Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009: Finally sub 4

Anxiously waiting to start...

Running along Jln Tun Razak...

Long from Klang and he did a sub 4 marathon first time. He later thanked me for the pace. I think both of us worked together to get it done.

Woke up at 3:45 am. After some breakfast, took my black bike and zoomed off towards Dataran Merdeka. I noticed the wind was blowing and the sky indeed looks like it's going to pour. And rain it did, when I was halfway on my destination on Loke Yew road. I was actually drenched when I reached.

But there was no time to waste. Went to deposit the bag and sat down to squeeze as much water from the socks. Met with John and wife, Chris, Sam, and also Abu just before the start. While we were waiting, a slight rain poured for a few minutes. I was just hoping things wouldn't get worse.

5 am sharp, and the horn went. As usual, the first 1k is jam packed. Everyone is just starting their engines for the long way ahead.

The route went towards brickfields, and u-turn towards loke yew. Then it's all the way to cheras badminton court and back to Jln Tun Razak. For the first 10km, I was hoping to maintain a 5min per km. It was slightly off a few minutes by then. At 12km, I clocked 1:05 just as I entered the mosque for dawn prayers. There were already a few going in. Time for prayer was 3 minutes as I exited and proceeded to run along Jln Tun Razak.

As I went through, I realize my right foot was manifesting a blister due to the wet socks. Pain slowly grew out from every step. I choose to ignore it. There were some Klang road runners with orange-t I was chasing. Well not really chasing, but pacing with. I soon overshot them. I think Jason Thiang was on a mountain bike all along and encouraging us to go faster.

After the Pahang Roundabout near Hospital KL, the turn went into KL area, name kampung baru, KLCC. And the funny part is, I hardly remember where I ran. I was just focusing on getting 5min/km at every marker. I didn't pause to take photos or savour the KL urbanscape. It was just pure focus on getting the pace right.

I did remember a spanish runner (was obvious from the spain flag from the back) who I thought was pretty fast. He was breathing hard, and pushing it was every step. I choose to open up my stride. The blister was a pain, so this was a way to minimize the pounding. He would soon went off in front.

As the morning light slowly crept back, I found myself running towards Petaling Street for km 30. Then a young man (Long) came running side by side. Obviously we were pacing each other. I overshoot him, but he'll keep on sticking. We had a few chats, and I said we'll do sub 4 hour if we keep to this pace.

As we went overhead up the road along Jln Istana, the Malaysian ugly mentality was there for all runners to see. The police had blocked the entire road so that we could pass to run on the near right side. There were horns and shouts of dissapproval. Malaysia, I thought at that point, is still a 3rd world country. I don't remember any Malaysians shouting words of encouragement or cheered for us. The only person I remember was an Indian chap clapping for us before 39km. The rest of supporters are foreigners.

Not to be discourage from all this, we keep on running, side stepping the shorter distance runners. Heck, most of them was jogging leisurely, and we were the ones out pacing them. We know what is at stake.

As we went up towards the hill at the government complex, I told my friend this is the last hill. Then it was off towards the city blocks for 39, 40 and 41km. Funnily enough I though 41km marker is a bit short. Then Long had a faster pace and left me. It's ok because I was beginning to slow down from all the hard running and also the blister.

When reaching Dataran merdeka, amazingly all the pain, fatigue and tiredness went away. It was time to celebrate the moment. I estimated that sub 4 is possible because I had a margin of 1km to make it.

Finally made the whole marathon in 3:55.

Congrats to all marathon runners, either slow or fast because 42 is not a piece of cake. You know you've overcome all hardship to earn this. There were some bad comments on the slow packs, and agreeable they should have thought about it better. I think many Malaysians non runners have no inkling on the hardship of marathon runners. If they did, they would have cheered at least.

Here's an idea, politicians can jump start this. Instead of doing the Dancercise (obviously Dance Exercise), our PM wife could have opted to run at least 10km. Besides a free slimming course, I bet it will gain nationwide publicity and also a better respect for runners.

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Results:

Name:	STEVE YIP (MAS)
Net Start:	04:58:11	Category:	Full Marathon 42km
Net Time:	03:55:02	Position:	153 (087)
Finish Timing:	03:55:02.69