Racing the Bridge...

I just came back from Penang, from doing my last half marathon for the year, from running on the 3rd longest bridge in the world.. It was my first time running the Penang Bridge International Marathon, & it was my 4th half marathon for 2010 & my 11th race of the year.

Since it was already November, I decided to treat the trip to Penang as our holiday & asked my wife to come along. We went to Penang on Friday, 2 days before the race. We stayed in Summit Hotel Bukit Mertajam, we've stayed there a couple of years back during our trip to attend Azizah's wedding in Perlis. Most of the hotels on the island were fully booked for the marathon,& those who still got rooms was way off our budget. So we're gonna have to take a 20 mins drive to the start. This race had several firsts for me :

1. It was my first race outside of KL or Klang Valley
2. It was the first one with an early morning start (3am for half marathon)

The day before

We got to Penang at noon on the 19th. So we stopped for lunch at Aeon Seberang Perai, before checking into the hotel at 2pm. I'd reserved 2 tickets for the latest Harry Potter movie there at 8.30 pm, so we went there & had dinner before catching the movie. after the movie I decided to drive to the island to check out the course & the starting point. As soon as we crossed the halfway point on the bridge, it rained really heavily. So heavy that missed the turn into Queensbay & ended up in the Bayan Lepas Industrial zone. Roads in Penang are as winded as the sea surrounding them & as a result there was flash floods everywhere. We were lucky to have got outta the mess in one piece as there were times when we got caught in water so deep it slowed my car down considerably.

On the way back I saw the turning into the Queensbay area. We went back to the hotel & there wasn't a single drop of rain as soon as we reached the Peninsular. Strange. Tht's made me think again about my choice of clothing on race day. I tried to go to sleep as late as possible so that I can stay in bed the day after. I went to bed at 3am.

Race day

I tried to sleep as much as I can during the day, to prepare for the 3am start. But then the TV was showing the finals of the sepaktakraw inter-team finals at Guangzhou at 2pm so that kept me awake. Malaysia was soundly beaten by the Thais, who was much more superior, both in skills & in tactics. The Malaysians were so busy playing mind games & provoking the Thais that in the end, it was the Malaysians who couldn't live up to expectations. I played takraw during my schooldays & also during the early college days. Malaysians have been playing catch up with the Thais for so long, we didn't really have any secret weapons or tactics. Whereas the Thais have always been the innovator of the sport, introducing the "servis kuda" few years ago & now with the double killer. & their players really look lean & tall, Malaysian players look more like couch potatoes than athletes. We must innovate in order to survive, otherwise we'll lose out to the likes of China & Korea again.

I'd planned to catch another movie just before the start of the race, but then the TV was again showing the Arsenal-Spurs derby, plus the semi finals of badminton, LCW vs Chen Jin. So I decided to stay at the hotel.

The race

The bridge was closed starting at 1am, so we went off at about 12.30am. Traffic into Qeensbay was heavy, this time I didn't miss the turn. But the atmosphere was electric. There were at least 20 busses carrying runners from all over the country, even from Singapore & Thailand.. some of the runners have set up camp at the open car park, it was really cool. Once we got a parking space I decided to take a nap.

I got up with about an hour before the race. I decided to go on with my racing vest instead of the tshirt, seeing that the weather was okay. Then I did some warm up & was relieved to see my Polar footpod working fine, finally. Then we went to the start with about 30 mins to go.

There was like 6000 ppl in half marathon men's category alone, I was lucky to start quite far up. Traffic was heavy until the bridge, when the field finally broke up & I was finally into my rhythm. But as soon as we hit the bridge, I was in trouble. I was feeling drowsy & sleepy. I couldn't keep the pace up & was at times dragging my feet. I had some thoughts in my mind, I was reflecting on my preparation, on my targets... I've never felt that way in a race. & there was already some flashes of lightning on the horizon, the rain was coming.

As soon as we hit the turnaround, the rain hit us. The wind was unbelievably strong & the rain was heavy. Strangely, I felt much better running in the rain & as soon as we came off the bridge, I was back into my rhythm. I was really pushing it in the last 6K, I clocked 29mins for the last 6K. At the end, I saw the time, I got 2:10 unofficialy, better than expected, considering my preparation, the weather, etc... I couldn't have asked for more.

Lesson #1: Get enuff rest for early morning starts.
Maybe if I'd had enuff sleep during the day, I wouldn't have felt so sleepy & drowsy during the race.

Well, all the suffering, the weather, the traffic.. will I come back & do it all again next year ? Hell yess !!!

Livestrong.