It's been 2 weeks since my last race, the RCBB 15K. I've recovered fully from my calf injury, but in the 2-week void in between races I discovered that since I was doing a lot of short speedwork & tempo training, I was lacking the endurance needed for races longer than 12 km. Why? Becoz I wasn't doing any LSD. So I tried to fix it by doing a couple of long runs. I got it fixed somehow. 100Plus was going to be the longest race for me before fasting month & there ain't gonna be any HMs for me before that.
Racepack collection
Racepack collection was at the location I hate most : OCM building. I really think organizers should move away from this location & always have racepack collection at the race venue itself. We were given a can of 100 Plus with the racepack & it was there that I found out that the start has been moved again. Originally it was at the Palace of Justice. Then they moved it to the Presint 5 airfield. & now it was at the Monumen Alaf Baru. This has become quite a ...let's say habit, of the organizers to keep relocating the race start area. This shouldn't happen, especially for a race that has been announced months ahead. One of the races that suffered from the same fate was the Superheroes Run. The event was supposed to be in the Sunday morning after the 100 Plus, but the organizers kept changing the start until at the very last moment, it was postponed. There was an uproar of course. Organizers should be more accountable. Thousands of people have planned their run with friends, arranged for accomodations & to simply postpone an event like this, totally unacceptable.
Racepack collection
Racepack collection was at the location I hate most : OCM building. I really think organizers should move away from this location & always have racepack collection at the race venue itself. We were given a can of 100 Plus with the racepack & it was there that I found out that the start has been moved again. Originally it was at the Palace of Justice. Then they moved it to the Presint 5 airfield. & now it was at the Monumen Alaf Baru. This has become quite a ...let's say habit, of the organizers to keep relocating the race start area. This shouldn't happen, especially for a race that has been announced months ahead. One of the races that suffered from the same fate was the Superheroes Run. The event was supposed to be in the Sunday morning after the 100 Plus, but the organizers kept changing the start until at the very last moment, it was postponed. There was an uproar of course. Organizers should be more accountable. Thousands of people have planned their run with friends, arranged for accomodations & to simply postpone an event like this, totally unacceptable.
Pre-race
Becoz this race was on a Saturday night (16/4), I couldn't do a pre-race run in the morning. I did weight training on Friday, so I decided to just take a rest on Saturday morning. A night race presents it own challenges, the most important thing is timing your meals. This is my 1st night race after quite sometime..I can't remember when was the last time I even train at night! It was that long ago. I delayed my lunch quite a bit & about 3 hours before that start I took a nap. I decided not to take my fuel belt, so I stuffed my gel into a very small Adidas arm wallet I got a long while ago, along with my car keys.
Becoz this race was on a Saturday night (16/4), I couldn't do a pre-race run in the morning. I did weight training on Friday, so I decided to just take a rest on Saturday morning. A night race presents it own challenges, the most important thing is timing your meals. This is my 1st night race after quite sometime..I can't remember when was the last time I even train at night! It was that long ago. I delayed my lunch quite a bit & about 3 hours before that start I took a nap. I decided not to take my fuel belt, so I stuffed my gel into a very small Adidas arm wallet I got a long while ago, along with my car keys.
Start line
I decided to go to the start a bit early, since I had to drive becoz my bike had some problems. I parked about 700-800m from the start village, in front of the old pasar tani location. There was some concern of rain, but my friend told me that the rain had stopped. Once I park my car I went searching for a place to take my wudhu'. In doing this, I realized that there was no public toilet along the Persiaran Perdana, apart from the one right in front of Palace of Justice. & to make things worse, none of the government offices along that stretch allow public to use their facilities. This is something that Perbadanan Putrajaya need to look at. No point complaining now. After I performed my Maghrib prayers, I did my warm up & off to the start. I got to the start soaking wet..
The race
The 15km flag off was at 8pm. The flag off was accompanied by a fireworks show, which was something new. Of course, races in Putrajaya almost always uses the same course. Although I've studies the course map quite a number of times, I still got some locations wrong. This is something I need to work on.
I did the 1st 5K in 26 mins, not the fastest but a solid base. I skipped the 1st water station as usual, as I didn't wanna disrupt my rhythm. I settled into a comfortable tempo & pushed myself so that I can keep up with the main group. Oh, this is my 1st race in the veterans category, so I hoped to achieve something, at least a PB.
The 2nd 5K was mostly downhill. As usual when I got so focused on the run, I felt like was running in a tunnel. I maintained my tempo & tried to avoid the 10K runners when our route merged somewhere after PICC. The 3rd 5K was the hardest as there was a few uphills & a gradual uphill about 3 km before the finish. I knew this & I also knew the last kilometer was downhill & I did the last kilo in 4:30 pace. I hit the line in a new PB of 1:25.
Post race
The race was over-distanced by 400m, not something I wanna complain about. Right at the finish the volunteers handed out water & then there was quite a long walk to the food pack, where they gave us fried meehoon & banana. I was actually looking for a toilet!. I went back straight to my car to change, then I headed back to the start village bcoz I wanted to buy the Brooks long tights which was going at 50% off. After I made the purchase I went around looking for a toilet again, but couldn't find any, so I went back to my car. I heard the announcer calling out the winners & the winner for the veterans category actually ran faster than the open category! I realized that I have a long way to go. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I finished in 58th in my category.
Livestrong, run stronger.
I decided to go to the start a bit early, since I had to drive becoz my bike had some problems. I parked about 700-800m from the start village, in front of the old pasar tani location. There was some concern of rain, but my friend told me that the rain had stopped. Once I park my car I went searching for a place to take my wudhu'. In doing this, I realized that there was no public toilet along the Persiaran Perdana, apart from the one right in front of Palace of Justice. & to make things worse, none of the government offices along that stretch allow public to use their facilities. This is something that Perbadanan Putrajaya need to look at. No point complaining now. After I performed my Maghrib prayers, I did my warm up & off to the start. I got to the start soaking wet..
The race
The 15km flag off was at 8pm. The flag off was accompanied by a fireworks show, which was something new. Of course, races in Putrajaya almost always uses the same course. Although I've studies the course map quite a number of times, I still got some locations wrong. This is something I need to work on.
I did the 1st 5K in 26 mins, not the fastest but a solid base. I skipped the 1st water station as usual, as I didn't wanna disrupt my rhythm. I settled into a comfortable tempo & pushed myself so that I can keep up with the main group. Oh, this is my 1st race in the veterans category, so I hoped to achieve something, at least a PB. The 2nd 5K was mostly downhill. As usual when I got so focused on the run, I felt like was running in a tunnel. I maintained my tempo & tried to avoid the 10K runners when our route merged somewhere after PICC. The 3rd 5K was the hardest as there was a few uphills & a gradual uphill about 3 km before the finish. I knew this & I also knew the last kilometer was downhill & I did the last kilo in 4:30 pace. I hit the line in a new PB of 1:25.
Post race
Ratings
Route (Challenging, unique) : 5/5
Organizer (Overall organization of race) : 4/5
Runners welfare (Water station, pre & post race facilities) : 4/5
Goodie bag (Content) : 4/5
Race tee (Quality, aesthetics) : 4.5/5
Medal (Quality, aesthetics) : 4.5/5
My performance (execution of race plan, finishing time) : 4.5/5 (new 15K PB)Livestrong, run stronger.
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