SCKLIM - The Full Report !

Yahoo… 4.03 for 42.195km. Frankly, I am happy with this timing for I would not dare to think that I could fair better than the other 2 full marathon that I did when I was much younger. I told friends that I ran 3 to 4 full marathons but actually only twice. Sorry. My first was September 1987 (MAS International Marathon –Penang) and second on May 1998 (International Penang Bridge Run). My timing was 5 hrs 18mins and 4 hrs 25 mins respectively.

When friends from KK Pacers asked me about my target this time. I told them about 4.30. But actually deep inside I do expect it to be near 5.00, thinking that I am not as youthful anymore and secondly training was just enough. I’ve only ran 36km once in my whole training schedule for this marathon. So being just minimumly prepared, I just could’nt hope for better timing.

3 Days before the race, I started to feel lethargic and flu-ish. Every short run during this tapering period was heavy. And worst on Saturday, my stomach wasn’t feeling that good. Maybe bananas was the culprit. I’ve developed lots of wind. And believe it or not. I could not sleep. I stayed awake until it’s time to wake up at 3am Sunday morning. Luckily I managed to steal 2 hours of sleep on Saturday afternoon.

5.00am Sunday. Bang. Racing starts. Drizzles and wet. Started to pace out with a very relaxing pace. Slowly the pace got bigger and faster. I am feeling comfortable and the rain has given me freshness for the whole run. At this moment, I started to think. Shall I go according to my ability or lower down my pace to avoid hitting the wall.

In 1998, I started too fast at the first half and I have to struggle after the 30km mark. But training this time around, I felt that my threshold point was about 3.5 to 4 hours on a comfortable speed. So, why should I slow down since I am comfortable with this pace. So I just let it roll. First 10km at 55mins, 21^st km at 1.57mins, 32^nd km at 3.00 hours. Wow, 10km more in less than 1 hour and I will do it under 4 hours. I kept on running even when going up slopes with high hope that I could meet my expectation. But surely enough, I could not deny that my strength started to falter. The last 10km was a struggle, and finally crossed the line at 4.03.

Thinking again, the contributing factors to my good run was :

1. Light Rain – it really cools down the whole systems. The whole morning was fresh minus the haze and the humidity.

2. Power gel – I had one at 17.5km and one more at 30km. I believed this 2 packs has maintain my strength to the finish line. Previously at Penang, not many know about refuelling midway. Only know to carbo load to the fullest before the race (which is wrong).

3. Isotonic drink replenish my body salt and because of it, I don’t feel any muscle soreness till the 30km mark.

4. Competitive "Kiasu" – worrying that those whom I had overtook earlier might creep up from the back and say “hey, I am back” or “are you ok? lost your power? make me going.

HAPPY RUNNING