After running Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011 (PBIM) and after almost 5 days since the ordeal, I finally have the time and strength (???) to share my experience of the Full Marathon Ordeal.

Of course, what better way than to tell the whole story from the start. It was 6am on Saturday 19th November 2011. The people who would be going up by car would be me, my bro and Kyuzo. As Kyuzo would be driving, we all decided that we would have to leave earlier to Penang to avoid the afternoon jam. Along the way, it was an okay journey with very little traffic. Finally after some stops and rest areas and we have finally reached Penang Island. The first thing we did was to collect our race packs. Time to go to Queensbay Mall for the collection.

Surprisingly hot weather, I started to think that it would rain again on the marathon just like the year before. Anyway, collection of the race packs was a breeze. I have even gotten myself some sexy shorts. Sexy????You will understand it later.

After collecting our precious running kits, it was time for some food hunting. Well we did reached around 12pm and it was time for some food hunting. My smart brother asked us to go to Port Weld for some nice food.

After reaching the place, we soon found out that it was seafood that he was craving for. Oiiiiiiiii….. seafood go Teluk Kumbar la~~~ but then since we were already there, we decided to go along with it and order some food. Funny thing was my brother asked me and friend to order as he says this same thing when I first stepped my shoes in Penang.

“I cannot speak hokkien la~~~” Bwahaaha!!! Actually same case for me.

So me and Kyuzo (Klang fella here… so Hokkien also okay okay) went to order our food. We ordered Lala, Fish, Vege and to top it all off, we used Cantonese instead. (We’re finished ~~~ sure charge us high kao kao knowing we are not local). Random fact: I ate a lot of rice.

Anyone knows where is this building and the name of it?

After our meal, it was time to go off to our host place to have our rest and also to meet the rest of the group. Thank you Su Lynn for accommodating us. After our great dinner (Spaghetti and Mash Potatoes and salad), we all proceeded to take our rest and also some hours of House Sitcom?? The run for the 42km starts at 2am and we have to get our asses to bed around 5pm. Only thing was that I slept at 10pm. Bummer.. I was up at 12am and it was time for our journey towards Queensbay Mall for the start of the run.

Reached early. Ample parking space along the road. So glad we were there early. I see some people in their tents at the parking bay. Not a bad idea to overnight in the tent. Alright after some catching up with some runners, it was time for the run to start.

I started the run and I felt a small pain in my knee. Well, armed with my yellow sexy shorts (I am crazy of bright stuffs to show during a run) and my New Balance shoes and the running vest, it was a non stop run all the way in the first 10km.

• 10 KM: For the first time (or rather the third time) I ran without feeling tired. Newcomers would replenish their drinks at the first 5km but I opt to skip that due to the not thirsty factor and also it was not required.
• 15 KM: Had a slow run and then walked for awhile. Due to insufficient practice and wondering why did I sign up for 42km.
• 20KM: Where’s the water?? No water at 2 water stations at 20km and 24km. Lucky I had my power gel to keep me from continuously hungry.
• 25KM: Hooray!! Water station and bread. Finally something to push me onward
• 31KM: Ahhhh… still a long way to go.
• 35KM: With the time at 6 hours, looks like there’s no need to run anymore. I will be able to make it get the finisher T. Also made a new friend as I chatted with a friend called Mawar.
• 40.7KM: It is a dash to the finish line as I go through all those Fun Run participants. Boring~~~
• 41KM: Mission accomplished. Got a XL Finisher T.

Finally I finished the run. The first and most probably a very long time before I start running another full marathon. Here are my results based on PBIM website.

Finally, what can I say? I am satisfied that I finished the run, but am not satisfied with my timing. I was thinking maybe I should take it slow. Start with consistency and do a proper 10KM run to get myself faster. Okay, that is what I would do.

After running it was time to go back to the house and everyone was finally gathered. Time to have a photo shoot of the group. Opps not the above.

