Ipoh International Run 2014
The race was a postponed race. It was supposed to be held before the fasting month, late June. But the royal highness Sultan Azlan Syah passed away and Perak had to mourn for the passing of their supreme ruler. It was then postponed, but there was no mentioning of the new dates. It almost seemed to me that the race might be a hoax, or just cancelled for some reason. Thefacebook page, which is the only source of valid info, the website is too outdated. The only valid info was slight, basic info about the race and the fees. Nothing else. So with that change, more update is expected at least.
After sometime, they finally announced the date, and it would clash with PBIM 2014. Many were furious of course, asking for refund and all. Lucky for us, we did not register for PBIM, and that is certainly not our problem. Many had asked for refund and such. The fee is very minimal, RM35 for a half marathon and RM 30 for 10km. Where else can you get that. But many were quite furious still.
So the time has finally arrived. On race pack collection day, the counter was not too bad, not as bad as it should have been. But the t shirt was crap. They only give normal cotton tshirt. Not that we are going to wear them anyway. And since we only took it the day before the race, the only sizes available were L and XL. Not that we are going to wear them, just to indicate how crappy it was. Then I looked for the timing chip. There was none. Never been in any race without a timing chip before (except for a 5km or 3km). From that point, I've lowered my expectation even more.
I was due for the exam for 1 final paper of my CIPS certificate. Having it clashed with a race weekend is not helping at all. But being a multitasker me, I studied while driving in the weeks leading to it, studied in the highway journey, and any time which was possible. I even had the sample papers on ipad, so I get to study while nursing my baby.
The race started late. It was supposed to be 6.45 am for half marathons, 6.55 for 10km, and later by 5 mins apart for the shorter distances. I heard the announcement that you need to register yourself somewhere. Off we went and we thought we should be getting the timing chip somehow, but we didn't. they only give some kind of cable tie on our hand, to indicate that we started from the finishing line. So funny and classic. It was announced as well, that we should be getting 3 different markers altogether, the other 2 will be along the run.
Once the race started, everyone just stormed off together. No separate timings whatsoever. And being just back from injury, I noticed immediately that the pace was somewhat fast. It was 5 ish mins pace. Quickly slowed down definitely. Don't want to be making anymore rookie mistake. I had a bad lesson learnt for Cyberjaya Firefighter Half Marathon earlier on, cannot be having it at all now, especially being just recovered. I cruised along my planned pace of +/- 6.30 mins pace. That seemed to be working well for me, really felt that it was a cruising speed. Alhamdulillah. My normal easy pace has been 7 lately, glad that it can become 6.30 on race day.
I tried to study the route map earlier on. I saw Water Station legend, but cannot read the route and signs well. I wondered right before the race whether there would be WS along the route, but comforted myself that it will. After km 3.37, i noticed that the WS was nowhere in sight. I was lucky that I brought some small notes along, and the stretch had few petrol stations. Worried that there will be no more later on, I stopped for some water. Lucky I had, since the WS was only seen around 4km plus (5km route marker). Upon asked, they mentioned that the WS was placed every 5km. Another bummer. Throughout a half marathon route, only 3 water stations. All the luxury of banana or gels like other major races would have, is definitely off the table.
It was a very lonely route. Other lonely races that I had before was the MWM and cyberjaya half, but this might be the loneliest of it all. Almost worried about safety, and had always tried to look around nearby runners, to ensure that I was not too far off from anyone. Had tried to ensure that I would at least be within shouting distance with that someone. Was even worried that I might got lost due to wrong turnings. But there was actually proper signs and markers. the distance markers were mostly painted on the road as well. And the didn't seem like fresh markers. It must have been from previous races. The junctions were also decently manned, mostly by policemen. For that I must give them credits. Sponge was aplenty. Not sure why, but it was even more than water station. They even had it for 10km. But I only used once, even then, there was no exact need for it. I stopped doing it since it was a reason why my toes got wet from SCKLM earlier on, and has caused major blisters on my toes. One funny and unique thing though, they jot down runners' numbers along the route. I think there were around 3 or more trackers. Very unique thing to experience.
Gu Chomp was my buddy. Had it about half an hour before race start, as I didn't have any breakfast. Subsequent chews of 1 chew each only for every 30 to 45 minutes. I reserved the 2nd surge until I was at 15km. That has given the desired surge somehow. Just when people started to slow down, I pushed on, overtaking one by one. A lot of them sped too soon early on, that's why.
Upon seeing the finishing line, I sprinted through of course. There wasn't that many ladies, hence the sprinting would only improve my personal time. After finished, they put a tag around my neck indicating that I was no. 12. I thought, great that they actually keep track of runners' position, despite the lack of timing system. But I thought that was all it was. Then, they asked to move into Stadium Indera Mulia for my medal. It was quite a distant, and not being given any food post run made it even worse. I started to feel agitated. Asked around, no one seems to know what's going on. But I've moved on still. Once inside the stadium, some ceremony was being held. They had performances, lucky draws and announcement of winners. Then only it occured to me that they might have pushed me into the stadium for a prize giving session. And true it was. Just that, it was not podium prize giving, but a giveaway still, and had my name announced on the speaker. First time. It was quite surreal hearing your name being announced, when you are only doing it out of hobby and nothing more. It was just my lucky day. Had it not been a Ipoh based race, had it not been a less popular event and had it not been clashed with PBIM, I definitely wouldn't have gotten this. Allah works in mysterious ways and this is one proof of it. The only downside was, it took me almost 1.5 hours to claim my prize. Back in the car, I was already having headached, and quickly grabbed the panadol once home. Only grabbed few pieces of breakfast, quickly mixed my recovery powder and straight away to nurse the baby. Yeah, I tended to the baby more than I tended for myself. But I tried to grab everything I can while doing that, including the ice pack.
