PENANG BRIDGE INTERNATIONAL MARATHON 2006 DETAILED REPORT

This is my sixth full marathon. The race started at time 0400 in front of Sek. Keb. Sg. Gelugor. Started with a slow and relaxed pace. Later increasing my running pace. The weather was fine and cooling. Passed by the 5 km mark and 10 km mark in 28 min+ and 1 hr+. Noticed that my timing split had dropped from 57 min+ in KLIM to 1 hr. Just tried to continue running at my usual pace. The weather condition at the bridge was quite cooling and windy. When running towards Butterworth, I was running against the wind direction. I was surprised with this kind of weather condition.

Ran passed the 15 km mark in 1 hr 33 min+. Tried to increase my pace but I found it quite difficult to do so. The wind was blowing against the direction I was running. My split time for 20 km mark was 2 hr 6 min+. I was feeling fine and my target of achieving a sub- 5 hr timing was still within my reach. At 22.5 km mark, my timing split was 2 hr 25 min+. I stopped for 10 minutes to fix my MP 3 player (ran out of battery). After that, I ran at a faster pace to catch up with the lost time. My timing split for 25 km was 2 hr 52 min+. I knew that in order to do a sub-5 hr timing, I had to maintain the consistent current pace. The route after 25 km mark was running on the Bayan Lepas highway. The stretch was quite long. I was asking myself when I will reach the 30 km mark. By 30 km mark, my timing split was 3 hr 29 min+. It was 12 min off my KLIM 2006 timing split of 3 hr 12 min+. It was quite normal as I had earlier on lost 10 minutes due to stopping at the water station. When almost approaching 32.5 km mark, the runners were required to make a u-turn. After 32.5 km mark, the weather was getting hotter and hotter. My body was sweating profusely. Whenever I reach any water station (with or without sponging), I just splash the water on my head as I could not bear with the hot sun in Penang. This was even hotter than in KL.

After running 4 hr 3 min+, I had covered 35 km. Still have 7.195 km mare to go. My sub-5hr target seemed to be possible. I just tried to increase my pace. Before 37.5 km mark, my feet started to feel very sore and tired. This slowed down my pace. When reached 37.5 km mark, my timing split was 4 hr 24 min+. After this point, my right leg began to experience some pain (i.e. sign of cramp) on my calf muscle. The weather was getting hotter and hotter from the blazing sun of Penang. My body system could not adapt to this kind of weather. I was sweating like hell. I had less than 5 km to go. I had to reduce my pace i.e. to jog slowly to prevent cramp. I kept on asking where is USM. The distance seemed to be quite long in my mind. The remaining distance was quite torturing for me due to my body condition and the hot weather. When reaching 40 km mark, my timing split was 4 hr 46 min+. Later the runners had made a u-turn after the 40 km mark. After 40 km mark, my pace was quite slow. With only 1 more km to go, there was quite a number of walkers (must be those running the half marathon) coming back. As usual, I would run as fast as I could to the finishing line. This time I decided not to torture my self as there it was useless to do so since the sub-5 hr timing had almost elapsed. Just decided to jog at a slower pace back to prevent my legs from getting cramp.

When almost reaching the finishing line, I just sprinted to the finishing line. I managed to finish it in 5 hr 2 min 25.52 sec. After reaching the finishing line and collecting my finisher medal, I could feel the effect of dehydration on my body. I was yelling for the water as I walk around the field. I managed to find the refreshment tent on the opposite site of the finishing line. I just grabbed an isotonic drink after giving away the coupon. After drinking the isotonic drink I just lied down in the tent on the carton boxes as the effect of dehydration was terrible. I had to lie down for around 15 minutes and managed to chat with some runners.

After that my stomach was not feeling well. I had no mood to enjoy the food and drinks. After chatting with some runners, I decided to return to the rest house in USM as my stomach was not feeling well. When walking up the hill, I was feeling like wanted to faint but luckily there was a kind runner (half marathon) by the name of Baljit to accompany me until the turning road to the rest house as I was walking very slow.

Luckily the race started at 4 am. Othewise my suffering would even be worse. Quite a tough race as I had to fight with the hot weather condition i.e. the blazing sun of Penang. In KL, the sun was not that hot as compared to Penang. Overall, the race was organised in a moderate way. There was sufficient water and sponging stations for runner i.e. after 2.5 km after the 5 km mark. There was not any Powergel provided. Luckily I had two packets of Porwergel for consumption at 20 km mark and 30 km mark. The view on the Penang bridge was just magnificient and wonderful. I could witness the sunrise while running on the bridge. I love this kind of scenery and I shall return next year.