Virgin Half Marathon No More - Part 2
So here comes the post on the run itself
Since a buddy has agreed to be my pacer, quickly i gave him a call once i reached the junction that we had promised to wait. He had just finished his solah, and asked me to wait at the end of the starting line Something that i never done. I would usually squeezed in, trying to get to the at least the fromt side rather than the back. So there i was, starting from the back. Our race plan was to run at 6:30 throughout..it's not something that i would feel comfortable about but after the long run at bkt jelutong, it seemed possible. Once we were able to actually run, the pace suddenly shot up to about 6:00...sometime even faster, especially when overtaking. Being my pacer, i made sure he will always be at the front....and me and mazy have always been good pacer, always managed to run together unless either one of us give in, so it was not a problem for me to play catchup.... And suddenly i noticed that my heart rate strap was not properly buckled..so i had to adjust while on the run. I had to discreetly do that as it involves some unhooking and hooking back, which can be quite obscene..other runners would definitely not give a damn, but those who kno me might. So this might be the reason why my garmin gone all over the place (190 ish)...it was about then that i realised that i didnt have my gu..it was in the pouch with aminsyah. Just when i thought everything would go as planned, there was still something that wouldnt. Alhamdulillah, i noticed it early, so i just have to plan my fuelling well. Hydrate before your body longs for it and get 100 plus at every station that offer it. I think there was no 100 plus even after 4km mark.. But once it did, i was bloated enough that i had to skip certain water stations.
So we ran on at the same mode, overtaking ppl one after another, passed by midvalley area, into the syed putra roundabout where i specifically mentioned to nan, here comes the hills...it was still quite crowded with people and it was still dark, but i was still very excited that i was finally having my HM that i had long been waiting for... I saw a kwailo, seemed to be trying to find his fren (bet it must be his girlfrien), with camera all set on his hand, what came to my mind was, how did he get there...it was about 5 km, i was sure he was at dataran before, and he must have made his way there after the gun fired. So i was running up the hill again, this time, i went ahead of nan, hoping that he would catch up. Once it seemed that the route seemed to go downhill, i turned back to see his whereabout, and he was no where to be seen....i had to keep on going just in case he had actually went ahead and would sometime turned back fromt ime to time...but that was it, he was no where to be seen since. It was around km 6 - 7 and my hope of actually finishing with someone and enjoying my run even more had gone down the drain.
The road was heading towards cheras, and it was almost flat that time, the sun was not yet up, and i had no reason not to love my run except that the view was not as nice... There were just old shops and buildings along the route... One definite thing that i like about half marathons is, all participants are serious runners. Unlike the 10km, many would just walk even from the start. With HM, ppl would still run albeit slow, and if they do need to walk, it would mostly be brief ones and are really required....or maybe i was just ahead of the pack, that the slower and walking runners were far behind. And with other races, i would normally take note of ppl who might be of the same pace with me and i would tag along. There was this guy (i think he paced with me first) and we were pacing each other for some time.
The route was still heading towards cheras and i lost track of where it really was and we finally reached the 10km mark...so far everything was great, nothing i couldnt handle, ive covered the distance before, and there was so sign of fatigue at all...then there was the banana station. Quickly went for it, and i was already well fueled up.... The road i think led to jln chan sow lin and here came the real hill...i was still completely energised and i managed to conquer the hill well...if u know me well enough, even a slight upward is my nemesis. Right at the top i saw some familiar backside and i know that he was an ex digizen. I think the name was vijay. Had a quick chat with him, and i took him over. the guy whom i paced with was still around until it was almost 15km mark... I saw him moved further but i wasnot sure whether he was really up front till the end or i had actually catch up.
At one point, i saw an amputee and was still running pretty strongly... Alhamdulillah for all the gifts that Allah has given...complete life, good health, one can only be grateful enough. I enjoyed supports given by the volunteer, would clap and responded to their cheer, at one was was even high five-ing with some spectator.. They made their time to be there and i was more than grateful to have someone to cheer you on, even when it was not specifically for me. The highlight of the route was when it reaches the bkt bintang area... It started with the prince court junction, then pavillion, moved up the bkt bintang area...if only my phone was easier to manage, i would have taken some pictures...the view was breathtaking...and the weather was just superb...by right, i didnt even need to have the cap and the sunnies on..
