Adidas King of The Road, Shah Alam

Aaah... to be back in the lovely comforting place called home. This is my second official 10k race... and I started this one out with a slight glitch.

I woke up at 540 am, and woke my friend up (who always join the events with me) at610am, but he took his own sweet time and we arrived there at 650am, and when we were walking towards the stadium, we found out that the race has begun! So we rushed to the area and after running blindly for a couple seconds looking for the registration area, somebody slapped me with the wrist band and told us, "Just run!!"

So the last of the runner was ahead of us about 10 ft away. When we reached the first roundabout I managed to overtake the last group of runners. I think the first 7km was great; my body has warmed up due to the rushing, and I made my way slowly until I feel comfortable that I'm at the right runners' pack (in other words, runners who will safely make it to the qualifying time).

But as we reached the last 4km, fatigue started to show its face. I felt it more so on my upper back, and for the first time ever my shoulders were tensed. I had to shake it out. I was carrying the small water bottle but took only 3 sips in between running; I'd considered dropping the bottle off as it was weighing me down but didn't want to litter the place. I asked a couple of ladies whether they wanted water but none of them did. When I looked at my watch I realized that the qualifying time is about to be over, and I silently cursed the hills!

The hills were such a mental torture. I always start the race really slow but picked up pace on the last 4~5km. But the hills made it impossible. I told myself that my goals for entering a race is simple: to complete the distance without any walking. I soldiered on the first few hills, but before we reach the last roundabout, the hill were so taxing that I was forced (yes, forced) to walk for I think 2~3 minutes. I felt like I lost the race already. My thoughts were like, "don't walk! You want to complete the race RUNNING," and "Just a minute of walking wouldn't kill you! Besides, you're already at a walking pace!"

When we reached the stadium I picked up pace (realized now how important Gentle Pickup and intervals are!!) because I thought the finish line would be at the same place, but instead they took us to a really mentally taxing underground route. At this point my brains were screaming bloody murder. "Damn you KOTR!!"

When I arrived at the area, there was no F sign anywhere. But I figured the F sign probably fell off and I took the rightmost lane, and was awarded with a smile and a medal. Since I was already 3 minutes late from the qualifying time (according to my stopwatch) I thought everybody gets the finisher medals, but realized that not all ladies were holding a medal. So I'm not sure if my stopwatch is not accurate... or they cut some slack with the qualifying medals. Either way...I'm glad I did finish this race, but NOT GLAD that I walked for 2~3 minutes.

My time? According to my stopwatch, I completed the 11km in 01:23:50. I that good or bad?