My Standard Chartered KL Marathon 10k run

What a day! I was up at 4.45am this morning (went on Facebook and my friends were all just coming back from clubbing!) for my first run since the Terry Fox Run last November, and since I started my four-months physiotherapy in December.

Last year, I was aiming for this run to be my first 21k, but after my physio, did not even contemplate it and besides, my doctor wouldn’t have been too happy. So when the registration for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon opened, I signed up for the 10k, not knowing if my knees and hamstring would have gotten better (but signed up anyway). So glad I did!

I was afraid of parking, so I went over to Le Meredien hotel at KL Sentral and parked there before Zahim (sorry, Dato’, I mean hehe) and I walked over. Consider it a warm up. I was excited for him because it was his first run, and I still remember mine at the Nike+ Human Race 10K last year in Singapore. We arrived at Dataran Merdeka about 6.15am, just as the half-marathon (21k) runners were flagged off. Looked out for some friends – Yin, Kubhaer and Kenny but too many people!

After taking enough pictures of the half-marathoners, and being amazed at home many people were there, Zahim and I started camwhoring – we had to capture the moment. And the Sultan Abdul Samad building looked really good with the lights.

And then it was time to get ready for the run. And as we went over hand out bags over to the bag storage people, @partypooper101 who came up to say hi and take a pic (nice to meet you out of the Twittersphere, Trecia!). Then it was a quick warm up before we had to get ready at the starting line. I liked that we were given small bibs to tag to our bags, so that made it easy for the storage. The mass warm up session was a bit short though, so I did some of my own. Not knowing how my legs were going to react for my first run in a while (and I didn’t train – my last run was 2.75km last week and I walked home limping!), I stretched quite a bit especially the hamstring (didn’t want a repeat of last year!).

And then we were flagged off and that’s when I said by to Zahim and we did our run separately. I thought the route was okay – it wasn’t too hilly (thank God!) and I really didn’t expect it to be quite so flat (I didn’t do my homework, obviously). The weather was very nice, a slight drizzle as we took off but then a gentle overcast until we came back which was perfect!

I still have my Nike+ wristband from last year (though it’s gone wonky and I can’t read half the screen) so I used it to help me pace myself and keep time. That dip at the 5th point was when I took a toilet break (couldn’t hold it in any longer!). The second dip was when I thought my knee was flaring up and so I stopped for a bit at the next drinking stop.

Other than that, I was pretty consistent till the end, just a few stops to walk after the 7km mark (about 8.5 on the marker above). As we arrived at the DBKL building, I was so sure that we were almost done and would turn right to Dataran (my watch was reading 9+km at that point) but we were directed left and we had almost 2 km left. Can die! My watch isn’t THAT accurate (or maybe blur case like me just don’t know how to calibrate properly). Cursing under my breath, I continued and made it back in just over 65 minutes.

I’m not unhappy at the results at all although my runs last year have all been sub-60mins. Considering I didn’t train, and I was ready to just walk all the way if my knees flared up, I am thrilled (not to mention the toilet break!).

I cooled down after my run while waiting for friends to return and also went to collect my finisher’s medal (another to add to my collection!). The one above is actually Zahim’s but mine was in my bag and I was too lazy to take it out. I guess I came back before the flood of people, cos I got my bag and medal without much of a queue. The baggage claim was a bit strange, because they just returned our bags without marking collected or anything, so I’m glad that mine didn’t go missing (one guy couldn’t find his bag while I was queuing up – hope they found it).

Then of course, I checked Twitter and all the messages were streaming in. Some of us managed to find each other (like Zahim, Smashpop, Selena – did I get your name right? and EVo. I also met Anna Rina, Mike Foong and AprilYim (who didn’t run but was there for moral support). Didn’t manage to meet other friends who ran though. Tweetup tak jadi!

Before we left, bumped into Keith and Yin again who had collected their 21km finisher’s medal. Obviously, I was very jealous (and wanted to do it too – though sitting here blogging feeling all achy, I think maybe not hehe). I also took an after shot with Zahim before we walked back to Le Meridien (yes, more walking!!!).

In terms of the race, I had a good time. I felt pretty good running and wished I was more fit or had trained, but it reminded me why I like running so much. The event itself was okay – I heard some complains about organisation but I didn’t encounter any problems. I felt bad for people like Yin and the others who came in later than the 10k runners though, they ran out of bananas.

My biggest peeve was distance markers. The only one I saw was for the full marathon folks, so I couldn’t really gauge how far I had left etc. At one point, as we were approaching Bank Negara, I actually sped up thinking I was already so close to Dataran Merdeka only for them to direct us left towards Sogo. Straight away pancit!

But otherwise, I’m already thinking of what other runs I can do (probably not the King of the Road, maybe the Wave Run. Trying to arrange to go to Singapore again for the Human Race 10k again though!

What I also really enjoyed was my new pair of shoes. I was told that these were the only pieces on the road in Malaysia at the moment (but Mike Foong said he saw it in Nike stores last week – but global launch of the shoes are only on July 1). Anyway, the Nike LunarGlide+ were great.

I’ve only worned them once before (wanted to wear them in, and then the pain happened) but they worked out really well for me today. I like that they looked like shoes – not one of those which wraps around your legs and was still pretty light. I was worried they might get a bit warm – they started getting warm at 2.5km the other day and I was worried how it would last in a longer distance run – but it was actually turned out okay.

The road was wet for part of the way, and the grip on the shoe was really good. I wasn’t too worried running on the roads or pavements, I could maintain my speed (or lack of it!) which I thought was good. The shoe also features this technology called Dynamic Support System, which makes it ideal for both cushioning and support. I really haven’t been running long enough to know what all this means but they were comfortable.

So, I am very happy (and yes, showing off too).

Back to the day, Zahim and I took a slow walk back and then went for breakfast at Hilton KL to celebrate finishing the run! How posh! But since we were sweaty and icky, we just went to the poolside. The pita-bread chicken was yummeh!

What a day indeed!

7.04pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)