KL International Marathon 2008

2007 KL International Marathon is my maiden run since I took up running a few years ago. This is my second attempt and everybody expecting me to do well since I did a sub-4 at my first run.

One day before, Saturday, 29th March 2008.
Woke up at 5 a.m. and drove down to Ipoh to meet my uncles and cousins for the Ching Meng. Came back to KL in the evening and went to sleep at around 11.30 pm.

Sunday, 30th March 2008.
Woke up at 3 a.m., no time for any breakfast and rushed down to Bukit Aman bringing along a packet of powerbar and powergel each. Walked and slowly jogged down to the merdeka square after eating the powerbar as breakfast in Bukit Aman car park. Reached the starting line at around 4.10 a.m., met up with a few fellow runners from Bukit Jalil, did some stretching and checked in to the "cage".

My muscles had not been fully recovered after the 5 hours plus torturous ride at the Ipoh Fellowship Ride on the 23rd March 2008 but I still quite confident that I can finish the run within 4 hours.

I started slowly and everything seems fine, however I was slightly worried when I reached the 10KM mark. The time was more than 56 min,compare to last year the timing didn't look good and I was already feeling a bit tire. I started to doubt I could do another sub-4 after a successfully outings in 2007 (all 2 sub-4 marathons, KLIM and Singapore Standard Charted Marathon).

I was feeling very uncomfortable when I reached the 25KM, although my legs still OK but I felt some pain in my stomach. I knew that this will be my PW (person worst) timing this time. I totally gave up hope when crossing the 30KM point, how could I do another 12KM in 1 hour and 12 minutes with the current conditions, feeling heavy and tire! I started to walk, after a few minutes, Mr. Lee (Papaya) and Mr. Wu overtook me and asked me what happened to me. I wished I know what happen! I walked all the way for the next 8KM until Tan Ay Peng approaching me, he stopped and talk to me. I was feeling bad so I started to run again together with him, we run/walk for the next 4 KM until the finishing line. It took me 4 hours and 32 minutes.

There were around 15 runners from the Bukit Jalil Area Group taking part in the Full 42KM Marathon! All of us finnished within the official allocated time. We have one of the fastest in Ah Wei running 3 hours and 18 mins and one of the final qualifier Mr. Ting running 6 hours and 58 min. Well done, Bukit Jalil Team!

A photo of some of the Bukit Jalil runners, 8 of the runners below taking part in 2008 KLIM full marathon.