A Walking King

Race: Adidas King of the Road
Date: 10th August 2008 (Sunday), 6.45am
Venue: Dataran Shah Alam
Distance: 22.7km (actual: 22.21km according to this*)
*Kidding? I thought it was so much longer than 22.7km!

Why this race?
1. It WAS a reputable race
2. A self evaluation to decide whether to take marathon in SIM

Why NOT this race?
1. My vest has no KOTR logo imprinted!
2. The drink station closed down due to short of supply in the later half of the route!

The race started late by 5 to 10 minutes by the new Selangor Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim. Started slow and steady, I didn't get tempted to go faster in the beginning, I maintained a comfortable pace and felt very good!

At around 30th minute, the sea of 10K runners joining us from another direction. Honestly it was quite demoralized to see many of them had overtaken me, but still, I maintained my good pace. Unfortunately it did not sustain, I could feel I was slowing down a bit after 40th minute.

I consumed the Powerbar Gel after 1 hour of running at the drink station, however the gel did not boost the performance as I wanted, in fact, I was like a pancit-ing balloon. I thought I had run 12km, but was dismayed to see 12km TO GO sign at the next sponging station.

Nevertheless, I still had to strive to complete the course. My strides were lowered and shorten, I could hear the noise made by shoes scratching with the ground. More and more runners had passed me. I was so thirsty and exhausted, awfully looking forward to the next drink station.

NO...... the drink station was closed due to lack of supply! I really wanted to shout the four letter word but the mouth was too dry to do so. Without any choice, I had to continue. I did not want to face my first DNF, moreover this was my first half marathon.

I forgot how my mind carried the legs to move forward, but it eventually lost to the legs, I started walking. After about 2 minutes plus of walking, I decided to continue running, but soon I found my calf(s) were going to cramp, so I settled to walking again to avoid it. Starting from 2hrs 16th minutes, I was actually walking for the rest of the course.

There were numerous slopes and roundabouts, I lost count. If not the weather was cloudy and cool, I believed I already collapsed due to dehydration. I asked the first aid volunteers twice at different locations for the spray in order to ease the cramp, but I could not believe they ran out the supply again. One even offered me minyak angin... what?!

Finally there was a drink station available at about 1km to go, well, that was just too late. Anyway, I still poured 2 cups of 100 Plus. One drawback of the drink station was it only offered 100 Plus. I knew isotonic drink would help to keep us moving without cramp, however, I believed many of us needed water too to dilute the sweet 100 Plus and Powerbar Gel.

When I passed the 500m to go sign, I started running again, my ego and pride wanted me to finish with running. I did it slowly to dodge the cramp. I would like to thank the finished runners who had cheered me at the last few-ten meters. According to my watch, I clocked 2:48:10, not impressive at all, but I felt relieved.

I was placed 68th, which is the same number of my bib! Anyway, I guessed all Women Open runners would get a medal because I didn't see any bib number beyond 2 digits for D category. To my surprise, I was given a certificate too, I thought only those who completed within the stipulated qualifying time would get one.

I did the race badly. One reason was due to the absence of drink supply, another reason was the slopes were mostly at the later part of the course, while the Hartamas LSD route was mostly downhill in the return route. But the biggest problem is my foundation is still very weak. I am not sure whether I should go for marathon in SIM, with the next 2 weeks being the recovery week and Shape Run, I only have about 3.5 months more to train. However, I really fancy the trainings towards marathon... with all the sweat, tears and "fun" (synonymic to 'torture')! Having a dilemma now, the early-bird registration for SIM will close after tomorrow...