Port Dickson International Half Marathon - 11K Run

Tey had mentioned that I should write in English as well so that my Si-Fu (i.e. Master -- Jamie, the co-founder of RunnersMalaysia) could read my race reports. Writing the detailed reports in dual languages is not an easy task, I have to admit my writing skill is poor in any language...*sigh. Anyway, I decided to write my PD 11K race report in English this time :)

I didn't plan to run in PD initially, my preferred race was running 10K in RMAF Half Marathon which was organized by Royal Malaysian Air Force on the same day. Imagine running on the aircraft runway, it must be a unique experience! Unfortunately only veterans were eligible to enter 10K category, I was not ready to run 21K half marathon yet. I took the opportunity to run my first outstation race in PD, and to enjoy a short holiday with my family at the same time.

I registered via email and I was told my bib was D1002. I was surprised I was only the second registrant for Women Open 11K category, but only 2 weeks left to the race day. In addition to clashing with RMAF Half Marathon, I blamed it to poor publicity and lack of information on the website, we needed to email them in order to obtain the registration form and information. The Organizer claimed they were expecting 3000 people, but I believed a large part was made up by school children including those who ran on the day before the race in a “mini-marathon” (I guessed the “mini-marathon” distance was even shorter than 1/100 of the actual distance, i.e. 421.95m).

Anyway, lesser participants means higher chance to win a medal, you could hear me laughing out loud viciously in the heart, weee…hahahahaha. I chatted with a new running buddy I met yesterday in RunnersMalaysia Beginners’ Running Program. He was with a friend, he was the only person I knew in the event, felt grateful that I was not entirely lonely this morning. Anyway, I saw few familiar faces who I believed from KL too.

The 21K runners started at 7.24am. When runners from Category C and D were asked next to enter the “kandang”, the officials didn’t ask to hand in the reporting slip. A short while later, we were asked to collect the ribbon, those who didn’t have the ribbon would be disqualified. This had caused a mess at the starting point area, they should have distributed the ribbon when we masuk kandang.

Our national hero Mr. Astronaut was the VIP to trigger the gun. When I drove to PD, I could see many lamp post banners featuring Mr. Astronaut to attract more people to join PDIHM. Some Malay girls screamed when the handsome Mr. Astronaut appeared! I was being charmed by him too, I totally forgot to start my watch’s timer, I only remembered to snap his picture (:P).

I paced with D1052 in the first km. She was wearing a NB Pacesetters Klang Race vest and looked professional, I guessed she is a regular runner, soon she went ahead and I lost her completely. I continued with my own pace, I felt my legs especially right leg was a bit tight, probably due to long distance driving and lack of trainings these days. Luckily the legs were eased after the third km.

Road marshal was absent in between third to fifth km, we were supposed to keep left, but I saw many runners crossed the road to the right, so I followed them. Later the runners crossed the road to the left again, and the cycle went on. I guessed when one runner started crossing the road, others would follow suite, typical Malaysians’ “kiasu-kiasi” spirit. Anyway, the action of crossing the road was dangerous, the road was not closed for the event, there were quite some vehicles passing by.

After the first water station, we had to turn right into a highway-like road, still 6km to go. I overtook a Malay girl, her bib was D1136. However, she soon caught up with me again and paced with me since we were about the same speed. Because I was running at the inner side of the road and there was a lot of sand causing discomfort while running, I was thinking to slow down a bit to let her go first so that I could avoid the sand, but she misundestood I was going to quit, she was being so nice to cheer me up!

We kept running side by side, still 4km to go when we reached the second water station. We caught up with another runner who I forgot her bib, she asked us whether the 4km marker meant it was 4th km or 4km to go, I answered “tinggal 4km” even though I was panting heavily. She felt relieved and put on some gear, headed in front of us in the rest of the route.

We then caught up and overtook D1130 (she looks like Caucasian but later I found she has a Malay name, most probably she is a mixed blood), I guessed she was not happy, so she ‘turbo’ to come in front of us again. However D1130 was a very supportive person, she clapped whenever the elite 21K runners had completed the extra distance and overtook us, the slower 11K runners.

I continued to run with D1136 side by side, I felt very happy as this was my first experience of pacing with another runner and encouraging each other for such a long distance, the best part was we didn’t even know each other! We just wanted to run together and to complete the race. Anyway, D1130 remained competitive and didn’t let a slight chance for us to overtake her.

Finally we were heading back to the starting point which was also the finishing point. In less than 50m to go, D1136 finally turbo and ‘sayur’ D1130. I was exhausted, I didn’t turbo. I was also distracted to wave to my Mom and Aunties, and to pose so that my Sis could snap my picture with her phone. Unfortunately our faithful photographer Tey was not in PD but in RMAF.

The results were D1136 placed 9th, D1130 placed 10th, and I was 11th. Prize money was given to 1st to 10th position. Yeah, I lost the golden chance of getting to the top 10 and to win prize, this could be the only chance I had as I am a slow runner, but I didn’t feel unhappy at all. Instead of staying there to wait for RM30 (i.e. the prize money for 9th and 10th placement), I rather grasped the medal immediately and showered right the way in hotel room, then enjoyed the buffet breakfast as the reward of all the hard work :)

By the way, my time was around 1 hour 14 min. Although there was nothing to shout about with this performance, I truly enjoyed the race very much, it was a great experience of pacing with someone, and felt great of encouraging and congratulating each other, even though they were strangers!


Some freebies in the goodies bag!




Front and back of the T-shirt... rather conservative


Aerobics session to warm up


Runners loitering around before the race
The bus in the pic brought in a lot of young runners!


Mr. Astronaut in action




Heading towards the finishing line!


The certificate and medal do not indicate 11K/21K...
I could bluff others I completed 21K instead!


The abundant breakfast after all the hard work :)