Nope, not yet the King of the Road…

It’s been a very sad long week during our absence from blog. My deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to See family. Do drop a message for PW in the Nibbling Box –>. She will be back to read it.

In KL-Marathon post, it was a spontaneous act joining King of the Road Shah Alam. Maybe we were over into the hype of marathon then.

The receipt for the run made the organizer looks very well planned. It was divided to 3 parts where 2 parts were used to collect your race pack and for reporting on the day of race. The shirt was not the quality as I’ve expected when we registered though .

Hew and me took part in the 11km race.
 
It was lucky that we have opt for the 11km race. The weather was not very good for the run as the haze was very thick.

The road was not an easy game, it was continuous uphill and downhill. Never a good flat land. Especially the 1km stretch at the start and the finish route. It was terribly difficult to run. I’m not sure if it was because I’ve had only 2.5h of sleep or was it the haze. Breathing were very difficult or maybe I’m just an amateur .

Arrived finishing line at 1h 12min bad timing. No improvement even though I’m running a shorter route. Sigh.

Lesson learned: downhill != fun/relax/speed but control step speed and breathing.
                       uphill != slowdown/walk but keep same step speed as flat ground.

I was SS in this run. Heheh SS means sad but satisfied NOT syiok sendiri. Why?
Sad – I was not qualified for the medal.
Satisfied – I did not stop a bit despite the steep slopes!

Hew came in slightly later than me at 1h 25min+ who claim that he walked the race. Not a bad time.

After the race, it took us like 1.5h before we found each other. We did mentioned a meet up point but unfortunately both of us did not end up the seat to wait. Later that we know, we were actually at the same area looking at the same place but overlooking each other.

I just can’t understand why they don’t understand what’s the use of a rubbish bin?

I was worried after 1h of waiting. I actually should be worried because there were an unfortunate incident happened reported today in NST during the day of race. Gary Leon Robert was found dead at the stadium 24hours after the race. This is a tribute video to him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN8ae9tM86M

I did not take my camera along so this is the only photo we had:

We don’t really look very tired though! Heheh notice I’ve got a hair cut again before a race . Helmut say it increase aerodynamic movement. We had a hearty meal with our colleagues after the race at Klang for Bak Kut Teh. Yum Yum!

I think it’s possible to beat the King of the Road title in 50min. I’ll be stronger and sure to come back to challenge it again!

 

God Speed,

Catfish

PS: Sorry Axio stealing photo from you again

I’ve done it! KL Marathon Yataa!

YES I’ve done 21km, the longest distance ever achieved!

I was so excited on the night before the race till I only got 4 hours sleep (intended for 7h sleep at least). I set my alarm to go off at 3.30am but I jumped up earlier at 3am (I hate it when you get all excited like this!).

The organizer was kind enough to arrange for a special shutter bus which operates from 3am onwards, from various pick up points. 2 of my colleagues and I took the Bkt Jalil one at 5am.

I really did pack light, evidence.

Our bus came on time, however, Axiao complained that their bus only came 45min later. The bus journey was so smooth that we got there a little too very early.

We have plenty of time to get our bags checked in and clear our bladders. We even have time to do a 2 round the field jog warm up.

While lining up at the starting line, I suddenly the urge to go to the toilet again, the excitement must be getting my nerves. However, looking behind me were about 1500 people so I decided to just go with a full tank. The same thing happened to me during the towerthon though.

Upon reaching the first water station which was about 10min away only, only 2 toilet available but later came to realize that the trees along the road are also toilets for the guys (more than 6 trees available).

The race started with a slight drizzle which was quite refreshing which made running smooth and breezed. I broke my record for a 10km stretch at under 1h which I usually take 1h 10min on flat ground.

An ~5m distance shower was provided at around Hang Tuah station. I’m just wondering who the hell needs a shower that will only add weight to their run and might cause blister easily with the wet shoes. In my opinion, it is a waste of water with only 1/50 using it. They could have installed a mist shower like those you find in mamak fan instead.

The route got tougher as we reached the first flyover from MAA turning into Jln Istana. The stretch from Jln Istana –> Jln Parliament was all steep + another flyover. My legs lack of practice on slopes gave way before the flyover which was 3/4 away from the finish line.

Once I’ve reached the last 3km point, I pushed myself to finish as my target time is about up (2.5h). I was smiling when I saw the clock at the finishing line printing 2h 30min 10s!

I have finished the race in:

2h 30min 40s

The start and finish line. The second clock from the right is the 21km time.

I was so thirsty and tired after the finishing line that I sort of made a quick walk to grab for some isotonic drink and some banana. I met my colleagues around the 100plus corner and asked to get them all a yellow stick each:

Karen was together with her bf running 10km, aw such a sweet couple. Eh… no no I was suppose to say: spot spiderman!
It is Mawar Sahlan again! Myave you guess that he is young but no he is 69 years old uncle! He has been running with Spiderman suit at run quite a number of marathon races. This time he participated the 10km run. Read more at NST.

