Penang Bridge Half-Marathon 2011

Disappointment.

That was my main feeling after I crossed the finish line. Only a minute better than last year. It was probably the lack of sleep prevailing through my consciousness due to the untimely 3am start time.

The race itself went well. Despite not finding either of my running friends before the race, I managed to negate one of my first issues with getting a fast time - getting near the front of the start line! Getting my bag all zip-locked early was a helpful first step as was entering the race via the sidelines and hopping over a board.

Last year was immensely frustrating in the 1km stretch in front of Queensbay due to runners who were walking in the first 2 minutes of the race. The amount of weaving, jumping, stepping up and down pavements made me feel like Simba running the wildebeest stampede. I was determined not to repeat this part of the Lion King and with a jump over an advertising hoarding, I was only past the start line in 33 seconds after the gun went off (an improvement from 2010).

The large crowd at every PBIM (image from Geneoga.com)

Hanging mostly to the left of the crowd, I decided to accelerate in the first 1km to get away from the crowd worked a treat. It was less like a cycling proficiency test and more like F1/dragster racing. I hadn't thought too much about tactics until the previous night when HM mentioned it in his book and my only one was to run fairly hard in the first 10km as I could always come up with something special in the final stages. So along the dark side of the expressway into the light of the first slope of the bridge and towards the orange streetlights. The drums were beating ominously in the distance without the accompanying lightning in the distance of 2010. my mind was thinking of the tribe and MH article - concentrate on form, forefoot striking, breathing regularly.

There were also slower runners in the same vests as I. It was a strange decision not to give FM a different colour, difficult to cheer them on but you could see their pacing was different even if their vests were the same. I felt for them having once completed and at this stage, they were still in the first twenty kilometres. I also tried to look for the big bulky structure of my friend Deano as I knew he would want to know the Everton result and that a positive Goodison victory would do his morale good but my limited vision saw nothing.

A man in Vibrams. A man in a cape. A man with a whistle. the blue sirens of a police car heading down as I was on my way up followed by Keynan runners coming out of the dark making impossible running speeds possible. First one, two, three, four and five. Crowds merging to the far right lane like ants attracted to honey. Cups strewn across the floor with the odd bottle. Crunch Crunch Crunch. Volunteers standing away from the table offering. To run and spill or slow and drink efficiently? I did both at different stops!


I had downed most of a 1.5l bottle of 100Plus throughout my working Saturday and was mindful to take drinks in the early stages of the race but realised I could tackle the latter parts without liquid. Had I come to drink or run? And there was still 1/3 of a bottle in my bag waiting for me. Precious seconds. It was a tactic that had worked to perfection for me on the Malakoff in March and I employed it again breezing past two drinks stations out of the six (?).

Getting onto the bridge (map from adiharriman.com)

By the time I had stared into the spires of Penang Bridge at the top and you should - whizzing past those gray diagonal beams and concrete horizons in the car is nothing but a blur - as an icon of the island and the country, it was time to try another tactic on the spur of the moment - gravity! A good running friend DJ Muiz employed it on his 42km and it involves taking off the handbrake and upping the leg turnover rotation. Restraint in the first slope (which involved thinking "where is the turnaround? where is the turnaround? where is the turnaround? closely followed by where is the 10km board - which I never saw) The turnaround is vital for morale as you are no longer moving away from the start like a ship drifting out to sea but returning to the line, drinks, a car, a bed!  meant that I went all out in the second slope.

And I had come upon the good runners by this stage. I know they were good. They weren't running blue vests like me. They were wearing white, orange, green, different patterns for different running clubs. One of them was Japanese - I had heard him shout out to his friend on the other side. One was Caucasian. All of them were fast. They ran like I know they had trained - in a pack and hard and they passed me on the second slope upwards. I wasn't a match for them - was I?

The drums boomed in the distance again, how I love their rhythm on a soundless night with only panting and non-runners speaking and shouting encouragement, it was quiet. I continued my pace, a guess at 5.00min/km I hoped but probably not at the 13km mark. My hamstrings were tightening as I went over the crest of the bridge for the second and thank God last time, I had pushed my body hard for the first half and there was still half to go.

