I've successfully completed my 1st ever half marathon during the Putrajaya Nite Marathon on Saturday. Here is the story....
Pre-race...
Despite my injuries early on, I decided to just give it a try & run the half. I woke up early on Saturday, put on my running shoes & ran for 15 mins around my housing area & I felt okay. The pain on my calf has gone, but now there's some new problems. But then, I thought those were my normal problems.. so I told my wife, I'ma run tonite.
Just as a precaution, I kept on putting ice pack on both my legs, just to make sure. I took a nap just after lunch. I'd also agreed to run together with one of my LYNet pals, Elgato. He's also running his 1st half.
Then off to the start. The half marathon started at 8.30pm. The marathoners started 1/2 hour earlier than us. We planned to run easy for the 1st 10K, then see if we could up the pace a bit after that. Easier said than done.
The course...
The course was generally soft rolling. The hardest climb was proly at the PICC (very early on, around KM3), & just as we were about to re-enter Presint 1, near the traffic light at KM15. I was able to maintain a comfortable pace of around 6:50-7:10. My target pace was 6:40. At that pace I thought, we could hit the finish line in less than 2:30.
Feeding...
I brought my own water, using my Ultimate Directions Blaze pack. I also had with me 2 packs of PowerGel, chocolate flavor of course, the ones I've been using for training. so I could afford to pass on the 1st 2 water stations. I'd planned to take my feeding every hour. So that was exactly what I did. & it turned out to be okay, when I finish I didn't really feel that drained. I took some 100Plus at every water station after the 10K mark, plus a couple of stops at 2 sponging stations. Those gels really was helpful.
Gear...
My last 3 races last year I ran with tights, short tights. But for this half marathon, I decided to go with my normal training outfit, a Nike running tee with normal shorts. My underpants was great, it didn't give me any problems whatsoever, so I was grateful for that. I've heard stories about runners getting blisters "down there", which certainly can't be good. But I was okay throughout. Maybe for morning events, I'd use vests instead of tshirts.
My Adizero Ace was just superb. Pretty much thruout the run, I was just cruising & my shoes really helped a lot.
Injuries...
I was really grateful that I was able to run virtually pain-free. But I was really careful with my stride, tried not to open up too big a stride. After KM10, I felt like I was just hanging by a thread, just a slight overstriding would cause my calf to tighten up & I certainly dun wan that. That was why I took some 100Plus from the water station, to prevent cramps.
I was pretty much cruising thruout. Now I know what they meant by cruising along. After KM10 onwards, I pretty much just let my legs carry me thru. My stride didn't really have any knee lift at all. Mostly becoz I wanted to avoid getting cramps. It was especially true during the uphills.
The ending..
I was pretty confident that I managed to up the pace in the last 6K. I didn't really push that hard, but it was enuff. With the ending in sight, I was smiling. But then, it was pretty demoralizing to discover that we had to make a big circle around KPDNKK & POJ. Coming from MOF, I thought it was straight on to the finish in front of POJ. But we had to make a left turn at the traffic light at KPDNKK, before emerging on the other side to approach the end from KBS side. I was really in pain by then, mentally. I crossed the finish line at 3:01, minus 30 mins.
The way the organizers arranged the endzone was commendable, it made it less painful for us. Immediately after the finish was somebody handing over mineral water bottles, then the medals, then the snackpack, then the Milo tent. I took 2 cups, then somebody bumped into me & I was drenched in Milo. I took another 2, then only I realized there was 100Plus available. I walked in my Milo-soaked shoes & found my wife waving to me at the MeCD junction. Then she told me the good news, we had to walk another km becoz she couldn't park the car close enuff... grrr...
Overall I was really satisfied that I was able to compete the run with just 12 mins off my target time. To be honest my preparation wasn't the best, so I that makes it more worthwhile. I'll try to run a better race in the Energizer Nite run, I have approx. 6 weeks to prepare.
Livestrong.
