MWM 2014: Marathon Unbecoming

It's done. The time is not yet for me to claim the marathon title under my belt. I had predicted that the race might not be on due to the haze, but i kept staying optimistic still and prayed hard. It's not just any race, it's my first FM.

This race definitely has special place with me. I didn't get to participate last year, as I had just completed my confinement. Exercise wise, I would have been able to do one. But to join longer races which I would not have time to train for, definitely a no. And the arrival of the event has been shared among DiGi's Running Club, so it was much anticipated. I was hoping that I could join, but I knew hubs would mind, so I didn't. 2nd reason is since the race is in Shah Alam for goodness sake!!! Right at my backyard. I can tell all the routes like the back of my hand (well, certain routes are quite foreign like at the Shah Alam gov office but it's veryyy minor. And I don't quite recall well the surau at seksyen 9. Other than that, everything is all so familiar). Truly enjoyed the route, despite the constant ups and downs.

Since the start of the race week, people been posting on the facebook page asking whether the race would be on. I had my long run 1 week before the taper week in the haze. I didn't have my mask on, so I adjusted my shawl so it could cover my face. No biggie. But then again, understand I can't apply the same rules for everyone.

So, the week before had been a roller coaster. 1 day ok, the other day is not. Finally the organiser has firm up the direction. The race would be called off if the API reading exceeds 100 the day before, but there will be giveaways still. That is still not a good enough news for me. I need the race to be on so badly. I have trained so hard for and committed and framed my mind enough towards it. I've prayed hard that it would go on.

On Friday, the haze got to its all time high (only for this year, last year it was worse). I had to accept the fact that the race might not go on. Come end of the day, it got much better. Yippee then. Saturday, it got crystal clear. Me and hubs kept on admiring how beautiful the weather was. Saturday PM, it started to rain and it was on and off rain until nighttime.

Woke up at 2.45 (just 2 hours before as Cecil said it should be enough. More on Cecil later), checked on Garmin and to my surprise it was off. I had never turned it off for sometime now, and it was off on a very important morning for it to be on. I was very disheartened and woke hubs up immediately as I knew he had something to do with it. Well, I charged my Garmin on his charger, so he had plucked it off to charge his phone. Fair thing. What could have gone wrong is that, he had unplugged the cable from the charger but not from the watch. I suspected that the battery was drained out through the still connected cable. I cannot described how disheartened I was. Googled for some ideas on how to turn it back on, or reset or whatever. He asked me to do what I had to do, so off I went, hoping for something good to happen. And it finally did. Alhamdulillah sangat-sangat.

Then I had my breakfast and my soo much longed for coffee. Such a relief to finally get my regular caffeine fix. Some background, I had went on caffeine fasting as suggested by Cecil to increase performance on race day. 1 thing for sure, I was groggy most of the time that week due to this. Cheated the caffeine fasting on some days with kak nik's coffee. Finally it was over, phew... So I've warmed up and stretch at home, as I targetted to only leave home at 4. Grabbed the prepacked pump stuff (final packing was just the icepack) and off we went. Once in the car, first thing off, why was the air seemed to be hazy? Checked on the phone, API reading was totally fine, but the weather seemed very much not. I just shrugged everything off, as the first thing that I had to do while in the car was off course, to pump. It's about 5 hrs of running at minimum and I really had to offload whatever little supply that I had that time (this serves as some guide for some aspiring nursing running mommies. I'm not perfect myself, but this is what I do to keep everything in check).

Upon reaching the starting line, the race director, Karen Loh announced that they will have to make the run non-competitive. The cash prizes will be converted into cash donations to worthy bodies due to the haze and asked everyone whether we wanted to proceed with the run or not. of course everyone would want. Fair decision. Oh, and hubs stayed throughout until the gun time, which I so appreciate. The little thing that he does that enough to make me a happy wife. I had even salam cium tangan macam about to go for labour sume. Oh, and I bumped into Kak Milli which was great and she looks so much better in person and doesn't look like her age at all. No wonder the husband of her made the kind of comment in Lets keep it real

So off I ran with the rest. I was cruising throughout and was totally enjoying it. 6.50 ish +/- average pace was fine with me. The strategy was to get through the first half at a very easy effort. Speed should only be ramped up after half way into the other half (30km la). As usual, I would always find anyone that I can pace myself onto, that matches my comfortable pace. I couldn't find one from the start. I had tagged behind 3 runners quite some amount of time, 1 of the man had even took the vest off, drained it and put it back on. Sometime later I lost them. Then upon reaching Tesco, the guy who drained his shirt started talking to me. Asked whether I was doing the FM or the half. My thoughts were, everyone at that route should be FM participants. He had contemplated whether to go for a complete distance or settled with half. Since I was so determined on finishing the full, he decided to complete his too. He's quite a funny chap actually. We ran together quite awhile until I had to stop to do my prayer at the Section 9 surau. He had even asked how long would I need as he wanted to wait for me...funny and nice chap. It took me 10 mins, and I've split from him even before the surau as I wasn't too sure of its exact location, hence it made perfect sense if I cannot find him afterwards. I was quite lucky to have ran alongside him for some distance, as there were few not well lit area and unmanned. Big security issue there. The road light had even decided to turn off when it was still dark. I've never been this alone in any races. And this is the race where safety is of utmost important since it's an all women race. I have nothing against the organiser, totally appreciate their hard effort, but this is the only tiny bit of improvement required to make it slightly better. And I like one of his remark about how I run. He said it looked so effortless it appeared as if I was walking rather than running. Not his exact words, but that's what it implied. Too bad that I couldn't proceed further with him.