Ignore the drinks. Accelerate downhill. Catch those who overtook you. Eat up the ground, keep your posture straight. Look at that man with the orange shirt and iPod. Try and catch him. It would do your morale good. Never let a girl breeze past you without trying to catch them. But two, three, four seconds after the Keynan lady passed me, I could do nothing but admire her speed. Hardly moving her body, an easy motion but putting me and my fellow men to shame. Breathe in the burp of a man who had 100Plus whilst slip-streaming. See a man pee on the side of the road as the exit ramp curved left.  Finally a sign! 7.5km left. My brain unable to calculate distance completed but 'left' sign remaining is a strong energiser. An incentive. The end is near.

Overtaken by an elderly man, I wondered if I could go any faster. The division of full and half came upon us. The marathoners would still go on but it was a relief time for us. We could turn and head on the expressway to Queensbay. A road I had driven many times before and would only take 3 minutes in my wife's car. I knew it well for those trips to TGIF (kids eat free!). But I was a machine without petrol and wheels and an engine that could whirl at 1000rpm. My watch showed 1.30. Secretly it would have been nice but improving 15mins in a 21km is a big ask. Let's try 1.40. Let's go. So I charged like a bull.

Ignoring running form and style, I ran with passion. Head down, surveying only 15ft in front of me, legs at a 4.45sec pace, and only one thing in mind. To pass the person in front of me. Four whizzed by quickly. I shouted at one but he returned with the word Cramp. To think about how bridges there were left to cross under. Under two. An elderly red shirted man passed me in semi darkness 3km later and I willed him on. Had I burst too early? Would my legs give out on me in the final turns and straights? I wanted him past me quickly, out of my sight because if you wanted to overtake me, beat me out of sight. But I ended up tracking him, slip-streaming a little although we were both overtaken a spritely young female definitely not doing the full marathon!

This is all out effort!

By now I was shouting. Not at anyone. Just a low roar to keep myself energised. To will yourself on to go faster than before. The previous distance is nothing but history now. The end is in sight. The turn before the overhead bridge was where I made my sprint run last year but my legs were strained now, my brain said hold. I was shouting, encouraging the older man as I went for speed at the roundabout. I'm always amazed at this stage by my body, the legs that I was granted. They can always run at the end and they propelled me past sleeping scouts, past shop fronts, past more runners, past walkers in that final stretch. I yelled at them as I went past "Come on! It's near the end!" and hoped the shouts were taken encouragingly not as the madman I was at this stage. Legs still sprinting, rolling in a road runner blur my mind envisioned, didn't pose for any of the photographers, overtook a man 3 yards from the line and beep on my son's stopwatch.

1:47:35.

Disappointment. No improvement. Rather negligible improvement. Joy and elation was Rahma's emotion. Happiness at a new PB was how DJ Rex felt. Frustration was Jimmy's. Pain was Grace's. My friend Deano was closest to myself but he could still use the word 'happy' as a man who runs a 42km distance should! Halfway through the run and straight after, I had the same thought "21km PBIM never again!" or maybe until the 2nd bridge opens! My questions / room for improvement list would revolve: How much do I love running? How much will I train? Can I train hard enough to beat a time? Will I sacrifice runs for football? Will my job give me the rest I need to prepare? Not enough, not enough, no, no and no.

I had pushed so hard, never let up for a moment and when you put your heart and soul into the run and cut back on all those seconds but end up where you started, you question your sanity and reason for running. At this stage in life/this point in time, I'm not a run for pleasure person. I'm still that crazy results driven person, competitiveness in spirit formed by having two younger brothers. Compete.

Exhaustion dropped me like a stone whilst I lay on the massage table. The person who came up with this idea should be awarded a gold medal. Such welcome relief and just what was needed. I was lucky to finish fast enough as not to wait but my hand couldn't write details neatly.

