We reached Bangsar sometime before 0300Hr. Everybody got down the coach feeling tired. Now we need to find our way to the hotel. It did not take us long (luckily) to catch 2 cabs. I asked if anyone of them wants supper and some of them said yes. When we reached D'Oriental Inn, we checked with the driver and he pointed to us where we can find food. We quickly dropped our luggage in our rooms and went off.
Its 0300Hr + in the morning .. hungry and tired ..
A very oily plate of mee tai mak. It took a while to arrive as the place was still crowded.
An oily bowl of soup. There was another oily plate of hokkien mee which came later.
We went back to the hotel at around 0400Hr. Stomach was filled. Really need to sleep now.
Breakfast was at 0930Hr at the cafeteria. A simple buffet of beehoon, sausages, bread and butter, tea and orange juice.
We went out after that to get some water. We need to drink more for the run.
This auntie was selling a non-sticking muah chee which she claimed she invented.
She even went onto the papers.
There were several flavours to choose from. Green tea, strawberry, longan, pandan, etc. They need not be heated as compared to the conventional kind. Tried some and they were also not as sweet. Its mixed with just plain peanut powder with no sugar added along.
Next, we did some simple shopping.
Fabian's mugshot
Gary, our Ironman 三项铁人
Jacq with her trademark bugs bunny grin
Joanne AKA 小 cute
Our race packs were delivered to our hotel by the organiser. At a small fee of course. However, it sure made things more convenient for us as we need not rush over to Putrajaya to collect them.
Everybody was eager to find out what's inside them.
Posing with our BIBs. Anybody needs an inspiration for this weeks 4D?
We went out to walk around after that. Some of us preferred to stay around the hotel area. I joined the rest who wanted to go Lot 10.
Inside the cab.
Irynn wanted to get a new pair of running top for the race. We could not find any at Lot 10 so we went over to Sungei Wang which is right next to Lot 10.
Fabian was trying to find an ice cream stall which he said has some delicious ice creams. We walked around in circles but still could not find it.
We gave up on the ice cream and proceeded to Berjaya Times Square instead to continue the search for Irynn's top.
Trying to find things to do while Irynn did her shopping.
We had lunch at Kenny Rogers.
We looked through the menu and there was a nutrition table on the food they serve. Some of us ordered a spaghetti which contained the highest amount of carbohydrates. We also ordered 100Plus. Ha .. yes .. we are runners.
Playing games on the Iphone while waiting for our food to arrive.
The food took a while to come.
Making use of the time to rest.
The sauce on the spaghetti tasted like mee rubus gravy. It was yucky. We still finished the whole plate anyway. Its for the marathon. Gary was so happy he finished them.
Service could be improved as after the food were served the waiters and waitresses seems not able to see us anymore. We tried to ask them to refill our 100Plus but they kept on looking away from our direction. However, when we ordered the bill, it came very fast. :s
We went to the supermarket to get some bread. As the run will end at midnight and the race location would not have any stalls open, its to fill our stomach after the run. We headed back to the hotel after that.
We reached the hotel at 1500Hr.
A0240. This would be by lucky number for the night.
Quickly went through the stuff for the race. Cliff Bars, GU gels, Garmin, NUUN, timing chip and strap, camera, slippers, yah dah yah dah. Pinned up my BIB onto my top. All set. There was still time for me to catch a very short rest.
We had arranged with the hotel to send us over to Putrajaya at 1645Hr.
Everybody was set and ready.
Along the way from KL to Putrajaya, the road was full of slopes. I was in the front seat and I could clearly see the road condition. In my heart I already had a feeling of what the road condition would be like later. Slopes after slopes.
We had wanted the driver to take us on a drive through for the route. However, we lost our way around as the driver was also not sure of the roads. So we just asked him to stop 1 side for us to take some photos.
The 13 of us.
8 full marathon, 4 half marathon, 1 7.7km.
Nope, we were not sponsored by 2XU for the run. Ha .. :)
Lucky chap.
The 42km entrance. Entrance to self punishment. But we like it!
The half marathoners.
At the Start / Finish line. The next 2 times I crossed it would be by running through.
1 of the 10 superstars for the run.
Anxious to start.
The clock ticks by closer and closer to 2000Hr when we would start our full marathon. The sky darkens gradually and the place was becoming increasingly crowded. Everybody was here for the inaugural night marathon of Malaysia. We saw some familiar faces from Singapore.
