3:18:38 Personal Best

Woke up "early" at 5.15am to get myself ready for the big event. I know, it's probably not the "standard waking up time for a race" in KL. I probably would have missed the start if it was the KL Marathon or probably missed the finishing of the Penang Marathon. The marathon will only start at 7am but had to get up early as I need to do my usual pre-run "business". Haha. And of course I need to get to the start which is about 4km from my cousin's place. I ran and walk there to warm up. Hey, it was a cold, 7 C and the sun wasn't out yet, but the good thing about this particular morning, there's no/only light wind. I just hope it will stay that way throughout the race. Most of the roads were closed when I came out from the apartment. St. Kilda Road will be one of the main stretches used in the race besides the Beach Road. So I will actually passed by the apartment twice.

The half moon that greeted the morning

.

Walking towards MCG to drop in my bag/warm clothings.

As I make my way to the baggage drop-off, I was thinking hard whether I should use my arm warmer or not. Don't want to repeat the experience I had for the Sri Chinmoy Run, where I got really cold in the second half of the race. In the end, I just took the risk of not using it, as the forecast for the temperature today will be up, with a top of 22 C. At the drop-off point, only competitors displaying their bibs are allowed in. All boxes were labelled alphanumerically and it does not matter you are running the half or the full. The 5km and 10km drop-off point are at different place. Once you dropped your bag, your bib will be labelled according to your box's label. Easy.

The clothing and bags drop-off point at the MCG.

The moment of waiting between the bag drop-off and the start was a freezing moment for me. A whole 30-40mins of waiting. You can actually see my goose bumps coming out of my arms. Now I am wondering whether I'm going to regret not wearing arm warmers.

I met up with Michael, Tony and Bazz, guys I met through Cool Running site. Michael is aiming to break 3:20, told him that I was going to break 3:30 and even had a pace timings on a wrist label I got from Runner's World booth yesterday (see pic below). I was thinking if I can just keep my pace under the timing stated on the label, I should be on track in breaking my PB. Just hope my legs will hold up.

Well, there were quite a few pacers around with ballons or flags. SCKLM was supposed to have pacers for the marathon category but not sure why it was scrapped the last minute. I went with the 3:30 pacer. I wasn't sure exactly how many runners took part in the full, I think it should be close to 3500 runners. In total, there were about 23,000 thousand runners today. Rob De Castella was there to give a pep-talk. Rob was the 1983 World Champ and 1982 and 1986 Commonwealth Games champion. The late Kerryn McCann's son was given the honour to start the race. Kerryn is twice Commonwealth Games champion in 2002 and 2006 edition before she passed away with cancer. Her sister, Jenny Gullard was at the starting line and later went on to finish eight in the women's race.

The starting line

I found this photo from the official website

I started off at a comfortable pace, knowing I had done only above 30km run once since KL Marathon. I rested almost 2 months after SCKLM. A couple of 20-25km here and there, so wasn't sure whether my legs will hold up for the full distance. But here I am at the starting line, like it or not, just have make full use of the good weather.

One of the Pacesetters member, Michael Gan is here too for the 10km category. His event will only start at 7.30am. He came with his wife, Angie. He mentioned that he will be there about 200m from the start to take photos of the start. I stayed on the right hand side of the road hoping he could take a photo of me at the start. Saw him and waved my hands so he knows I'm coming...: )) We went through Flinders St, before turning in St Kilda Rd.

As I passed the 2km mark with the pacer, the time was about 11 mins. A quick check on the timing on my wrist label, 9:56. Does this guy know what he is doing? So I went ahead on my own pace, not particularly fast, as I don't want to end up having cramps early in the race. I don't particularly have to worry about running alone here as there are sea of runners ahead of me, even the womens. I've already checked my PB of 3:30 against last year's result and I can't even make it to Top 500 runners overall.

Passed by my cousin's apartment the first time before we turned into Fitzroy St, heading towards Albert Park, the famous site for the F1 Australian Grand Prix. I ran here couple of times before the marathon. As we turned into Albert Park, I saw Michael. Now I'm wondering whether I was going too fast as he was going to try and break 3:20. I've already lost my 3:30 pacer, so I just kept going. Soon I was right up to Michael's side and I followed his pace from Albert Park onwards. There are 18 water stations, including the finishing, so plenty of water along the way. A lot of the station were giving out small water sachets, which I find easy to carry along the run. I've never mastered drinking on a cup while in running motion. If cups, most times, I'll just stop to drink, so I can control the level of water going into my throat. With the small sachet, I could just bite off a little tiny hole and sip the water slowly. One of the water station is located outside the pit building (pit stops for F1 cars) in Albert Park, how appropriate. GU Gels are given out to marathon runners at quite a few of the water stations. I tried to keep a few but I didnt have pockets so decided to take the gel myself. Only kept one for Around the Bay Ride next weekend.

Coming out from Albert Park, we headed towards the Beach Road. Michael was telling me that we are on track for a 3:15 finish. So I held on to the pace and I was still feeling good. Since it was a good day, there were plenty of people along the stretch of Beach Road. And it was a great sight to see, it keeps you going with people cheering you on. Even if they are not cheering for me, well, still the sight of people lining along the road gives you that little extra energy to push on.

Here, you can also see who's ahead on the other side of the road. The two Ethopians were way ahead of the third runner and everyone else. They don't have many top runners coming here to this race, particularly because of the limited prize money. Only top 3 gets the cash prize, which is, 1st-AUD8000, 2nd-4,500 and 3rd-2,000. Since this race was awarded the right to host the Australian Marathon Championship, Australian will have additional cash prizes, i.e. 1st-AUD3,000, 2nd-AUD2,000 and 3rd-AUD1,000. Both men and women have equal prize money.