Official results

Walking back in my Manchester United training top wondering what the score at the Liberty Stadium was, my medal around my neck, passing runners in the opposite direction, seeing Samson finish, runners hobbling, walking, sprinting,, women looking fantastic, one man's head shaking all over the place as he moved towards my right, past sleeping scouts using each other's midriffs as pillows, up the bridge with groups, tens of 10km walkers going the other way (is it really enjoyable to do a crowded 10km run?!), past the policemen diverting traffic with drivers confused where to go and desperate to park to start their run when I had finished, and the car was there. And soon my bed was there. And my mind could drift where it was unable to 5 hours previously.

The Big Day

There's nothing like waking up at one o clock in the morning to run forty two kilometres after a full day of teaching. Fortunately I had finished a 1.5 litre of 100 Plus during the course of my three lessons to hydrate my body before the run and eaten enough food to satisfy a very hungry man. Therefore it was a very light breakfast of a small (free) McDonald's cornflakes at Natalie's apartment and then a walk over to the marathon start line.

I also tried a blister prevention spray after deciding not to tape or plaster my toes/feet and would totally recommend it! I had blisters in my half marathon a few years ago and a few small ones in my training runs but after spraying on 3 separate layers, I managed to finished with no blisters! It's like using spider's cobwebs to coat your toes/sole and the shoe will grind against that instead of your skin.

Here is the start of the men's marathon. Can you spot me?

No?

That's because I completely missed the start of it! That was despite getting to the start line early. I did some stretches and was sitting around in a nearby tent waiting for the announcement for marathon runners to get the start line but all I heard was 'please make your ChampionChip is securely fastened' and 'the Chief Minister will arrive soon.' I wasn't panicking as I saw lots of other orange vests around but decided to wander to the start line at 2.25am because I wanted to get a good position.

It was rather surreal at the start line as I saw one of my college football players, Viet, and his girlfriend there together with two of his friends who were running. One of them looked at me and said, "you've got a full marathon number on," to which I replied "yes." He then said, "they've already started," at which point I felt like a complete idiot and got going! It turned out all the other orange shirts sitting around in the tents were half marathon runners waiting for their turn to start at 3.30am!!

I was very glad that I had familiarized myself with the route otherwise I would have felt like an even bigger ass starting late and asking for directions. I caught up to some other runners after a minute but got a small twinge in my left quadricep that I had never had before! However I had committed myself to my race strategy of a 6 minute run and a 1 minute walk for the first half of the race and abided by this which meant that the twinge didn't get any worse.

The first ten kilometres of the marathon was very interesting as there were people of all ages, sizes, races and shirt colours running behind, alongside and in front of me. Some people had backpacks with bottles, some people wore belts containing gels and others had loud tickers which they were obviously supposed to keep in time with. I had hoped to spot some of the runners that I met on Facebook but a combination of night darkness, lack of spectacle wear and several hundred put paid to that idea. However I did spot the pale skin tone of one of my college footballers, Norman, ahead of me which gave me a target to achieve in the race.

I felt very comfortable up to 10km and according to my friend's watch reached that distance in 50 minutes which was a lot faster than I anticipated. However it turned out that some of the distance signage were not accurate but I was quite happy at the time! However I did feel a little heavy as I started up the bridge - probably no thanks to my 10pm dinner of TGIF Jack Daniel ribs and small mountains of spaghetti!

However whilst the running was going well and the distraction of looking at my watch every 7 minutes kept my eyes and mind ticking over, I felt it was very quiet. So after running up the slope of Penang Bridge for a while I decided to engage in my first marathon conversation with a random runner about why his vest was maroon whilst everyone else got orange. It turned out that he couldn't fit into a regular one and thus opted for the fat/muscular version. I also remember telling him that he was on course for a 4hr 30min time when he said he was just aiming to finish under 6 hours. It turns out that he was right and I totally underestimated the cumulative effects of running!

I broke ahead of him but not before both of us saw the leading Kenyans pass us on the other side of the bridge going down! Several minutes later another pack of Kenyans burst past us from behind - they were the mere half marathon competitors! I had spent a lot of time thinking about running form and decided to imitate their arm pumping, low stride style for a while to get a bit of speed going before I came across Norman, the KDU student (and fellow footballer) I saw right at the beginning of the race.

