Running Around KL

Well, not as much as those doing the full marathon (42.1K) but me and a few thousand other runners did get a chance to see KL on foot! (Not to mention accidentally stepping on a roadkill or two! I so need to focus where I put my feet. ahaha)

I woke up at 4am and while I was getting ready, I took the opportunity to watch the full marathoners in action from my hotel room. The first 10 runners (all Kenyans?) had a pretty big lead against the other runners.

It started to drizzle when the last few batches of full marathoners passed the hotel we stayed in, along the stretch of Jalan Travers.  It was just a short drizzle though.

Zaini accompanied me to the shuttle bus stop at 5.15am, which was almost right beside the hotel and waved goodbye. As I was running a half-marathon this time, I went to the race site alone. No point of making Zaini wait for me for three hours, right?

Taking the shuttle bus made it so convenient for me to get to the race site alone. The shuttle bus driver not only picked us up at KL Sentral, he'd stop every time we passed by runners walking towards Dataran Merdeka and let them board the bus. Good gesture by the driver.

While I was puffing along the roads on KL City Centre, Zaini and Raimie had a leisurely continental breakfast at the hotel club lounge! My breakfast? Kit-kat bought from 7-Eleven. Chocolates is good energy food, you know! ^^ Anyway, Zaini and Raimie did go to Dataran Merdeka afterwards at around 8.00am.

I had a game plan for this race but on the morning of the race, I kinda had to ditch it and run as comfortably as I can. The reason? The time of the month came, along with tummy cramps and grumpiness! I did however try to match my plan, and the first 5K warm-up trot was on pace. Anyways, even if I want to run faster, I can't. There were so many runners in front of me (as always, I started at the back) that it would have been a waste of energy for me to weave in and out trying to overtake runners.

I didn't stop at any of the water stations for the first 10K because I unintentionally ran holding a bottle of mineral water. I brought it along to sip before the race and had wanted to throw the half full bottle but couldn't find a trash can so I kinda brought it along the race. Then, at KM10.5 I added another item along the race. One whole banana. It was heavy that it made my running skirt droop. Full & half-marathoners were served with bananas (and of course drinks) there and I took one thinking I would be hungry before I finish the run. Turned out, the banana "ran" with me all to the finish line.

Along KM11, somebody said hi to me. It was Massy! Thanks for saying hi to me and pacing with me. You made me picked up my pace running alongside you. Plus it was nice to chit-chat with you. Kinda lost her at the next water station. I tried to push a bit, to see if I can make that 2hr 30min HM, but every time I picked up pace, tummy cramps made itself known and I was soooo afraid that I might accidentally "eject" something from my behind! If that happens, it would be sooooo GROSS! @.@

Not much of crowd support other than the nice volunteers along the route and I made sure I smiled back at them. Crowd support along Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Ampang (almost at the final stretch) came in form of being honked by irate drivers caught in a jam. A few runners happily wave at them! I like! Hahaha

Upon reaching Sogo the crowd got bigger there as the 10K runners also joined the route. There was a couple minutes left to make it for the 2hr 30min HM so I decided I might as well try and have a go at it. "Pia"ed like crazy towards the finish line.

Push! Push! Push! Just a little bit more. Suffer now and glory later! Hahaha See that guy in green in front of me? He and another guy blocked my way for a few seconds but I overtook him. Sweet!

The finishers' zone was a mess with runners not making their way out and I amost missed the Yoogood bar that were handed out. Sesaklah! Got a bottle of mineral water, called Zaini to ask his whereabouts and then made my way to collect my goodie bag. Nothing much inside, just my medal (most important stuff one need to put in a goodie bag!), a can of 100-Plus and a banana.

Then, time to smile for the camera!

Front and back view of my first ever Half-marathon medal.

Along with the medal, I got this too to bring back home. Nope, they are not painful. The ones that are painful are the chafing I got at a couple of unmentionable places. LOL

 How did I do? The unofficial results from SCKLM tracker. 1min 29sec behind target.