The Taman Bukit Jalil gang charted a Tour Bus to ferry the 27 registered runners to the Penang Bridge Run. This is the first time I was going to a race with an “organized” group in a bus, I regretted immediately when I knew that we have to gather at Parkson OUG at an early hour of 6.00 am on Saturday morning. I have no chance to withdraw since I had paid the full fare before I knew the departure time, I protested to the coordinator many times by fell on deaf ear.
Saturday, 15th Nov 2008
Woke up when the alarm go off at 5.00 am still feeling very heavy after a late night at the PIKOM Diner at One World Hotel. Arrived at Parkson just before 6.00 am, met up with the gang and Gan offered me a banana for my breakfast (Another first having one banana for breakfast).
When everybody boarded the bus and I was feeling a bit strange to see an unfamiliar lady making some announcements. Soon I found out that our organizer, Datuk Chan, engaged a professional Tourist Guide to accompany us to the Run. Further to my surprise, I was handed an Agenda for the trip, I was officially going for a tour to the North.
Reached Prai at around 11.00 am and made a wrong decision to have lunch in Butterworth, we were caught at the Saturday mid-day jam at the entrance of Penang Bridge after the no-so-satisfy lunch. Fortunately, the collection of Bibs went very smoothly and we were being able to check in to the hotel with amble spare time. Most of us went to the pool for a swim and we went out to Gurney Drive to have diner around 7.00 pm.
Another shocking announcement was made on our way back to hotel after the diner, the bus would leave the hotel at 1.00 am so that we would be able to park in the designated carpark within the Queenbay. After analyzing the pros and cons, the group consent with the idea and those running the “Half” and the “Fun” had to put up a night on the bus (Another first, rent a hotel room and slept n the bus).
Sunday, 16th Nov 2008, the RACE DAY
The bus left the hotel at 1.20 am, slightly later than planned because many runners overslept (or should I say underslept) and missed the 1.00 am timeline. There were not much parking bay for the buses and we were lucky to get one of the slot. Our Marathoners lead by Mr. Chan and Mr. Chan (It has to be “Chan” to be qualified as a leader in our group), at least in my opinion then, went for an impossible mission. Half of them have not done a sub-six marathon and I expected them to be swept by the bus when the bridge needed to be re-opened for the traffic.
Stayed in the bus trying to catch some sleep and woke up hearing the gun go-off. Came down from the bus and could see the marathon runners heading towards Payan Lepas along the emptied Highway.
Ate 2 pcs of bread and went to the toilet at the back of the Mall, eased myself by still felt a bit un-comfortable inside my stomach after all the “tasty by notorious” Penang hawkers’ dishes consumed during Saturday night dinner. Went to the start area and do some warm up, checked in to the “unnecessary lockup” where there was little room for anyone to move around. Snaked out from the back as most runners did and roamed around the surrounding areas. By the time I realized that I have to move to the start line, there were already too many runners crowed around the front lines. I squeezed (very ungentlemanly of course) towards the front but have to settle at around 10 meters away from the start line.
Once the race flagged off for the Men 25KM, I tried very hard to maneuver forward zigzagged around many slower runners. It was almost 1KM down the road before the crowd thinned off. I decided to take it easy until I reached the bridge. I felt very relax with cool breeze blowing towards me from the sea and I sensed that this would be an enjoyable run for me this time compared to the hot weather last year. I had forgotten about the full marathoners until I caught up and talked to Wong SP, the Klang Pacer, that I realized some of them already on the bridge. He overtook him easily this time since he had ran half way in his full marathon and I was fresh for my 25KM.
I gladly grabbed a power gel from one of the volunteers but decided not to eat because my stomach was still feeling un-comfortable. This was one mistake that I made, I should not hold on to the gel and gave it to someone since I had decided not to eat it. Of course it would not slow me down by holding the gel in my hand for the next one and a half hour, but RM6 should not be able to compensate my discomfort during the run.
Further up the bridge, I easily overtook Tay PC and feeling great. This is the advantage of running the Half, thanks to the organizer for such an arrangement so that I could easily overtake anyone, of course, the “anyone” must be the one who ran the Full, Ha Ha!
The bridge did not look great with all the widening works, many street lights along the bridge were not functioning most probably due to the renovation works.
I did not felt the strain running up the bridge, I think the slope is very gentle compared to most races (Last year, I did have the same feeling). I felt more confident while I reached the middle of the bridge and continued to speed towards the mainland. This portion was mostly dark with few runners along the way and I reached the U-turn. Looked at the watch and it was slightly over an hour, took a wrist band from the check point after the U-turn and ran back to the island. I did feel some strain along the slope for the return journey, maybe this was the sign of tiredness.
After the middle of the bridge, I estimated it would be less than 7Km to go. At this stretch, I was being challenged by an un-familiar Chinese man in my category (Later I found out that he was a Singaporean), and I was feeling the stress in both my legs. When we were about to leave the bridge, another runner from our category zoomed past us. The Singaporean put up a great fight but I was a spent force and had to slow down slightly. Anyway I was quite satisfied with my 2 hrs 4 min and 30 sec result and had to settle for the 12th place.
After all our runners returned, I realized that there was serious shortage of water along the bridge while the organizer had to deploy the ambulance to deliver extra water to salvage the situation. And I just get to know that our famous photographer runner, Mr. Tey, was nearly murdered by the organizer! Water! Water! Water!
