SCKLM 2017 - breaking 5 race report

Long story short, I didn't break sub-5.

Short story long, SCKLM came at the perfect time before we welcomed Ramadhan a week later. So, it’s time to go all out and break the world record for full marathon and become a national icon, or if you’re not feeling it, just set a new personal best will do. Well, I was doing great and running all the way until I hit the wall at KM30 and couldn't attempt to run 50 meters before cramps attacked on my quads. Right at that moment, I knew breaking 5 was not for that day as I watched in despair the sub-5 pacers and their giant balloons slowly disappeared in the distance. I did however set a new PB for SCKLM at 5:20 against 5:44 in 2014. No sweat we will go again next year! I wasn’t really bummed with my result because I'm training and preparing for a bigger event. This August, I’m about to embark on the biggest journey of my life, my first 100k ultra marathon, at The Magnificent Merapoh Trail. I've been transitioning to trail running over the past two months, Ramadhan and the following festive month of Raya. So I had to take a crash course in trail running by running with the guys from Shah Alam Running Club (SARC). I got to learn a lot from nutrition to proper techniques, and clocked more mileage compare to if I was to train alone. With that said, I’m going to end this post with an African proverb:

“If you want to run fast, run alone; if you want to run far, run together”

With Mira after the race.

Route 68 Challenge 2017 - 84K race report

Pain is temporary, but pride is forever 

Where do I start? That's the question I ask myself every beginning of the year. Went through a list of running events for this year and had my eyes set on Route 68 again. I've done the 50k distance last year and had a blast, so I wanted to try a longer distance. They changed the 70 km distance to 84 km and I was down with it. They also added a new distance of 100 miles. That's a totally different ball game altogether. We are not going there. 

TRAINING

Running season starts as soon as you start training. I prepared for 3 months (January-99km, February-103km, March-120km). Stuck to my running schedules, tried to watch what I eat, lesser time spent at the gym and stopped all physical contact sports like football and futsal. I only did 3 LSD run of 20km each in the last month before the race. Boy, I wished I had done more earlier but quite satisfied with my overall training. Thank you to Zahid and Faiz for the 2 out of 3 LSD runs. It's always a great time running with your peers.  

RACE DAY:  2200 START (15/4/17 SAT)

First race of the year and the longest run I'm about to embark, I expected to be there early to calm down those butterflies in my stomach and do all the necessary warm up stretches. But in reality, I arrived 10 minutes before the flag off, dropped my bags at the drop-off counter, and went on my way 5 minutes after the flag off as the last runner. After running alone in the dark for 10 minutes, I finally caught up with the back end runners and only did my stretches at the first water station at KM5.

This was the first time I ran through the night, so I took a 2-hour nap during the day. Grabbed a Subway sandwich for dinner 8pm which again I wished I had it earlier as I was burping and feeling gassy up from digestion until wee hours of the morning. Route 68 has the simplest route for a running event which is basically a u-turn after you have reached the far end of a relatively straight road. You will constantly see people on the running back and forth. 

I reached KM42 u-turn at 4:37 am in 6 hours 30 minutes. The water station was held at Bentong rest house. Here they served hot food and drinks, and runners can resupply or change gears from their own bags deposited earlier at the starting line. In my drop-off bag I had a pair of shoes, socks, shirt, cap, wet tissues and a bar of Sneakers. I ate my snack, drank hot coffee and ate fruits that was served. I didn't take the Maggi noodles they had and the fried rice tray had finished even before I arrived.



At 5:00 am I was back on the road with 9 hours to spare before the cut-off time at 2:00 pm. I was feeling confident with myself but I knew the hardest part has yet to come because it would be an uphill battle all the way to KM67 water station at Genting Sempah. Stopped for Subuh prayer at KM49 water station. The sun's rays started beaming down at 8:00 am and it's going to be a really hot day ahead.

0600 Sunday morning 

MIND GAMES



I could no longer run for the second half of the race due to fatigue. My feet hurt with every step I took. It hurts even more when I stopped to sit at water stations, and became even harder to get back on my feet and be on my way. I settled with fast walk covering about 5km in an hour. So, I started being calculative and knew if I maintain this pace plus taking shorter breaks of 5-8 minutes at water stations I can still cross the finish line just before the cut-off time.