The race indeed have 12,000 participant.

The queue to baggage collection was terribly long like 3 long python attacking one booth. Many people utilized the bag provided by the organizer so it was difficult to spot the owner’s bag. I was smart to bring a different bag …

Finisher medal marks me completing the half marathon:

There is one thing that I didn’t like about the race is that the medal should be given on the spot when you pass the finisher line instead of the long queue at the end. Well maybe they have their reason to get their chip back but some people get to keep theirs… I wonder if it works.

The half marathon gang from Sony:

Oops Axio is still on her way back but we are using her camera now … Heheh…

I met a few guys while lining up for the bag and talk for a bit about marathon. They told me that I had used the wrong shoe for marathon. I’ve used a cross-training shoe Nike Air Max 180.

Which will lead to:

Actually, there were a few major complains from the participant includes:
1. Drink station dried up before race finish. Axiao experienced this.
2. Local winner were not crowned local champion, …

This is my first Marathon and the experience was fantastic beside the medal distribution method. Maybe to avoid from the mentioned complain is to avoid running first and the last.

After the race, I had a feeling that I can achieve anything. Maybe next I shall go for a try for something more extreme like bungy jumping at sunway.

The thought came crashing when my father said 2h 30min? If you don’t finish within 2h 30min then you are not a marathon runner. He say his 21km time was 1h 45min. I was like erm… so spoil… Heheh but it’s alright! I shall beat that and aim for a 42km as well…

Oh yea… I’ve almost forgot that Hew and me did signed up for the King of the Road race. 11km for 50min qualifying time. That’s a target to beat!
Notice that both of us are signing up for the T-Shirt. The package comes with 2 x RM50 voucher to be used for purchase of shoe worth more than RM250 (one voucher per shoe). I think I’m making use of it to get a correct shoe at least!

Feel like joining? You better act quick, the closing date is 3rd of July. Click here

Resting,

--Catfish--

PS: Photos courtesy of Axiao, Hew, Goh and Helmut. Thanks!

KL Marathon: Getting Pumped Up!

Yippie! Choong Hoe have conquered 21km at KL Marathon!

I shall talked about today’s event later… I’m too tired and exhausted to blog all in one… Well partially because I don’t have the photos. Hehehe the runner’s guide book told us to pack light… So I shall talk about the registration day instead -->

T-1 (a day before the race)

Dataran Medeka was rather convenient for me as I’ll only need to hop on to STAR LRT and get to Masjid Jamek, 3min walk away. Tsen and I were there first.

We received phone call from the rest of my colleagues when we are not far from Masjid Jamek saying that their car robbed in Titiwangsa park and they are at the police station. 2 person lost a phone and couch wallet each worth up to RM1000.

Advise: Please be careful when you are to park your car at any parks. If possible, use plastic bags to keep valuable in your pockets and pack light… Remember…

As soon as Tsen and I arrived at the field, we were greeted warmly by the officials there who directed us to our respective booth. I would say it was quite organized, trust me big sign boards everywhere:
Well I guess that got a pretty big field anyway…

The officials at the counter were nice and friendly. I was pretty satisfied with their service, the collection process took about 3min each (pretty fast I would say). I’m not sure about the day before as it was raining and were suffering from some computer glitch.

I like the bag that were given to us, it’s huge…

RapidKL special shutter bus were also available for the price of RM7 which includes one day pass on all public transport (STAR, PUTRA and RAPIDKL).

This make it convenient for those that are running full and half marathon which starts at 5am and 6am respectively. No public transport are available at that time + all the roadblocks.

Breathe Right were taking advantage of the event to promote their product. I would say it do work for me when I’m suffering from running nose as I do have it quite often. And yes it is not only to solve snoring problem.

100 plus set up some rock climbing and basketball activity booth. Is the rock climbing practical? Will the participant try it out? I don’t think so… Who would want to hurt themselves before the race?

Hew and me were so hyped up with the KL marathon that we end up joining for the Shah Alam Adidas King of Road Marathon on the spot. Despite the orange color, the shirt is of good quality. RM30 is quite worth it! 

Both of us joined the 11km race. Why not 22km? The qualifying time 11km is 50min which is quite a challenge for both of us. As you can see my training time for 11km is more than 1h.

Lots of toilet are provided. Unlike Towerthon with only 4 provided (I think), the queue was so damn long till I was forced to run with a full tank.

The toilets are decent. I was fascinated by the manual pump (observe the 2 round black rubber on the floor of the toilet. One for the flush and one for the tap.

Helmut and me give it a go at the toilets and came out asking each other did we snap the same thing and we laughed about it:

Me all fired up for the longest run that I had ever participated so far:

 

Regards,

-- Catfish --