Once we arrived in Alor Setar at 9.30am, we bought our return bus tix to KL for the next day. Then the race organiser arrived to arrange taxi transfer for us to Comfort Motel, at RM10 per taxi. The motel was above our expectations, with air con, clean condition, common shower areas with shampoo & showergel provided, very friendly owner, at a very reasonable price of RM50 for a large room(4 ppl) & RM28-RM35 for a small room (1-2 ppl).
Breakfast was dim sum at a coffeeshop just behind our motel, at a very low cost, about RM52 for 7 of us & we took everything they gave us!! hahahaha.
After a shower, we hit the sack for a 1hr rest, before Fennel’s family came all the way from Penang (1hr plus drive) to bring us out for lunch … tks Fennel & family for the hospitality!!
After lunch Fennel’s family kindly sent us to the town centre, where we sat in Secret Recipe, enjoying drinks & cakes.. then we jalan around, window shopping at the city plaza and roadside shophouses.
For dinner (it seems we are always on the lookout for food), we wanted to eat Pizzahut, but couldn’t seem to locate it after a search.. so we had an early dinner at the place where we had breakfast, but this time we had bak kut teh & mixed food.. Cost? RM60 for 7 of us… unbelievable!! haha..
After dinner, it was time to sleep. it was about 8pm.. we had to get up about 12 midnight for our transport to the start point at 1am.
Got up at 12am.. some other participants had already started their pre-race ritual.. we suited up & got ready to be transferred to the start point about 15km away from our motel. Tks to a gang from Batu Pahat, some of us hitched a ride together with them.. and one of them actually remembered running with Fennel at KL Marathon & Penang Marathon, with him highlighting that she’s a very fast runner and he lost to her!!! hahahahah…
At the start point, tentages & chairs were all set up for what seemed to be a very small event, with about 70 participants & the no. of volunteers equalling or exceeding the no. of participants. They even had a baggage deposit area for us, providing a huge plastic bag for our belongings & tying it up with a tag & indicating our race no. on the bag. We did a bit of warm up & took some pics before the organiser briefed the participants. Basically he said if we do not see any marshallers at any junction, just run straight… hahaha.
Race started promptly at 3am. With the Thai runners chionging ahead, leading the pack.. whilst many of us slacked behind.. it was a long dark road, only peppered with lights from the rare cars passing by… a firefly was spotted whilst DO, Choonwei & IMD were running together, so nice… at every 5km mark, there was a water point with 100Plus & water, as loud music blaring.. so we were always on the lookout for that, as it meant we were nearer the finish line.. Along the route, we could make out Gunung Keriang in the midst of the field, very cool, scenic run even though it was early in the morning.. After some time, about 15km, Fennel seemed to have warmed up and overtook IMD… DO & Choonwei also speeded up, leaving IMD running alone… Cosmic & Half timer were somewhere behind not too far away. Counting down every 5km mark… we ran in the dark till about 7 am, then the day started breaking.. soon, we reached a ‘highway’ which was brightly lit… and onwards we continued.. even though the journey seemed long, we tried to enjoy every moment… tks to the friendly supporters & marshallers, we were motivated to keep going. Spotted the Thai runners on the return leg about 1hr ahead of me, with only 5km left to go for them whilst i still had 15km to go and I had already taken 3hr31min at that point. The final 15km was really long, as we could see the road ahead of us since it was bright already… had to just keep going.. pushing every step, getting closer to the end.. searching for the final U-turn point.. finally i saw a lady, carrying a clip board just before the 40km mark, signalling to me to U-turn, telling me there is about 10km remaining.. i asked her how many ppl were ahead of me, and she said 17… oh my, only prizes given to top 15 males.. i don’t know if i could do it, but just pushed on, with some hope of overtaking someone.. hahaha
Along the final 10km, i saw one runner sitting under the bridge, i asked him to run, but he asked me to carry on.. ok, 16 ahead of me… at about 5km mark, i saw another runner who was walking.. ok, looks like i’m on target for 15th place… carried on, hoping that i don’t get cramps as i’ve not trained more than 21km for this event… lo & behold, i cramped on my right hamstring at the 48km mark. bent down to stretch it, taking the opportunity to look behind, and spotted DO just about 200metres behind, so i quickly started running again instead of stretching further, and just hoping the cramp would go away, which fortunately did. The final 1km was really motivating, as it meant the completion of the 1st Ultramarathon for some of us… and Yippee, i crossed the finish line with a great sense of satisfaction!! & i was given a 15th position card with a timing of 5hr 1min 41secs!! Woo hoo!! Unbelievable to have just scrapped through!! and managing about 6min/km pace.. wonderful…hehehe.. Quickly took my barang barang & my camera, getting ready to snap pics. Kept stretching whilst waiting for the runners to stream in…
DO chionged in with no problems & looking strong, as he was conditioned for such a distance, achieving 16th position, just 5mins behind me.
Fennel came in victoriously, achieving 2nd position for ladies category!!
Choonwei ran in his Newton running shoes, which served him well.. very shwee shoes leh..
Cosmic came in clutching his left leg, which was hurting.. and medics promptly attended to him, giving him a free massage!! He recovered soon, so all is well.
Every runner came into the finish line from the right direction, except for Halftimer, who decided to come in from the ‘back door’ as he deemed the run too short for him, so decided to run extra 100metres and come in from the opposite direction!! Aiyo!! But he still got the Finisher Medal!! hehe.. Well Done!!
We then hanged around, taking in all the makan (watermelon, banana, jelly, kueh, bread, 100Plus, water) that were provided. Prize presentation was held & Fennel & IMD received their prizes from the VIP, coupled with a phototaking session.
Our timings:
IMD-5hr 1min
DO – 5hr 6min
Fennel – 5hr 11min
Choonwei – 5hr 13min
Cosmic Wind – 6hr 55min
Halftimer – 7hr 4min
For the guys, the top 4 came from Thailand, with timing of 3hr 56min to 3hr 58min. The 5th guy is from Malaysia & had a timing of 4hr 21min (what a big gap from the Thai guys)
For the ladies, champion is from Thailand with a timing of 4hr 55min. Our dear Fennel came in 2nd with a time of 5hr 11min, winning a cash prize of RM500!!
After the race, we got back to our hotel, where we showered, packed our stuff & went for dim sum just behind our hotel (couldn’t walk too far in view of our condition).. For transport back to the bus terminal, the hotel owner offered to have his wife send Fennel to the bus terminal whilst the rest of us took 1 cab, so that we don’t have to waste $$ on another cab (so thoughtful of the hotel owner).. we hanged around the terminal for about 45min before our bus came & we departed for KL. It was a freezing cold bus ride as it was raining through the journey. Finally arrived in KL after a 6.5hr ride, where we had Nando’s for dinner at 10.30pm till 11pm. From there, DO & Halftimer took a bus back to S’pore whilst the rest of us stayed back in KL, with Fennel & IMD taking part in the Mizuno 10km Wave Run on Sun & Cosmic deciding to return to S’pore only on Sat.
Overall, great organisation, lots of makan provided, 100Plus, very friendly ppl (they even drove us back to our motel after the race), water point at every 5km mark with loud music blaring (not the latest hits la). The ppl were very chatty & will be coming for our SCSM this year. Looking forward to see them here & hopefully we can extend our hospitality to them.
All of us had a great time there & it was worth the 12.5hr bus journey up north. Hopefully this race will be organised again sometime in the future.
Ironman Dreamer 