My Hills Training At 2XU Compression Run Malaysia 2018

When 2XU Compression Run Malaysia 2018 registration was open, I wasn't among those who were excited at all at signing up for it.

But a few months after that, after looking at the route and elevation map, I decided to join the run because the route and elevation matched with a race that I am looking forward to doing soon.

My last road race that I entered was Phuket Half Marathon in early August so it had been over a month since I run in any race. Training had been erratic (as usual) but most weekends when I could run, I ran around my housing area.

Anyhoo, the half marathon category was flagged-off at 5am on Sunday, Sep 23rd. I bumped into a few friends at the start line and more along the route. 

From Dataran Merdeka, we ran towards Sogo before making a turn towards Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and headed to Masjid Jamek before going uphill past Segi College towards Jalan Raja Chulan. It was here, I saw a few impatient runners who decided to run on the opposite section of the road and where the road was open to traffic instead of running in the closed-off road where the rest of us were running. Impatient and foolhardy. There were cars whizzing past them and they didn't think that it was dangerous for them to do so?

At Masjid Jamek, we were honked royally by irate motorists being held up because a few thousand runners were using the road. Macam biasa lah... 

The first water station was located around KM3 and seemed very ill-prepared to serve the influx of runners arriving. Volunteers were struggling to put out cups (there were almost none on the table that were already filled with water) and of course with pouring drinks to runners. Same thing happened for the next few water stations. Either the water station person-in-charge is a noob at handling big events or they really don't know how to plan...

I just helped myself with getting out cups from their plastic casings and took out mineral water bottles and pour my own drinks and helped others. Generally wasting time but I was OK with it since I didn't plan to do anything fast for the run.

Didn't think I saw any mobile toilets (I may be wrong) and I think some runners queued up at the mobile toilets for Orchid Run runners at Jalan Raja Chulan.

Distance markers were placed at 1K intervals which was good and volunteers were placed at critical areas to ensure runners run in the right direction (but a friend of mine got lost and accidentally joined the 21K route although she was in the 10K category. Hahaha)

From Jalan Raja Chulan, we ran towards Jalan Sultan Ismail past Medan Tuanku and made our way to Jalan Kuching. At KM6 and on the flyover heading towards Jalan Kuching, I saw a runner stopping for a puff. He stopped for a smoke and I really had the urge to whack his head.

We then ran towards UniRazak and reached KTM Bank Negara at around KM8. I was running steadily and felt quite good without taking any walk breaks for the first 8K. My plan was to run as I feel good and stop for walk breaks if the incline was tough so that I won't reach my max heart rate for this rather hilly run.

It was around here Muslim runners stopped for their Subuh prayers. Unlike other races, there were no special area allocated to perform it for runners by the organizer. Correct me if I'm wrong about this. 

KM10, 13 & 14 was slower for me compared to the other section because we were already running in Bukit Tunku area. I was slower as we tackled on the uphill section with a few walk breaks but made up for lost time on the downhill section. 

The water stations located at around KM8.5, 10.5 and 13.5 were all still struggling to cope with the numbers of runners arriving so just like before, I took more time stopping at each water station.

There was a water station serving bananas but I skipped that too, and I heard afterwards that the bananas served were raw. *gasp*

All through the run, I ran with only water & 100-Plus as hydration and didn't even need to take any energy gel.

I don't think I saw any water station serving cold sponges during the run but luckily it wasn't needed as weather was perfect and cooling to run in on Sunday.

From Bukit Tunku, we headed to Jalan Parlimen and towards Lake Garden. The water station located before entering Lake Garden was better equipped to serve runners and although my tummy felt full from drinking at the previous water station, I still stop for a drink.

Then we ran up towards Rumah Kartun and Komik Malaysia then down towards the Deer Park hill and up again towards Tun Abdul Razak Memorial.

Another water station was located here and this was the better equipped water station among all that I had ran past through. But credit still has to be given to them lah, because all the water stations didn't run out water yet when I got there.

Passing through the Memorial,we ran downhill towards Masjid Negara but then turn left and ran up towards KL Bird Park. Afterwards we ran past Jalan Tugu, Jalan Kinabalu and Jalan Sultan Hishamudin. So near to the finish line but yet so far.

We finally reached KTM Building and ran towards Dayabumi. By now, it was only a few hundred metres away from the Finish Line.

I was glad that I still felt strong but I didn't push to finish my run. Despite that, I managed to shave off about 4 mins of my previous HM timing. I guess the last three week's worth of training and although it didn't involve much running during the weekdays had showed its results.

The run itself was pretty much a non-event. I didn't notice any photographers at this event other than Tey who was cheering for runners near Pos Malaysia. The "clever" official photographer standing right in front of the start line and stayed standing there as runners were flagged-off doesn't count for me. heh heh

I also wonder why the organizer didn't hand out a bottle of mineral water together with our medals immediately after we finished our run. The refreshments tent was located away from the finish line barricaded area and far apart from the Finisher Tee tent.

I didn't stay long and left after I collected my Finisher Tee.

The event itself was indeed nothing special for me as there was no wow factor in it but I was glad I did it as part of my training.

The lure of this seemingly popular 2XU Compression Run for me must be the brand itself and the fact runners get 2XU event and finisher tee.