Conquered the hills!

Race: New Balance Pacesetters 30K
Date: 17th January 2010, 5.30am
Venue: Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur
Distance: 30km
Website: http://www.pacesetters.com.my/newbalance.htm
Why this race:
1. The unique 30K distance race in the country.
2. A 'custom' run for runners especially Pacesetters members

Last year I signed up the 20K category (it was formerly known as GE Pacesetters 30K) but chickened out last minute. That was because I had not been running much after SCSM 2008 and the uncontrolled binging had taken away my confidence. I was hesitated to sign up 20k or 30k this year but finally I decided to sign up the 30k category due to the psychic influence from fellow running mates LOL

So far I had been training quite well since Borneo Marathon in October 2009. Even though slacking sometimes, I would return back fairly quickly and also made satisfied timing in few recent races. So I had high hope in this race, setting myself a target of sub 3:35. Yes, I can run 10K in less than 1:10, but holding the pace for 30km in such hilly route, I rather be more conservative. Pacesetters is well known to design hilly routes, this NB 30K route is virtually [1 Hartamas 20K + 1 Double Hill]! I told sohkeong this would be Mission:Impossible for me to do sub 3:35 but I would try my best. I wanna know how far I am behind the target and how to improve next time.

I had studied the route map in detailed before the race. I could conclude I am so familiar with Hartamas and Double Hill routes, I know almost every stretch and corner. The race started with a hill climb, but soon would enter the area of Istana Selangor which will be a long down hill run before the next uphill near Bank Negara KTM station. With the advantage of knowing the route so well, I ran the downhill with faster speed which was not a typical act during early of a race, this was to "buy" some time. In fact, every time I hit the hill climb, I would tell myself: Ok, Doris, pass that lamp post will be down hill, keep going!

When reaching the 20km which is at the top of first hill of Double Hill, my timing was 2:11:49, I was doing well! However, after completed the second hill and turned into Mini Wall (luckily we were running it down... not going up LOL), I started to feel a stitch near the right waist. Although the pain was still bearable, the stitch had hindered me from running faster down the Mini Wall (thought of buying time again...). When reaching the flat, I slowed down to walking in order to consume the PowerBar Gel and to subside the stitch pain. This was the only time I walked in the entire course for few ten meters (yeah... pround of it!). I gotta train harder in breathing and pace control to avoid stitch problem again.

At about 24th km, WaiSum caught up with me. I paced with her for about 1km, but I had to let her go ahead, my pace was getting slower (or she was getting faster? LOL). Anyway, by now I was quite confident to meet the target as long as I kept running at the current pace. Let's play safe, don't push too hard and then collapse before the finishing line :P

At 29th km, I caught up with Uncle Fai. As usual, he looked so relaxed, and even asking me about the TTDI Breakfast Run event next week. Walaoooooo, Uncle Fai, I couldn't talk and nearly couldn't breathe anymore, 1km to go to pia for my best time in my first ever 30km race... I really had no mood and energy to discuss about the breakfast run next week larrrrr LOL... Furthermore, I didn't expect there was another hill climb at Jalan Salahuddin. I thought we would cut thru the Dewan Tan Sri Mahfoz Khalid to the finishing line at Padang Merbok, a real mental torture!

After the last hill, I sprinted as fast as I could and made a strong finish! A big surprise to me, I made 3:24:33! I even met the Men's Open qualifying time (i.e. 3:30), what a remarkable achievement for me! Feeling very satisfied. I like the feeling of putting efforts to train and focusing in the race, the good timing is a bonus. I will certainly train more consistently to keep it up, and the most important part is -- Enjoy Every Run!