After sometime, they finally announced the date, and it would clash with PBIM 2014. Many were furious of course, asking for refund and all. Lucky for us, we did not register for PBIM, and that is certainly not our problem. Many had asked for refund and such. The fee is very minimal, RM35 for a half marathon and RM 30 for 10km. Where else can you get that. But many were quite furious still.
So the time has finally arrived. On race pack collection day, the counter was not too bad, not as bad as it should have been. But the t shirt was crap. They only give normal cotton tshirt. Not that we are going to wear them anyway. And since we only took it the day before the race, the only sizes available were L and XL. Not that we are going to wear them, just to indicate how crappy it was. Then I looked for the timing chip. There was none. Never been in any race without a timing chip before (except for a 5km or 3km). From that point, I've lowered my expectation even more.
I was due for the exam for 1 final paper of my CIPS certificate. Having it clashed with a race weekend is not helping at all. But being a multitasker me, I studied while driving in the weeks leading to it, studied in the highway journey, and any time which was possible. I even had the sample papers on ipad, so I get to study while nursing my baby.
The race started late. It was supposed to be 6.45 am for half marathons, 6.55 for 10km, and later by 5 mins apart for the shorter distances. I heard the announcement that you need to register yourself somewhere. Off we went and we thought we should be getting the timing chip somehow, but we didn't. they only give some kind of cable tie on our hand, to indicate that we started from the finishing line. So funny and classic. It was announced as well, that we should be getting 3 different markers altogether, the other 2 will be along the run.
Once the race started, everyone just stormed off together. No separate timings whatsoever. And being just back from injury, I noticed immediately that the pace was somewhat fast. It was 5 ish mins pace. Quickly slowed down definitely. Don't want to be making anymore rookie mistake. I had a bad lesson learnt for Cyberjaya Firefighter Half Marathon earlier on, cannot be having it at all now, especially being just recovered. I cruised along my planned pace of +/- 6.30 mins pace. That seemed to be working well for me, really felt that it was a cruising speed. Alhamdulillah. My normal easy pace has been 7 lately, glad that it can become 6.30 on race day.
I tried to study the route map earlier on. I saw Water Station legend, but cannot read the route and signs well. I wondered right before the race whether there would be WS along the route, but comforted myself that it will. After km 3.37, i noticed that the WS was nowhere in sight. I was lucky that I brought some small notes along, and the stretch had few petrol stations. Worried that there will be no more later on, I stopped for some water. Lucky I had, since the WS was only seen around 4km plus (5km route marker). Upon asked, they mentioned that the WS was placed every 5km. Another bummer. Throughout a half marathon route, only 3 water stations. All the luxury of banana or gels like other major races would have, is definitely off the table.
It was a very lonely route. Other lonely races that I had before was the MWM and cyberjaya half, but this might be the loneliest of it all. Almost worried about safety, and had always tried to look around nearby runners, to ensure that I was not too far off from anyone. Had tried to ensure that I would at least be within shouting distance with that someone. Was even worried that I might got lost due to wrong turnings. But there was actually proper signs and markers. the distance markers were mostly painted on the road as well. And the didn't seem like fresh markers. It must have been from previous races. The junctions were also decently manned, mostly by policemen. For that I must give them credits. Sponge was aplenty. Not sure why, but it was even more than water station. They even had it for 10km. But I only used once, even then, there was no exact need for it. I stopped doing it since it was a reason why my toes got wet from SCKLM earlier on, and has caused major blisters on my toes. One funny and unique thing though, they jot down runners' numbers along the route. I think there were around 3 or more trackers. Very unique thing to experience.
Gu Chomp was my buddy. Had it about half an hour before race start, as I didn't have any breakfast. Subsequent chews of 1 chew each only for every 30 to 45 minutes. I reserved the 2nd surge until I was at 15km. That has given the desired surge somehow. Just when people started to slow down, I pushed on, overtaking one by one. A lot of them sped too soon early on, that's why.
Upon seeing the finishing line, I sprinted through of course. There wasn't that many ladies, hence the sprinting would only improve my personal time. After finished, they put a tag around my neck indicating that I was no. 12. I thought, great that they actually keep track of runners' position, despite the lack of timing system. But I thought that was all it was. Then, they asked to move into Stadium Indera Mulia for my medal. It was quite a distant, and not being given any food post run made it even worse. I started to feel agitated. Asked around, no one seems to know what's going on. But I've moved on still. Once inside the stadium, some ceremony was being held. They had performances, lucky draws and announcement of winners. Then only it occured to me that they might have pushed me into the stadium for a prize giving session. And true it was. Just that, it was not podium prize giving, but a giveaway still, and had my name announced on the speaker. First time. It was quite surreal hearing your name being announced, when you are only doing it out of hobby and nothing more. It was just my lucky day. Had it not been a Ipoh based race, had it not been a less popular event and had it not been clashed with PBIM, I definitely wouldn't have gotten this. Allah works in mysterious ways and this is one proof of it. The only downside was, it took me almost 1.5 hours to claim my prize. Back in the car, I was already having headached, and quickly grabbed the panadol once home. Only grabbed few pieces of breakfast, quickly mixed my recovery powder and straight away to nurse the baby. Yeah, I tended to the baby more than I tended for myself. But I tried to grab everything I can while doing that, including the ice pack.
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