The route went into jln sultan ismail, then into jln p ramlee...there was the ice cool, or cooling station, which i heard it should be really soothing, but i was not feeling as soothed.i enjoyed the jln p ramlee too, cos it was Aminsyah's old office and there was some guys playing the drums for support, and as usual, i clapped back to support them on.. Passed by the clubs, then onto jln ampang where we passed by zouk amd saloma. Muhammad said he was around that area, around km 19... This was when it strucked me, that i had never covered this distance before, and it was the moment of truth...but still to my surprise, i could still handle it well. I feel so grateful that i had paced well and reserved my energy earlier on... All credits to all the readings and recent one was as written by miles-post.
The road then led towards maju junction and into jalan tar where the marker showed 20.5 km..i thought this is it, almost there...but i couldnt bring myself to speed up, for worrying that i may use up all that was left. No more marker after that i guess and all i had was my own judgement on where would the road ahead finish. I was grateful that i still managed to main 6:15-6:19 pace, until near the dataran area...even then, i was still mot confident enough to speed up, until i saw the finishing line to be crystal clear. Revved myself up, managed to ask the volunteers while speeding which lane should the half marathoner be and glanced to the clock for the timing... It 2:2x ish...but i was not disappointed yet, cos i know i started late... Finished well, took the goodie bag, found a shaded corner for me to lepak at, and quickly looked at the time. And there it was, my pr.
Sub 2:15, as what we had targetted for, and way over my original target, as i was just targetting for sub 2:30 initially, since this would be my maiden HM. so the feeling was surreal...other ppl need to wait for 3 years, many races, still had not been able to achieve that.
so i waited for about 45 mins before i met everyone else. and waited some more after that. they day got hotter and off we went, concluded the day off...here we were having another run together...but on the way back, Aminsyah was saying something like, enough of running and that's it...it definitely something that i am not willing to do yet, but i couldn't be so transparent about it...i know i wouldn't get enough blessing if i was over the top about this whole thing
i was so happy as i can be...i was enjoying every moment of the run, had even smiled to myself during the run, with just the thought thinking that it finally happened...been wanting to do Half marathon since last year, but things got put off due to my pregnancy...and it all happened nonetheless. Hope this will not be the end of it, and i will grow stronger each and every day
Since a buddy has agreed to be my pacer, quickly i gave him a call once i reached the junction that we had promised to wait. He had just finished his solah, and asked me to wait at the end of the starting line Something that i never done. I would usually squeezed in, trying to get to the at least the fromt side rather than the back. So there i was, starting from the back. Our race plan was to run at 6:30 throughout..it's not something that i would feel comfortable about but after the long run at bkt jelutong, it seemed possible. Once we were able to actually run, the pace suddenly shot up to about 6:00...sometime even faster, especially when overtaking. Being my pacer, i made sure he will always be at the front....and me and mazy have always been good pacer, always managed to run together unless either one of us give in, so it was not a problem for me to play catchup.... And suddenly i noticed that my heart rate strap was not properly buckled..so i had to adjust while on the run. I had to discreetly do that as it involves some unhooking and hooking back, which can be quite obscene..other runners would definitely not give a damn, but those who kno me might. So this might be the reason why my garmin gone all over the place (190 ish)...it was about then that i realised that i didnt have my gu..it was in the pouch with aminsyah. Just when i thought everything would go as planned, there was still something that wouldnt. Alhamdulillah, i noticed it early, so i just have to plan my fuelling well. Hydrate before your body longs for it and get 100 plus at every station that offer it. I think there was no 100 plus even after 4km mark.. But once it did, i was bloated enough that i had to skip certain water stations.
So we ran on at the same mode, overtaking ppl one after another, passed by midvalley area, into the syed putra roundabout where i specifically mentioned to nan, here comes the hills...it was still quite crowded with people and it was still dark, but i was still very excited that i was finally having my HM that i had long been waiting for... I saw a kwailo, seemed to be trying to find his fren (bet it must be his girlfrien), with camera all set on his hand, what came to my mind was, how did he get there...it was about 5 km, i was sure he was at dataran before, and he must have made his way there after the gun fired. So i was running up the hill again, this time, i went ahead of nan, hoping that he would catch up. Once it seemed that the route seemed to go downhill, i turned back to see his whereabout, and he was no where to be seen....i had to keep on going just in case he had actually went ahead and would sometime turned back fromt ime to time...but that was it, he was no where to be seen since. It was around km 6 - 7 and my hope of actually finishing with someone and enjoying my run even more had gone down the drain.
