I have forgotten how merciless the hills of KL can be.
Perhaps I was being too complacent. Having run a couple of good full marathons prior to this, one running my PB, I think I kinda thought I'd sail through 30 km. Tough luck.
Started at 5.30 am, and the moment I got into what I thought was a comfortable running pace, I know I was screwed. The lack of training was apparent (Although I think I say this in almost every race report, heh). Having a nice big bowl of curry laksa for dinner the night before was not the best idea.
I think I'm spoilt. By Singapore and by Auckland. I found I needed water every 2 kms. In this race, water stations were only set at every 5 kms and I suffered every 3rd to 4th km from each water station. and when I come to one, I take a cup and a half. And I slow down to a walk to swallow all of that. I usually take a couple of sips and go on.
I have an unwritten rule when it came to running. Thou shall not walk. This time around I broke that rule about 3 times. Keat Seong had to urge me to go on when he saw me walking at about 26 km. Paiseh.
And those damned hills. I quote Mr. Loh Meng Choon, "I think KL grows hills. Every year there's an extra hill, and the present ones grow a little steeper". Every corner we turned, when I saw an uphill, my heart sank. And when the uphill never went downhill, but instead continued to go up, my heart sank even deeper.
All in all, tough race. But I'll tell you one thing. It's the first race I've felt really happy about in a long long long time. People were calling out my name. People know me. And I know people. People noticed I wasn't around, and now I'm back! Ah, feels like home alright.
Total time, 2:56. Still a sub 3 hour race. I thought it was only so-so, but then my brother reminded me that I did over 3 hours in the last race - 3:09 in fact. So I've still got it. =)
Got another full marathon in 3 weeks. Aiyaiyai...
4 comments:
Haiyo, you need me to remember your times for you ah?
hahaha its coz i know u do. haha
Hey...you're back in KL? Good to hear your race reports again.
Hahaha know what, you are one of the few bloggers I enjoy reading - coz it's raw minus the expletives, which I think is pervasive everywhere in this blogosphere I visited. But hey...damned hills? LOL...but I guess QE II muttered this under her breath too - the Annus Horribilis.
Yeah local conditions and terrains, esp KL, I find are tough propositions for distance running.
As an aspiring PT, I wonder if you have consider off-topic stuffs like doing too much distance running (anything above 10K), esp for a young girl. These days beautiful skin is premium. I find, over time the stress (dehydration) the skin comes under causes it to lose its lusters but hey what do I know about skincare ya...LOL
Cheers Karen!
hello Theo. I actually had to look up Annus Horribilis in Wikipedia. heh.
Yeah, sorry about that. I have somehow picked up the habit of saying "damned" recently, probably through staying on my own and such. Will try to curb it.
haha...well, more than me is what you know. I don't even moisturize. I suppose we wouldn't have to worry too much about dehydrated skin in such humidity. In fact I think most runners in their middle ages look quite young compared to their non running colleagues.
But i could be biased. =)
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