My Maiden 42.2km Journey

Last Sunday (27 June 2010) was special. The day that I had completed a journey of 42.195km on foot around Kuala Lumpur. Passing through those roads and places, which prior to the journey, were mostly of no significance. Roads that you have passed and places that you have seen countless times. Below is the haphazard recollection of my maiden journey called a “Marathon”.

Zero Week and the Point of no Return

6 days prior to the big day I completely rested my legs from doing any running, not even 50 meters. I can’t think of any reason why it is called “Zero Week” other than you are not supposed to run right? Anyway, my left leg was in dire need of the rest because of, no need to guess, the shin splint (naik muak korang tengok term ni kot). I wish that the shin splint can be transformed to banana splits (just look at how Syed performed by whalloping 5 pisang montel before the run J). By Saturday I have accepted the fact that the shin splint (not the banana split) will remain as my unwanted friend in the most important run that I had ever attempted from the day I was introduced to the running world at SCKLM 2009. The mantra is “embrace the pain” (the advice to FMVs by Ultra Marathoner Kash).

I wish I had a quite Saturday so I could have enough rest, physically and mentally to run the next day. But at the end of the day, running is just our hobby and passion. Whether we like it or not, we could only attempt our best to juggle our time between running and our other responsibilities, to our family, career and community (isshh..macam cakap org politik lah pulak).

My Saturday started at 3.45 am, sending my wife to LCCT to catch her early morning flight to Thailand. Later in the morning, I attended a kenduri in my neighbourhood and then in the evening, I drove 170km +- (to and fro) attending another kenduri of a wife’s relative. I reached home around 8pm and tried to sleep by 9pm but I was swarmed with restlessness (an obvious sign of pre-race jitter). Since I could not sleep early, I watched the “Spirit of the Marathon” as part of my “anchoring” (the tip given by Diket aka King Mambo) and “acquiring positive energy” (the tip from Nik, the Ultra Marathoner and Lanun King). With a more positive mindset coupled with a number of spin exercises on my bed (malam tu aku tidur sorang, tu yg boleh golek-golek lebih sikit), I managed to have a 2 hour sleep before getting out from bed around 2.30am.

It might be due to the short nap or the jitter but whatever the reason was, my body refused to happily take in the rice porridge as my pre-race breakfast. I had to force to take in few spoons. Spent quite a long time in the loo but I could not claim that I had fully achieved the objective of the mission. Because of the jitter, my race prep was a bit disorganized. I left home quite late and parked my car near Masjid Negara at nearly 4.30 am. Put on my shoes and jogged to Dataran Merdeka.

It was not long after I reached the Race Venue that the full marathon crowd started to flow into the starting gantry. Bumped into Haza and said hi (she was with June, Azza and few others). Later I met Ijam, the official RBU’s photographer with the other kaki lambongs/RBUs i.e. King Mambo, Syah, Nik, Shuk, Nizam, KA and Zaki. The atmosphere at the back was easy, just like listening to the lite & easy channel on my way to work. Jokes were flying around between runners though they were going to be released to tame the 42.2km monster. It did help me in fighting my jitter.

I had finally arrived at the point of no return.

I got the best wishes from an Ultra-Marathoner Nik! TQ for the lambong atin the last LSD :)

Posing dulu dlm hujan

Photos courtesy from Ijam

The Journey

KM1-17

We were gunned off in a downpour. Love the cool early morning weather. My only worry was the possible blister at a much later stage of the run due to hours of running in wet socks/shoes. My mission, as in all my other races, was to go on a snail pace and finish safe. A sub 6 hour finishing time is a bonus hence I decided not to chase the red balloon.

The first 3km, I felt sluggish though we were soaked wet in the rain. I felt hungry as well though it was still an early stage of the run. Luckily I brought along dates and took some of them. Somewhere in Brickfields, Azza caught up with me and we ran together. It was a small world after all as our family had known each other for a long time. My family stayed in the same Taman with hers for not less than 30 years. We reached the first Water Station and I stopped, not to drink but to get the hot ointment/cream for my shin splint (I applied the ointment in the interval of 1 water station throughout the journey).

