Standard Chartered KL Marathon

Part of the 12000 people running the 10km

FINALLYYYY!!!! i did go for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 run. well, i didn't run the marathon la, just the 10.6km as planned. 2 weeks leading to the run had shin splints of both my legs. was worried i wasnt going to able to run cause i cant even run past 2km before a shearing burning pain develops on both my shin.

Runners running towards the finishing line

i made my way up to KL anyway and stayed at a crappy 3 star hotel. woke up at 430am and had half a chicken puff and 500ml of water. then i was off. took the monorail to Hang Tuah station and then hoped onto the LRT to Masjid Jamek. after that had to walk for around 20 minutes to Padang Merbok. many other runners were doing the same as well. by the time i reached there and after all the warm up i was all sweaty and smelly.....and so was 12,000 other runners.

At the finishing line

so imagine this.... 12,000 sweaty people all cramped up like sardine at the starting line. shoulder touching shoulder. then group stretching and warm up starts. and everyone was asked to stretch their arms by lifting their arms up...... CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SMELL??? i felt like i was in some damm ikan masin factory man. and you cant run away cause wherever you turn, there is a sweaty hairy armpit starring back at you. i swear to God some ppl probably fainted before the race started. never felt more relieved to hear the starter gun going off.

Post run ice treatment and massage 

there were a large number of lady runners at the event as well. some of them need to be told that there is something called a sports bra. so it was no surprise that during the run i noticed to my right: bouncing boobies. to the left: bouncing boobies. to the front: my bouncing tummy.

Cheer leaders 

worried about the pain at my shins acting up, i just decided to take it easy at the start and run at a slow pace. thankfully was able to run relatively pain free for most of the race. started picking up my pace only at the 8km mark. started feeling real tired at the 9km mark but once i saw the finish line, it was a 400m sprint to the finishing line. when i reach the finishing line, i almost puked twice. thank god nothing came out. that would have been a embarrassing sight.

It was a carnival like atmosphere at the runners' area after the race

my official finishing time was 1:11:08, ranking 607 out of the 4926 runners in the 10km Men open. was hoping to hit below the 1 hour mark. but considering that i hardly ran 2 weeks before the race its still ok la. i guess to improve my running time i need to loose more weight, pace myself better and improve my running technique. all can be achieved with more discipline and training.

Not something you want too see after a hard run

so next stop will be the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon this 4th December 2011. i've already signed up for the half marathon with a few other friends. looking forward to the next challenge.