We decided to run together and had a good long chat about football, college, his previous year's run, his girlfriend's attempt at a half marathon and P.I.S.S. (a football team...!). He also pointed out various other runners he knew that we overtook/miles ahead of us. Whilst I found it was really good to talk and run with a friend, he found the walk breaks even more encouraging! Sadly I had to break from on the crest of the return leg of the bridge as I was desperately seeking a toilet to pee and had to climb over a concrete barrier to get to it. After waiting for a minute and peeing in the dark, it was back to running where things took a turn for the worse...

Cramp.

It started to come on as I surged down the bridge and randomly commenting on this problem with a half marathon lady runner, I really hoped the walk breaks would deal with this. In a fit of desperation, I also used up my last two remaining gels at this point (roughly 25km) hoping that the glucose would get in my system and 'fix the pain.' It was also the point of unknown for me as I had never run constantly for so long before and I had no idea how my body was going to react to such an ordeal. It decided not to react well.

I was desperately waiting to overtake the 30km signboard but it either never came or I was being truly blind but the cramp along every muscle of my legs did come. Both quadriceps went first, then the hamstrings before the calves which meant my 6min run 1min walk strategy became a walk walk only strategy! I was incredibly grateful to an uncle for loaning me his spray from his pouch to partially relieve my cramp but despite the pain, I found I could keep walking at a fairly fast pace. I passing Tesco at this point too and I was tempted to just turn left and go home as it was fairly nearby!

However I decided to continue along the Coastal Highway and having driven along it many times to work knew that there were 3 bridges to come. It was all about gritting your teeth at this stage and after the initial pain, I found I could do a little bit of jogging. However another runner and myself did come across an old runner who was literally lying down in the middle of the road - who told us he was fine after we inquired about his health. I did stop at the next medical stop to ask for help for the first time - and they gave me something that felt like Deep Heat which I rubbed vigorously under my lycra pants!

Sadly that wasn't the miracle cure for the constant cramp so I had to continue with the walk/jog strategy until I reached Maccullum Street where we were given a Powergel and got our 32km time recorded. I asked for another Powergel but the volunteer was being really strict and refused to give me another one! We had done over 30km by this stage - did the man have no sympathy? I managed to hold onto a water bottle, which I passed to Norman as we had to double back onto the same road.

And then it wasn't too bad. It appeared that my legs had got their second wind and they were able to do some running again - one of my friends explained that my body had decided to switch fuel resources and were now burning off something else hence the extra energy. After smearing some more deep heat on myself at the same first aid station, I managed to get a comfortable pace and was thinking about a 4hr 40min time. However it appeared that the organisers had got the signage wrong and it wasn't 7km to the end... but 10km!

But then came the most interesting part of the run - talking to people! I had been searching for a bit of company for the last 2 hours (after Norman on the bridge) and it appeared that people were willing to open up after fours of pain! I chatted to a bloke who came over from Canada and had run over 5 marathons in his life and then we were joined by a Singaporean, Boon - who was running his fifth marathon of the year! The chatting and sharing of marathon experiences (or just listening in my case!) did help us to dissipate the pain before Boon and I decided to kick on for a quicker time. I completely missed the newly revealed 'runners' statues' during that section of the run too!

Green shirts soon became my bugbear over the last stretch of the course. We were swamped by the school quarter marathon runners and wasted a lot of energy weaving between and around them - which you would rather channel into a straight line run. By this stage I had also left Boon behind and was running quite quickly (after a minute walk break!). I was clapping to myself in attempt to keep my energy level high (which incidentally got people to move out of my way too!) and was urging myself on by muttering to myself. When I got to the final left turn, I ended up talking to a random schoolboy who was going quickly and challenged him to a sprint finish over the last 800m or so! I just about managed to do it although I think he disappeared from my sight and into the crowd, 100m after the roundabout!!

