I had registered earlier for this run. This was planned to coincide nicely with the trip to KL together with Anisa & Faiz. It was the trip for everyone. My wife was attending the course, Faiz went to see the speech therapist, Anisa went for shopping and I went running of course.
I had surveyed the starting area the day earlier when I collected the race number. The starting area is quite packed with shophouses and cars parked along the road. I had been pre-warned by Adam earlier that the route around this area can be hilly.
I arrived 6:40am on race day, had a bit of bowel discomfort but managed to deal with the urge, thanks to a nearby mamak restaurant. Since there are many shophouses around, parking lots were plenty. I was probably the only runner coming for this event alone. Everyone else were seen busy warming up with their buddies. After a short warm-up aerobic session, the runners swarmed the starting line only to find out that they all have to sing the national anthem. It reminded me of the experience of watching movie in Bangkok.
I started in midpack and maintain the pace for the first half. The route brought us along the housing estate, up the hill to the back alley, to the small waterfall, to many roundabouts. Adam was right about the route, there were quite a number of long hills but I was not surprised after my experience in the recent GE20k. I was very sure that the organiser would provide water station some where along the route. After running for about 45 mins I realised that there was no single water station. And the distance markings were rather confusing. I had not reached 5km after 45 mins of hard pace. Biar benar depa nih.
I had my walk breaks and during this period lots of runners of different age, shapes and sizes whizzed past me. At one moment a very chubby auntie went steadily overtaking me, followed by another whose running style can be described as sideway dancing. Their form may be off, but they were way in front of me.
I was for a while thinking of buying packed drinks at the road stalls, well I have brought my tenner and I saw someone running with the plastic pack on their return leg. However I had to cancel the plan as most of the kuih selling stalls were packed with long queues when I arrived there. After a couple of wak breaks I managed to finish the run in 1:11:57, still could not breach below 70 mins. I collected the finisher medal and the completion certificate.
Hydrated myself with lots of isotonic and Vicos. Met Azad and the gang at the finish line. Also had the opportunity to chat with Wong Kei Ming and runner-up Nicholas Merica after the race. I guessed everyone was talking about the lack of traffic control at the finishing point and the missing water station, despite the fact that it was carved on the finisher medal.
I was not sure whether the road markings were reliable, but my split timings were recorded as follows: 1k - 05:41, 2k - 12:52, 4k - 26:48, 6k - 45:58.
It was a good opportunity to learn about this run to couple with my timely trip, however I may not join this one in the future. I think the small fun run at Piasau Boat Club two weeks back was more runner friendly - they may not have medals but at least they had 3 water stations.
I had surveyed the starting area the day earlier when I collected the race number. The starting area is quite packed with shophouses and cars parked along the road. I had been pre-warned by Adam earlier that the route around this area can be hilly.
I arrived 6:40am on race day, had a bit of bowel discomfort but managed to deal with the urge, thanks to a nearby mamak restaurant. Since there are many shophouses around, parking lots were plenty. I was probably the only runner coming for this event alone. Everyone else were seen busy warming up with their buddies. After a short warm-up aerobic session, the runners swarmed the starting line only to find out that they all have to sing the national anthem. It reminded me of the experience of watching movie in Bangkok.
I started in midpack and maintain the pace for the first half. The route brought us along the housing estate, up the hill to the back alley, to the small waterfall, to many roundabouts. Adam was right about the route, there were quite a number of long hills but I was not surprised after my experience in the recent GE20k. I was very sure that the organiser would provide water station some where along the route. After running for about 45 mins I realised that there was no single water station. And the distance markings were rather confusing. I had not reached 5km after 45 mins of hard pace. Biar benar depa nih.
I had my walk breaks and during this period lots of runners of different age, shapes and sizes whizzed past me. At one moment a very chubby auntie went steadily overtaking me, followed by another whose running style can be described as sideway dancing. Their form may be off, but they were way in front of me.
I was for a while thinking of buying packed drinks at the road stalls, well I have brought my tenner and I saw someone running with the plastic pack on their return leg. However I had to cancel the plan as most of the kuih selling stalls were packed with long queues when I arrived there. After a couple of wak breaks I managed to finish the run in 1:11:57, still could not breach below 70 mins. I collected the finisher medal and the completion certificate.
Hydrated myself with lots of isotonic and Vicos. Met Azad and the gang at the finish line. Also had the opportunity to chat with Wong Kei Ming and runner-up Nicholas Merica after the race. I guessed everyone was talking about the lack of traffic control at the finishing point and the missing water station, despite the fact that it was carved on the finisher medal.
I was not sure whether the road markings were reliable, but my split timings were recorded as follows: 1k - 05:41, 2k - 12:52, 4k - 26:48, 6k - 45:58.
It was a good opportunity to learn about this run to couple with my timely trip, however I may not join this one in the future. I think the small fun run at Piasau Boat Club two weeks back was more runner friendly - they may not have medals but at least they had 3 water stations.
Winners in international category - that's me at the back (taken by RunWitMe)
With Azad
Runner-up Nicholas Merica
7 Mar - Azri, Pascal, me
The jogging couple?
Where is my shoes?