Checking in at the Budget Terminal at 0630Hr. The queue is getting long.
After our breakfast inside the terminal, we headed to Gate 9 to wait for boarding the plane.
We saw familiar faces.
Boarding the plane.
Trying to inflate her pillow.
The sun is rising.
I like this shot.
The plane took off at around 0800Hr.
It was a very short flight. By 0840Hr, we were already on the ground at KL LCCT.
At the LCCT.
Going to get a cab to send us to Cyberjaya.
We have to purchase a coupon to get onto a cab.
Heading towards Cyberjaya. This gave me a preview of the type of roads we will run later at night.
The driver had some difficulty finding our destination. Cant be helped as Cyberjaya may not be a place where people will visit every day. We need to reach Kelab Komuniti Taman Tasik Cyberjaya to collect our race packs before 1200Hr.
At the race expo.
The volunteer was very helpful. Hahaha .. :)
BIBs waiting to be collected.
Donning the issued headlight and with my BIB.
Trying to sort out the stuff for his friends.
The activities for the day.
It was just a small scale race expo.
The guy left out the banner on top .. !! .. :s
With Mr Energizer.
Stronger than Energizer .. !! .. :)
We called the hotel to arrange transport to send us back from the race expo.
We stayed at the Cyberview Lodge Resort.
It was around 1100Hr when we reached the hotel. Our room was still not ready as the guest had not checked out. We took a small walk around the hotel. It was a nice place with nice settings.
Since it was near lunch time, we went to the restaurant to have lunch. The service was slow. The food took ages to arrive. We cant complain as there was no other place for us to have lunch. However, the food quality was not bad. Or maybe it was because I was very hungry and I wanted to eat for the run later. I had seafood fried rice. The portion of rice was a lot! Just nice for the race.
I checked with the counter if our room was ready but was told it was not as they were still cleaning it up. I asked them to try to hurry up as all of us wanted to have the room to rest for the night run.
Waiting at the lobby.
I made use of the waiting time to take some photos.
We waited until around 1345 when they called us and said the room was ready.
All of us were tired from the waiting.
The room was good. Just nice enough for the 4 of us to squeeze together. We quickly jumped onto the bed to try and catch some sleep. All the lights were switched off and the curtains were drawn. One of us asked what if we overslept and woke up at 2100Hr. I replied if that's the case then we will immediately check out and head to KL to have fun then. Hahaha .. :)
There was a PC with internet connection in every room. Used it to update my status on Facebook.
I only rested a short while and got up to prepare my race stuff.
The time chip.
We arranged with the hotel to send us to the race site at 1630Hr.
At the race site.
They were giving out PoweBars.
The stretch of road we must walk in from the main road to get to the community center for our bag deposit. Then we had to walk all the way out as the start point was near the main road.
The weather there was hot. At 1700Hr, it was still piercing hot like midday! Nobody wanted to gather at the start line under the hot sun. Everybody was trying to find some shade to hide under.
The race started at 1800Hr when it was still very hot. I reminded myself to drink at least 1 cup of water at each water station even if I was not feeling thirsty.
Things started quite fine. Engine slowly started to warm up. I was careful to watch my pace very regularly so as not to speed up to early and tire myself in this heat. The sparse and slightly short trees at the sides did not provide much cover from the sun. All we could hope for was the sun to set faster as we ran.
I was not really prepared for this run. Physically and mentally. First, I was not feeling well. The week before, I had went to support my friends at the Aviva Ironman70.3. The weather was hot too and I got sick the next day. I did not manage to recover fully before this race. My nose was still partially blocked. Having a blocked nose during a run is not a good thing. Especially for people like me who tend to need more air intake. Second, I did not seem to take this race seriously. I did not face any pre-race anxiety as compared to PNM or SCHKM. It was more like just to show up and finish the race for me. Just showing up and run for fun, I would say. I did not even prepare my pace schedule for the race. Lazy? Or cant be bothered? I am not sure. Before setting off the this race, I just told myself to stick to the pace schedule I used for Hong Kong.
My blocked nose made breathing difficult. I had to clear it several times during the run. But it kept becoming blocked again. :(
At one point, there was a fire engine spraying water mist onto the runners. I purposely ran closer to it, letting all the mist land onto myself. Really shiok ah.
At 15km, I knew my body condition was not there for this race. I could not up my pace to 5 min and could only stay at 5.30 min pace.
The road condition has some slopes. Not as much as PNM thou. But the slopes were longer. Whenever I came to a downslope, I would speed through it to try and catch up some time. Upslopes were cleared using a slow and steady pace.
We passed through a road with Putrajaya Lake on our left. Looking across the lake, we could see the Seri Saujana Bridge where we had ran during PNM. Cyberjaya is situated just next to Putrajaya. Seeing it just reminds me of our PNM trip.
It is a very beautiful bridge.
At around 1 hr 20 min, the first runner ran past us at the other end of the road.
Halfway mark was reached at 1 hr 54 min. Now here is the problem. We were running to same route back to the finish line at the community center. So it meant that whatever upslopes I came across would now become downslopes and downslopes would become upslopes.
I had chose to wear the LED headlight for the run. In the runner's guide book, it was stated runners who do not wear the LED headlight would not be DQ. Most of the runners did not wear the headlight due to this statement, which defeated the purpose of organising this run. However, I did not turn on the light throughout the run as the street lights were switched on. i only switch it on at some short stretch of the run where I could not see clearly. I would say its a powerful LED light.
The weather after the sun set was not really cooling too. I was feeling very thirsty. I tried to drink more but I was also worried of drinking too much and result in having a bloated stomach. I got so thirsty that at the water station at the 27km mark, I requested the volunteers to pass me a whole bottle of Gatorade and held on to it as I continued running.
After 30km, things became a torture. The nose only made things worse. My pace kept dropping. I did not have strength anymore. I slowed down until it was around 8 min pace. A long stretch of the way I was alone and I did not even know if I was on the correct track.
Trying to force out a smile on my way back.
Throughout the whole run, the distance markers were inaccurately placed. After 30km, we could not even see any markers at all. Luckily I had my garmin with me. The volunteers were trying to encourage us by telling us how much more to the ending point. But a lot of them also got the distance wrong. This water station they would tell you its 3km more. Further down the way, the volunteers at the next water station were also saying its 3km more.
I only managed to force out the last bit of strength in my at the last 2km. The final stretch leading to the finish line was horrible. We were running on the same road where we had walked in earlier when we arrived. At that moment, other runners who had completed 21km or 10km who were leaving the place were also walking on the same road in the opposite direction! WTH! We had to zig zag our way around not only to avoid those still running, but also those walking out. There were even cars coming out too. WTF!
There was no MC at the finish line cheering the runners on. Only loud music blasting off in the background. I also did not see any official photographers. No clock showing the timing too. Hai .. :(
21km Split: 1:54:09.21
Next 21km Split: 2:23:07.50
Gun Time: 4:17:30.27
Net Time: 4:17:16.71
Pos: 29 / 301
I collected my stuff and waited for the rest. Slowly, KS and Ed returned. There was still no sign of Ail. She was also not feeling well before the run. I sat down at the curb and kept looking towards the finish line direction, hoping to see her coming through. Fortunately, she managed to complete the run.
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