NILAI HALF MARATHON REPORT BY LIM FANG HAU, JASON @ PM 23 (POSTED ON PM 25 BLOG ON 28/3/2005)

Started the journey in PM25’s car at 4.30 am to Bukit Aman to pick up PM1. From there, we headed to Nilai. Arrived at Nilai Toll Plaza at 5.20 am. We decided to wait for the rest of the gang to arrive and especially Ryan Teoh, the PM, who helped us to register and collect our bibs. We arrived at the starting point at 6.30 am. Did some warm up before the race and the race started at 6.50 am.This was my first race after the KLIM 2005 and it was also my first half marathon after the Singapore race (half marathon). I decided to go all out in this race. For the first 7km, I used normal pace for the race. I arrived at the first water station after 38 minutes. Everything seemed to be fine to me and the hills did not pose any problem to me at all. The journey continued until the next water station at approximately 10km mark. My timing split was 57 minutes. My condition was still fine and the undulating hills did not give me problem at all. My journey continued until the next water station at approximately 14km. My timing split was 1 hr 21 min. My condition was still fine. After the last water station, I decided to increase my pace. I felt a little dehydrated after running for 90 minutes at a faster pace. I decided to drink 100 Plus (my own isotonic drink supply) to quench my dehydration. Towards the finishing and drank some 100 Plus as I could not bear with lack of water station providing isotonic drink. With 100 metres to go, I decided to sprint all out towards the finishing line. I finished the race in 1 hr 50 min 55.89sec with a certificate and a medal. At the finishing line, I unintentionally crashed into another runner due to sprinting too fast towards the finishing line and my brake control problem!After completing the race, I felt that the distance was about 2km shorter than the actual distance of 21km. Some experienced runners also agreed with me. Based on the run, I noted the following from my observation.1. There were no distance markers along the race.2. Insufficient water station. The organiser should provide sufficient water station like the PJ Half Marathon.3. Most of the route passed through the industrial area and the air was polluted.4. The actual distance is shorter by approximately 2km from the real distance of 21km.5. There were many undulating hills (more than the normal Pacesetters training route of Sri Hartamas way). This did not pose any problems to me at all.6. My pacing per km has improved based on my Singapore timing of 2 hr 16 min based on the actual distance of 21.5 km, I took an average time of 6 min19 sec for every km I covered. My average timing per km for this race based on the actual distance of 19km is 5 min 50.31sec.7. I find this race to be an easy race for me after I had completed my full marathon in KLIM 2005. In the past 3 half marathon, I used to struggled to complete it and I had a record of DNF in my first half marathon last year in Ipoh. Finally, thanks to Ryan Teoh for his tireless effort for helping us to register and collecting our bibs.