Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010 - Rain-soaked bridge run

It was not in the script, at least not in mine: a rain-soaked PBIM 2010.

This year, I opted to only to take part in the half marathon for PBIM 2010. When I was about to registered for PBIM earlier in the year, I asked my wife to join the half marathon. I said if she said ok, I will run in the half as well. She was not confident at first as she only ran once a week. But with some encouragement she finally agreed. That was the main reason I opted for half, as I felt it would be good to be in the same distance category with her, or perhaps I could run with her.

This year, the race routes for full and half marathon were the same as last year. My wife and I arrived at around 1:00am to get parking space and do warm-up. I took chance to snap some photos before the race and planned to snap more after the race. I managed to meet up with some friends like Wong Jin Ji, Choo Cheng Liang, Kwang Leng, Winnie Wong, and Cornelius. I was looking for other friends but couldn’t see them in the sea of runners.

The full marathon was flagged-off slightly ahead of schedule. I managed to snap a few starting photos for the full marathon. Then I quickly checked in my stuffs to the baggage area and warmed up together with my wife.

I had planned to run my race and then paced my wife later. Earlier, I had thought of running with her in her maiden half marathon. But after some consideration (by both of us), we felt it would be better for me to pace her later in the race rather the whole race.

The men half marathon started 15 minutes earlier than the women category. I started not too far from the front along with Kwang Leng. I took this chance to see if I could crack 1:45. My previous best was only 1:52. Kwang Leng had run more than 25 half marathons and had PB in the sub-1:45. I figured if I could follow him, I could stand a chance. But I couldn’t follow his initial pace (4.5 minutes/km), so I had to hope that I could pick up the pace later.

My split at the first turn at the bridge (9.4km marker) was around 48 minutes. About 10-15 minutes later, which was around 4:00am, the rain started and it got heavier soon after. It was difficult to run as the heavy rain drops just smacked in my face and eyes. The shoes also get wet and heavier and not forgetting the cold with strong winds blowing. I had to pit-stop for a while to turn off my MP3 and handphone, then, put them in the pocket of my fuel belt. I wasted some precious time there.

After I made the U-turn near E-Gate building, the rain seemed to be subsiding. I increased my pace back to 5 minutes/km. But it was too late, I knew I couldn’t beat the 1:45 barrier. Next target was improving my time if I could. Finally, I completed the race in 1:51:10, my personal best in an AIMS-certified half marathon race course.

I collected my medal and baggage quickly and saw Kwang Leng again. He did it in 1:47, a very good time actually considering the condition of the race. The rain became heavy again, and I was worried about my wife. So I quickly put down my stuffs in the car and removed my shoes. Then I walked toward the finish line and ran the course barefoot in reverse direction to look for my wife.

On my reverse run, I saw many half marathon runners were coming in. The running lane became crowded as some road lanes were blocked off. I saw some full marathoner friends like Ben Swee and Alam Shah running in the crowded lane, overtaking slower half marathoners.

I ran at a very slow pace for the fear of missed out my wife in the dark and crowded running lane. I finally saw my wife 3km from the finish line. I had brought her a new bottle of Gatorade as she doesn’t take any Powergel or any other energy/fuel gel.

I checked my time and realized that she could finish the race within 3 hours. I gave some encouragement and paced her all the way to finish line. In the end, she clocked 2:51 (official gun time) for her maiden half marathon. She had done really well. Her initially target was 3.5 hours as she feared her knees will give her problem. Luckily her knees did hold for most of the race.

Thanks to Chuah for this photo.

I saw that she was really exhausted and she could barely walk. She was also drenched and cold. I brought her towel to dry up and we rested for a few minutes. Then I decided to abandon my plan to snap more photos and sent her home.

I was very happy for my wife for completing her maiden half marathon. Perhaps, one day, she will join me for a full marathon.

Until next run, do take care and stay healthy. Not forgetting, do train harder and prepare yourself more if you want to suffer less or improve your time.

