Having the opportunity to run this marathon must have been one of the most exciting time of my life.I got up early in the morning at 2am to prepare for the race. I literally go thru a series of self made ritual and mental preparation. Having carbo-loaded for the past 2 days (just lotsa pizza and rice) to energize me for the whole 42Km plus 3 double caffeneited power gels for quick energy. Showered, plastered my toes, had my breakfast and head out to KL.
I got there at 3.30am and did some warm-ups. Met up with SC and GB when I entered the "kandang" (enclosed area for runners) at 4am to report in. Slowly the area became crowded with more and more runners. The feeling of excitement plus "butterfly-in-the-stomach" all came at once.
Sharp 4.30am, the gun was shot to announce that the race has begun and everyone just rushed thru. As my feet hits the magnetic mat, a "beep" goes off to indicate that the system has inputted my entry and is tracking me.
I remember telling myself one thing on that day, "just finish the race, don't matter if everyone else goes ahead of me or if I'm the last contestant or if the sun was scorching hot or even if I finish way past the qualifying time as long as I completed the race".
At 4.30am, the road was quiet, few cars and cool; just the right condition to run. I remembered passing by MidValley Megamall during the early leg of the run but the scenery, the landmarks, the buildings or the locations didn't matter much to me because I was focused to finish the race, that was the only thing that mattered.
5.30am, I was clearing past the old airport, keeping my pace making sure that I do not overwork my muscle too early or else as they say I will hit the wall or crash and burn too early. Already at that point I see a number of runners who earlier were the ones that rushed ahead to beat the competition (so to say); starting to walk. Its a waste to see that's you've come this far to quit because of a wrong strategy. My idea was to stay strong as much as I can before I hit the treshold (I will talk about that in awhile) and just keep going.
Around 6.30am, I was running along Cheras zone and a team of Nike Malaysia runners came alongside (and I saw a good number of company sponsored teams all throughout the race). One good thing about the race is that the organizers supplied plenty of watering stations, sponging stations and medical stations all throughout the 42km stretch not to mention the sheer number of policemen, DBKL officers, St John's medical officers and unknown number of volunteers assisting.
I am truly amazed at the veterans, aunties and uncles that could run better than most people would have expected. They can even chat as they run like they're doing their morning market. One Cantonese veteran lady runner said to another veteran lady runner- "cho san! tim yong ar? hou mah?" and they continued on. Another pair of lady runners was telling the partner - "no problem, just go slow you can finish this" and the irony was they were pacing ahead of me!
I met this old runner that came beside me and ask if I was a Thai! Do I look like a Thai to you? and he struck up a conversation with me. The conversation got to a point where I don't really know why he was telling me this - "you know we all got heart problem very difficult run (pointing to another pair of senior runners in front of us)" and he ran ahead of me leaving me behind...yeah right so much for heart problems.
Around 7.30am, having run almost 20 odd km my left calf starts to cramp, so I slowed down but not too slow, just enough to pace myself and continue running without hitting my muscle treshold. For the first 20Km, there was only the 42Km runners until we reached the junction near KLCC we were joined by the 7Km, 10Km and 21Km and suddenly the road was flooded with runners coming at all corners but hey I'm doing the 42 and you're not.
I personally find it annoying when some of the runners knowingly or unknowingly cut into my running way because I usually end up having to apply an emergency break to slow down just because of them and it breaks off my running momentum. I most certainly don't need that. I was glad that the 7Km, 10Km runners split to a separate road near Merdeka Square and I have the road all to myself again but I did saw a number of things during the convergence, one was a mother and a baby-in-stroller running...cool! saw a couple of my buddies or I thought I did. Adidas even hired a bunch of people to cheer us (banner flying - impossible is nothing!)
Right, so after the split I enter into a straight road and met up with the medic team to get some ointments to ease the muscle and this nice young lady asked me if I'm ok. My reply was, I'm good, thanks! and I ran on.
It was around 8.30am or so when I hit Jalan Tun Razak and having used up all 3 of my power gels at every 10Km, this being the last 9Km (having covered 33Km already) I got a boost when a girl handed out to me a power gel (power bar power gel double caff raspberry - the ones I bought were Tangerine flavored and it tastes like hospital medicine - yuck!), something I needed to continue for the next 9Km of the arduous journey. By this time my knee was crying out to me to stop and my feet was like on fire. Can you imagine that at this point - 1Km feels like hell! even though it looks fairly near.
Once I hit Jln Parlimen, the sun was up and it starts to get warm, that's when not only knees was killing me, my lower abdomen hurts, literally my whole leg seems to be falling apart. I knew I had hit the wall aka the muscle treshold and my leg just couldn't take it anymore, so I started walking. Initially it was a walk-run-walk but at the end my leg just couldn't do it anymore and I just walk and even so walking hurts like hell. I started to feel every impact as I stepped on the asphalt floor and boy was this a long, straight road with the sun up high.
By this point I knew I can't finish within the set time of 6 hours because I was doing tortoise pace but I just persevered on with all the pain and scorching heat I was facing just to finish the race. So, I walk and walk on what seems to be a never ending journey albeit I have only 5Km left reaching close to the finishing line, SC drove and met up with me and encourage me to finish it. After he left, a policeman came by and told me this - "hey you got 15 minutes more to go!" I was like -"what? this can't be right! I've gone way past the qualifying time (it was about 10.45am at that point) and so with every bit of energy I left I started running to the finishing line (although my leg was so f***** painful that time). The policemen assisted to block the traffic and guided me safely to the finishing line. This was the most anticipated moment, I was really excited. Adrenaline on high. Some of the runners who have completed the race cheered me on. Crowds, passerby just shouted - "go, go you're really close, you can do it!" I thank them as I ran ahead. Bang! I finished the race and guess what I was the last runner. They waited for me to finish it. Time - 6 hrs 27 mins. A lady handed me a bag and tells me -"Medal inside". Oh! What joy! and another guy handed me a cool drink. The race was finally over, I finished it. I accomplished what I had set out to do. I just head out to the recovery tent and relax my aching feet, having a cool drink in my hand I sat down reminiscing of what I have just done. I've completed my "virgin" marathon.
