Belly of the Beast

My 3 days stay at KL, was a short but memorable one. A good race, with great company! :-)
Many who went there achieved their PBs, despite the many steep climbs in the race.

"Don't try anything new on race day that you haven't tried in training before." I defied that saying on race day.  As I had just lost by Bikilas the week before, Ezan lent me his Nike Air Shoes before the race. It was quite flexible too, I just feared that I will not experience cramping again, like what happened when I wore my Asics during the 15km Progressive Series Run. His shoe was quite flexible and had minimal cushioning too.
The full marathon was flagged off at 4.30am, my 21km started at 6.00am sharp. I figured that if I stuck to a 5.30 pace, I will be able to get a timing of 1:50 or lower.

At the start line, I met a couple of familiar faces like Qi Hui and Ivan, along with many other F1 Runners. Even at the start line, my tummy was already making lots of noise which only I could here despite the loud head-banging dub-step music being played. The stomach pains, was most probably due to the 100PLUS I drank earlier, they both don't exactly get along well.

At the start line in Dataran Merdeka

I ran the first 5km of the race in about 23:40, way too fast, guess the pre-race excitement got the better of me once again, I slowed down to avoid a poor finish, and to go back on pace. Reached the 10k mark at about 51 minutes. The pace seemed relatively comfortable, and a sub 1:50 finish looked achievable. That was when the belly of the beast awakened.

For the next 10km, I slowed down my pace a lot, but I did not stop. I didn't consume any gels or bananas as I was afraid it will worsen my stomachache. I even thought of sitting on the portable thrones, but I told myself that I could hold it off till the end.I didn't drink any isotonic drinks along the route either. Where are non-carbonated drinks when you needed them? It was a truly tough mental battle, but nothing was going to stop me. 


Arafat was tracking me using a mobile app, and according to the app, I passed the 15.5km mark at 1:20:18 with a pace of 05:11min/km. 


I did experience some signs of cramping, so at around the 16km, I alllowed the volunteers to spray some Salonpas at my legs. I didn't experience any cramps for the run, and my post-race recovery was much quicker compared to the Sundown Marathon. 




So, after a hard fought battle with the belly of the beast, I manage to cross the finishing line with a PB of 01:52:25, knowing that my next target would be a sub 1:50. Despite the hills and the boring views, it was a good run and a great learning experience for me. Many fellow Singaporeans were present at the race too, most of them nailing their PBs due to the good weather conditions.There were many familiar faces from IMD and of course the Freaks too. 

My Dad ran the 10.6km run in 01:14, despite a injury. 

At the end of the race, while we were waiting for Shariff to finish, one of the runners slipped near the finish line and suffered a injury above his right eye, it swelled up immediately and most of us runners rushed to his aid. He was an elderly Japanese Man, thankfully there was a lady who could speak Japanese nearby. We elevated his legs, and formed a human wall to shade him. Once again, we see the unity that sports brings about. Although there was an ambulance nearby, it took more than 10 minutes for it to arrive. The Policeman there was very unprofessional and asked runners to carry the man to the side of the road, when clearly the man was shaking violently, carrying him would only further aggravate his possible injuries. We took instructions from a lady who had some medical knowledge. She advised us to elevate his legs and another man was constantly keeping track of his pulse. While the Japanese Lady constantly encouraged him and was speaking to him. A couple of runners started to fan him too. The ambulance arrived soon after, I hope he had a speedy recovery. 

Shariff arrived at about 06:08, his fastest in 2012 thus far. We all finished together.

















Well, my next overseas run will be the PBIM in November where I will be running the 10km Junior Category. This time, all of Team Maverickz will be participating, so we will surely have great fun. 

Sundown Marathon (Almost Over)

It's isn't over just yet. Ezan, Shariff's swimming coach fetched me after I had collected the Medal and then I went to change into my slippers. My journey was done, but many of the people out there were still going through their journeys. Arafat, Ezan, Leeza and I went to Nicoll Highway, sat on top of the railings and started cheering all the runners on! The cheering was very memorable and certainly every time I run past that place again, it will bring back great memories.

Ezan, Leeza, Arafat, Me, My Dad (Ali), Khadeeja and Shariff! :-)

Leeza, was banging on the railings loudly, bringing up the mood. Arafat, Ezan and I were screaming out hearts out, motivating every single runner that runs past, offered high-fives too! :-)
We shouted phrases like "You can do it, and you will do it!" "You're a CHAMPION!" "100m more to go" and some 'personalized' messages too. It was all great fun, losing our voices was certainly a good trade for all the smiling faces and the new-found energy the runners felt.
I was joking with Arafat telling him that she should give out name cards instead of high-fives,

Haha, after about 20 minutes of trio screamo. The skies opened up it's mouth too, but I guess it was drooling a little too much. Sundown marathon officially became the Raindown Marathon, I feared the safety of the runners as there was lighting present, but I was very sure it was going to take much more than lighting to stop these zombified pavement pounders! At about 3.50, my father arrived, he suffered from some cramps and was forced to walk most of the way. I know he can do much better, but I guess everyone of us has a bad day once in a while, something that can't be helped at times. But I'm sure he'll bounce back! I'm proud of him!

