The Mizuno Wave Run was my 2nd race in October, the 2nd one in my 3-race line up for October, which began with the Nike KL City Run & ends with the Klang Run 4it. In the month of October, I have a race in every weekend except the 1st & the 4th week. All of them is 12K or less, so it was okay. I couldn’t imagine doing a half marathon every weekend, which never is in my plan anyway. The Mizuno Wave Run is also pretty special for me for one reason : it was my first race after my accident last year. Even with that condition I managed a 1:08 for an 11K course, so my goal for this year obviously is to do a better time.
Mistakes
I did some mistakes in the run-up to the race. Firstly, I didn’t even bother to read the race program or study the route, assuming that everything would be the same as last year. I didn’t know the start time, which I had to ask my race partner Azam the nite before the race. On the other hand, the race also had a few firsts for me as well. would be the same as last year. I didn’t know the start time, which I had to ask my race partner Azam the nite before the race. On the other hand, the race also had a few firsts for me as well. During the bib collection day, I decided to purchase the Powerbar Recovery drink mix. It costs me RM110, with a free Powerbar bottle, a Powergel & a Powerbar. At RM110, with 36 servings, it cost me about RM3 per serving. & after each race (or workout), I’m gonna need two servings. All this while, I’ve been relying on Gatorade as my post-race drink & usually I’ll down 2 bottles of Gatorade after each race, with each Gatorade costing about RM2.40, the Powerbar Recovery will cost me an extra of RM1.20 each race. Complicated huh ?
Race day
Well, on to the race 1st. Since UPM is pretty close to my house, I decided to go out a little late. I got to the stadium at about 7:05 & immediately I heard the announcer telling it’s 5 mins to the start. What the ? Azam told me that the start is 7:30. So I put my gear on & ran to the line. Strangely, the field was filled with ppl warming up, nobody seemed to care about what the announcer just said. Apparently the 7:15 start was for the women’s category… which is a bit strange still, coz most of the races (if not all) I’ve been, all the categories for the same distance will be flagged off the same time. So I went to the Powerbar booth but no one was there edi. So I just proceeded to the line.
My next mistake was to start too far back, although I had the chance to start further up. The thing I didn’t learn from last year was, the 1st 3K of the course is through a very narrow road, like half the width of a normal road. It was just chaotic. & my foot started to hurt almost right off. So I tried to navigate through the crowd of the slower runners, but it was pretty difficult. Normally I’d just bear with the slower runners, but that day, the urge to just shove a couple outta the way, along with some verbal abuse was just too great. Luckily I managed to keep cool.
I only managed to break free after the 1st water station, which I customarily skip. But the situation there was just awful. There was not enuff staff, & becoz the water distribution was slow, some of the runners just grabbed the bottles & threw it away half empty, which was bad race etiquette. & some was just standing at the station as if they were drinking at a kopitiam. I understand that there was a lot of rookies & non-competitive runners in the race, but that was no excuse.
The next mistake I made was thinking that there were 3 water stations, as what normal races would have. Generally, each race would have 3 water stations, at the beginning, mid-way & at the final 3rd of the distance. But for some incomprehensible reasons, the Pacesetters decided that 2 was enuff. When I finally got to the last water station I was already suffering pretty badly. & by then also I began to notice that the route didn’t go through some of the places I raced through last year.
I hit the line at 1:04, better than last year, but at 10K, it was worse than KL City Run. It was just a bad race for me. I met Azam after the race & had a look at his new Brooks T6 Racer. I guess that shoe can be a good half marathon shoe for me, as I dun think I’ma race with my Asics for anything more than a 10-12K races. More on that later.
Some of the lessons I’ve learned from what turned out to be my worst race of 2010:
1. Always study the race program & route, even if U’ve done the race before. The organizer might change the route, U’ll never know..
2. Always take note of the water stations. Some organizers might go against the norm. At the KL City run there was water stations every 2.5K, which was extraordinary.
3. Always try to get to the start early, at least 30 mins earlier. That way U won’t rush anything & won’t risk forgetting anything.
4. Try to start as high up as U can, especially if U’r targeting a PB.
Livestrong
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