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Date:                         Su 16 July 2006 – D-DAY  Seremban Half Marathon.  Bib no B27

Target:                      21 km LSD training run for PBIM2006.  Pessimisstic:  2:45 to 2:50 (afraid of hills).  Optimistic:  2:35 to 2:45.

Race stategy:           5:1 1st half, 6:1 second half, nonstop the last 1 km.  Powergel at 10k +

Actual:                      5:1 up to u-turn rewater station, powergel also, then 6:1 afterwards up to 15 km, then random when schoolkids tsunami came in.  Nonstop slow run final 800m.

Time:                         2:44:55 finish

Pace:                         7:51/ km

Time of run:             6:45 am

Route:                       Complicated.  See here.

Weather:                  Humid & windy.  It rained in the early morning.  Road was damp.

Calburn:                    1483 approx

Postrun Wt:             Dunno

Shoes:                       Brooks Vantage 2.  Total shoe mileage 107km.

Mindtune:                All mixed up.

 

Major Bummer:  This is the second time that I write this report.  The first one was accidentally written over.  Ach!

 

General expectations:  Not gonna get good timing for the following reason  (1)  Hilly route  (2)  Lack of rewater stations as reported in previous years  (3)  School kid deluge at final 5 km 

 

T minus 1 day:  Travel down to Seremban town with car load of supporters (yea right).  With no maps of any kind, relying just on psychic power, explored the town center, found the MPS (Majlis Perbandaran Seremban) building and went to get tshirt & bib.  Simple design, thinner cloth than PJHalf, so I will use it for the run.  No other goodies  (what do you expect for RM10 entrance fee) except for a chocolate bar.  Checked into Allson Klana.  At nacht, had dinner with old university friend, then Seremban + Senawang tour.  Reached hotel at 11 pm.

 

Race Day:  Startup at 5:20 couldn’t sleep anymore.  Ate the powerbar (banana flavor).  Applied the nips protecta (ahaks just masking tape actually).  Applied the groin chafing protecta (Vaseline).  Then wifey sent me to race site.  Road leading to MPS already closed, so got down at the corner and walked to the MPS.  Some confusion to find the reporting station, didn’t check for anything, just drop in the tab for lucky draw, that’s it.  Then went to the starting point & warmed up, jogged up and down the road. 

 

2 mins before start, some royalty arrived with police escort to start the run.  Announcement calling all 21k runners to gather.  No hoopla of any kind.  Kind of sudden, actually, but punctual, at 6:45 am.  “Are you ready?  Cannot hear you!  Are you ready?  Ok 1, 2 , BANG!” and that’s it, everyone took off.

 

Stuck with 5:1 galloway ratio.  Must be in the last 20 position as usual.  Back of the Pack.  Paced with uncle no C27 (hey same number).  Warning bells rang in my mind when realized he had a bottle of water strapped in his waist strap.  Then at 1 km saw people selling water at the roadside.  From the town area, took left at the bomba station, and started going into the outskirts.  I liked this portion.  Still quite early, not much traffic.  Ran past koko factory.  Didn’t notice where the Bata factory was.  Then this portion got greener.  River to the left.  Taman Haiwan.  Ostrich farm.  But no water stations in sight.  One runner waved to an ambulance and people inside gave him two bottles of water.  He passed one to another runner.

 

At about 10k +, reached the u-turn, the officials gave out black ribbons.  Then saw the first water station.  Took 2 cups, both isotonic.  Gulped one down.  Tore open the powergel, and gulped it down with the other cup of water.  Then started doing 6:1 ratio.  However, this portion became hilly.  All the way hills and hills.  Ran anyway, but pace got slower and slower.  At this point I finally lost uncle C27.  Paced some other runners.  Some runners started to turbo at this point.  I remember pacing two guys who were chatting, a Chinese & Indian, who sped up after the U-turn.  Never saw them again.

 

Then at 15 km, saw the second water station.  Took two cups again, this time was just plain water.  Asked the guy how far to finish, he said 5km.  But the distance marker I saw after that said 6km.  Anyway, at this point felt really low on energy.  Still stuck to 6:1 galloway.  But after about 1k, from the left, horrors!  A deluge of school kids participating in the 11km event, and 99% of them were walking and hogging  the road.  And traffic was getting worse, with cars, motorbikes, trucks etc.  After several attempts at trying to maintain 6:1 ratio overtaking these road-hogging school kids, simply got frustrated.  At last, ratio became more walking than running.  Finally it was all a fast walk.  Other runners dropped to a walk, similarly panchited.  One long haired 21k runner kinda joked with the kids “Walkathon ka?”.  Yea, supposed to be a 11k “run”.  The road was still hilly, but now going into the town area.  At this point I was really thirsty.  Passed by shops, petrol stations, saw the kids buying water, so what the heck.  At the next petrol station I detoured and got myself a bottle of 100+.   Yummy.  Walked on, taking sip after sip.  We reached the lake garden area.  Traffic still heavy, school kids still walking, but crowding has gotten thinner for some reason.  Then the route took us along a road that was closed to traffic.  The 21k runners now started to run again. At this point, I had gulped down ¾ of the 100+.   I started to run, but felt like puking because of the water in my stomach, but held it down and continued.  Soon after that, it was a downhill.  Yeaaa!  At this point I know the end is near, and there would be no stopping.  So down the hill, onto the padang, past the finishing line, gave my black ribbon, and yeaaa!  Finisher cert and Medal!  Hooyagh!!  Mission accomplished.  Time was 2:44:55.  One runner who was just in front shook my hand.

 

Afterwards it was the usual hunt for water, etc.  Then went back to the finish line to see remaining 21k runners finish.  Saw Uncle C27 finish.  21k runners with friends, etc.  Me, alone.  School kids everywhere.  Mein number didn’t come out on the lucky draw results.

 

The good:  challenging route (hills).  Medal.  Rural scenic route.  Distance markers counting down the remaining kms.  Sponging stations.

 

The bad:  insufficient water stations. Inaccurate distance markers – at one point, I could have finished in 2:25 (haha!).   School kids tsunami.  Heavy traffic at last 5 km.

 

The funny:  almost puked when started to run after gulping down ¾ bottle of 100 plus.  “Walkathon” remark by irate runner. 

 

Lessons learned:  don’t plan mini re-union the nacht before, otherwise won’t get enough sleep.  Vaseline works.  Powergel halfway helps (I suspect more psychologically).  Always bring money to buy emergency water.

 

Summary:  Very satisfying in spite of poor finish.  Met expectation.  This run underscores importance of hill training. 

 

Characters:   Uncle C27.  Sarcastic runner.  Malay runner in red outfit panchited 1^st 7k.

 

Postrun:  Sore quads, calves, etc.  Really good hill training.  Didn’t feel like passing out or anything.  Still functional.  Vaseline worked wonders, no chafing. 

 

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