We saw the top 3 men and women finishing the marathon too, there was one Sub 3 from the Masters Division too, highly impressive! Then as we reached the saturation point, it was time for us to zoom back into the tent age too as it was filling up quickly with many runners seeking shelter after their race. Shariff was tired and already sleeping soundly, he did an excellent job. :-)

There was plenty of laughter, fun and joy despite the downpour, we met many new friends too. When the skies were tamed, we quickly made our move home. It was an amazing night in all aspects, and I believe all of us had great fun lighting up the city, so much fun that it got light up, literally. (CAT 1)

The Freaks and IMD had many PBs broken during the race, but in terms of running for a reason and experience, they had a great run too. Special shout out to our one and only KING, who ran in a road-erupting time of 3:40!

Well done to one and all, you are a champion!

Thank you for reading!

Sundown Marathon 2012 (Halfway through)

As the air horn sounded off, we took off at almost a 4 minute pace for the first 500 meters, as we were sucked in by the elites near the start line, then me and the 2:00HM Pacer and new friend, Ganesh, slowed down and re-grouped with the rest of the group's pacers.

Looking at the HM 2:00 Pacers at the start of the race, I was doubting if I could keep up with them till the end.

The HM 2:00 Pacers

Front Row: Eddy Teo, Benjamin Chan, Roy Foo

Back Row: Patrick Koh, Ganesh Sivaraj

2km

So we settled in at a 5.30 pace, I looked at my left hand, my first 2km was dedicated to my Father, who was a very fast runner himself. He got back to pavement pounding when I started running too, and he has come a long way, one of the biggest support since I started running, and it was apt as it was the start of the Half Marathon too. Saw many familiar faces whiz pass me, including Mr Poon and his Wife, wished him all the very best for his run. It was very motivating to see Mr Poon as it was because of his advice to 'run off'my asthma that I took up running in the first place. My legs were in sync with Ganesh, matching his every stride. I focused on my breathing to not dehydrate myself this early in the race, breathing in and out through the nose.

4km

The pacers were constantly checking their watches and shouting out the current pace, we were doing slightly below 5.30, still cruising along comfortably. Ganesh constantly checked on me to see if I was fine. The pacers were doing a very fine job on their part, alerting runners about upcoming water points and turns so that they could prepare early, in terms of position or fueling. This 4km was for my family, particularly to my grandmother who has been in and out of hospital very often recently, although most of them don't know much about my running, I hope to one day make them proud. 

All smiles at the start, with Ganesh to my left!

6km

For the great one, Allah. I first started running in May 2011, I started praying at that time too. And my whole life has come such a long way from then, many things have changed for the better and countless new doors have opened. And it was all due to him. Around this time, I started feeling great pain in my shoulders, maybe it was due to stiffness, wrong body posture or not warming up. I tried to troubleshoot the problem by swinging my arms but it seem to worsen the problem, maybe I was swinging my arms too much, so I focused on minimizing my shoulder movement during running and it seemed to do the trick! 

8km

The Freedom Freaks, since my first run with them during Chinese New Year (From Woodlands to East Coast Park), I met many great running friends, they are a great bunch to be with, always learning from one another and sharing great moments together. It has been a great honor to know them, they are a bunch of fun-loving speedy demons, and I'm sure you'll see the freaks on podiums really soon. (Some of them already are!) So this 8km, I ran with them in mind, 5 months of great fun with them. I love their motto which they adhere to sincerely, Leave No One Behind, the Sundown Pacers seemed to be following that motto too.

The Freedom Freaks @ Sundown Marathon 2012

10km 

My goal was to break the 50 minute barrier for my 10km, I hope to achieve the goal soon, perhaps at the upcoming Punggol Waterway Run? I have a good feeling about it. Well a quick check on my watch, we passed the 11km mark at exactly 1 hour, going strong and I was more than halfway there. I ate my Shotz Wild Berry Gel there too, it was pretty cool to be ripping off the gel with my teeth, first timer. 10km for the ever expanding Team SBR. We started off with only 4 members, now we have expanded to more than 10 members with a huge fan base, and under the leadership of Sir Arafat, have been learning many new things, making great progress and insipiring the world too. I hope Shariff and Hafsah were doing well after their run too. Viva La Team SBR! 