However our runners from the Taman Bukit Jalil group did enjoy the run with many of them achieved their PB. There is a secret , all our runners were well prepared and carry their own water, we do not have much expectation from almost every Race Organiser in Malaysia after many races.
Saturday, 15th Nov 2008
Woke up when the alarm go off at 5.00 am still feeling very heavy after a late night at the PIKOM Diner at One World Hotel. Arrived at Parkson just before 6.00 am, met up with the gang and Gan offered me a banana for my breakfast (Another first having one banana for breakfast).
When everybody boarded the bus and I was feeling a bit strange to see an unfamiliar lady making some announcements. Soon I found out that our organizer, Datuk Chan, engaged a professional Tourist Guide to accompany us to the Run. Further to my surprise, I was handed an Agenda for the trip, I was officially going for a tour to the North.
Reached Prai at around 11.00 am and made a wrong decision to have lunch in Butterworth, we were caught at the Saturday mid-day jam at the entrance of Penang Bridge after the no-so-satisfy lunch. Fortunately, the collection of Bibs went very smoothly and we were being able to check in to the hotel with amble spare time. Most of us went to the pool for a swim and we went out to Gurney Drive to have diner around 7.00 pm.
Another shocking announcement was made on our way back to hotel after the diner, the bus would leave the hotel at 1.00 am so that we would be able to park in the designated carpark within the Queenbay. After analyzing the pros and cons, the group consent with the idea and those running the “Half” and the “Fun” had to put up a night on the bus (Another first, rent a hotel room and slept n the bus).
Sunday, 16th Nov 2008, the RACE DAY
The bus left the hotel at 1.20 am, slightly later than planned because many runners overslept (or should I say underslept) and missed the 1.00 am timeline. There were not much parking bay for the buses and we were lucky to get one of the slot. Our Marathoners lead by Mr. Chan and Mr. Chan (It has to be “Chan” to be qualified as a leader in our group), at least in my opinion then, went for an impossible mission. Half of them have not done a sub-six marathon and I expected them to be swept by the bus when the bridge needed to be re-opened for the traffic.
Stayed in the bus trying to catch some sleep and woke up hearing the gun go-off. Came down from the bus and could see the marathon runners heading towards Payan Lepas along the emptied Highway.
Ate 2 pcs of bread and went to the toilet at the back of the Mall, eased myself by still felt a bit un-comfortable inside my stomach after all the “tasty by notorious” Penang hawkers’ dishes consumed during Saturday night dinner. Went to the start area and do some warm up, checked in to the “unnecessary lockup” where there was little room for anyone to move around. Snaked out from the back as most runners did and roamed around the surrounding areas. By the time I realized that I have to move to the start line, there were already too many runners crowed around the front lines. I squeezed (very ungentlemanly of course) towards the front but have to settle at around 10 meters away from the start line.
Once the race flagged off for the Men 25KM, I tried very hard to maneuver forward zigzagged around many slower runners. It was almost 1KM down the road before the crowd thinned off. I decided to take it easy until I reached the bridge. I felt very relax with cool breeze blowing towards me from the sea and I sensed that this would be an enjoyable run for me this time compared to the hot weather last year. I had forgotten about the full marathoners until I caught up and talked to Wong SP, the Klang Pacer, that I realized some of them already on the bridge. He overtook him easily this time since he had ran half way in his full marathon and I was fresh for my 25KM.
I gladly grabbed a power gel from one of the volunteers but decided not to eat because my stomach was still feeling un-comfortable. This was one mistake that I made, I should not hold on to the gel and gave it to someone since I had decided not to eat it. Of course it would not slow me down by holding the gel in my hand for the next one and a half hour, but RM6 should not be able to compensate my discomfort during the run.
Further up the bridge, I easily overtook Tay PC and feeling great. This is the advantage of running the Half, thanks to the organizer for such an arrangement so that I could easily overtake anyone, of course, the “anyone” must be the one who ran the Full, Ha Ha!
The bridge did not look great with all the widening works, many street lights along the bridge were not functioning most probably due to the renovation works.
I did not felt the strain running up the bridge, I think the slope is very gentle compared to most races (Last year, I did have the same feeling). I felt more confident while I reached the middle of the bridge and continued to speed towards the mainland. This portion was mostly dark with few runners along the way and I reached the U-turn. Looked at the watch and it was slightly over an hour, took a wrist band from the check point after the U-turn and ran back to the island. I did feel some strain along the slope for the return journey, maybe this was the sign of tiredness.
After the middle of the bridge, I estimated it would be less than 7Km to go. At this stretch, I was being challenged by an un-familiar Chinese man in my category (Later I found out that he was a Singaporean), and I was feeling the stress in both my legs. When we were about to leave the bridge, another runner from our category zoomed past us. The Singaporean put up a great fight but I was a spent force and had to slow down slightly. Anyway I was quite satisfied with my 2 hrs 4 min and 30 sec result and had to settle for the 12th place.
After all our runners returned, I realized that there was serious shortage of water along the bridge while the organizer had to deploy the ambulance to deliver extra water to salvage the situation. And I just get to know that our famous photographer runner, Mr. Tey, was nearly murdered by the organizer! Water! Water! Water!
However our runners from the Taman Bukit Jalil group did enjoy the run with many of them achieved their PB. There is a secret , all our runners were well prepared and carry their own water, we do not have much expectation from almost every Race Organiser in Malaysia after many races.
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