PJ Half report

If I had to make a comparison between last week's Putrajaya Half and yesterday's PJ Half, the former would win hands down in terms of organisation, route, aesthetics, and just the general overall enjoyment value of the event.

Other than my plan of running 21km in what would be regarded for me as a tempo pace, (i.e under 5:00 per km pace) I had no specific goal. I had run rather leisurely in Putrajaya at a pace above 5:00 per km pace, and so I thought Ii should run a little faster, though not to the point of exhaustion.

I arrived at Kelana Jaya around 6:00 am and after giving my reporting card to the officials, I headed to the starting line and began my stretches and warm-ups. Up to that point I didn't see anyone I recognised, until I saw Li Sar running by, and in quick sucession, Yong, Rohaizad and Sim. I chatted with Sim briefly before heading to the starting line, which to me appeared to comprise very few competitors (today's Star reported that some 4000 runners participated but it certainly didn't look that way in the 21k). It was there that I saw Adam, Kenneth and Kelvin standing together.

The race started at 630am. As usual there was a mad rush at the start. Nothing much to report but I did get a shock when I saw that my time at the supposed 2km mark was 6:48. That would be equivalent to a 3:24 per km pace! I'm pretty sure that the distance marker was inaccurate, though, because I certainly did not feel like I was running that pace.

On to the Federal Highway, we were "treated" to the exhaust fumes of vehicles that were on the road. As usual there were some idiots on the road, honking us. Like last year, I saw Arul Thevar on the other side of the road. Although it didn't look like he was running fast, he was flying. These fellas make it look so easy, like they're out for a stroll in the park.

After passing the flyover, I was on the road leading to the old airport. On that road, just as I was running underneath the flyover, Chen passed me and told me he started late. He really looked like a man on a mission, running his heart out. I decided not to chase him. Still, there was this tall Caucasian fella (like Andreas's height) who was some 10 meters ahead of me, and this was going on since the 4km mark. I decided that I will use him as my pacer. Let's just refer to this tall Caucasian fella as "Kwai Lou Koh Lou" for here onwards.

It also started raining at this point. I tucked my cap at the back of my shorts shortly after 3km into the run, but with the rain pouring it was an appropriate time for me to wear it again. Thank goodness! It would have been difficult if the rain was pelting my face.

I overtook the Kwai Lou Koh Lou near the Hyatt Saujana mark, and held on for some 2 minutes before he overtook me again! At the old airport roundabout, I overtook him and this time I held on for some time. I thought that I will wait to make the u-turn before I really surged. So, we continued running and I thought we had almost reached the u-turn point, but there was no sign of it! Arrggh! The u-turn was still quite far ahead! I continued running, until I finally reached the u-turn at Terminal 3. Before making that turn, I saw that Ronnie was already on the other side of the road.

Anyway after making that u-turn in which we were given ribbons, I was about to bein my surge when the Kwai Lou Koh Lou overtook me and pressed on the pace! He gained a 20 meter lead. I knew then I had to respond and I managed to catch up with him. His breathing sounded a bit laboured by then and I knew he was there for the taking. Perhaps he surged too much too soon, and that knocked the stuffing out of him. By the sponge station just before the roundabout, I already overtook him. I heard him screaming for "WATER!!! WATER!!!" to which the boy scouts on duty there said "Sorry, no drinks, only sponge".

I ran as evenly paced as I could, and when I reached the final water station, I saw Azwar, who was taking photos. He shouted words of encouragement and told me that there was 2km left. I was pretty dead at the time and I thought "No lah, probably more than 2km to the finish". I also hoped that there weren't any silly shots of me (as it turned out, there was! I looked terrible! Haha!). It was during that time that I realised that this year's route was definitely 21km, because it seemed longer, with the u-turn only made at Terminal 3.

Back to the Kelana Jaya stadium, I completed the 21km in 1:42.08, a satsifying time for me because I achieved my goal of running under a 5:00 pace. I think I'm in reasonable shape considering my busy schedule and lack of training time. It is 10 minutes faster than last week's Putrajaya run, so it is all gearing up nicely. Who knows, maybe I'll run 10 minutes faster (1:32) in Singapore!!! Haha we'll see.

Hung around after the race to drink lots of water, and took some photos with the gang. A satisfying start to my Sunday, which wasn't over by any means. I had other things to do. Met with parents for breakfast, took them to my apartment, spent some time with Jeanne, before heading home.