Went on my own until the km23/km24 where the organiser diverted all runners to run back. There were 5 runners including me and we decided to proceed. That was cool enough. But I had overtaken them and they slowly lost in sight. Kept on turning back but none seemed to be in sight. That was around the Baiduri Apartment, after the UiTM gate. I thought something was amiss. Moved ahead and a runner was heading backward, but he didn't say anything...Further up, a lady told me that I really had to turn as they were cancelling off the run. All water stations had been asked to close and she genuinely and persistently asked me to turn. I had to say that I would make a u-turn in front in order to convince her. Upon reaching the water station, I was deeply challenged to turn back as well. So the same excuse was given, only then, they let me go. So, off I went, climbed up the hill again, in the haze, all alone. Another heartbreaking thing happened. It seemed like it was not my time yet to claim the marathoner title. One thing after another. The haze, the watch. I had to turn back all alone. I have never run alone in an unfamiliar route for safety reasons. Lucky no bad thing happened. Saw the earlier lady insight, caught up and said let's finish this off together.

We were together until the finishing line, hi-5ed and congratulated one another. After that, a man jumped in, and it was the chatty guy that I ran with before, asking how I was. Funny how the supposedly solo mission, didn't feel all that alone. That's the beauty with running. You meet a complete stranger and easily become acquainted. Was about to find them again to have some photos taken together, then my race bib number was called. I was so excited and screamed 'Here! Here!'. And everyone else was cheering for me as well. I wondered why was everyone so excited. It turned out that they were calling for the Habib lucky draw winners. I was still not recovered from the disappointment of not getting to finish my marathon, and Allah has granted me with this instead. So I guess, it's all His will and is part of His plans. I have not been very lucky with lucky draws, but I have been quite lately.

As for the run itself, though I did not manage to finish, I feel contempt at the long run that I got to do. It was a mere 30.53km, so the balance 12km still remain a surprise for me. They say that's where the real challenge lies. They say, the final 10 is all about mental than physical. That's why I have reserved my everything on that day to ensure my last 10 would be well covered. But it ended, before it can even start. Stamina wise, I could definitely go on and had some to spare. Mentally, I was on top of the world. Haze? Didn't budge me one bit. I had my mask on my hand, but I didn't feel the need to wear it at all. It was a total opposite when I had my long run last week though. As for the run, it was not my best pace, but that was much expected, as I really had to reserve the 22 km that I had never encountered. My longest training run is 20.06. But my feet had started to give in. Not too bad though, but enough to make me concerned. But I stopped early so it was no biggie. At least, I get to add in 30.5 km long runs into the training logs. Not that big loss there.

I was expecting that it would take me a long time to recover from the marathon. 20 plus kms of distance still uncovered, in any of the trainings or HMs, so what do you expect. Based on research done, and prior experience last year (2 HMs in 3 weeks time) 3 weeks is the amount of time required for complete recovery. And recovery is important. If you still want to keep on racing, observe the recovery period fully. But, I felt I didn't have much to recover from. I was expecting that I would need to take leave on Monday, lucky I didn't as the race wasn't even on and I didn't have anything to recover from, except from the regular short recovery Monday runs. An evidence that I wasn't even pushing myself during the run as well. Guess, i just have to get back into training like normal then.

Owh, my gu chomps was such a saviour. There were few instances where I felt complete hunger during the run, and gu has helped me to overcome that. The bad thing was, I didn't get to touch a tiny bit of food since after the run to after the habib giveaway. I spent quite sometime on the stage as I was the first called out, and no one was around for the other lucky numbers. To the point that the organiser had to ask for the runners to give their race bibs in order to draw the numbers again. Picture above was when they started collecting the bibs. I was almost shaky after that and found it hard to walk. My legs were fine despite some stiffness, but the bad thing was I was suffering from serious chaffing.

So that's it. MWM will not be my official FM debut (unless it takes me until next year for my next FM, I truly hope not.) But it was such a good experience, and I'm happy to get to be part of it. Truly looking forward for 2015.

Race photos credit to:

Faisal Razif at his facebook page
Running Malaysia Magazine

Addendum:

Forgot to update about the race timing. Below are the key splits according to Garmin
5k - 35:20
10k - 1:09:40
21k - 2:24:42
30.53 - 3:29:05
Average pace - 6.51 mins/km

As can be seen, my worst timing ever. Official splits were not given despite the tracker being everywhere. As suspected, about 10 mins were off between my own timing against the official one, due to the prayer time