Cyberjaya Twincity Marathon 2016 - The Full Marathon Sequel


Finally, the overdue sequel of the Full Marathon. After close to 1.5 years since its first. And finally, mission accomplished.

Ok, I had silently hoped for a sub 5, but my first Full Marathon experience was so humbling that I did not dare to put any hope whatsoever. At least not out loud.

(Pardon me, I had not done a race recap for quite some time, so please cut me some slack here). 

The race was held late January. And this year has turned into a challenging year for me, career wise, and has been rewarding at the same time. I have never had to have a business travel ever since I got married with kids. The most I had was only a 1 night travel to Communicasia in 2007. And that was it. I had never went for any girls vacation. I refrained from any fitness and outdoor mission that I so long to do, cause I couldn't stand leaving my kids behind. The most I did was the 1 night away from them for the #mountkmission. And this year, I had to travel much more frequent. So this marathon sequel had to happen in between the 1st and 2nd week of my business trip. Yes I had 2 weeks back to back business trip and I had a marathon sequel in between. I had to emphasize the sequel fact to show that marathon distance is not normal for me yet. So having been put in such situation, is a big deal for me. The only good thing is, the first week is the taper week and the 2nd is a recovery week, so I won't be too stressed out to squeeze in some training. But the lack of rest certainly wouldn't do me any good.  

The Full Marathon race flatlay...after a while
So on the race day, me and hubs had to do the divide and conquer mission. As much as it was a big mission for me, it was a big mission for hubs as well. He was up for his first Half Marathon after being put off since the cancelled SCKLM2015. Plus, the kids would have a big football match. So hubs could makehis way  to pick up the kids after that. 

The day started quite easy. I managed to get a decent parking spot. And decent time before starting time. Then it began. I took my easy pace while overlooking other runners who passed me by. The road was dark as always so nothing much to be seen. At one point the route led us into the motorcyclist path. Which was narrow and dark. And I couldn't really see what was on the ground. This was when some runners started to slow down and I managed to overtake some. As always, I'm always a big advocate of starting slow and finish stronger. 

My mind started to wonder about the prayer area. There was 1, but the day was too early and it was not Subuh yet. So I had to carry on and hoped that it would be just nice time for me to pray at the next prayer spot. I reached the WS where they start distributing coke and gels. People were already performing their Subuh there. I was wondering whether to proceed myself of to wait at the proper spot. The route led to a U-turn. So once done with the U-turn and I was back at the earlier water station, I deciced to just perform my solat. At least I would have a decent place, and proper water supply, rather than relying on the uncertain prayer area.

The day was still dark. I still felt under control. I was so worried about my legs but half way through it was still fine. And I had the energy and the strength still up towards KM 30. But then again, that was how I felt with my virgin marathon as well. Everything felt well and dandy until KM 30. The day got brighter as I get into the KM30 mark. The route has merged with half marathon runners way before that. About KM 30, we started to split again, and that's when I bumped into a friend who managed to capture my photo. And that was the only photo I had, full frontal face.

The only full frontal pic. The bigger the race, the lesser your pic
I then moved on, with lesser crowd than before, as it was only meant for FM runners. I was pacing along another male runner, and he got slower and I had to bid goodbye. The route then led us to the food fest. There was roti canai and teh tarik. It was a good gesture, although I didn't even touch them. I simply had no appetite for such feast and I was more interested on finishing early. Timing wise it was not that far off. But my pace started to get between 7-7:15 pace. Not a good sign, Of course, despite how slow I think I was, I may be a bit faster than I should. The optimal pace for the first 30km in order to reach my targetted finishing time would be 6:50-7 mins pace up until KM30 and in hope that it can get faster after 30 km. But I didn't manage to do just that, this second time again. There was no cramping whatsoever, but my endurance was not enough to push me faster. At the point of writing this, I know that I need to experiment more with slower pace from the start and see if I can go faster in the end.

I bumped into few familiar faces towards the end. The route merged with HM runners again. I was pacing along this other guy, from about KM 35 towards the end. The final 7km felt the longest. As I was starting to take over other male runners, few did express their surprise for me. I wasn't that fast definitely. In order to finish, we had to make a U-turn and that U-turn felt the toughest. The mind keep wondering when are we going to reach there and all. I managed to keep on running, non-stop up until then. I thought I was able to until the end. But I had to give in. The distance finally took its toll on me. The distance still a beast and I was no where near of conquering it. No matter how slow I think I was to reserve my energy to the end, I had to walk still. Once you start to walk, then it's only a recipe for trouble. Your mind will keep on wanting to walk. The marathon is really a mind game. You trick your mind into thinking that you can, and that's what keeps you going. As is the walk. So I walked and run alternately until the end. I finally saw the timer at the finishing line, which strucked 4:54:xx. I finally broke my 5 hour mark. What a bliss. And the actual running time for me was even sweeter. The sub 4:50:00 timing. And of course, the sub 7:00 pace.

The sweet timing...bliss...Alhamdulillah
The throbbing feet. I know now, that this would be my biggest pain immediately post race.
The feet and the legs started throbbing once finished. Funny how it didn't feel a thing during the run and felt so bad right after. Having no one to gather with, I straight away make my way to the favourite spot. The medic tent. And I love the medic tent. It had plenty of stretchers. And Ice. That's all I need and I had just that. I didn't realise how generous it was, until I've been to other races which didn't even have this basic things. Since I've started this ritual, there have been only 3 races that had this ice remedy; the 2XU Compression Run 2015, Larian Gegar 2015 and this one. Not MWM, not even the Kemensah Trail (which I can only talk about later). For that, I was ever so grateful for Twincity.

All in all, I think it was a great event. A lot of participation, plenty of crowd, even for the seasoned and professional ones. I thought that it would be one of those, less turn up events. But it was not. I am very pleased with how organised the event was. Plenty of volunteers, sufficient water stations, ample prayer tents, glorious food offering, both along the race and at the finish line. A proper medic tent. I like every bit of it. One of the best races that I've been to. Convenient logistics is a huge bonus as well. At this point of time, the race itself was way passed. So my recap here might not serve the race the credit that it deserve.


Cyberjaya Twincity Marathon 2016
Date: 21 Jan 2016
Venue: Cyberjaya
Distance: 42 km
Time: 4:48:38 hrs
Pace: 6:52 mins/km

Comments

Popular Posts