It has been 8 months since I last ran a 10km race. The Duta route is always a good benchmark to gauge my fitness level. It is also a route where I am most familiar with.
I got up in the morning with the thawed PowerBar ready on the table to be gobbled up. It was drizzling. Will the rain get worse? I hesitated on chewing the PowerBar and in the end decided not to consume it because it would be wasteful should I choose to skip the race due to the downpour. Instead I carried a pack of PowerGel to Dataran – a deviation from my standard pre-race breakfast. However, to compensate for the nutrients, I took one tablet of Bio-grow Vitamin B-complex and a tablet of Kordel’s multi-vits+ginseng.
When I reached Dataran, the weather was simply beautiful. It was cool and breezy. I quickly took the double-caffeine strawberry flavoured PowerGel and sip my Gatorade. 15 minutes to the countdown, Ben Lim came running to my direction to collect his bibs. Ben as usual is as cool as a cucumber.
CS was already in the barricade. Could not find Newton. Ben excused himself to move in front of the pack.
VIP Ong Tee Keat fired the gun and we were off. This is one of the rare occasions where I started alone without any familiar faces alongside. For some unknown reasons, I ran with a posture that was similar to Michael Johnson's, chest forward and head tilted back (?). This seems to alleviate my backache ailment but I am not sure if the posture looked silly!
The Mizuno Precision 3 once again proved to be an excellent racing shoe.
As always, many runners overtook me at the Langgak Tunku stretch. After the 2nd kilometer, I felt a mild discomfort developing on the left diaphragm, which moved to the right and settling to the centre of my ribs. I focus in my breathing with the hope the pain would ease away.
Kilometer 5
Just before the Duta roundabout, the pain disappeared and it came at the right time as it was the start of the Duta Hill. I notice the heavier runners who overtook me earlier slowed down. Coming down hill, a recently renovated road that leads to a mini-tunnel. I increased pace with the hope of reaching the National Monument bus-stop in sub-60mins. I did not target any checkpoints but merely ran to the best of my ability.
Bare-footed Runner
As I was tackling the last uphill, the Parlimen flyover, a bare-footed Chinese lady runner came from behind with a distinguishable footstep “phek phek phek” and overtook me. I admired her toughness and wondered how her foot could withstand the abrasive asphalt. I attempted to follow her pace.
I reached the National Monument bus-stop in 58:37 mins. Bare-footed runner was now just behind me. After the fast downhill run and roundabout she overtook me again. I think she was also using me as a pacer! I gave chase and manage to overtake her back just as we turn to the clock tower.
Finished in 66:10 mins (PR). I was rather surprise to achieve this time, as I have not been running as regularly as last year. The route familiarity did help in pacing the sectors. Thanks too to the bare-footed lady runner. Ben did a fantastic PR time of 52+ mins and got a medal (80th position). CS also improved and PR 76+ mins.
Overall I enjoyed the run. Later Mee Peng and I had the popular pork noodles at Bandar Manjarala.
