The phone alarm went of at 0115Hr. *Yawn!!*
Need to wake up early to consume my breakfast and to give my stomach enough time to process them.
Instand rice and dried seasonings.
I poured boiling water into the rice to cook it. It needs to be put there for at least 15mins before it can be eaten so I went to shower. Cold water shower .. bbbrrrrrrrrrr .. wide awake now.
I tried to be as quiet as possible while doing my stuff as Edmund was still sleeping.
I changed into my running gear. Tried to do through in my mind, again and again, if there was anything that I had left out. This mental drill was a must before leaving the hotel for every race.
Another mental drill I always do was to go through in my mind what I was supposed to do at the start line. What I was supposed to do during the run. What happens if cramps / thirst / body becomes drained / blah blah ? All this might have happened during thr training runs. So you would have had some experience of how to deal with them. Even if you had not experienced them before, It would be good to just think through what would you do when they do. Basically it was to prepare myself to know WHAT to do when WHAT happens. This was a skill I practised so much until some times I did it subconsciously, even when I was not running.
Sometime before 0230Hr, I woke Edmund up. He did not need to eat breakfast. Strong body.
We went down to the lobby at 0245Hr. Besides Chua, there were also other runners there waiting. Mohan was also already there.
The pick up point at the Esso station.
Mohan's Marathon Maniac number 1332. Mine is 3437.
The bus only arrived at 0230Hr.
It went on to pick up other runners from other locations. Naturally, we saw familiar faces.
Charlotte the rabbit.
The bus journey took only around 10 - 15min. The stadium was quite near to the town area. There were already many other runners at the stadium. Saw many other friends who had arrived earlier than us.
The running skirt princesses.
All marathon maniacs.
The run started at 0400Hr. The weather was still a little cooling. The main issue was not to take too long to complete the run as the weather would be very hot.
We made our way out of the stadium towards the main road. We turned right once we hit the main road. I was trying to maintain a 5.30 pace. It did not seem easy. The body seems not so smooth today. The road condition was still alright. As the sky was till dark, the street lights helped to illuminate the roads. However, around 15mins into the race, the street lights just went off. Every one of them. We were running in pitch darkness. The only thing light we could rely on was the headlights of cars occasionally coming towards us from the opposite direction on the other road. Yet, there were a couple of cars that switched on their high beam, almost blinding all the runners. I also tried to listen to the footstep of the runners around me to try and gauge how far they are away from me.
The first U turn was at around 12.5km mark. I met Edmund there. I told him I was having difficulty warming up my engine. He told me to try and slow down a little first. We ran together for a short distance before he sped off. I just held on to the 5.30 pace.
The air was getting humid. I had to keep pouring water onto myself at every water station. At one water station, I accidentally took a cup of 100Plus instead of water, and poured it onto my head. Well, I could be able to wash it away at the next water station.
By the time we went back to the road junction where we turned out from the stadium, it was already 6+ in the morning. The main body of the runners for the 10k race were coming out right now. We merged into them and suddenly we were surrounded by a lot of runners. My body had already warmed up by this time and was able to maintain pace. The distance now was roughly around 21km.
I continued to run steadily as I made my way into town. I managed to catch up with Edmund at around just before 30km mark. We went past Jesselton Point, Suria Sabah, near our hotel area, Central Market and would continue towards the airport. It was actually a very small town.
At 32km, my body started to slow down. Energy was getting depleted it seems. I began to slow down to a crawl. The sun was up. Weather was getting hot. I began to do run / walk. It was a good strategy to adopt in a weather like this.
The U turn at the airport seems to take forever to reach. There were turns and turns, making you think that it would be the U turn point. It came at the 32km mark.
The way back to a little torturous. The sun was up above. The heat was accumulating. Slowly, I moved forward through running and walking.
On the road near the junction turning into the stadium, around the 39km mark, Edmund overtook me. He signaled me to move go with him. I told him the race pace was too fast for me. He understand what I meant. I had lost a lot of speed training for the ultra.
He slowly ran with me for the rest of the distance. Its good to have somebody running beside you sometimes.
Gun Time: 04:21:39
Category Placing: 12 / 29
Approaching the finish line.
Medal bite!
Our five medals.
Scientist Runner, Marathon Maniac #2800. I am #3437.
As we were walking out to the main road, there were still runners coming in slowly. We shouted for them to keep moving. We know its tough as the weather was already getting hot.
We managed to catch a cab to take all 5 of us back to the hotel. We reached the hotel at around 0930Hr so we still have a little time left for our breakfast. We were so hungry we just grabbed anything that was left on the trays.
After breakfast, we got back to our rooms to wash up and rest. We agreed to meet at 1300Hr to go out for lunch.
Zzzzzzz ..
*snore* ..
Zzzzzzzzz ..
After we woke up, we felt hungry again. Hahaha .. we quickly settled for lunch at a chicken rice shop nearby. I drank a lot of water too as the weather was too hot.
Soon Tech and Joanne suggested going back to the place we had coffee yesterday morning as they saw a massage parlour over there yesterday. It was just a short walk away and a walk would be beneficial for all of us.
The massage parlour was full when we arrived. So we told them we would come back again in an hours time and went down for coffee again. Time to relax again. It rained slightly outside at this time. We chatted on the race this morning, how each of us fared and our thoughts about it.
The massage after that was good. The place was decent, the masseuse was experienced. It was cheap too! 30 ringgit for a 1hr full body massage.
By the time we finished massage, it was almost time for dinner. This time, Ah Chua brought us to the bak kut teh shop he ate yesterday.
Its was just 1 street away from our hotel.
The place was sure crowded.
The boss asked us what we wanted and we said we wanted a little of everything. ha .. :)
After dinner, it was followed by a beer session at Jesseltom Point. We had been waiting for this moment every since going there yesterday.
We stayed there and chatted until around 2300Hr. As we slowly walked back to the hotel, we saw distance markers of the race that were still on the race course.
Hahaha .. it certainly brought back memories of the run this morning.
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