My 2nd race of the year. In a place where I grew up. Well, not exactly in Setia Alam, but I grew up in Klang. That time Setia Alam was still a palm plantation.
I was late to the start, this time even later than I was in Larian Bomba. We left home before 6, & when we got to the start, they've just flagged off the half marathoners. & to make it even better, the parking's full & we had to make one big round just to park. So I stopped the car just after the starting point, put on my shoes & ran to the start while my wife park the car. I got to the start just in time. The gun went off just as I was tying my shoelaces. Damn !!
I was looking for one particular person, an uncle I knew from my days of playing basketball in Bkt Jelutong. I met him during Larian Bomba. I never knew his name. He was in his 50's I'd reckoned. & he wasn't that difficult to spot, as he was a very tall person. I spotted him & went alongside him & said hello. He said that I shud've run the half mara. Yeah, right. I decided to use him as my pacer.
The course was flat thruout, except for .. about 3-4 flyovers. I had to go for the 1st water station as I didn't get to drink before the start. I stayed close to the uncle for most of the race, but I finally lost him with about 2km to go. The ultimate motivation for this kinda race is to avoid finishing after those uncles & aunties. At KM8 the half mara leaders went right pass me. It was just an awesome sight. The way these guys are running... was just awesome.
I was targetting for a sub-1 hour time, but as I was cresting the last flyover I knew I couldn't do it. I got to the line & was given #96 & my self-clocked time was 1:05.55. Not that bad actually. I'd improved from Larian Bomba & I was actually running at 5:59 pace, & that means I could run a sub-hour 10K assuming I can maintain the pace. I also got my first finisher's medal. Not bad.
The atmosphere at the Setia Alam Welcome Centre was great. Most of the 11K runners had finished so there was quite a number of ppl there. Once I found my wife, I went for the 100 Plus booth to get some drinks. Then right next to it was this fruit booth & I got myself a couple of bananas. The winner for the 11K was clocked at 38 mins. The half marathon winner arrived earlier than I did, & guess what ? The Senior Open category time (1:12.30) was actually faster than the Men's Open winner (1:12.55).
Overall I think it was worth all the trouble. I look forward for the Standard Chartered KL International Marathon on the 28th.
Livestrong.
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