At the turn of the year, I would have laughed off the idea of completing 3 half marathons for 2010. It has nothing to do with being physically fit or not, but more on whether I would be in the country when the run is held. My job requires me to be out of the country most of the time, so completing 3 half marathons is actually quite a lot.
But on on 5th June, 2010, I have completed my third half marathon (21km) of the year. It all started with Putrajaya Night Marathon (6th Feb), then Energizer Night Race (27th Mar) followed by Setia Ecopark Half Marathon (5th June).
Setia Ecopark Half Marathon was the first morning run this year for me unlike the other two which were held in the evening.
First 5km
We flagged off at 6:30am at the Setia Alam Welcome Center. I’m starting to like morning runs as my heart rate at the starting line was around 10 bpm lower than the evening runs. Not forgetting also the freshness of the morning air.
The first 1km was an easy slow run as there were too many runners around me. Once we hit the 1km mark, we started to split up as everyone ran at different pace. I think I was in the middle of the pack. I tried to pace myself with runners who were of the same pace. I think my pace was good enough but I won’t have a indication of how I was doing until the 5km water station.
The sky was still quite dark and I could see some dark clouds forming in front in the direction which I will be running into.
5km to 10km
At 5km, it was around 35 minutes. So I picked up the pace a little once. The sky was really dark now and I can feel light showers falling on me. The longer I ran, the heavier it rained and by 7km, it was really raining. I was running next to an oil palm plantation which is yet to be cleared for development. The route was a little uphill and then followed by downhill. The 5km – 10km section seemed never ending until I saw runners appearing on the opposite side of the road. The U-turn must not be far away.
At the U-turn, at exactly 10km, my time was 58 minutes. Not that bad for the first half of the race. If I continue to run at the same pace, I would have ran around 2:15 for 21km.
10km to 15km
The rain got heavier. Roads were wet. My shoes and socks were wet. I could feel small blisters starting to appear under my feet because of the wet conditions. So I tried to maintain a slower pace of around 7 minutes/km.
I didn’t look too far ahead but just a couple of metres ahead. I guess it’s about psychology. But nevertheless, I started to feel the soreness in my calfs from 14km onwards. Wanted to stop running but told myself to shut up and just run, which I did.
At around 14km, suddenly the iPod went out of battery. I must have turned off my laptop while it was charging the iPod the night before. And now, all I could hear was the pssh psst sound from my wet shoes. Lost some motivation and most importantly the pace.
Stopped running and brisk walked to 15km for the next water station.
15km to 20 km
I think I was doing 1:45 at 15km. That’s a pace of 9 minutes/km for the last 5km. With the iPod dead, I found it really hard to focus. The soreness of the calf and quads, wet shoes and blisters made it even worse. So I switched to the walk-run-walk-run mode.
By now, the rain has stopped and the morning sun was slowly coming out.
At 19km, I think I was running for around 2 hours, 15 minutes already. I could see the finishing line. But it was on the opposite side of the road. I’ll need to run 1km down the road, go up the flyover and followed by another 1km to the finish.
Last km
Up I went to the flyover, made a U-turn and it was now the last km. Tried to run albeit at a slower pace. The finishing line is 1km in front and I don’t want approach the finishing line walking. That won’t look good.
At the end, I completed the 21km in 2:35.
What’s Next?
Next up would be another 21km at Standard Chartered’s KL Marathon on 27th June 2010, followed by Siemens Run (10km) and Shape Night Run (10km) in July, adidas KOTR in October (21km), Penang Bridge International Marathon (21km) in November.
My times are improving as each run went by and I’m aiming at 2:15 for Standard Chartered’s KL Marathon. It’s achievable now.