PJ Half Marathon (Oct 30, 2011) - a tough race indeed !!

PJ Half-Marathon... This must be one of the toughest race I hv ever run.. I have not been feeling well during the Deepavali Melaka home trip, and to top it off, I had a 'great' time enjoying the ikan bakar, nasi lemak, satay goreng etc at Umbai ! and I have been feverish during the trip up to KL. I decided to run since I am already at KL and also I have been short of training the last 1 week+ due to the incessant evening rain. So I popped 2 panadol and there I went !

The parking @ Stadium Petaling Jaya (used to be called Stadium Kelana Jaya) was easy and there were many policemen and volunteers helping out. The race started at 6.30am but by 7am, the sun is already up.. The race is along the highway side roads, more like motorcycle paths.. The first couple of km was OK except that at times, you need to run in between runners as at certain stretch, it's only 2.5 person's width !

The first 5km was OK and i did that in 5:12 pace.. in between 5-10km, there were some ascending run along the highway and I was keeping to the 5:39 split. trouble started when I was at 12/13th km when my knee problem started (the usual suspect - runners knee / patella pain). The pain was bearable and I continue running though I had to make a few stops/walks in between. However, once I made the U-turn at Subang Skypark, the pain became unbearable. I could not even walk properly ! So in between 14th-18thkm, I literally walked and limped. Even when I tried to do a slow jog, the excrutiating pain came right back.

Well, the direct sunlight and the exceptionally hot morning did not help. Imagine you have to walk and limped all the way along highway back to finishing point while facing the sunlight ! I nearly gave up at the point and wait for an ambulance to pick me back. But I guess I am made of better quality and decided to hold on. At the last 1.5km, I decided to jog slightly to the finishing line. The last 400-500km was really refreshing. As we close into the stadium, there are people who came and cheer us and the entrance into the stadium was very carnival-like with many photographers shooting the runners.

After some ice-pack at the medical tent, I was up and away. All in all, 20.76km, so not exactly 21.1km.. Took me 2:13:31, not exactly a respectable time but to think that I limped and walked for 4-5km, it is a consoldation that I still get my medal as the top 200 finisher in Men's Veteran category ! I finished #175 out of the field of 337 runners in Men's Veteran.

I must say while the route was not exactly great but it was a pretty much flat route and the drinks/sponging were well spreaded out every 4km. Pretty well organized event. Thumbs up to the organizers !

Pace:
1st 5km split - 5:12 mins/km
2nd 5km split - 5:39 mins/km
3rd 5km split - 6:25 mins/km
4th 5km split - 8:20 mins/km
5th split - 7:07 mins.km
Average pace : 6:26 min/km

So, that was my 7th Half-Marathon since Nov 2009 and my 9th 21k+ road race since Nov 2009