As we made a U-turn at one end of Beach Road and reach another water station, I lost Michael. I think he must have slowed down. I decided not to wait for him as I was still going on a good pace and wasn't feeling as tired yet. Reached the halfway mark, and my time was 1:37. About 7 mins under the 3:30 pace (according to my label). On track to break my PB. There was this runner next to me, he took out his phone and actually called someone. Here's part of the conversation (not exact) I heard,

Man: Hey, I think I will be reaching by 10:15 (am)
Man: Nooo, I just hit my PB for half.

Haha. And that was only the half way mark. Don't know what happened to the guy, whether he was ahead or behind me. I hope he didn't end up hitting the wall. I knew my pace was increasingly faster. Suddenly, I see this guy "walking" pass me. (You know those race walkers). I let him go, don't want to let my ego get into way and burn out later. But it's kind of demotivating seeing a walker passing a runner.

By the time I reached 27km, my time was around 2:04, about 10 mins faster than the time on my label. On track for a 3:20 finish. 30km mark clocked at 2:18, 11 mins faster than label time. I was still going strong. At this point, the regrets of not training specifically for this event crept in. Not only that, a sub-3 hour marathon time now seems achievable. Of course, it's impossible to do it today, but with proper training and perfect weather, I think I can do it one day. Twice I ran the marathon distance, twice at 28km, I'm was already starting to curse myself, "Why am I in this race?!!". Let alone a hope of running a sub-3 hour marathon. I just felt different this time.

We came back to Fitzroy St and head back to St Kilda Rd. This is where the human traffic begins. Marathoners are greeted by thousands of Half Marathoners along this road. I'm already starting to feel the twitch on my legs (cramps) then but I thought it was minor, so I just pushed on. I just felt zig zagging thru the crowds will only make my cramps worse off.

Luckily as we head into Botanical Gardens the field was seperated, but at that point my pace slowed down. "Oh no! I'm hitting the wall already?! I've got about 8kms to go!" I just grabbed the sports drinks at every water station after that, hoping it will help me with the cramps and giving me some boost. I really felt my legs are coming off then. Even my arm was twitching and I was even feeling like fainting. I thought could it be worse than just legs cramps? I don't want to end up in an ambulance. I struggled on, 35km, 36km... and I told myself since I'm so far ahead of my PB time, I'll slow down and see if my condition improved. Then I saw this lady (a spectator) handing out chewy candies. I went passed her and thought maybe it's my low blood sugar level that's causing the fainting, so I went back to grab it from her and thanked her. Put the whole candy in mouth and started chewing away. Along with some sports drinks along the way, I felt better. I could increase my pace a little bit from then on.

As we turned into Flinders St, heading back to MCG, I even gave a little shout to myself, "Come on!". Only about 2-2.5kms to go. The MCG is within sight and I could push on the pace. The thoughts/feelings of cramps were completely nullated. All I could think of is a sub 3:20 finish. I kept checking my watch and I was still within the time. Entering the historic and huge stadium was huge sigh of relief. Running 3/4 laps around it to finish was special. As I finished, gave a little pump of fist in the air (which I don't normally do) when I saw my time was 3:18. A huge satisfaction. I could always regret that I didn't train more for this but I've done my best for the day. Didn't give up, didn't walk (well, I did stop for few seconds to drink at the 2nd last water station) at the point where I felt like doing it.

Entering the basement, grab lots of drinks / bananas and apple to eat. Normally, I will not have any appetite to eat after runs in KL. I can feel the soreness of my legs and thought maybe I should go for the complimentary massage. But the queue was just too long as it was open for half marathoners as well. So decided to head over to my bags and put on some warm clothes as I'm starting to feel cold. On the way to the baggage claim, medals are handed to you according to your categories. This is the only part which I think they should improve since a person can always go back to get another medal (for whatever reasons) as there's nothing for them to check against.

I didn't join my friends at the Transport Bar after for some post run drinks. Decided to head back home as I was feeling tired. Walking for another 4km home was real a struggle till I had to stop at Fawkner Park to sit for a while to rest my legs. I've already covered 52km on legs today!Reached home, ate again.

Rested myself in the afternoon before riding to the city to meet Michael Gan and his wife for dinner at Sharkfin Inn Restaurant in Chinatown. He was meeting up with his ex-unimates from Melbourne University. Had a great chat and a wonderful dinner with them before I rode home on my tired legs.

The crowds at MCG at the finishing line

Me at the finishing line

Runners heading into MCG

More crowds in MCG

Crowds outside MCG

This is my hard earned medal. Nothing fancy but it has a place for you to engrave your name and finishing time. I might just do it when I go back KL.

My hard earned medal

Video from inside the MCG

My split time (my watch):

0:50:32 - 10.5km

1:09:15 - 15.0km

1:37:46 - 21.1km

2:18:30 - 30.0km

3:18:36 - 42.195km

Results just in (link). Here are some of the statistics from the site:

2:17:32 - Fastest Time

6:58:05 - Slowest Time

3:58:50 - Average Time

Overall participants: 3691 runners

My stats (link)

3:18:38 (Gun time)

3:18:31 (Net time)

Splits - Chip Timing

0:50:26 - 10.5km

0:47:19 - 10.6km (21.1km) - 1:37:46

1:40:52 - 21.095km (42.195km)

Overall position : 530

Gender position : 485

Category position (M30-34): 87

Although I didn't get a positive split but picked up a lot of runners in the 2nd half of the race, from 709 to 530. Not too bad. 2nd half split was 1:40:52 (well no thanks to banging myself into the wall!). But I am pretty please with the PB timing.