Date: 27 Nov 2016
Distance: 42.195 km
Goal: To finish sub 6:00
Some introduction
My previous full marathon, also the one that I lost my virginity to was Standard Chartered KL marathon. It was a very well organised and I'm happy to be part of it. Kudos to the organiser. I finished it with gun time 06:26:36.38 (net time: 06:24:35.74). I figured I can finish APBIM with sub 6 since it is kinda flat compared to SCKLM.
The night before ...
I was staying at a friend's place in USM, which is more than 4km away from the start line (at Queensbay mall). I would prefer to walk to the start line, as part of my warm-up and also to avoid any bad traffic during that rush hour. So I checked in myself to the nearby hotel/hostel. Because of some mishaps with other friends and delayed booking, the nearest that still available was Island hostel. The hostel is about 2.5km from Queensbay, not the distance that I expected and the only bed left was in the mixed dormitory. I thought to myself, what the hell, I just plan to nap from 6pm to 11:30pm.
I used to dormitory hostel, but never been to a mixed dorm. I just don't feel secure to be the only girl in a room full of boys (some bad experiences in the past). I requested for the top bunk bed and relief when the staff in charge told there were 5 girls and only 1 boy in the mixed dorm. The boy/man that sleeping in my bottom bunk bed was joining the full marathon too. So I made arrangement to walk with him to the start line at 12:45am (Gun off at 1:30am).
I'm so thankful to have that boy in my dorm coz apparently the other girls were in the half marathon. And I don't have any idea how to walk to start line. I was thinking to just follow the crowd but there were not much crowd walking from my hostel area.
I can't sleep much because the other girls just checked in at around 10pm. I woke up and had my leftover pizza from lunch. Still yummy although I was a bit skeptical if I should eat it. I know I have steel-tummy but I just bring along some pil chi-kit-teck-aun for just in case...
It was already 12:45 and the boy below me still in bed. I'm not sure if he was up already and just tried to sleep in some more. Finally he woke up and rushed to bathroom to get ready. Yeah I should have wake him up.
We left the hostel after 1am and walk-run to the start line. I can hear the crowd and probably fire cracker from afar.
The race ...
I got to the start line all sweaty and catching my breath. The run already started, but the crowd still walking past the start line. I wanted to have a good start and decided to take 5 mins break to stretch and calm down. I think I did the right thing and set the mood in. Although I was way behind everyone but I slowly caught up with others and finally after 4 km or so I saw the 6:30 pacer and past the group.
Now, my goal to the finish line is to make sure myself is ahead of the sub 6:00 pacer. To be frank, there was nothing much to admire because it was totally pitch black, especially on the bridge. But anyway I just tried to enjoy being on the bridge that never closed except for this special day. And I love the sea breeze =)
I managed to get myself few minutes ahead of the 6:00 pacer. We had to run beyond the bridge and further up to make a u-turn. Now we were on the other side of the road. I saw the water station from a far and thought I should take a toilet break. I had been drinking quite a lot to prevent dehydration, although it wasn't hot at all.
I wasn't sure how much time wasted in the queue and toilet, but I saw the 6:00 pacer jog past me as I got out. Again I picked up my pace to be in that group. I would be happy to be just in that group of sub 6 now.
Towards the last 10 km, I realised I can't stop for walk anymore as the sky was getting brighter. I was just running together with the sub 6 pacer. I really wanted to stop grab some drinks and just walk, but then I would be way over 6 hours. I picked up my pace towards the end (although I did just walk up the the the small climb before exiting the bridge) to the finishing which I completed with official time 5:58:23. I'm very happy coz this is my second full marathon and shows some improvement than the last one. My net time us 5:52:42. I figured I can do better if I didn't stop for unnecessary toilet break and less picture next time.
After the race, I picked up my finisher tee and medal. I also had some iced-milo and cereals from the milo truck. There were many runners standing and sitting around the finishing line, kind of like unpaved parking lots with potholes. I don't feel like taking pictures here and just walked back to Island hostel to wash up and check out.
Final thoughts ...
I think this is one of the easiest long run I had, for two reasons:
- the race commenced in the dark
- almost flat course on most part of the bridge except for the section where one enters and exits the bridge
Will I join again? Probably. I think the organiser can do better in putting more marker distance (I only notice 3 or 4 marker distance along the course) and aid station with something more than just ice. I enjoyed the luxury provided in SCKLM; minyak panas/gosok and salonpas spray in all aid station.
Anyway, now I can tick Penang Bridge Marathon off my list, one of the must-run in Malaysia =)
 |
| Walk from Island Hostel to start line at Queensbay mall |
No comments:
Post a Comment