I was determined to make my first trip to KK and my first visit to East Malaysia to run this Borneo International Marathon 2010. Initially I registered for Sundown Marathon scheduled on the 29 May, but I cannot make it due to a wedding event that same weekend. So BIM was kind of a replacement for that. Also for me to train myself to be race-fit for full marathon at least twice a year. Sabah seemed to be a good destination too. And I always thought I would come to KK to climb Mount Kinabalu. But not this time.
I arrived in KK one day before, in fact less than 18 hours from start time of the race. It was very very hot when I arrived. The sky was so blue and without a trace of cloud. I was beginning to worry. Before I registered for the race, I asked my friend Cornelius about the weather and the sunrise time in KK. He said sun rises before 6am. By 6am, it will be quite bright. If the race starts at 4:00am, it would mean that I would need to run for about 2 hours under the morning sun for a 4-hour finishing time. Probably still ok to enrol and experience the race, I thought.
So here I was. I came by myself with no known kaki to join me from KL in this race.
At the starting line, I met Cornelius, his wife and friends. All came here for a purpose. Some for running the full for the first time, some for better personal timing and some looking for a lobster meal. Other runners that I could recognise was Alam Shah and Michele Tan Bee Kiang. Oh... the Marathon Maniac, Mohan was there as well.
The total number of participants for the full marathon I think was around 200 people.
I started my race quite cautiously. I quickly found myself running along side Michelle Tan. She is an elite lady runner, consistently on the podium position in local run events. I don't know her personally but I recognised her. We paced together for about 6km when I ran slightly faster (or did she actually slowed down her pace then?) and moved ahead of her. My split time at 10km was 51:32. I was doing quite well then.
I made the U-turn at around 12.5km mark with the split time around 1 hrs 4 minutes. At the turn, Kevin (introduced earlier to me by Cornelius) came up along side me. After pacing with him for about 3km, I decided to let him go. He was going strong and I planned to conserve my energy for the second half of the race.
By around 18km, it was already breaking dawn. I reached the 21km marker with a split time of 1:50:17 (faster than my half-marathon PB). From here, I thought that as long as I could complete the rest of the race in 2 hours, I would achieve my target.
Little did I knew that the sun was getting hotter when I was approaching the waterfront in the city. In the city, the shadow from the buildings provided the much needed shade for the runners. When I headed towards Sutera Harbour, the sun was already so hot and I could see some half-marathoners who were running back from the Tanjung Aru turn were already suffering. At this point, there was still 15km remaining for me.
Passing Harbour City shops that provided temporary shade from the sun.Photo courtesy of Cornelius and his friends, Buddy and Sophia.
From here on, I started to look for water sponge at the sponge/water stations. I made mistake of sponging too much onto my body and legs. This caused excess water to go into my shoes and feet. After a few more kilometres, I could feel that my feet were getting wet and a bit uncomfortable. Also I accidentally kicked into two bumps on the road (forgot where exactly). From 28 km onwards, the whole complexion of my race changed. I was not running comfortably as I was in the first part of the race.
Nevertheless, I reached the Tanjung Aru U-turn (~32.4km mark) with a split time of 2:51:15. I felt the exhaustion and the heat was eating into me. I drank 2-3 cups of water at all the water stations thereafter. I also almost finished my sport drink I carried along on my fuel belt by 35km. At this moment, Michelle passed me. I didn't feel I have enough in me to follow her pace. I was just hanging on to about 6 minutes per km pace.
At this time, I just kept running with my heart and maintained that pace and hoped that I could hit my target. But as I was running with the sun in my face for more than one hour, that thought slowly faded and I could still accept any improvement on my PB.
The last few kilometres were really a torture. The distance marker seemed so far apart. I lost focus a few times and I thought about why I was here, what was happening back home, work etc.
Entering Likas Stadium with the sun in my face for the last 200m.Photo courtesy of Cornelius and his friends, Buddy and Sophia.
Entering Likas Stadium, I was just glad to see the finishing gate without too much thought about my target and PB. Still, I managed to cross the line with about one minute improvement from my previous PB. Unofficial time was 3:56:15. A volunteer immediately put the finisher medal around my neck.
Then, I felt like fainting. But I just kept walking until I found the water station. I took in a lot of water. My arms were a little numb as well. I did some stretching and found a seat besides the track at the stadium to recover. Elaine (who also came from KL with her friends to run in the half) was kind enough to pass me a tube of muscle rub. I met Alam Shah too. He finished second in the Men Veteran category. Congrats!
I also took off my shoes to find out that I had a few blisters on my toes. Also one toenail was broken with blood under the skin. Argh....
When I was good enough to walk, I collected my bag and changed to dry clothing. Initially I planned to shoot photos immediate after my run. But I was just too exhausted to do that.
Then I met Cornelius and took photo with him before I boarded a van back to the hotel.
There is much more to tell, but this post is getting long. So I may post more about the run later.
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