It was after KM5 that my body started to feel better. Continued with my plodding and caught up with Azza at Jalan Sungai Besi. We run together for a while. Though I saw the red balloon about 300m in front of me, again I decided not to chase it but continued with my pace. I caught up with the red balloon somewhere near Dewan Bahasa and paced with the guy along Jalan Loke Yew before increasing my pace going into Jalan Cheras. We were handed banana at the Water Station around KM14 or 15 and it was like a godsend to me. I should have asked for 2 since I was near famine. Anyway I continued with my plodding.

KM18-30

KM18 was where I first encountered the most unexpected issue of my maiden marathon run. My 30 days’ old Adidas Supernova Glide 2 had decided to transform itself into Adidas Supersole Glide 2. I believe it was due to the wet shoes and socks, the sole of the shoes just slipped and folded under my foot. #$%$$##$! Tried to ignore it but it affect my running gait due to the discomfort. I decided to stop and sit on the pavement to rectify the issue. I thought the problem would cease there but it kept recurring and I made 4 other stops along the distance to attend to the problem. My shoes just failed me big time.

I reached the 21.1km mark around 2 hr 45min. Sub 6 hour looks possible, I told myself but I decided not to push myself for fear of worsening the shin splint and the problem of the Adidas Supersole Glide 2 (I was not ready to run bare footed, even with Vibram). The run along Jln Bkt Bintang, Jln Raja Chulan, Jalan Sultan Ismail was the highlight of the event. Good to run with cheers along the way.

I think all runners will share the same view that running along Jln Ipoh up to the junction to Jln Kuching was the dreadful part of the course due to the traffic. The building up of the pain of the shin splint and the #$$%@ Adidas Supersole Glide 2 issue started to affect my mental strength. The mantra of “embrace the pain” also started to fade by the time I reached 30km. I did more walking than I wished to.

KM31-42

The first highlight was that I met an old college mate whom I had not met since we graduated in 1994. She was doing her stretching at KM31 and I stopped there to attend to my Adidas Supersole Glide 2 issue. The second highlight was the right knee started to give away at KM33. I suspected that, due to the shin splint of my left leg, my running gait might have put more pressure to the right leg, hence injuring the right knee. It was the biggest blow to my physical ability and fighting spirit to go strong for the last 8km. KM36 changed that.

KM36 was in the heart of many runners because of the fantastic, kind hearted and sincere people who were there waiting, cheering and supporting us runners at the time when we needed them most. Kash and Rais would never cease from receiving my utmost admirations and respects for all that they had done. My thank you as well to Julie, Karen and Allen (and whoever) that were part of the KM36’s crew. You guys ROCKS!

At Jln TAR, 100m frm the finishing line - photo courtesy from Ijam

From KM36, I had the second wind. I tried to run (though in super snail pace) as much as I could whilst bearing the knee pain. The familiar territory did help as well and I just ignored all those discomfort due to the Adidas Supersole Glide 2 issue. When I passed Bank Negara walking to Jln Raja Laut, I saw Shuk and he asked me to run. Bro, you pushed me well just like in the last Bkt Aman LSD :). I ran with a couple of walk breaks until I entered Jln TAR. Last year I gave everything to run along this stretch to finish my 10k run in chasing the qualifying time. This year, I was in similar situation albeit I was going to chase the qualifying time of my maiden 42.2k run. I just ran, pain or no pain and the feeling got better by the meters I was getting closer to the finishing line. Got the cheers from Ijam, KA and Deo (TQ guys) and I crossed the finish line just in time to get the bonus of doing a sub 6 hour maiden marathon, Alhamdulillah.

Aftermath

I had a good time spending time with friends (RBU/GKL) after the run. It was a great day for all, with many clocking their PBs. I had a great time cheering the other marathoners back to the base with the presence of the many KINGS’ of the kaki lambongs (siap dah habis santap nasi Kandaq) and the highlight was when I was part of the entourage escorting June to finish her run. Congrats to all RBU/GKL and all FMVs. I don’t have to mention names, you know who you are. Well done to all and hope we will continue this wonderful and self fulfilling journey in the future, Insyaallah.

Note

Save for the swollen knee, I had no major pains (shin splint tu x payah cakap, mmg kira close buddy dah). I iced the swollen knee right after I reached home. By night the condition had improved a lot. Experienced muscles ache/stiffness but it was not that bad. Went to work on Monday and I knew that I have recovered quite well when my colleagues said I did not look that I’d done a 42.2km the day before. Alhamdulillah.