Tuesday, August 10, 2010

StandChart KL Marathon 2010

The training started 4mth ago. Keep tracking d runs with low cost but less reliable nike+. Not alwaz reliable though with d sometimes disconnected feature. Hate it when it happens! Total distance ~550km. So, here's wat happened on d race day.

Water droplets started to leave mark on my windshield. Drizzling. Turn my sight to d sky, it was painted with red at 4am. Oh great... Expecting a wet marathon ahead. That cooled my burning passion. Park d car at LG, get myself prepared with nike+, n stretched to d starting line. Oh, thunders. Followed by d the pour! Was looking 4 my sub4 pacer but all d pacers balloons were not in sight. Gun-off with d blessing rain. My nike+ sys was the 1st to receive d blessing. The rain put them to 'rest' eternally. Was then bz to resurrect them but in vain. Thats really disruptive to my pace. Hate it! Luckily, d music stayed alive.

Saw PM1 sped up n passed over me at 5th km. Guess all d balloon pacers started late somehow. I gave up my nike+. Without it n any sub4 pacer in sight, i jz follow my instinct with d km marker.

At 18km, toilet call. Failed to purge them completely b4 i left home n d residue haunted my stomach 4 a vengeance. Saw a SHELL station n settle d internal affair. I was quite confident though. My split at 10/21/32k were 0:55/1:52/2:52 n still feel strong. Thn, my calf gave d 1st subtle ticklish signal again. I was frustrated n puzzled y cramp still happen to me. Suddenly i saw LFS at front. Must b passing me by while i got tangled by my problematic nike+. It was like our 1st face 2 face meet as we merely xchg words via FB. Tagged him 4 a while but lost him totally whn d cramp emerged at greater force at 34k. It was 3:00. I thk it was a big mistake tat i decided to rest n massage my calf. I conclude tat only cost me d time, n its practically unhelpful to relief d cramp. Sh hv jz continue to run (n some advised sh hv run faster. Maybe, coz i still feel strong) to get over d cramp. The circumstance is best described as the car still has lots of petrol but the mechanical glitch fails d car.

Nonetheless, at 38k, time was 3:35, at bkt tunku double-hill compound. I somehow optimistic but d last stretch of hilly route n without any info abt my pace cost me d ultimate goal. Perhaps, i ran too cautiously not to eggravate the cramp. N i underestimate d final 1km too. Hallucination. I didn't expect to run another loop while dataran merdeka is already in sight! In fact, I somehow don't like to know the route in prior. Everythg seems too wrong n too late to get it right. 4:00:56 at finish line.

That 56s regret! Abt 200m away from d goal.

A huge sigh, but a greater lesson learnt perhaps. To be optimistic, i got a better idea on training method nxt time. Quality must prevails quantity.