PENANG BRIDGE RUN RECOLLECTION

my first ever half marathon attempted at penang bridge international marathon 2009.. here's how the running escapade cum penang getaway went..

we took off to penang after work on friday, so it was me irwan babart and aliff, all on board in babart's trusty volvo ... so we reached penang around 12ish cam tuh and str8 away headed to a cool coffee joint to meet the groupies cum supporters who drove all the way from KL to support kaki lariks (there were like 6 of them ).. later we checked in to Tune Hotel at Jalan Burmah.. the room was so small.. not that i am complaining though because we paid RM 50 per nite and that was dirt cheap... thats a very good deal for a cheapskate like me.. hehe.. anyway, i shared the room with babart..

saturday morning, we woke up around 9am and headed to gelugor to have breakfast at a joint that is very famous amongst locals.. at taman tun sardon precisely, just next to the market.. pastu jalan2 kat KOMTAR cari stokin for the run and movie DVDs.. pastu we went to a friend's place and lepak-lepak there kejap.. and we drove back to Tune Hotel.. we got lost in the process as we are not used to penang traffic madness and crazy routes as there were lots of one way streets.. i really couldnt see myself living or working in penang.. i dont think i can tolerate its traffic antics..we managed to reach the hotel and grab a quick bite for dinner at the kopitiam joint downstairs and hit the bed around 9.45 pm (the initial plan was to go to bed at 8.30pm).. we dozed off in no time, realising that we hadnt been getting any sleep since morning and how precious sleep and rest were before we were all set to run at crazy, wee hours of sunday morning.. the normal restlessness and anxiety during sleep that normally occurs to me during night before runs didnt happen that nite..:)

at 1.00 am we woke up and freshen ourselves and put on our running gears and gathered at the hotel lobby... there were 9 of us staying at the same hotel.. later we went to the queensbay mall where the stating point was.. when we reached there, there were plenty of people around with music played all loud ..the atmosphere was festive and carnival-like.. one of the reason on why i love taking part in running event.. for this run, i have no strategy on how should i run.. in fact i never have strategy on how to run in any run or in any of my training.. if it is called strategy, my plan was to run the same pace all the way from thr start to the finishing line..


we were let off at 2.36 am to be exact, precisely one hour after the full marathoners started their run.. like i planned i paced consistently, irregardless of people overtaking me or otherwise, i just maintained my stride at a pace that i was comfortable with.. mind u the terrain was okay but it was a bit boring as there was nothing much to see.. highlight of the run was when we started to run on the bridge... it was a straight long stretch that seemed neverending to me and it inclined upwards at the middle of the bridge ..

i think i was doing good during the 1st 10 km.. as i did u turn on the bridge that marked the 2nd 10km, another hurdle awaited that was to climb the inclining part of the bridge again.. at this time i felt that my pace was slower and and my stride became smaller than the 1st 10 km but i went on nevertheless.. after finishing the bridge i became much slower, my thighs and foots felt strained.. tapi lari jugak.. at this time many runners overtoook me and they were going fast that i couldnt cope with their pace.. the last 4 km was the most agonizing part, jari kaki sakit sangat, lutut takyah cerita lah.. rasa cam finishing line tu jauh sangat.. it felt so near but yet so far.. finally i managed to drag my feet to the finishing line.. kaki rasa cam tak jejak tanah je when i crossed the finishing line.. my limbs and joints felt wobbly and rickety, but the feeling of crossing the finishing line was priceless.. i just couldnt imagine how a full marathoner would feel crossing it.. it must be some heavenly feeling that is so addictive that they would come back for more marathon no matter how agonizing it is


so here's my results.. i clinched the 234th spot out of 2800++ half marathoners - 02:06:35.. thats top 10% of the lots..i guess it is not bad for a first timer.. actually i coud have clocked below 2 hours.. but my second part of the run was so terrible that i couldnt make it sub 2 hours.. i clocked 52 minutes for the 1st 10km (which i am pretty impressed with myself - my personal best for 10km so far! ) and recorded 74 minutes for the rest 11 kilometres (which i think, i could have clocked 10 minutes lesser)..


all in all, i am happy that i surpassed my initial target that was 2 hours 15 minutes... so thats the time to beat in singapore standard chartered run that is gonna happen 2 weeks from now.. singapore, here i come!