20/1/08-Great Eastern 30 km Run

I almost wanted to stop !!


Its true ! This was one of my most tiring race . I was at around top 50 for the 1st 10 km and going at a decent pace . But...my legs were getting very tired and I'm not surprise . There was very little sleep this past 3 to 4 days .I was involved in a conference organised by my friend and had to fetch people to and from airport , some in the wee hours of the morning . All these distrupted my sleep pattern and rest .In fact , this 3 to 4 days , I felt very tired and sleepy and was wondering if I can do well in the GE 30 km race .

So after running for about 10 km and when we arrived after the Tugu Kebangsaan , I had an option to just run straight to Lake Garden ,get my car and go home , resulting in a DNF .But ... my mind said just persevere . So I persevere but was getting slow at the 12 to 13 km mark .

One by one , people started overtaking me , at least 50 or so . Those whom knew me were surprised that I'm at this pace and so slow . First it was Chen , then Raymond Ng . In fact , Raymond Ng did encourage me to run with him for awhile , which i managed just awhile . Suddenly I see 1 fast runner ( Hamidon ) ,walking back and I announced to Raymond , who was then 20 m in front that I want to follow Hamidon . Other people at the back 20 m behind who heard me say that laughed and thought I was joking . In fact ,I wasn't , I was really tired that those people at the back of me slowly overtook me .But I kept going because I malu to DNF as I never DNF in any race in my life before .

Later Raymond Hee also overtook me .He was also surprised at my condition but Iexplained to him and he understood .

At the junction almost reaching Jln Duta, Geraldine came from the back . I thought since she is my familiar trainning partner that I will just pace with her . It was faster then my current slow pace but it helped .

Going into Hartamas , Zulazlan also overtook us . Later as we head towards Petronas , we can see some familiar faces , including those friends who have overtaken me . So , after coming out of Petronas and into the downhill after the Hartamas Shopping Centre , I increased the speed going a slight downhill and overtook Zulazlan . It was quite a fast speed and I surprised my self that I can still go at that pace .

But as we reached the Jln Duta Tennis Courts , I slowed down again and Shine came from behind . I thought I might as well pace with him the last 5 km . But it was more of a race too coz we were also trying to outrun each other .

With the signboard showing another 3 km to go , I managed to up the pace and he as strong as ever stayed just behind me . It was hard to run away from him coz he is like a leech ! With another 1 km to go at the Lake Club , I know we are almost finishing and I upped the pace further and he stayed closely . Finally at the last 100 m , it was a very fast run to the finish and he then managed to outsprint me at the finish with just another 20 m to go and beat me by 1 second !!

Overall , I am not very happy with this race but then I can also say that with all the little rest and sleep , this is to be expected . 2ndly , I was surprised and also happy that being so very tired at the 1st 10 km and when it looked like I was going to do above 3 hours at a very slow pace , suddenly I had 2 friends to pace with at the last 15 km and it motivated me to at least get
2hr 51min 46 sec , far from my Marathon pacing , far from last year's timing of 2hr 37 min and not achieving my target of at least 2 hr 45 and below.

Try again next time , hopefully with more rest .

Tommorow (Monday) ,I'll be preapring for some major muscle aches !!