Race day (5 March 2006)
Woke up at 3 am after 4 hours of sleep. Had Powerbar, 3 bananas, orange and apple for breakfast. Departed to Dataran Merdeka at 3.40 am. Arrived there at 4.05 am and chatted with some running friends. The race started at 5.am. My actual body condition was fine as I recovered from flu one week ago. I did not set any high expectations. I told myself that as long as I can run sub-5 hr without hitting the wall, then I should be happy and satisfied with my achievement as I had a disastrous outing in the Singapore Marathon 2005 (refer to the report in December 2005). I applied some deep heat rub on my legs before the starting.
First 5 km
Everything was fine. Ran at a very relaxed mood with love music from MP3 player. Timing 27 min +. Started drinking my plum powder drink before the 5 km mark. Body condition was fine. The mucus flowing from my nose making me a little discomfort when running.
10 km mark
Everything was fine. Ran at a very relaxed mood and consistent pace with love music from MP3 player. Timing 27 min +. Drank some plum powder drink before the 10 km mark. Body condition was fine. The mucus flowing from my nose making me a little discomfort when running. Before the 10 km mark, saw Tey and Phyllis overtaking me and I just ignored them and stayed focused. Time split was 57 min 8 sec (chip time). Slight improvement of 3 minutes as compared to last year’s KLIM 2005 i.e. 59 min 30 sec.
15 km mark
My running pace became too relaxed and I was still addicted and enjoyed with the songs from the MP3 player to the extent of shaking my head up and down and singing while running. Body condition was fine. The mucus flowing from my nose making me a little discomfort when running. Drank some plum powder drink before the 15 km mark. My timing split was 1 hr 31 min+.
20 km mark
Body condition was still fine. The mucus flowing from my nose making me a little discomfort when running. My running pace was still very relaxed. Drank some plum powder drink before the 20 km mark. I consumed my first Powergel at this point. My split time was 2 hr 6 min+.
21 km mark
Still running at a very relaxed pace. My timing split (chip time) was 2 hr 13 min 24 sec. As compared to KLIM 2005, i.e. 2 hr 22 min 7 sec (chip time), this indicated some improvement of approximately 8 min+.
25 km mark
Still running at a very relaxed pace. The route was the same as last year. One of the routes was turning into Jalan Sultan Ismail. I saw Menara Boustead. This is the building where my office is. I missed office and I have not been to the office for more than a month. This motivated me to go faster. Before the 25 km mark, I saw Chong Wah and Chui Miew passing through me. I still continued running at a relaxed pace. I drank some plum powder drink before the 25 km mark. When I reached the 25 km mark, my timing split was 2 hr 40 min+.
30 km mark
My running pace was still relaxed. Somewhere at Jalan Raja Laut, I was running behind Chui Miew and I saw her heading towards the public toilet. I continued running and when I reached Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, I saw Uncle Hooi overtaking me. I still continued running at a relaxed pace and later Ching Tai overtook me. Later, Chui Miew overtook me. After the 28 km mark, I had finished my plum powder drink I still had 5 small packets of plum powder to be used after 30 km mark. Somewhere before the 30 km mark, I saw Mr. A. P. Tan, a Pacesetters member who ran the MR25 Ultra Marathon (clocking 10.5 hours by covering 73.5 km) on 25 December 2005 with me stretching his legs. I was told that Mr. A. P. Tan had hit the wall. After saying some words of encouragement to him, I continued the run. At the 30 km mark, I met up with Chui Miew again. I mixed the small plum powder packet with the water provided at the drink station. At that time, my timing was 3 hr 17 min 48 sec (chip time). I had improved on my timing split by approximately 22 minutes as compared with last year’s timing of 3 hr 39 min 4 sec (chip time).
35 km mark
After the 30 km mark, I decided to increase my running pace at a faster pace. I consumed the Powergel given by the sponsor at this point. I managed to catch up with Uncle Hooi as I was running behind him. At this point, I saw many runners had slow down or hit the wall. At the 32 km mark near Pekeliling flats, I saw Kelvin Ng (PM2) stretching. I was told that he had a cramp on his legs. I consumed my second small plum powder packet by mixing it with plain water. The sun was getting hotter at this point of time. After the 32 km mark, I saw CM (PM17) having cramp on his legs. After saying some words of encouragement, I continued the run. At this point, I was still following Uncle Hooi closely. I was overtaking many runners that had hit the wall. At the 34 km mark water station, I consumed my third small plum powder packets by mixing it with plain water. After the water station, I bumped into Chong Wah who had overtaken me earlier. I said some words of encouragement to him and continued with my normal to fast running pace. The route to the 35 km mark was downhill i.e. running downhill along the Mahameru Highway. At this point, I overtook quite a number of runners who had slow down. I was really enjoying the run downhill at a fast and relaxed pace and I was still running behind Uncle Hooi closely. When I reached the 35 km mark, my timing split was 3 hr 52 min+.
40 km mark
My running pace was still fine and so far I did not experience any cramp at all on my legs. I took my forth small plum powder packet by mixing with plain water at the 36 km mark water station. After the water station, the running route was downhill along Jalan Duta. I increased my running pace faster and I managed to overtake Uncle Hooi at this point of time as I had been using him as my pacer since the 30 km mark. After running for 4 hours, I had run approximately 37.5 km (I could not measure the distance exactly). After the turning point at the Indian High Commission, I saw Chong Wah running on the opposite direction. I showed him some sign of encouragement and continued the run. Later at the 38 km mark water station, I saw Chui Miew running on the opposite direction. I showed her some sign of encouragement and continued the run at a faster pace. At the 40 km mark water station, I consumed my last small packet plum powder. My timing split was 4 hr 28 min+.
Finishing
As the finishing was getting nearer, I decided to “press the turbo button” i.e. to increase my running pace to 6 minutes per km as I have been running at an average pace of approximately 6.5 minutes. When I reached the 41 km mark, my timing split was 4 hr 34 min+. At this point of time, I knew that I could create a new personal record. This motivated me to run faster. Unfortunately, with less than 700 metres to go, I felt some pain on my right calf of my leg. I had hit the wall at this point of time. I had to slow down my running pace. Otherwise I would invite more problems to my legs and perhaps I could not finish the race. Due to slow running pace towards the finishing, I saw Uncle Hooi and some runners overtaking me. With less than 150 metres to go, I saw Uncle Hooi and some runners who had overtaken me crossing the finishing line. I decided to sprint towards the finishing line although my right calf was still in pain. Finally, I completed the marathon in 4 hr 40 min 7 sec (gun time) and 4 hr 39 min 58 sec in 164th position for A category and 389th position for overall (A to C) category for a new personal record. At the finishing line, I right calf muscle was still in pain but the pain lasted for a minute as I managed to cool down myself.
Note: Despite Uncle Hooi’s age of 69, he could still maintain this kind of consistent pacing throughout the race. I note that many runners including myself did not have consistency in maintaining the pace. Many runners would have hit the wall after 30 km mark. Although it is not appropriate to compare myself with Uncle Hooi, we should salute him for maintaining this kind of consistent pacing and performance throughout the race (i.e. thumbs up to Uncle Hooi).