From Clockwise Top Left: Kyuzo, Audrey, Sook Mei, Kevin, Daniel

Time to display our proud achievement to the world. It was definitely worth it. As the day goes by, we had seafood dinner at Teluk Kumbar and also another dose of Dr House. The dinner was worth it, you may refer the old post somewhere around. Also something happened during dinner. While we were eating, Sook Mei just had to say, imagine if suddenly it were to rain. Just as she said that, suddenly rain drops came pouring down so fast, we were all saying, “Aiyoh~~~~ you are the cause of it!”. Opps.

The following day, time to leave for home. Time to leave Penang that I usually only drop by once a year. Saddening right? Before we left the island, we saw a sign to keep us remember the time here.

TAK NAK!!!! LOL

Left Penang using the Jetty. We decided to have our lunch/dinner at Ipoh. What can one eat? Beansprout Chicken Rice/Noodle.

Superb…. it was finally great. A food to end the post. It made me hungry. I am going to make some coffee and eat some bread right now. As we come to the end of the post, nothing interesting happened after the Ipoh stop. We just went back and had a great sleep.

I am looking forward for my next run which is the MPSJ 10KM Run next. Woo hoo!!!

And now for the final preview. Wonder how short I wore my shorts? How short were they? Wonder no more as I reveal them below.

Whoa… wrong one. By the way, that is my brother.

Just look at me. Ahahahaha!! Short right?

Just last Sunday I was away, and finally had my run after what seemed like a long time since Standard Chartered KL Half Marathon 2011 which took place at Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square KL). This time on the 25th of September 2011, I took part in the Siemens 10.5km Run 2011 for the fun of it. Well, that is because I will for the first time be running in a proper running event together with my dear Miss Yen.

Once again, armed with only his HTC Hero he finally ran the whole course. What is his timing this time? It is 1 hour 34 minutes. Yes, basically it is 1’34’39. Slower than how I used to run? Not really, I was just testing my stamina on this one and this time it is totally different. Why is it different. I get to run along with …. JENG JENG JENG… *drum roll*

Dearest Yen. Ahhhh… finally after finishing the run. So now you know. That’s what I have been busy with. Preparing for the run together. At least something worthwhile doing. I am lucky cause I get to run with her for this run, well, at least doing activities together to ensure both of us keep ourselves fit and healthy and also it is a good practice.

I wonder, when will my next run be? We both ran and walked along the track, though our time might not be great, it was still better than some of the other participants who were actually slower. I am impressed with Yen as she was able to keep pace with me at certain areas where I tried to push her into running and jogging, constantly motivating her to run at times.

What I have learnt from this is that it is not about running fast or slow, it is who you run with. Of course, I think I will limit myself to 10km whenever there’s a 10km run.

PS: So far so good, she already ran two 10km run this year. I am gonna push her to run 3 runs next year.

pss: Wish me luck. *pooof*

Running is a sport, it is not something I would like to force anyone to take up, but unlike excessively playing video games and sleeping and wasting time on the couch too much, running should be one of the easiest sport to pick up. All one need is a jogging shoe and one can start running.

Well, so says me. Of course anyone can beg to differ but when was the last time you thought of running and when was the last time you thought you were fit? Years back during school days? Is one too old to pick this sport up? Giving excuses because you think you are busy doing other things?

Okay, back to my report. This is finally my third time in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 and running the half marathon on the 26th June 2011. It was worth it but with a bad timing compared to my previous records. Here are the timing and updates.

Judging from the above time, it is definitely worse than my previous timing of 2:48:43. What seems to be the problem?

Of course if it is based upon the Cardiotrainer application, I ran about 2:54:10 but let us see the current one that is recorded on the KL Marathon website. It is 2:50:31, roughly about 2 minutes slower than my run a year back.

What more can I say? This is due to lack of practice and sleep. Sleep plays an important part.

Here is how the medal looks like.