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010 - Commentary on the Full Marathon Course

Here is my commentary about the PBIM 2010 Full Marathon 42.195km route.

First, let's see the official route map from the organiser website below.

Click the image above for a larger image.

This route map is obviously not to scale and could be misleading to some extent. The route information given along with the route map above is as follows:

Queensbay - Seagate - Penang Bridge - PBSB Office - Jelutong Expressway - Macallum Street - Villa Emas - Queensbay Mall

A more representative route map is shown below. You may check out this link. The U-turn at PBSB office was not accurately charted in the link.

Click the image above for a larger image.

I ran this full marathon route last year. It was the run of my life. This year, I will skip the FM and will only run in the half marathon.

I will give more details on the FM route for those who is new to this route. This route is basically the same as the 2009 FM route. The start/finish line is at Queensbay Mall. It is easier to break this route into 3 sectors, and analyse them accordingly.

Sector 1 (Queensbay Mall to Seagate then to start of Penang Bridge) (Start to ~9.5km)

From Queensbay Mall, the runners will run straight to a round-about and take the first turn to the left (9 o'clock direction). Runners will then turn left to Bayan Lepas Highway (away from the Bridge). There is a U-turn near Seagate at around 3.5km. After this U-turn (the first timing mat was placed here during the PBIM2009), runners will be heading to the Bridge via the Bayan Lepas Highway. When you are at the beginning of the Bridge, you are now at approximately 9.5km mark. This section of the course is flat and runners can take it easy and refrain from running too fast.

Sector 2 (start of Penang Bridge at Penang Island heading towards mainland, U-turn at PBSB office and back to Penang) (From ~9.5km to ~26km)

This is relatively straight forward section of the course. The bridge is flat except for the middle section. The climb start at around 12km mark until the approximately 13km mark. Then the bridge ramp down to around 14km mark. The run to the mainland is until the PBSB office when there is small gate open on the right for the runners to cut through to a U-turn beneath the bridge. When the runners come up on the other side of the bridge heading towards the island, this is approximately 18.5km mark. There will be a timing mat here.

Just before the 21km halfway mark on the bridge, FM runners will now see the half-marathoners taking their U-turn on the bridge. The route will get slightly crowded and you may find yourself weaving through the HM runners. Then you climb the middle section of the bridge and you will find yourself back to the island.

Runners should be at their marathon goal pace already at this section but be careful not to overdo it. Reserve some strength for the final sector.

Sector 3 (Penang Bridge to Lebuh Macallum then to Queensbay Mall) (~26km to Finish)

This is where the FM race really begins.

This sector is the toughest, both physically and mentally for the FM runners. After the bridge, the runners will turn right, away from Queensbay Mall, on to the Jelutong Highway. The U-turn is at Lebuh Macallum, some 6.5km away. A lot of the FM runners suffered last year during this section because of a few factors. Among them, no km markers to show the distance, three flyovers (effectively 6 in totals because of the return trip) to tackle, crowded running route near the ~37.5km mark with HM and 10km runners depending on your pace.

Heading to Lebuh Macallum you will see HM turning point at around e-Gate building. FM runners, please don't turn here. You will not run a full course by taking an early U-turn.

Last year, the U-turn at Lebuh Macallum was marked with 35km marker. This was wrong, as I later found out. The official timing split indicated later was 32km, on the finisher certificate. However, I believe this point should be in between 32km and 33km, probably much closer to 33km mark.

The run back from the U-turn to Queensbay Mall will be a test of the heart. You will likely to be tired at this stage. There will be no pretty cheerleaders cheering for you at that time. And you need to tackle the gradient of the flyovers again. Not too steep if you ask me, but any climb at that point of time (& distance) will be very demanding both on the body and mind.

My advice for the runners in this sector is to stay strong and focused. You will reach the left turn near Villa Emas before Eastin Hotel, then take the round-about at the end of the road and head towards the finish line. You will then cross that finish line with you head up, arms up, and a lot satisfaction for conquering this full marathon course.

See you at the finish line!