4# The KL Marathon & Moving Forward

I arrived from Labuan at the LCCT airport alone and took a bus ride to KL Central to participate in my fourth marathon in my lifetime, I failed to break my previous personal best time which was 3 hours 59 minutes, and instead finish on 4 hours 21 minutes, 3 minutes behind my first marathon finish time in Putra Jaya.

I was not in my prime condition to run, because I was tired when I have arrived and can't find any adequate time and place to rest. Most of the hotels are fully book, I run up and down the city to find a place to stay and finally managed to check-in at a budget hotel, that was not so pleasant because of the cigarette smell in the room. I can hardly sleep on the hotel and I wish I had just sleep at Dataran Merdeka instead. I didn't have enough rest that night before the race. I was clearly tired.

The race started at 3am. I can see several Kenyans on the front of starting line they were sweating and that indicates they have a good warm up session before the race and I have not. The race took off and I quickly saw the Kenyans and most of the elite runners fade into the distance. I also started too fast for the run, I followed a 3:30 pacer, a huge leap for a 4 hour finisher. I only managed to follow Cap' Rozmi for 10km, and quickly fall behind due to fatigue and early speed on the run. I drank too much water during the race, I was drinking water for almost every 3km during the marathon and it makes me heavier than usual compared to my previous marathon in Borneo International Marathon 2012, I only stop 3 times at the water stations for a drink. It was night time and the temperature suppose to be cool enough to cool our body heat and keep drinking water to a minimum. Maybe the taste of 100 plus is so addictive.

When things started to slow down, problems arises, my left quadruples started to cramp after 20km on the road. Sometime along the run, I lost my will to run, and I started walking a lot after the second half of the run. However meeting with a fellow runner from UPNM managed to lift my spirits up as we managed to chat up a little bit and encourage each other to finish the run, we are just mere mortals after all. After 30km into the run, my calves started to cramp after going through the hills of the last 10km of the marathon. At that moment, I knew exactly why most of the runners afraid of the final hills in the KL Marathon.

Finally reaching the heart of the KL, I started to see thousands of runners mostly 10k fun run participants and most of them were walking. That moment, when I reach the final 2km of the run, I ignore the pain and start running at a faster pace to reach the finish. I saw the clock on the finish line, I was relieved that I still managed to finish early than my Penang Bridge Marathon time which was 4hours 40 plus minutes.

Maybe I am going to take a break from running for a while and enjoy other parts of life first. As I was rushing to bathe and checking out of the hotel and find my way to the nearest train station and queuing up I collapse in the middle of the crowd of runners who are also trying to get a train ride out of Masjid Jamek and at that moment, I was in a deep trouble, no friends, no support, just me alone unconscious. I taught I was going to die. I was lucky to be able to write this blog today. Maybe I should not be a forever alone type of guy especially when I was not "prepared". At least I got the experience of fainting for the first time. And I finally able to write this blog after 2 months. I was lazy, and I am not sorry.

At the moment I am having a really fun time riding fixed gear bicycle. I use it to commute to my workplace which was 8km away from my home. Maybe I will write a blog about my "fixie". Still moving forward with life and anticipating my next Marathon which will be held on the iconic Penang Bridge this November.

Untill then, Happy Running.

3# Borneo International Marathon

Borneo International Marathon which was held in Kota Kinabalu (KK) was a story dated a few months ago. It was really ancient story when I am looking at it right now, actually I was in KK yesterday watching movies, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider Man.

Well, this particular marathon was the fastest marathon that I have ever run. Mostly because it was my third marathon, where I have some experience on the runs in addition I knew the road well as I usually took bus rides back and forth along the road during my stay in KK for my diploma studies back in the year 2007. I knew how long the road was, I anticipated the landmarks and paced myself accordingly, and I managed to to have enough energy left to sprint on the finishing line on the track of Likas Stadium.

The marathon started and ended in Likas Stadium. I stayed at my grandmother's house and managed to have a good rest before the run and my aunt took me in her car and drove there at 2am. Arriving at 2.30am is considered early because there were so few runners compared to most marathons races that I have entered before. This particular marathon was sponsored by my aunt's husband, maybe he saw my passion in running and started to cash in on it. I have never thanked him properly for it.

I managed to get some brief warm up and stretches. However there are others with a much more thoroughly done stretches for the run, and they are sweating all over their body. I never been good with warming up before the races, I even don't do warm-ups for my "training" (which are actually some jogging runs on roads everyday), my "cooling down" is my shower; water cools down the muscles and that is what I believe. I like keep things simple, making it as a relaxing past time instead of hard work.

I saw a paralympic athlete on a specialized wheelchair (he is faster than me, and managed to pass me after the 5km into the run). I also meet the fastest man in Sabah (at that moment) Fabian Osmon Daimon, he finishes first on the race with a time of 2:48 hours if I'm not mistaken.

I have seen elite runners in action and the way they run is like the speed of a bicycle. I only managed to snag a humble 4 hours time for the race. I wish someday I will be able to break the 4 hour mark, and maybe get a sub 3:30hours finish.

PS: I should have write this post sooner, I will check this post again for any grammatical errors tomorrow. Next post will be my fourth marathon run, the Standard Chattered KL Marathon 2012.

2# More Introductions!

I am a runner in the Federal Territory Island of Labuan. The place where it once was part of Sabah, The North of Borneo Island. This is also the place where business and pleasure meet. Well enough about Labuan. Lets focus on the second entry of my blog.

So far, it has not been what I had expected, where I failed to commit on posting on this blog on daily or weekly basis. However I will keep posting blog entries as much as I can and make sure this blog does not die. I might also add some pictures like I use to do in my previous blogs.

I am looking forward to watch the Amazing Spider Man and The Dark Knight Rises movie this month. I might skip my "Long Run" training in the process if I choose to watch those film next week.

So far I have done 4 Marathons, all done locally and none of them below 2:15 time. My personal best was in my third marathon which was 4 hours. Which I think is slow despite there are runners that finish their runs in 5 or 6 hours. 

The problem that inhibits me from running fast is the lack of dedication (on their diet) and training, so far, I have never done any real speed training let alone tempo runs, (running fast at threshold pace over a specified distance, usually well beyond 8km to 21km). I also don't wear a wrist watch let alone a Garmin Heart Monitor (pacer). 

My diet is based on home cooked meals, where I just eat whatever that is prepared on the table. Its a luxury actually, where all you have to do is eat and you don't have to spend anything for it. Its free!

I try to run everyday in a week and I also take some days off for my legs to recover, as my legs usually took a lot of beating from running on tarmac. I will post my stories of my 2 recent marathons on this blog, the Borneo International Marathon, and Standard Chartered KL Marathon.

Happy Running.

1# An Introduction...

I am trying to write blogs again as a runner, in fact this is my third blog. The other two blogs I have deleted because I found it was difficult to focus and maintaining my blogs because I was studying and facing my final exams in addition to bad internet connection. 

However, I have graduated and have a decent income to have a good internet service, I will make a third attempt to write blog about running. BTW, I don't want to waste my "fast" internet connection on aimlessly surfing the internet all night.

This blog will be all about long distance running, how much running I have made, and races that I have entered. I may also include tit bits that I found interesting in my not so interesting life. 

I love running, but I am not the fastest runner out there, I have been passed by a "veteran runner" and even a woman in a marathon run, there is nothing special about me, I am just like anyone else that can get hurt when run too much.

Maybe I will post it on a daily or weekly basis. I will keep running and see how far I can go.