A Dramatic Night

Race: Energizer Night Race
Date: 27th March 2010 (Sat), 6pm
Venue: Kelab Komuniti Taman Tasik Cyberjaya
Distance: 42km
Website: http://www.energizernightrace.com.my/
Why this race:
1. Good goodies
2. Sufficient water (at least for full marathoners)
3. Mr. Energizer is very funny in Facebook!

After Putrajaya Night Marathon, here is another night marathon event in Malaysia. We rarely have night races especially in full marathon distance, suddenly we had two. This time I signed up the full distance.

I felt regret after tasted the heat and humidity in Putrajaya Night Marathon even though I only ran half of the distance. But there is NO one time that I didn't regret, a bad character of mine lar... LOL. Training wise, I had maintained good weekly mileage, usually 50/60K+. Together with a few enthusiastic running friends, we woke up very early and ran double hill (or reverse direction) in many weekday mornings before going to work. Also, I had completed two 30km LSD. Looks like I should be very fine.

Unfortunately I slipped again two weeks before the event. Binged, gained weight, felt sluggish to run, and the worst part was losing the passion to run in this event. Old stories, the sad thing is I really don't know when I could get out from this vicious cycle. I guess I have set a bad example in the running community, I am the only one not losing much weight even though I have run quite a lot :(

The sun was still scorching at 6pm, it was hot. I didn't feel like going to run 42km, but no choice, I just had to complete it. This time the food strategy was better than the previous Putrajaya race. I had lunch at 2pm, and gorged a PowerBar Performance at 5.15pm. Stomach was ok.

My initial water strategy had been changed completely due to the hot weather. I grabbed a bottle of 500ml Gatorade at the first water station (around 2nd km) and ran with it, sipped a little in every 15 to 20 minutes. Then took another bottle again after finishing the first bottle. In less than 10km, I had already washed down 1 liter of isotonic drink + a few cups of plain water into the stomach. Even though the sun had set, I still felt hot and slothful, the drinks didn't help as they were served warm.

At 13th km, yes, 13th km, I had started walking. There was no pain, merely no desire to run anymore. The little angel and demon in my mind were arguing again...
    Hey, start walking so early, don't look good, shame... shame...
    Ummm... the qualifying time is 7 hrs, should be able to meet it wor even with walking
    But without a decent finishing time, why wasting efforts anymore?
    Aiyo, just complete it for the sake of sportsmanship lar...
    ...
    ...

Well, I continued walking + running while my mind was fighting itself. I promised myself, I would sure go to buy a COLD Ribena drink if there is a convenient store on the way. But Cyberjaya is like desert, we hardly see any shops, not to mention convenient store! Then I reached the water station at about 15th km, here I got a 500ml bottle of COLD Gatorade, I quickly finished the whole bottle without thinking much! At the next water station, I was able to grab another bottle of COLD Gatorade and I quickly wash it down again.

By now, I had already drunk 2 liter of isotonic drink even before reaching 20km. My stomach was bloated with water, however I felt rejuvenated with the cold drinks. Still walking in between, I had started to run more and more. At 27th km, I had a thought. If I continued the slow jog, I could finish the remaining 15km in 2 hours, then I would be a free person!

Ok, this sounded like a plan. Many runners complained there were no distance markers after 30km but I was glad for that. My strategy had turned from conquering the distance into conquering the time instead. I kept the promise of running the remaining distance except of 5 min walking uphill. I had enough Gatorade, I took more plain water at subsequent water stations. I also discovered the usefulness of icy sponge. Since many runners had slowed down, I had passed quite some of them and this gave me a sense of achievement!

I felt the route was under distance. I remembered it took me about 3:35 at around 30th km mark, I don't think this is possible with so much walking. Anyway, completing the race was more important. At the current pace, I could finish in 5:30, so focus, focus, and focus. At the last km, I sprinted all the way to the finishing line, at least showing a strong finish in front of the quarter and half marathoners LOL! Yes, I crossed the line at 5:16:16 (chip time)!

Usually we start strong and slow down, or some say 'hit the wall' after 30km. I had a dramatic night where I reversed the experience. Also, I had drunk so much of Gatorade of grapefruit flavor which was the only flavor offered, I would not drink Gatorade anymore for sometime even though grapefruit was my favorite :P

p.s. According to a runner with GPS watch, the distance was taken as 40.78km (source: pm1 website).