Monday, November 23, 2009

PBIM 2009

The place we stayed, B-Suite hotel. It was a family room as the studio room was all booked. The hotel does not have its own restaurant therefore no room service which forced us to walk to the nearest shopping complex for dinner. We had Marybrown which isn't the healthiest of choices but well. I bought bananas and some oat drinks as well. But the room is well kept and clean and comfy. I love.

Me at 210 in the morning. I slept early; dozed off at 8pm and woke up feeling quite refreshed. I think I just ate a banana and was about to head out to walk to the mall. I was hoping to bump into other runners who would accompany me along the way. I ended up walking with this orderly uncle who wants to be called as PK and we exchanged anecdotes on our Annapurna Base Camp memories. I think he has done 9 full marathons.

Wish I could write 'hard earned medal' but to be honest I didn't really do any training and I walked for maybe a total of 10-15 minutes combined. I knew I could have gone faster! This is the problem when you were in a competitive sport before; you would want to try going harder longer or faster then anyone who passed you by. I forced my mind to think about how awesome for me to be doing this under 3 hours when I thought I'd finish waaayy later due to my knees. 

Things I want to write down:

1) I was kind of hoping that they have someone with one of those deep heat ointment because I so badly needed it during the race. Yes they did have 2 'stations' where they would spray those muscle ointment thingy but it didn't do much justice. When I was in the Mizuno Waverun, they had a guy with a huge tube of deep heat and it was useful and easier as I could apply the ointment myself and on any of my body parts as I wished without showing to other people (I had a nagging inner thigh ache when I was running in PBIM... no one could spray THERE). Also ointment would be easier to reach into hard to spray places, like the arch of your foot... where it was hurting the most! Must remember to bring my own ointment for the next race.

2) No Milo station! I've said this before - I look forward to the Milo drinks as much as the medal and certificate and finishing. I was already robbed of this luxury when I did the Great Eastern 10k in Singapore but I thought running events in Malaysia would have the Milo station since its... deeply embedded in our hearts ever since kindergarten. So all I did was ice my knees and feet, took my bag and then walked home.

3) The bagging system was a bit hassled. You know how you would receive a chip with the number your bag has on so it would be easier for them to locate your bag? Almost every place uses the system - the bowling alley, the library, gym - so it's a surprise when PBIM system consisted of just asking for our names and the description of our bag, which was why it took them about 20 minutes to find mine as I was using the yellow Digi bag that 60% of the participants used as well! Kudos to 2 volunteers who were energetic, chirpy and friendly even after looking for 2947728 bags all with the description of , "yellow digi bag."

4) I didn't really like that they gave out water bottles. I especially hated it when I see most of them were half empty and some were quarter full. What a waste! I feel like I have the right to feel indignant since I've been saying no to plastic bottles for 15 months now and hate to see excessive use of it anywhere when you're forced to use them. they could have given water in paper cups like most races.

5) This lady runner who sprinted like mad when going down the hill and later stopped due to knee pain. I was cringing when she was slop slop slopping down the hill. 

6) This lady runner who had a funny running form. It looked like her right shoulder is yanked by an invisible hand every 3 steps.

7) the uncle who shouted encouragements to runners at the roundabout near the finishing line. He was noisy and could be annoying but I enjoyed him. He was shouting in chinese but when he saw ladies in headscarves he went all, "Lari lari jangan jalan saja! Hanya 500m sikit saja!!" Loved it!

8) the run itself. I was going at a slow pace and carefully monitoring (or feeling) my knees and ankle. My feet or rather the arches started to hurt at 2.5km mark. And they never STOPPED. At times it got so unbearable which forced me to limp for maybe 1-2 minutes before I ran again. But I enjoyed it. When we reached 15km I was like wow really? It felt like a short distance. But then again, maybe t was because the run was in the dark without the heat. I might sing a different song in Standard Chartered!



5 comments:

  1. I hate the bottles too, what a waste, kan? But I think they were short of volunteers. Giving out bottles was quicker lah.

    Errkkk...you didn't see the milo van? Adalah, just behind the 100+. It was a bit dark so hard to spot.

    And yes, I'm also always peeved at runners who don't bother to learn about pacing. They sprint past for like 10m, then they stop, walk, and repeat this the entire distance. It's quite annoying. :)

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  2. I cringed when I saw a guy hurling a plastic water bottle over the bridge into the sea...rasa macam nak ketuk je kepala dia..

    Anyway, it was a nice race, yes?
    I hope your knees get better. Try seeing a physiotherapist about that, okay?

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  3. Haza: I know some guys use this strategy to sprint-walk when they are in pain. In fact, I know its faster than trying to chug slowly like we do when we are at the 30Km mark. I wish I could still sprint 100m-walk and sprint again for the last 12KM but as you know the last 12KM is like foreverrrrrr! But on the other hand, there are people with egos. Sikit2 nak potong. Aper je! Macam lah kita nak race dia, hello…I'm 40. Go challenge someone your own age.

    I have learnt to be self sufficient while running a marathon. I run complete with bandages, deep heat, gel, nuun (salt) tablets and endurance drink. I leave my keys, handphone, ipod at home.

    Congrats on completing the 21KM. Its not easy where you had been.

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  4. haza: I was running with this one girl who did exactly just that - sprinting walking sprinting. It was a tad irritating especially since she was the one who was charging downhill.

    julin: i saw a lot of them too! how could they even think of throwing the bottles to the sea?

    kash: will keep that in mind. im going to bring an arsenal of stuff too the next time i run that far!

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  5. congrats nadia! glad it was a better experience for you as compared to my hell last year.

    last year I was running with this one boy who put on his phone on loudspeaker! kalau lagu best takpe lah jugak, tapi lagu iklim, spring etc (they are ok, but outdated, lah)

    kash is correct, better bring your kedai runcit in singapore hahahah. what's your plan for SCSM?

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