I've never felt so much pain from running before. I started to doubt myself. I was like this distance ain't for me. I should've stick to normal marathon. This is insane! Then, I started saying to myself "pain is temporary, pain is temporary, pain is temporary but pride is forever". I started making promises - if I finish this, I can retire Route 68 and no need to come back next year, and I'm going to take two day MC tomorrow (I ended up taking only one day MC). Few words of encouragement from runners and also volunteers really helped me came out from that dark place, self doubt and pressure I unnecessarily put on myself.



THE LAST PUSH

Came out the hardest section of the race which felt like eternity, I was badly beaten physically and mentally. It was hot and I had chafes in all the wrong places. I could barely put up a smile. I was not having it anymore. Finally, reached the KM67 Genting Sempah water station around 10:30 am with average pace of 13'40" per km with less than 4 hours to go before the cut-off time. I was running against time. The section that I was looking forward to in the entire race was the final stretch towards the finish line which was a 15km descent. I was optimistic and tried to run but to no avail.



About 1:40 pm on my last legs, I crossed the finish line. What a feeling it was. I just completed my longest run ever. I was happy, grateful and utterly exhausted. Congrats to all the runners out there that weekend. Thank you to all runners who ran and walked with me, encouraged, pushed and cheered me on along the way. Thank you to all the great volunteers for your energy and support. Lastly, thank you to Mira for being patient, supportive and helpful from the start to the end of the race. I would have ended up in the medical tent if it wasn't for you.



So, what's next? On to the next challenge!

Crossing the finish line

Officially retired from Route 68 Challenge 

Crew love

 Signed off

SCKLM 2016 - full marathon race report

This is my second and the last marathon for the year. Let's just say, the kid got his ass handed to him but finish none the less. However this is not the reason why I'm hanging up my running shoes already. At the beginning of the year, the aim was to enter only two marathons. So, I guess my running season is done and dusted in August =) 

Training

In June during the fasting month of Ramadan, I only managed to get a 10 km run in and that was it. Then in July, I managed to put in a total of 91 km run with the furthest distance being 15 km. I would usually put in more mileage for my training but I had been busy with work for the past month. When I registered for the marathon back in March, I aimed for a sub-5 finish. After my training, I lowered my expectation to a sub-6 finish. I knew that I was under prepared for something that needed a lot of preparation. 

Race day

The flag-off was at 4 a.m. Stopped for subuh prayer at KM15 where they had a prayer station set up for Muslim runners. I was running with a hydration bag which I carried my camera phone, cash, i.d, electrolyte gels and pills, and a kain pelikat (which I didn't know was provided). You can tell I wasn't aiming to break the world record time for a marathon that day. Runners aiming for PB's or just want to run fast and light would only rely on water stations to re-hydrate.



At KM30 I started feeling cramps hitting my quads especially on the descends. I had to occasionally stop, stretch and massage in order to continue running, but could only run a couple hundred meters before the cramps started kicking in again. From KM35 when the route took us to a couple more ascends, my quads just gave out and I knew sub-6 finish would eluded me this time. I ended up walking from KM38 until the last 500 meters towards the finish line. With what was little to nothing left in the tank and the cheers from the crowd, I tried to run through the cramps with a smile on my face crossing the finish line.



Thank you to everyone who came out to show support, from the volunteers to the supporters cheering, setting up their own water stations and snapping photos of runners. Appreciate it! Nothing much to say here, see you guys next year. Keep running!

I eventually lost sight of the 6:00 hour pacer lead by Mr. Choi.

Let's just say, all these fishes and I still can't find Dori.

At KM40 where I decided to take a nap.

With Zahid at the finish line. 
Let's just say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

With Nasrul at the finish line. His first marathon.
Welcome to the club. Congrats!

I may be slow, but I'm still lapping everybody on the couch =P

Route 68 Challenge 2016 - 50K race report

The longest footrace of my life (so far)

510 days, 73 weeks, 17 months, and over a year later, my sabbatical from the running scene is finally over. I am back and feeling better than I had before. 

Where have I been?

My last run I joined was the Penang Bridge International Marathon back in November 2014. I clocked my best time for a marathon (4:57) and that capped off my running season for 2014. Then life changed; transitioning to working life after graduating, surviving a highway motorcycle crashed, playing weekend football with JAFC, but mostly work work work work work. I still keep up with the regular short runs over the weekends and had Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2015 insight, but everybody knew how that went down. I had only one goal for the year and that was to run one marathon. That's basically how my running season for 2015 went - without a single race at all. 

Where do I start? 

I went on the running blogs and checked for events that will be held this year. SCKLM is still in the second half of this year and that would be too long for me to wait, plus there is a high chance of last year's debacle repeating. As a result, I went for next best thing, Route 68 Challenge 50K Ultra Marathon which would be the longest footrace of my life as my comeback race.

