Malakoff Sunday

With all the postings I had made before, this posting would be the first on an actual race that I participated.

Date: 21 Dec 08

Time Start: 7:12 am

Venue: Taman Rimba Kiara

Route: Taman Rimba - KLGCC - Sime Darby Convention Center, patah balik and make another round.

Distance: 12K

Time :(unofficial 1hr 03 min)

First and foremost, I'm glad that I completed the run, and shaved 2 mins from the trial run I did a week ago. However, there are few things that I'm not satisified and I can see a lot of improvement could be done.

Woke up at 4.40 am. Straight away ate half of Powerbar energy bar (courtesy of Mantat). Manage to kubab a little bit. Went out abt 5:20. Reached TTDI arnd 5:40. While looking for parking, mcm biasa, perut buat hal lagi. So dashed off to look for the nearest Petrol station. Kali ni byk sikit keluar. Lega...

Met Azmil, with Suraya, adik dia and his children(kecik2 dah ikut daddy, besar nanti boleh jadi pelari M'sia) on the way to check in. Sampai je kat padang tu, I can see a long line (min 10) of runners queueing up to use the toilet. Nasib baik aku dah melepas. But, walking further down the field, I saw 2 mobile toilets with nobody queueing up, and tak pasal2 perut meragam lagi. Apalagi, terus la pergi melepas for the 3rd time!!!. I think I have the opposite of 'jambanophobia'. Nampak jamban je rasa nak melepas. Apa ubat dia ha???

The runners line up for the run at 6:40. Very uncomfotable dgn bau mcm2 and nyamuk yg dok tibai kaki aku. And boleh pulak rasa nak terkencing pulak masa tu. So, mcm biasa la, sprint out to take a leak.

Finally, thank god, the runners we let off at 7:12. I took the righmost lane, and was running at 60% capacity. Started tu bukak langkah on the first small hill. Just to create gaps and distance with other runners.

Had no problem on the first long hill. But, starting to fell sluggish on the second hill towards turning back point at Sime Darby Convention Center. Took a sip from the water station. And maintained a good rthym untill the hill at klgcc. I think I made a mistake by quickening my pace climbing up that hill, when I reached the peak, I felt my legs a bit heavy and I'm panting more than usual. So just strolled down the hill untill the turning back point for 2nd round.

I could not maintained the speed that I wanted to on the long hill for 2nd round. And the worst thing happened at KLGCC entrance hill. I WALKED for 30m. This is unacceptable. After walking, I was not running at the pace I did on the first round. However, to my surprise, looking at my analog watch. I have 10 mins to complete abt the last 1-2K to equal the time I made last week. So, apalagi, dgn segala kudrat yg ada, I quicken my pace and did the striding ala 400m to reach the fininsh line. And still sempat to senyum to Suraya who took my picture at the finish line.

The positives:

I know I can complete 12K

I know I can push my body for the last 1-2K.

I broke my personal best for 12K

The negatives:

Bad preparation, need to eat the right food and control my bowel urge.

Walked for 3om.

Did not maintain pace

Action for improvement:

Educate myself on better preparation (food, going to toilet, etc)

Buy heart rate monitor, pace checker watch

Train harder..definitely.