PJ Half marathon 2011: Tough Fight

There was an absence of strong runners in this race. Later I found out the reason was there was quite a huge number of kenyans in the field.

I haven't been running long distance races. And it had been a long time since I raced for 21km, so the question is if I could mantain a sub 4 pace for that long. I did do a fast time in bkt aman run, with a time of 1:22, so perhaps I could last for that long.

The race started, and the kenyans went off in a group. I tried chasing them, vainly, for the first 1km. Then Peter and Shaharuddin came passing by. Peter the french guy, commented I was too fast out from the start.

Anyway, we ran into the adjoining Federay Highway, and I soon lose the duo. As we ran the u-turn, and back down, I was shocked the see a japanese runner in orange, ran past me with ease. He was kicking in at a higher cadence. I was dumbfounded how easily he could past me.

Then an indian runner came by. We ran side by side for almost the entire way up to the u-turn near the subang airport, but I soon lose him. He said he was just training for PBIM.

I could see an kenyan lady runner ahead. So that became my carrot. Without knowing if I could really pass her, I just kept on chasing. At one point, she slowed down, and that was when I passed her. At least I could say I passed a kenyan.

The run back was a lonely one. I didn't feel I pushed too hard on the cardio, but just trying to get the pace correct.

Came back in 12th position in 1:22:20. Was pretty happy with the sub 4 pace. At least I know I could maintain it for that long. The top 9 position was taken by kenyans. Shaharuddin was in 10th place, clocking 1:16. That was an awesome 3.5m/km pace.

But I had sharp shoulder pain. It was bad enough to the point I couldn't lift things up.