Training

Training was simple, short and fast. Only 4 weeks of high mileage runs a total of 150KM and then tapered for another 2 weeks before the race. Taper week was disrupted with a climb up Mount Kinabalu a week before the race with the family. Why not ?

Climbed Mount Kinabalu during the taper week

Race day

I was joined at the starting line with my fellow running buddy, Zahid also known as Ah Seng (and now UltraSeng), who was also making his debut 50K Ultra Marathon but never ran a 10K, half-marathon or a full-marathon race before. When you're as strong as a horse, you skipped many levels I guess. 

0700 start

With Ah Seng (the one in red) taking it easy for the first 16K

[Photo by: Rany Tan]

Ultra is a different ball game compare to marathons. The gears - everybody was running with a backpack carrying things like drinks, foods, energy gels, caps, sunglasses, reflective vests, headlamps, lotions and more. The aidstations - they had soft-drinks, biscuits, candies, fruits, even nasi lemak, and more. The crowd - from the runners to the supporters were smaller in numbers. And finally the route - although it was a road race, but the hilly terrain gave that added challenge which is usually associated with Ultra races.

At the KM25 u-turn checkpoint, enjoying nasi lemak for breakfast

The first 16K was a decent uphill run. It was a cool morning, the route was covered with trees along the way and I felt good. Then from KM16 Genting Sempah checkpoint it was a downhill run all the way to KM25 u-turn checkpoint and I still felt good. But, the 9K uphill journey back to KM34 Genting Sempah checkpoint was where I started having problems. Muscles in my legs feeling tight, plus with the current dry season in the country, the afternoon sun can really take you out. The last 16K downhill run back to the finish line was not as straightforward as it seems either, especially when you're tired and your legs were beat up, it felt like forever.

Passing through a crime scene where a dead body of woman was found,
you don't see that everyday

Always nice to see supporters opening their own aidstations for runners.
This one came with a tent for solat

Couple hundred meters left to reach the finish line.
I'm ready to get this over with

[Photo by: Tey Eng Tiong] 

That forever feeling eventually went away at 3 p.m on a scorching hot Sunday afternoon in mid-April when I crossed the finish line. And just like that, I completed my first 50K Ultra Marathon, the longest footrace of my life. Thank you everybody who supported, helped and pushed me to the finish line. I am totally grateful for this experience. It feels great to be back =)

After 8 hours of running, the suffer fest has ended

[Photo by: Mira]

List of names who were looking for different kind of tauge and
congrats to all runners who managed to find it

SCKLM Full Marathon 2015 - full marathon race (haze) report

The race that never meant to happen. 

This race was supposed to be my comeback, my first and only marathon for the year. Unfortunately, it didn't turn to be because the race got cancelled. 

I have been away from the running scene for awhile ever since translating into working life for the first time in my adulthood and I couldn't spend as much time running like I used to. All of my workouts are cramped during the weekends and I can only do so much as I also want to kick back and chill before Monday chaos arrives. On the running side of it, I've ran all the categories of a marathon (except ultras) and I realised that there are no new targets to aim for, other than breaking some timing records that I've set before. But then, I was never a record seeker to begin with. Basically, I was demotivated. 

I made an exception to run the KL Marathon because it was the biggest running event of the year. So I started upping my training two months before the race. My marathon training is usually like this; run more, recover, and run some more. Of course it is simple said than done. Finding time to train is a battle. Then overcoming nibbling injuries along the way from playing other sports or from the training itself. I slowed down on all physical contact sports like football and futsal which I am inclined to get hurt, a month before the marathon.

It has almost been a year since my last marathon, Penang Bridge Marathon, in November 2014 and so this race came in a perfect time for my return. Then came the bad news; the event was cancelled due to the worsening haze condition that has been hitting the country for a couple of weeks. 

The announcement to cancel the event was made one day before the race was to be scheduled, after the organiser had initially announced the event to proceed two days before. There were mixed reactions on social media from runners when the first announcement was made as the haze condition was still pretty bad. Basically, local runners want it to be cancelled/postponed as it was not an ideal running condition and then we have the outstation/oversea runners that wanted it to be continued as they have spent a lot to get here. And most of these comments I assumed was coming from hm and fm runners as they are the ones that will be spending the most time breathing in all the haze. 

