pj half marathon 10km

after way too much eating and way too little training in sabah, i didn't want to run this race. i could barely hold a 5 minute 30 second pace for a 10km when I did a 10km before my tmbt, i knew i was off form. plus, the race was merely a week after my tmbt 50km. i probably would not have recovered fully, possibly aching in muscles i never knew existed. and not to mention, i have an injury on my right leg which has been bugging me for 3 weeks. so, running this, was not an option. it was a categorical no. i offered my bib to sinyee to run. unfortunately she was not feeling well. so, as destiny probably had it, i ran the race.

sunday morning, i picked everyone up - coach, sinyee and limin. and i headed towards kelanajaya stadium. you know, when they said pj half marathon had a new route, i expected new route, not new starting location. driving there, we were met with complete silence. last year, the race start of pj half was in the kelanajaya stadium, so expecting the same start venue, i confidently drove there. but there were barely a few people (there were a few lost puppies like us, high five), there was no music, there was no start/finishing arch, there was no emcee, and there were no lights. we kinda figured something was off. so we turned to mister google, and sped off to the correct starting venue. it was 450am when we were still in kelanajaya stadium and flagoff for the 10km was at 530am. so yes, i sped off. the unlucky 21 km-ers flagoff was at 5, so they were definitely pretty damn late to the race start.

we parked. and my warmup was essentially running to the race start. i excuse me-d myself to the front of the starting point with barely a few minutes to spare. i saw khiiren at the start line and went over to him. i don't really know how to describe how i felt. i haven't done a speed race in over a month. my last one was on the 26th of july. so, for me, i kind of expected the worst in terms of performance.

for me, it was just to run at a comfortable pace and hopefully score a new pb. i saw many female runners zooming pass me, including a couple of kenyans but i decided that i should run my own race. in my mind, i was not on form. so in my mind, the race should not be against anyone else, but myself.

the good thing was that i was able to hold the pace i was going at and chase a couple of female runners on the leg. i surprised myself by catching up with 4 of the girls, placing 7th overall, with a new personal best. i was so happy at the finishing line. sinyee and limin were back from their walk, waiting for me at the finishing line flashing big smiles. coach as well. he thought i would be back at the 47th minute mark, so to see me come back almost 2 and a half minutes earlier, was surprising for him. he was mad proud. the joy of the race for me was not in placing, but getting a personal best. i accomplished what i went there to do.

prize giving took pretty long. so we went for breakfast whilst waiting. thanks for waiting with me guys. appreciate it much.

pj half marathon

arguably my worst run this year. 

flagoff was at 530am in kelanajaya stadium. i got there, ran on the track and stretched a little to warm up, then proceeded to the starting line. all geared up, we were told by the mc that unfortunately the water stations weren't ready yet. hence our start time need be delayed. everyone was a tad bit unhappy. some performers put up a flag show, to be boo-ed. personally i thought that was quite rude of the crowd. i mean, it is not the performers fault and to make them feel like their performance is unappreciated is uncalled for. 

flagoff was a good 30 minutes later. 

and my horrible running journey started. almost immediately, i could feel a stitch on my right side. it took me a good 7 minutes to reach the 1km mark. i gave up on trying to place. but i did not give up on finishing the race. i could see plenty of people passing me. it felt slightly demotivating for me. my stitch was so bad that at the 2km point, i had to stop and stretch a little. i pushed on but the pain did not alleviate. i was so glad i saw the water station at the 4km point. i took 2 shots of 100 plus, and went off running again. i could feel my right stitch starting to subside, but, now it hit me on the left side. 

it was not an easy run for me at all. basically in short, i had a stitch on the right side from flagoff till 4km, on the left side from 4km till 8km and both sides 8km onwards alll the way till the finishing line. imagine my frustration. 

well, we have good runs, we have bad runs, and im glad i endured the pain and pulled through. i however certainly hope that i won't have this painful experience in my coming runs. does anyone know any tricks when it comes to stitches? or any rituals to perform to avoid stitches? i would much welcome advice. 

yeahh bumped into alwyn there too. he was doing a 10km run. it is always good to see familiar faces at runs. 

often people like to focus on the negative side of things. but i want to highlight the positive things about this run. the traffic police did a terrific job. the volunteers certainly did their jobs well. at one particular station, they were even singing, to cheer the runners on. that spirit was great. the medic team was amah-zing. they would come up to me and ask if i were okay or whether i needed any help. very proactive and kudos to them. 

i managed a 2 hour time. well tough times like this, i'm glad i pulled through. here's to better runs. 

and not to forget the feast post-race =) did i mention this was after wantan noodles?