12km

For my fellow brother who was probably sleeping comfortably in a farm in Taiwan as I was runninng. He has been with me since May 2011 and has been running with me too, he has came a long way. We used to be the worst enemies, but I guess it help us understand one another better. He has lost a shitload of weight too, but that's not the only thing, it was a bonus in addition to his new found positiveness and joy too. More than halfway through now, I was going to give my best. I am sure Lenney would want me to do my best too.

Sundown Marathon 2012 (Pre- Race)

Lenney and I signed up for the Sundown Marathon in the first few days of the new year, catching the early bird before it flew off. It was going to be our virgin half-marathon, and it was going to mark my first year of running too. But in February, Lenney's parents had made plans to go on a family vacation to Taiwan, and the date of the vacation unfortunately clashes with Sundown, so he handed his bib over to my Dad, who will be running his first half marathon too.


The Race Pack Entry Collection was held at the RunBikeSwim Expo from 11 - 13 May, there were many great deals there too. After collecting our race bibs, and stocking up on race fuel, we were ready to go!

The Sundown Running Singlet and my Race Bib

Following their 21km fueling strategy, I got this from Shanmugam!

26 MAY 2012 - Race Day!

For the first time in any race, I was pretty nervous. It was going to be my first time at a big scale running event, and I wasn't sure what to expect. In terms of training, I have not been doing too well either as I didn't watch my diet and train regularly. The last time I ran was during MR25's Tuesday Track Session. I told myself that as soon as I am over with this race, I would start doing proper training, with things like long runs at race pace. But first, I had to clear my virgin half-marathon.

I made my way to the race village 4 hours before flag off, in the bus and along the route, I focused myself and tried to visualize my experience. Confusion got the better off me, in the end I decided that I would follow the 2:00 HM Pacers all the way and maintain an easy pace, this decision was probably due to my lack of confidence in maintaining a faster pace as I didn't train at a targeted race pace. And anyway, since it was going to mark my plus/minus one year of running, I wanted to dedicate this run, or rather parts of the run to some very special people. This was also a form of motivation for myself to keep me motivated through the race. I wrote the dedications on my hand. 

2km - Dad

4km - Family

6km - Allah

8km - The Freedom Freaks

10km - Team SBR (Shariff Blade Runner)

12km - Lenney Leong

14km - Student Council EXCO

16km - Eagle

20km - Sundown Crew (Anyone who made Sundown possible)

I was quite nervous so I might have left out some people who played a great role in my running journey, I didn't mean to do that.

Well, at about 9pm, the extended Team SBR (Now known as Shariff Blade Runner) arrived at the Race Village, we got ourselves a table near the photo booth, enjoyed the movie Tower Heist together for about 30 minutes, then Shariff and Hafsah who were doing the 10km which begun at 2230 headed out to do their warm-ups and secure a good starting position. We snapped a picture of Team SBR before heading out! 

Shariff will be running with his new Ossur Flex Run with Nike sole and the Nike Lunarglide+3 on the good leg. He is capable of running at a sub 1:05 pace as he had done in his training run, but due to poor race management by HiVelocity, he was denied a PB, but nontheless his spirit spurred many runners on!

Soon it was time for me and my Dad to go for our race, I met up with the 2:00 HM Pacers and we made our way to the starting line, the Freedom Freaks and I we were just in front of the start line, as we had about one hour to go, we sat down and shared tips and also took some photos! I forgot the fueling strategy provided by Maxifuel, so I made out what I did remember, 60 minutes before the start I ate the ViperBoost Bar and 30 minutes from the start I ate the ViperBoost Gel. Checking against the strategy now, it was actually wrong. I also had a last minute change as I noticed that the ViperActive Gels were too big to fit into the back pocket of my shorts, so I used my shots gel instead, will get a fuel belt before the SCKLM! 

T-minus 10 minutes to flag off, the star-studded front line was filled with elite runners. I got up and did some loosening up, not much space for warming up. I had a chat with Ganesh Sivaraj, one of the HM 2:00 pacers, will be seeing him again soon at the Punggol Waterway Run in about 14 days time. With a couple of minutes to go, I took my place beside the pacers and wished the Freaks and other familiar faces the best of luck! 

Took a quick check on my hand, first two 2km was going to be for my Dad. He was probably with the second or third wave, after snapping pictures of the 10km runners and cheering them on together with Arafat. Well, as the MC counted down the last 10 seconds, and the air horns sounded off, all of our engines took off at full speed, it was time to light up the city!