The organiser was praying for a miracle when they made the first announcement to see whether the weather would clear up by race day.  Hence, all the commotion on social media, runners were uncertain to run or not. As for me, I collected my race bib, bought tons of energy gels at the running expo and was ready to run haze or no haze. Was I ignorant, yes. Was I trying to show off, no. Was I naive, yes. All because I wanted to run so bad, and if the organiser gave the thumbs up, I knew I won't be the only one running for sure. But will it be a glorious race, filled with achievements and satisfaction, I highly doubt it. I knew a second announcement was inevitable as this has been the case with previous running events when bad haze hits.

I only wish that the organiser could've handle it better with earlier notice and postponing it to a later date which they had actually done before. Last year to be exact, where SCKLM 2014 was due to be in June, with similar scenario, bad haze,  they postponed it to October and they made the announcement almost a week earlier.

Race entitlements such as medals and finisher t-shirts were given to participants on race day till noon but I decided to sleep in. Later that evening, to my surprised the haze improved, so I played football with JAFC where I’ve been away from for a month. Full time result JAFC 1 – 0 SCKLM. 

This was always going to happen.
#jafcishuge

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2014 - full marathon race (makan) report

This was the first time the Penang Bridge marathon was staged at the new Penang Second Bridge. The bridge is 24km long and the marathon was basically a run from one end to another and back. This was my third marathon and the last one for this year. So I was looking to close it out strong, perhaps with a new pr. 

The last time I came to Penang was back in 2012 for the half marathon category at the Penang First Bridge which is 13.5km long. Back then I went up all alone, took the bus on the eve of race day, find a place to stay on the day itself, which was really troublesome, and when back the next day. This time around I traveled up with a friend and met up with others there. More planned out and booked my room in advanced(1 week before the run and all the cheaper rooms are fully booked-luckily we got an assist from a local friend).

A self-portrait on the second bridge as we arrived into the island.

FOOD HUNT

It won't be complete if you went to Penang and didn't indulge yourselves with what Penang have to offer. their food! As soon as we reached the island, no time was wasted, the food hunt begins. Carbo-loading wouldn't be problem. 

Breakfast at Transfer Road with Faiz.

Nasi kandaq Merlin for lunch

Mee sotong for early dinner at Padang Kota Lama,
then tapau satu for dinner too.

THE RACE

The full marathon was flagged off at 1:30 a.m. The men were released first, followed by the women 15 minutes later. The bridge was really congested up until the arch of the bridge at KM3. The moment I started running on the bridge, I realized that it was going to be a long quiet run as both ways were occupied by runners running back and forth, it left no rooms for spectators. Thus crowd cheers were only at the start and finish line which was after you got off the bridge. Entertainment on the bridge were limited to drums and a lion dance but then stopped after I had made my u-turn and were heading back.  

There's nothing to see as you're running in the middle of the night, accompanied by the darkness of the sea on both sides. Nothing to distract your mind off the run, the distances left-you have to wonder as there were no distance markers-and the physical and mental pain that you're most probably in. The weather turned out to be perfect. It was a warm night and not that very windy.



One positive that I saw was that the course was flat 90% of the run. It's the flattest course I've ever ran in. So a pr was beckoning for most runners and I wanted mine too! But I had my setbacks early in the run. Around KM10, I felt a sharp pain on my left toes. I tried to shake it off but the pain just got more aggravated the further I run. Stopped at the medic, took my shoe and sock off, and noticed there's blisters around my toes. I quickly asked for plaster from the medic volunteer and tape it up, F1 racing style!

The only thing to snap during the run, the arch, nothing much to see after that. 

Oh yeah spotted Goku running full too, no big deal.  

Much needed at 4 a.m? I don't think so.

The course

At KM35, I realized I had a shot to finish the marathon within 5 hours. So I sucked everything in and picked up the pace. At this point, the full marathon runners were joined by the back end of half marathon runners, and it started to get crowded. Many half runners were walking and I had to maneuver my way around them.

When I was only 1 km away from the finish line with couple of minutes to spare before the 5 hour mark, I was emotionally happy and started cruising to savor the moment. I crossed the finish line at 4:56'45". I made it, I got my damn sub 5-hour marathon finish, and a new pr. I couldn't ask for more. It's been a great first marathon year for me. Although I had joined only 3 runs this year, but each one is memorable with its own story, where the failure was bitter and the success tasted even sweeter. That's it. It's time to recover, rest and relax. See you next year!     

With elite runner, Edan Syah, placing 3rd for Malaysia best and 8th for overall half marathon men's category. Congrats bro!

Post race meal at Kapitan with Anwar, Idzwan, Diana and Hafriz.