Of course, after that, I took my next course of action, which is to practice a little for the BHP Orange Run 2011 held on the 24th July 2011.

BHP Orange Run 2011

It was different this year with more food for the people. Of course, here is my report on what happened to me during that day. I woke up at 7:30am and left straight to the starting point at The Curve. To our bewilderment (yes.. it’s me, Mouse and Oon once again) the race has already begun like 10 minutes ago. We were there 10 minutes late which was 7:10am. So off we go to chase the pack (or rather part of the slow ones). Since we were running to chase up, I have pretty much used up a lot of energy in this run.

Why? Previous day, I had a team building event for the department in the company I am working with.

Of course, not wanting to skipped the whole running and to use this as an excuse, I went ahead with it. Lo and behold, maybe I have too much confidence in myself which has caused my downfall in the Orange Run this year.

I ran like nearly 20 minutes slower than usual. A run which typically I could aim to get around 1 hour has become a run which ended at about 1 hour 20 minutes give and take.

Nevertheless, the Weird One had fun, and it was mistakingly a good one. Along the run, I had like lots of rest by walking compared to the previous runs and cheering other runners and competing with some kid going ahead and he going ahead of me. Of course seeing my friends running ahead of me has somehow slowly demotivated me as it looked like they have beaten me in a run where I used to excel.

Off the record, after the run, it was time for some memories of the run.

It was worth it. So what were my split times based on the application?

My Split Time 6:12 | 6:27 | 6:05 | 6:58 | 7:13 | 8:24 | 7:26 | 7:37 | 8:00 | 7:30

What can be deduced? I grew complacent towards the end. It looks like my stamina has dropped and it is good to keep track of your split times to know which area to improve. More training for me for my next upcoming run which is Shape and Men’s Health Run 2011.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 is coming once again and today is the day to register. Well, surprisingly this was what DanielCtw had in mind and so on he goes to the website to register for this run.

Still remembered how it was 2 years ago and this year will promise that he would give his best and better the time of the last KL Marathon.

So on the browser at http://www.kl-marathon.com then with adrenalines pumping, it was time to be one of the first few to register.

Ahhhh… not another case of overload of people registering at the same time.

Anyway here are some more special details about this year 2011 KL Marathon.

When is the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011?
The marathon will be held on Sunday, 26 June.

Where will the marathon be held?
The start and finish point for all race categories will be around Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.

What’s new in this year’s edition of Standard Chartered KL Marathon?
This year, the Organiser is preparing to host 25,000 runners. That’s a 42% increase in participation from 2010. Thus there will be some changes to starting points.

• The Full and Half Marathon route certified by IAAF & AIMS, will remain the same meaning the start & finish area for those categories will remain at Dataran Merdeka.

• The 10km and 5km route will have a different starting point. These routes will be finalised in March 2011 together with MAAU, FTAAA, DBKL and Traffic Police.

A new feature is postal delivery of race entry packs. Runners for individual categories can opt for postal service of their race entry pack for a fee of RM 10.00.*

Updates

Registration was successful the last time I tried. See you in SCKLM 2011. I’ve registered for the Half Marathon (21km). Please also use Internet Explorer to register. Found out it doesn’t work with my Firefox or Google Chrome.

I still remember the scene when I ran on the Penang Bridge. It was 330am and I was running on the bridge and the rain was pouring. If you don’t get what I mean, please refer to this post about my run in Penang 21km.

These are the victory poses to commemorate the memory once more.

The 2 Macho Guys Kyuzo and The Weird One (Daniel) that ran the wet grueling 21km in Penang Bridge Run. We are both proud to finally complete this run.

So proud that we just have to had a bite of it. Solid….

I guessed as always, this blog isn’t me if I don’t do what I always do best. I love to pose my cool pose.

Thank you Sook Mei for the photos. I love the photos you sent. PBIM 2011, look out for me to conquer you again. I am going to be running the 42km next.