AmBank Kuala Lumpur International Marathon 30 Mar 2008

Tried to go to sleep at 10.30pm & aimed to sleep 4hrs.. however, soon i got up & then looked at the time… a disappointing 1hr of  sleep.. Tried to get to sleep again, but for reasons unknown, i couldn’t get back to sleep.  So i decided to watch soccer, between Arsenal & Bolton.. whoa, Arsenal was 2-0 down, but against all odds, they fought back to win 3-2.  Then came Man United vs Aston Villa.. Ronaldo scored a fantastic goal.  & soon, i had to get ready for the race….

 

Decided to go ahead to start the marathon even though my body condition wasn’t 100%.  I had been sufffering from fever, flu & a weak body whole week.  Felt better on race day & i knew i could finish it, just not sure how long the journey would take. Ate 1 oatmeal raisin power bar & drank a bottle of accelerade.  Grabbed 4 packs of powergel & we were out of the home at 3.15am.  Arrived at the venue at 3.30am & managed to get a parking lot just behind the main building as there were so few cars there.

 

Met many friends at the start point, such as Lesley, Tey, Prata, Freddy, SV, Siok Bee, Tan Wah Sing, Mohan, Ching Tai, etc.  Did a little jogging & stretch to warm up.  Fortunately i wore the long sleeved 2XU suit & didn’t feel cold.  Entered the pen about 5mins before the race commencement.  Took some pics with friends.  And exactly at 4.30am, we were flagged off!

 

My race strategy was to aim 1hr 45min for the 1st half, and to slow down to 2hr for the 2nd half.  Well, i managed to achieve my 1st half strategy, doing a 5min/km pace.  it’s been a long time since i did such a pace for a marathon distance, at the last S’pore Marathon almost 4 months ago, so i just pushed a bit this time to see how i’d fare.  To my surprise, my body felt good and could still continue to pursue that pace for the 2nd half, only to drop the pace in the final few kms, allowing LonelyRunner to catch up.  With about 8km to go, i managed to overtake Lesley & her companion, who then followed closely behind me. Consumed a total of 4 powergel packs along the route.  Soon, the remaining distance became shorter & shorter…. and mental prowess took over to push me forward, to overcome the several slopes that were a permanent feature of the route.  Saw Realrunner just ahead of me, about 500m, but try as i may, he was too fast for me to catch..  Soon, 2km became 1km… and i was back to Dataran Merdeka, and finished in 3hr 36min 12 sec (chip time)/3hr 37min 01sec (gun time)..  Yipppeee!! Achieved my PB in KL Marathon, beating my previous best showing of 3hr 41min back in 2006   Found out later i had achieved 35th position in the Men’s Open category.  Very happy with that.

 

After the race, i refueled with 100Plus and did lots of post-race stretching.. Chatted with my friends whilst waiting for my wife to return.  Also met up with Benjamin & Ching (who did completed her maiden 10k race in 56min!!).  Wee also did a PB in the 10k, coming in 1hr 15min.  Tze also did well, 2hr 48min in the 21k.  And soon, my wife came in, with a PB of 4hr 25min in the marathon!!!  Congratulations to all!!

 

Now it’s time for a good rest & to let my body recover. 

 

My next target is to achieve 1hr 30min for a 21km.  And from there, train at sub-4:30km/hr pace for a marathon… my goal this year to is achieve sub 3:10 at Berlin Marathon, which will take place on 28 Sep 2008.