If you look closely in the photo, my face is blowing out a lot of air because of that sprint finish! I neglected to look at the time so I had no idea what my finish time was and I had reset my stopwatch after I crossed the line too!! But it was a great feeling to finish!!!

Look at that finishing face!

Gold for 42km runners - or in my son's case because I beat everybody!

My official finish time was 4 hours 52 mins.

Gym + Carbo Loading

Last bit of exercise before the marathon as I'll working tomorrow and will thus have no time to do anything. So I thought I'd do a bit of upper body strength work so I did three sets of 10, 5 and 10 reps on my chest, back, biceps, triceps and shoulders with heavy weights in the middle. With the big day around a mere two corners, I did a mere one set of reps on my legs but a lot of back and leg stretches at the end of it all.

It was also the day where I was supposed to start 'carbo loading' so I've been eating a lot throughout the day. Half chicken meal with rice and potato salad at Nandos for lunch with home made spaghetti for dinner and cinnamon bread/croissants as snacks in the middle or at the end. Tempted to go for the ice cream that's been lying in our freezer but with this terrible cough I've been having all week (& what a time to have it!), I've been drinking a lot of honey water too.

Runs around The Botanical Garden

Time: 9.30am
To: 4 sets x 1 small and 1 big circular lap around Botanical Gardens
Terrain: Tarmac but one big slope!

Length: Each lap ?km
Time Taken: 1 hour 10 mins

It was a trial run today. I only had 6 hours sleep, I only had a cup of water and a sip of coffee before I went and there was a big slope to run up. I wore my new vest and pants for the first time and stopped after every set to sip some water. However I did forget to bring Jeremy's loaned digital watch and didn't pin my number on my vest.

At the last two stops, I tried both gels and they do indeed taste like banana and berries. It's like a very concentrated syrup but they were ok. I bought three more powerbar gels in Queensbay later - they were cheaper, look a bit bigger and the gold wrapping is nicer!

It became more like the big day when I went for work after my run (yes, my boss expects me to teach at 10am after finishing a marathon at 8am) and then I went to train the 6 KDU players who turned up (and technically two of them have already left KDU!). So it was a very full day and I was quite tired at the end of it all but I feel it was a good taste of what is to come...

Pants! + Indoor Football

I picked up my marathon pack from Queensbay today and after listening to my colleague David tell me horror stories of chafing, I decided to go and buy a pair of 'tight running shorts' so I would join the 'bloody' group. After an hour's worth of painful reflexology, it was either run with all the gear on or take the kids to the park. So I decided to delay the inevitable and took my kids to the park where we saw a BMXer at the skate park.

Part of the reason that I didn't go for a run was because I was going to play at Dalat International School at 8pm. And what a star studded evening it was with Roy, Jason, Vijay, Muneer, Fajar, Viet and Samson joining myself and other young players. It was competitive and very enjoyable with a new young kid in the mix. He's got fast feet for a fourteen year old! An hour and a half was good to give the legs a bit of a run out, a little blister on my toe and a chance to try out my lycra pants - which passed the mobility and sweat test!

Light Training & Gels

I'm not really sure it counts as training but to liven things up and relax from running, I elected to do half an hours worth of football juggling & some Nike/Barcelona skills training today - and boy has my juggling gone to pieces after not much practice in recent weeks! :) It took a while to get to a hundred!

Good marathon news - I finally found some running gels last night! They are sold in GNC, Gurney Plaza (basement floor)! A PowerBar Gel costs RM6.50 and GU Energy Gel costs RM8. Berry flavours were the only ones available although the sales woman did say there would be more flavours coming in in the following week. I've yet to try one out but will give a verdict here next week after a run/taste test.

Football Match

Played for KDU College vs Penang Nigeria
Score: Lost 4-2

Played: Right Back!
Warm Up: Dynamic stretches

I was just happy to finish this match relatively uninjured after a bang of the knees halfway through the second half and particularly after a jumping tackle by one of the Nigerians right at the end of the match where all his studs connected with the outside of my left leg! I was not happy with the tackle at all but the referee didn't even blow for it. And the linesman was on my side too. Idiots.