SP Half Marathon - a sub-2 hours but not a smooth race

Sungai Petani Half-Marathon. This is the 2^nd 21km that came 6 days right after my Larian Hijau 21km last Sunday. I have never run such long distance so close to one another, coupled with the 8km Eco Run in between.. That makes it 3 runs within 6 days.. SP HM is the inaugural event, organized by a national runner, Ganesan, as stated. It’s also the first time SP has a race of that nature, I was told. The starting point was Dataran Zero (Ground Zero), Jam Besar SP. I am not familiar at all with SP and it did not help when multiple request to the SP Half-Marathon facebook page did not yield any result. Many were asking about the nearby landmarks, and no response too. And seriously, that is bordering on being rude (issue #1).

I car-pooled with WeeLeong and KeeMeng to SP on Saturday morning. The original start-time for the HM was 6am, then changed to 6.45am a few days before the race, announced via facebook. I know this did not go down well with many runners who are not willing to run at such late in the morning and running in the morning sun. This is the first time I have seen the starting time changed so late into the game and not officially announced (issue #2).  Met many running friends in SP.. besides the usual suspects of i-Run and Forward group, I met fellow colleague JinXiang, Gus Ghani who’s in his 2^nd leg of race up north, Uncle Alex (the well-known volunteer photographer), Sean Wong, Kelvin, Rahim, Ramlan and many more.. Ah, yes, also the KL gang of Yim, Julie Wong, Max etc. Not forgetting Fadil and wife.. Saw them  when I was running back.

At 6.15am, we were told no need to lapor diri (though the small slip said need to “melapor diri” at 6.15am, and we were told to do so in facebook as well !). There were no mobile toilets, so the KFC toilet came in handy for peeing.. But pity the ladies/girls.. So long queue. And the single toilet for men’s ‘big business’ didn’t help either (issue #3).

Approaching 6.30am, we were then asked to get our wrist band, which turned out to be a ribbon (can be hung around the neck but I made into wrist band). Pity the poor lady who was swarmed with runners all eager to get hold of the ribbon. Very chaotic. Approaching 6.45am, it was apparent that the crowd (whether it’2 21km, 10km or others) were crowding at the starting point, and the speaker is so far away that’s it was only blaring towards the stage/VIP stand. I think the VIPs were late, and it turned out right as at about 6.50am, a group of so-called VIPs slowly walked towards the front of crowd and started taking photos. Duh !  The runners were already impatient with the delayed start and they had the cheek to be late and take photos some-more. All politicians are the same, no matter which divide they come from ! and without any warning, or even count-down, the gun went-off. Very chaotic indeed (issue #4) but what the heck. Start running !

This also marks the 3^rd time I run without my GPS watch and in that messy start-up, I forgot to switch on my Runkeeper in my iPhone. So I decided to do what I have done when I started running – enjoy run and not worried about pacing, run blind ! The route took us through the town and into the country side, going through the paddy field and vegetable farm, then into some of the housing areas. One thing I must commend is the route is really well-chosen, and the traffic control/management were handled very well by the police and staff. Alas, the main thing of a long-distance run, eg 21km, is the water station. That is one of the most important area, if not THE most important. We only have 3 water stations, at 7^th km, 12^th km and then 20^th km. Isn’t that crazy !? So, the main grudges did not stop here.. 1) Some were told that there will be 4 water stations when asked on Friday during bib collection. So what went wrong ?, 2) 2^nd station ran out of water, and for late comers, they were out of water from 7^th km to 20^th km !! This is insane and irresponsible of runner’s safety (issue #5)!  In this aspect, Larian Hijau was well planned out, with 4 stations placed at 5^th km, 10^th km, 14^th and 18^th km. Good thing I ran with my Gatorade (as I always train with it too), and by the time I hit the first station, I hv taken half of my Gatorade. Thank God !  As we turned into the paddy field area, we converged with the 3km and 5km runners, well.. they were all walking leisurely instead of running ! apa lah.. I actually encouraged them to run but they chose to walk slowly, some even playing smartphone as they walked along. Sigh..

This was not an enjoyable run for me, mainly because of:

1)      I was not well prepared.. Coming off the flu, I have zero training the last 1+ week. And doing 2 halves in a week is a first for me..

2)      Running in the morning is not my cup of tea. I always feel I wilted away when the sun comes out.. LOL ! I just cannot stand the heat and sunlight.. Period..

3)      I hit the wall early.. Hit the wall ! One must wonder.. It refers to mostly marathons. I had to stop at 5^th km to catch my breath. And throughout the run, I had to deploy the brisk walk-run fast strategy to keep me going. Obviously, it’s another mind over body challenge.

Overall, I am happy with the time but not the performance.. Not exactly a PB but doing a sub-2 in 2 both races within a week, I would not trade anything for that !

Distance : 20.8km

Time : 1:53:20

Pace : 5:26min/km

Placing : #21 in Men’s 40-49 category

Next race : Larian Merdeka on 9/9 @ Esplanade, and then Starwalk on 9/17..

Photo courtesy of Sean Wong

Near finishing line

Finishing Line, photo courtesy of Uncle Alex

With Choo Cheng Liang & Sam Khong

Starting Point @ Jam Besar Dataran Zero, Sungai Petani

With Kee Meng and Wee Leong