the sense of relief washed