Penang Bridge International Marathon(PBIM) has been on one of the top list for some runner due to the uniqueness of the route, where you’ll be running on the Penang Bridge and also the post race food hunt. I was aiming to improve my achievement in here as I did in PBIM 2012 edition.
We reached Penang around 3am Saturday after departing from KL around 11pm. I woke up and did a slow jog Fahmi with half eyes open around 7am and get ready to sight seeing with the crew. We went to Armenian Street, watched live band show at ChinaHouse.
After the sight seeing, we got back to hotel around 6pm for briefing, led by Jubaque. Our friends from #RunMdn also joined along during the briefing, and everyone was pumped up for tomorrow. That night I didn’t have my dinner like usual, I only had a a piece of roti nan and few slice of gardenia bread after few hour. After applying #RockTape on my shin and hamstring, I slept around 11pm. I woke at 4am to get ready to the race venue. Bumped into few other 10km runners in the lift and they offered me to go along with them, which saved my up my time & money from taking cab.
I reached the race venue and warmed up with Haziq around 15mins and get to the starting line along with Soh Wai Ching(SWC) and Jeya Kumar(JK), there was few Kenyans. The race flagged off and as usual the Kenyans goes in front and made a pack, I stick with JK, SWC and few other runners. The 1st few KMs wasn’t felt good but I ignore it thinking its just my feeling. Soon, our pack become smaller consist of 4. When we entered the bridge, I can feel the headwind but its still manageable. At the U-turn, I can feel I’m losing my grip but I was still following the pack, SWC took the lead and the pack got faster and faster. After the 8km mark, I lost it. I couldnt keep up with the pack, and I tried to push but my legs feel heavy, my heart was pumping rapidly and I was gasping for air.
I managed to finish the race and got 7th place, 1st-4th was Kenyan, 5th was SWC, 6th was JK. My timing wasn’t that good, clocked 38:11 and the distance was 10.3km.
I’m not sure what really happened, but it seems like the rest & nutrition factor can be a reason why my body didn’t sustain till the end or, it could be because I’m not really capable (slow) to keep with them. Whatever it is, I have to analyze my performancr and correct the mistake and see focus on next event. It’s normal for us to ignore small but vital factor like sleep and nutrition but has abig impact on race day. It’s a good lesson for me and to maintain up to 8km with these good runners is something good for me. I hope I can come back next year and clock a decent timing.
Anyway, I enjoy my runcation my crew to PBIM. I hope we can stay longer next year and have more Nasi Kandar! Thank to Coach Din and Lau for the guidance, KyserunKrew and friends for the support. See you at #SCMS2015 !
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