As the time closes to starting time, we made our way towards the Start line. Everybody's mood was high. All was anxious to start! I on my Garmin. The satellite signal was quickly received. Ready to go. :)
At 2000Hr, the air horn went off. The full marathon had began!
I was running together with Aileen, Ryan and Vincent. We saw Jacq speed past us. She was fast!
The weather was humid. Just barely 1km into the run and I was perspiring a lot. Coupled with the slopes, I was not sure how I would perform for the run. Its not good to have such doubts at the start of a run.
The distance marker boards were big in size. Yet, the figures printed on it were too small! They printed things like:
Putrajaya Night Marathon 2010
1km.
41km more to go.
Does the words "41km more to go." really matter that much? It would be better if they had just printed the "1km" and bigger in size so it would be more visible.
Passing the first U - turn, coming to near the 4km mark, we saw Jacq walking slowly along the side. She said she's feeling pain in her chest. Hope she would be ok. Its still a long way to go.
We continued running. Closing in on each other and breaking up time after time. Aileen had not recovered from her sickness. We could hear her heavy breathing all the way.
The route reminded me of PBIM last Nov. Night time. Street lights that stretched all the way beyond. Bridges. It looked all too familiar. But the route was flatter and the weather was cooler then. Its much more humid now. Every water point was like an oasis. Every sponge station was a blessing.
At one point the front pack of the half marathoners speed past us. All were Kenyans. I always admired the way the front packs run. Fast and without losing a beat in footsteps. It looks as if their footsteps were synchronised together.
Some time later Brian came past me. He ran past and shouted "Ooi!" at me and gave 1 loud clap at the same time. "加油! 加油!" was all I could able to reply him.
I slowly picked up my pace at around the 18km mark. I told myself to look far ahead. Maintain my breathing rhythm. Try to maintain the pace up slope and speed up when going down. My pace slowly reached around 5.5 min/km. Slowly but steadily, I overtook the runners in front 1 by 1.
There were some points along the expressway where there were no marshaller. Vehicles were just entering the expressway from the slip roads and the runners had to fend for themselves to avoid them. Its lucky the vehicles did slowed down for us.
The crowd got thinner and thinner as I proceeded. Long and never ending expressway ahead. My body started to switch into auto pilot. My legs were in automatic running motion but my mind was starting to get filled up with random thoughts. There were thoughts like "Where is the 1st runner now?", "Where is the next water point?", "Should I just stop to walk?" to other more random thoughts like "What are my good friends in Singapore doing now?", "When was the last time I met up with them?", "What should we eat the next time we meet?". Some were more personnel, like "What kind of person I am?", "Why am I running this?", "Is it ok for me to go ahead myself and leave my friends behind?", etc.
I could not clearly remember the many thoughts that were running (no pun intended) round in circles in my mind. They were more of like appearing and disappearing instantaneously. I did not answer the questions thou. There are better times to think through them and to find an answer for them. During my own training runs for example. Not now! I need to focus! Focus on the run! Focus!
I quickly snapped out the thoughts in my mind. Soon, I was back in control of my body and my running.
All we could see was street lights after street lights. Slopes after slopes. Upon reaching the top of a slope, we could only see that after we descend it would be the beginning of another upslope. The second U -turn took forever to reach. Each of us were handed a yellow ribbon at the U - turn. Initially I thought it was meant to prove that we had reached the U - turn mark. Yet, strangely the organisers had placed a time mat there. Hmmm .. Anyway, the ribbon would become one of my race souvenirs.
The U - turn mark was 26km. Timing at 2:47:56.
The crowded had got really thin now. The next runner was a distance in front or behind. I was tired. I need water! The sight of the next water station was like 久旱逢甘露 to me. They were handing out PowerGels. I took 1 packet and ate it. I suddenly realised I made a mistake. My nutrition schedule was based on a hourly basis and I had just took my third pack of gel around 10 mins ago! Yet, now I ate another pack without even thinking. Can imagine how tired I was. Shag cannot think. I began to worry that my heart rate would go up.
Arrgh .. Calm down! Calm down! Focus on the run!
On a side note, it tasted more fluidy compared to GU gel and thus easier to swallow.
My speed started to drop after 30km. I just tried very hard to maintain it at 6 min/km. The next point to aim for was the left turn out of the expressway. The turn finally came at around the 36km mark. The timing now was somewhere around 3:45. Its almost midnight.
We started to see buildings along the sides of the road again. It was a relieving sight.
Time to pick up my pace again.
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