Great Eastern Color My Heart Run 2015

This can be considered my most anticipated run after awhile. The longest distance after my last Half Marathon in the MWM. It will tackle the daunting hilly areas of Bukit Tunku. It indicates that I would go further than my previous pregnancy in terms of running capacity (I have been going into the unexplored pregnancy running territory in terms of pregnancy progress. But they are all short ones and there was no real test there). 9 to 5 run was quite an accomplishment of some sort. Since I had a 6:36 pace at almost 7 months pregnant. My last race at this stage was the PBIM at around 7 months pregnant as well. The pace was 7:02 for a 10km with a time of 1:10. but that was with toilet break. So there's no real comparison in terms of pregnancy fitness level for races. They all don't measure apple to apple. So this Great Eastern Run, come close to it.

Before that, slight recap and diversion to what had happened in the week leading to it. We just signed the kids up for football clinic. Qaid, my eldest has shown his interest in joining one (but he always like the idea of these kind of stuff. Whether or not he actually enjoys it, I'm not too sure myself). So after much deliberation, we figured that we should sign them up to a proper football school, the Akademi Bola Sepak PKNS. I was doing a lot of googling, but in the end, the one promoted by our dear friend is the one that we think the best. The main point out of this is, we will be soccer parents for now. And for the week before the race, I was a soccer mom big time. Having to handle 3 boys single handedly while being pregnant is no kidding. And I'm not the type who will leave my kids behind to be handled by the maid, or have some assistance following around cause I don't like giving them instructions, asking them to do what needs to be done. So I ended doing everything on my own.

Hubs had planned for his Sarawak trip long ago. I was fine with it. But when the time comes, somehow it coincides with so many things; My gynae appointment, DiGi 20 years anniversary family day celebration in office, and the newly enrolled football class for the kids, which involves both Saturday and Sunday. And we cannot simple skip any session for any reason, cause we definitely gonna miss some sessions whenever we have our races on. So off I went, lugging all the kids with me to the family day and footie session.

The kids were damn excited as expected. They tried almost all the rides and games, especially Qaid. And this is the classic Qaid really. He's really into these diversions. Not sure whether to blame my pregnancy or the way we have raised him. Him getting excited is fine. What's not too fine is when the excitement for playing far exceeds excitement for more serious matters. And this is very different than Qays.

There were a lot of food truck. Serving various food and drinks. But those that we are interested on had long queues. We ended up with just Crazy Potato, cendol and some burritos. I then had to lug around 3 kids, a pack of burito, and crazy potato. Qaisar then, suddenly decided to sleep. So I had to lug around all those, with him sleeping. And let's not forget that I have a baby bump with me. It was a crazy day. I couldn't even imagine being there initially. But my kids' needs far exceeds mine, and I'll adapt where I can.

Horsey ride. Qaid was trying to cover his lack of front teeth

Free ride for both of them

Qaisar decided to sleep. And I was so clever I didn't even bring the stroller. So serves you right then

One of the games, both of the boys did well in the wall climb. Qays was lacking in terms of height, which made it hard for him to reach, but he tried still and people was impressed with him

While queueing at the food truck. Go Pro in the bag was very handy. There was me, carrying a baby and still up for some pic.

Those things they did

My cutie pie

During the footie session the next day. Squeezed a 9 km run at 30 weeks prego. Short it was, as had to rush for the footie session. And yes, I lugged Qaisar around still. Couldn't imagine leaving him behind

That was the week before the run. Come Monday after the event, the hubs had to go to South Korea for business trip. As if there's no other time, the trip had to happen when he was barely around in the weekend. What I could do was just to pull myself together, and face things in the most appropriate manner.

