KL International Marathon - 18 Mar 07

Got up when the alarm sounded at 2am. Had a quick shower and applied lubricant to abrasion prone areas. I then donned my SGRunners vest and Adidas black shorts. Forced myself to drink the Myoplex protein shake as replacement for breakfast and gulped down 2 capsules of Amino Acid. I then put on my Adizero SN Red and made sure i feel comfortable in the shoe. Just before 3am, i grabbed my urban running kit and Creative MP3-filled nathan Waist wallet, Adidas white cap and left for the lobby.

Realrunner was already waiting. I did my preliminary stretches while the others appeared, one by one. Babumouse gave me 2 salt tablets. Though i would breach the rule of no experiments during raceday, i felt that salt tablets are handy aids to prevent cramps. We left for Dataran Merdeka as soon as everyone arrived. It took us about 5 minutes to reached the event location. I called Tey from Pacesetters and met him to pass his Ultramarathon finisher's tee. After exchanging best wishes, i deposited my luggage and looked for a toilet with Balasing and Benruth. Saw some familiar faces along the way, Kayano, Burnz, TLR from SGRunners. I also saw Hayley from Pacesetters, she looked super hot but calm and composed.

After being ushered into the reporting zone, i did another set of stretches and got to know a new friend in Steven. Before i knew it, the race started. I did a slow run with Balasing. Yeehua was nearby and overtook us somewhere near the 5km mark. After a pee stop, i ran faster and left Balasing, knowing that he will catch up as the distance increases.

I reached the 10km mark in 1:07. Not too bad, as i aimed to cover 9km/hr. Burnz appeared and after having my first pack of powergel, i continued on. I drank at every water stations. At 15km, i took my first capsule of salt tablet. I wasn't feeling tired or any pains. Saw Andy who was complaining of pains in his foot. I gave him some words of encouragements and moved on.

At 2:15, i reached the 20km point. Took another pack of powergel and looked around for familiar faces from the 10km stop. That way i can more or less judge who runs in similar speed as me. I saw Burnz and another Malaysian runner. We exchanged best wishes and continued on.

We reached Bukit Bintang before turning right towards Concorde Hotel, where a group of Adidas cheerleaders were chanting "Impossible is nothing", god knows what that meant. I came across Lim Kok Wing University Gallery, which sounded familiar and i realised it to be what i saw on "Gol and Gincu the series".

Being bored, i got frustrated when i didn't see the 22.5km water point where i felt it should have been. I then realised that i must have slowed down. Feeling a bit tired and a little irritation on the right knee (must be the old injury from the football match), i continued on and passed by a shop in the vacinity of Masjid India, selling Nasi Kandar. I stopped and took a deep breathe, enjoying the aromatic smell of curry fish head probably, before continuing on. Saw some 21km runners zooming past before the sight of Dataran Merdeka appeared. I knew that there will be a turn somewhere, that will take us another 18km or so, so i tried hard not to get excited.

I stopped for another pee break at a toilet, the keeper was nice enough not to demand 20sen from me. I continued on and reached the 28km water station. After that, my strides felt slower and the route feels longer. I came across a junction with a traffic controller on duty. I realised that i was alone. It was an amazing feeling when the controller commanded all traffic to stop and wait for a slow me to cross the road. I knew for sure that that will never happen should the race be held in Singapore. Thumbs up to the warden and the motorists.

I then passed by Chow Kit Road, not before nearly taking a wrong left turn when i should have gone straight. Thankfully a passerby called out and pointed me to the right direction. The support and understanding of the people was pretty amazing. Finally, i reached the 30km mark, where a fella with a casted hand enthusiastically gave out powergels. I took one and that was my third pack, washing it down with plain water. The next 5km was a run-walk, mainly walking. Balasing overtook me and i was looking over my shoulders for Burnz. Perhaps i looked too often as i had a very painful cramp of the left shoulder at 34km. Applying some heaty massage oil, courtesy of the medics at the waterpoint, i also took my last capsule of salt tablet before walking slowly.

The cramp subsided when i reached 35km where i heard a call for "Shut". I turned around and saw SV, who then called me a slacker. Fair enough. SV got me to go on a slow jog with him, and i constantly reminded him not to increase his pace, not wanting to get anymore cramps. Until then, a personal best was within reach. However, sub-5hr was realistically beyond us. SV and me decided not to "chiong" back and continued our slow jog. Got to the 36 or 37km waterpoint (the 6 and 5km to-go markers were less than 20 metres apart) and took a good sip before peeing behind a truck. It was then a slow jog to the u-turn point and back up for the final 4km.

Caught up with Steven, who looked dead tired. I motioned for him to follow us and he did. Got to the 40km waterpoint at about 5:05 and saw Babumouse, who complaint of knee pains. Babumouse, SV and me walked the next km, talking about anything under the sun. Mythos ran past after waving at SV. I then remembered that SV and me were wearing SGRunners vests. No way can we be walking back to the finishline, it will be so embarassing. So with 1km to go, i dragged SV for a slow jog. A couple of runners who have completed their races lined the pavements leading to the finish line, cheering us on. I advised SV against increasing his pace. The painful cramps i got from SCSM for "chionging" the last 200m or so served as a good lesson. Slowly, we reached the finishing line in 5:20, 8 minutes slower than SCSM for me.

I collected my finisher's pack containing finisher's tee and medal, and returned my timing chip, recovering the RM20 deposit. I then took out another RM30 from my urban survival kit and registered for the Penang Bridge Full Marathon in June. Just finished a torturous marathon and there i was registering for another one.

I guess the PB will have to wait. No worries though, as i thoroughly enjoyed this race. Organisers were great, people were great, I love running in Malaysian races. Next stop is Port Dickson Half Marathon on 1st April.

Distance: 42.195km

Shoe: Adizero SN Red

Timing: 5:20