The road was heading towards cheras, and it was almost flat that time, the sun was not yet up, and i had no reason not to love my run except that the view was not as nice... There were just old shops and buildings along the route... One definite thing that i like about half marathons is, all participants are serious runners. Unlike the 10km, many would just walk even from the start. With HM, ppl would still run albeit slow, and if they do need to walk, it would mostly be brief ones and are really required....or maybe i was just ahead of the pack, that the slower and walking runners were far behind. And with other races, i would normally take note of ppl who might be of the same pace with me and i would tag along. There was this guy (i think he paced with me first) and we were pacing each other for some time.
The route was still heading towards cheras and i lost track of where it really was and we finally reached the 10km mark...so far everything was great, nothing i couldnt handle, ive covered the distance before, and there was so sign of fatigue at all...then there was the banana station. Quickly went for it, and i was already well fueled up.... The road i think led to jln chan sow lin and here came the real hill...i was still completely energised and i managed to conquer the hill well...if u know me well enough, even a slight upward is my nemesis. Right at the top i saw some familiar backside and i know that he was an ex digizen. I think the name was vijay. Had a quick chat with him, and i took him over. the guy whom i paced with was still around until it was almost 15km mark... I saw him moved further but i wasnot sure whether he was really up front till the end or i had actually catch up.
At one point, i saw an amputee and was still running pretty strongly... Alhamdulillah for all the gifts that Allah has given...complete life, good health, one can only be grateful enough. I enjoyed supports given by the volunteer, would clap and responded to their cheer, at one was was even high five-ing with some spectator.. They made their time to be there and i was more than grateful to have someone to cheer you on, even when it was not specifically for me. The highlight of the route was when it reaches the bkt bintang area... It started with the prince court junction, then pavillion, moved up the bkt bintang area...if only my phone was easier to manage, i would have taken some pictures...the view was breathtaking...and the weather was just superb...by right, i didnt even need to have the cap and the sunnies on..
The route went into jln sultan ismail, then into jln p ramlee...there was the ice cool, or cooling station, which i heard it should be really soothing, but i was not feeling as soothed.i enjoyed the jln p ramlee too, cos it was Aminsyah's old office and there was some guys playing the drums for support, and as usual, i clapped back to support them on.. Passed by the clubs, then onto jln ampang where we passed by zouk amd saloma. Muhammad said he was around that area, around km 19... This was when it strucked me, that i had never covered this distance before, and it was the moment of truth...but still to my surprise, i could still handle it well. I feel so grateful that i had paced well and reserved my energy earlier on... All credits to all the readings and recent one was as written by miles-post.
The road then led towards maju junction and into jalan tar where the marker showed 20.5 km..i thought this is it, almost there...but i couldnt bring myself to speed up, for worrying that i may use up all that was left. No more marker after that i guess and all i had was my own judgement on where would the road ahead finish. I was grateful that i still managed to main 6:15-6:19 pace, until near the dataran area...even then, i was still mot confident enough to speed up, until i saw the finishing line to be crystal clear. Revved myself up, managed to ask the volunteers while speeding which lane should the half marathoner be and glanced to the clock for the timing... It 2:2x ish...but i was not disappointed yet, cos i know i started late... Finished well, took the goodie bag, found a shaded corner for me to lepak at, and quickly looked at the time. And there it was, my pr.
Sub 2:15, as what we had targetted for, and way over my original target, as i was just targetting for sub 2:30 initially, since this would be my maiden HM. so the feeling was surreal...other ppl need to wait for 3 years, many races, still had not been able to achieve that.
so i waited for about 45 mins before i met everyone else. and waited some more after that. they day got hotter and off we went, concluded the day off...here we were having another run together...but on the way back, Aminsyah was saying something like, enough of running and that's it...it definitely something that i am not willing to do yet, but i couldn't be so transparent about it...i know i wouldn't get enough blessing if i was over the top about this whole thing
i was so happy as i can be...i was enjoying every moment of the run, had even smiled to myself during the run, with just the thought thinking that it finally happened...been wanting to do Half marathon since last year, but things got put off due to my pregnancy...and it all happened nonetheless. Hope this will not be the end of it, and i will grow stronger each and every day
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