Since my
1st unsatisfied full marathon result in Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) 28-Jun-2009, I keep remind myself to overwrite this "dirty record" of mine as soon as possible. Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM) 22-Nov-2009 and Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) 6-Dec-2009 is my opportunity. But unfortunately, I am not well train enough to revenge for my full marathon record during the above two events.
There comes Putrajaya Night Marathon (PNM) 6-Feb-2010, 3 weeks right after New Balance Pacesetters 30km 17-Jan-2010 which is just nice for me to train up.
Thanks to
Kok Yik advice, I prepare my full marathon with at least done three 30km long slow distance (LSD).
1) Done outside my house. (18-Dec-2009)
2) Done at Bukit Aman - Sri Hartamas route. (10-Jan-2010)
3)
New Balance Pacesetters 30km race. (17-Jan-2010)
I feel like want to train one more 35km LSD, but I fail to do so due to some minor injury right after the 30km race.
30km is my longest distance to run non-stops. Previously I can only run 27km non-stops during SCKLM. I really no idea how many km I can run non-stops in the coming PNM.
Finally the big day arrives and I know I′m going to renew my record. I set two targets for myself:
1) To finish within 4 hours (sub 4).
2) To finish within 4 hours and 30 minutes (sub 430).
Of course I only take sub 4 target as a bonus. My main target will still focus on sub 430.
It is a night marathon, so I take as much rest as possible in the morning till afternoon to get myself fully prepare. Eat and drink carefully, go clear off all the big or small business, then depart to meet my colleagues and go Putrajaya.
We all Cari runners stand nearby to start together. 8pm, the race start.
I and Michael start by following Peter pace. But it only last for 2km. Then we meet Jessica, after follow her pace for 0.5km yet we decide to cross her. Here onward, we are counting on our own watch, we follow nobody. The whole 42km is full of signboard on every 1km, it make us easier to control our pace.
At the beginning, I′m actually following Michael pace. I keep on recalculate the pace on every 1km. We maintain 5:30pace most of the time. Actually I quite worry about this speed, I scare I will cramp later on. But I has no choice, I rather run with a partner than running alone, at least we can remind each other when either one of us is too slow or too fast. So, I just keep remind Michael to slow down when our pace is less than 5:30.
We are doing well until 21km in 1:57. I can feel that Michael speed had slow down. This is the first time I remind him to speed up. After a while, a girl cross us, I remember she is one of the top runners during New Balance Pacesetters 30km race, so I ask Michael to follow her together. Michael refuses and asks me try follow myself. I can see that Michael is tired. Maybe he has not enough rest this afternoon.
I start follow the girl at 26km. At 28km, I feel like my leg is going to cramp soon, so I try to eat energy bar which was sponsor by my colleague - Jafelyn. After eat half, my legs feel better right away. So I keep the others half for later use. At 30km, there is Power Gel provided. I use it as well. 31km in 3:02, judge by the time, sub 4 seems like possible. So, I decide to cross the girl and speed up.
31km onward, I run alone, I also take the remaining energy bar. I really have not much energy left to do any speeding, what I can do is just to open my legs wider to avoid my speed to be slow down too much. This is one of the training I had during interval run.
37km, 5km more to go, I′m so suffering. One thing lucky is that my legs didn′t cramp until here. Maybe is because I restore water on every single water station, drink as much waters as possible. But then, I fail to restore water on the second last water station. Many cups is empty, really no idea what the people there doing. The girl I follow just now also cross me here, seem like I speed up too early, now I had no energy to follow her anymore.
39km in 3:49. I′m having a 7:00pace at that time. 3km more to go mean I will finish in 4:10, sub 4 seems impossible. Due to my bad habit of giving up easily, again I choose the not so suffer way where I begin to walk after running non-stops for 39km.
42km in 4:19:41, I make it to sub 430 and successfully renew my full marathon record from 6:16:29 to 4:19:41, really happy for the achievement although is suffering.
Details timing:
5km - 0:27
10km - 0:55
15km - 1:23
20km - 1:52
25km - 2:20
30km - 2:49
35km - 3:21
39km - 3:49
42km - 4:20 (Last 3km walk)