The race day finally came. Was excited of having my longest race after sometime, which will also conclude my final long race for this pregnancy. Which may allow me to be a bit more lax in my training afterwards, as I would have less to hold on to (less pressure to maintain the maximum fitness level at the current pregnancy stage). But due to the crazy week before that, the excitement was a bit mitigated. Nonetheless, everything went well in the morning. The kids had to skip football for that day. Haiqal and Kimi won't be joining footie as well, as they would have their school's sports day, so less guilt as well for us. We arrived just in time, and managed to find a decent parking spot, so that was nice. The venue was really crowded, there were a lot of participants. I studied the route a little bit, and I had expected that it would be a hilly one. But it didn't really occur to me that it would be hilly right from the start. Tried to reserve where I can, but I knew I had exerted a bit more than I should, all thanks to hills.

Despite that, I was pacing quite well still. Took it slow where I should, especially near the uphill around Changkat Tunku area. The slope was almost 60 degrees. The route works in reverse that time. Usually for 2XU (the only time that I pass around those double and triple hills areas), we would be from the other side. So I knew all too well that I better be walking than running on that path. Even a walk felt hard. Right after reaching that peak, and on its way down, I heard a voice greeted me, 'Hey Pregger'.. It was my friend's hub. So we pace alongside one another for some time. It was nice pacing with him, I think we had quite the same pace and effort level, until I was the who finally gave in. I think we rode along together for a good ~4-5 km. I could have pushed more, but I was worried about my heart rate which was quite high. I really had to stop in order to bring it down.

The route was partially the SCKLM 2015 Full Marathon route, especially where I got my picture taken. At around KM 9, suddenly I heard my name was called again. It was Cecil, running with his buddy. I think it was the first time that we saw each other running. Once the 9km water station was up, it was such a relief that they had water there. There was no water at the earlier water station. Maybe it was just me, as others didn't seem to have the same complaint as mine. But I felt that it was especially difficult since it felt very humid, and the lack of water just made it even more intolerable. So at that 9km water station, I gulped 3 or more cups right away. It felt much better right after. I can feel that my blood started to dilute a little bit, and is better transported in the blood stream. So far, this is the 2nd incident (that I can clearly recall) of the lack of blood stream fluidity due to the lack of plain water. The first being the PJ Half Marathon. It might have been partly due to conservation of bladder space prior to the race, so I had consumed less water than I should given the humidity level at that time. Nonetheless, nothing much I could do. Either I spend time more at the loo, or I spend more time walking, so you'll lose either here or there.

So it felt better afterwards. I ran better afterwards. Managed to catch some glimpse of my friend's hub still, so I knew I wasn't too far from him. Later on, we started to  merge with the fun runners. They clearly had a different coloring experience, unlike my last color run experience in UM. Most of them had their own set of colors. And most of them would be heavily coloured. Of course when they all had their own sets of colors, definitely it will be up to them to splash it to whoever they want to. Knowing that fact, you either have to avoid from getting close with anyone with some colors leftover still, or, simply hope that they respect you enough and will not spill any on you.

So I continued on with my run, and simply prayed that no colors will be splashed on me. I managed to contain my energy up to the end. The route and the run felt tough just like expected. I had a conservative hope that it will be a sub 7 pace, but it would have been better if it was a 6:45 to 6:30 kind of pace. That didn't happen. My nike recorded a 6:40 ish pace, but my garmin didn't. But I was contempt still, knowing how hard the hills had been, as concurred with other runners and as evidenced by the result of other people. I should be contempt that I managed to secure a 59th spot in my category at my current condition. The last race for my last pregnancy was at 28 weeks, PBIM 2012, 10km at 7:02 pace. Position wise, I don't have a track of it. So I should at least be contempt with this. And it's a Bukit Tunku hilly route to add on to that. So that marks a wrap to my competitive race in this pregnancy. May I come out of this pregnancy stronger than ever.

Colors strewn on my car

Great Eastern Colour My Heart Run 2015
Date: 24 May 2015
Venue: Dataran Merdeka
Pregnancy Progress: 31 weeks
Distance: 11.74 km
Time: 1:21:31 hrs
Pace: 6:57 mins/km