PJ Half Marathon 2005 Sep 18

Why is Penguin-1 (KC) lying on the stage? He is supposed to run the PJ Half Marathon. Hey, behind him, lay another lady.

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PJ Half Marathon report:

To view photos taken by Penguin-1's Canon IXUS-40 camera, please click here.

To view action photos taken by Jason Lee's Nikon D70 digital SLR,

Click here for main album containing 54 great shots.

Click here for second album containing 31 great shots.

Lens: NIKOR 70 -180mm; TAMRON 24-135mm. Flash: NIKON SB-800.

Written By Penguin-11

On 18th September Sunday morning, I had no trouble finding the Kelana Jaya Sports Complex in a half-awaken state! Why? I managed to sleep for 4.5 hours as my family was having a lantern party at my sister's place the night before. The celebration of mid-autumn Festival (Mooncake Festival) was ended at 11:00pm & by the time, we reached our own house was nearly mid-night.

I could see the car parks were filling up fast but luckily I managed to find a parking lot. I spotted some familiar faces & I believed that it was still early as there wasn't a big crowd. I heard that about 5,000 runners were expected to take part in this year's PJ Half Marathon. The organizer said that the crowd could have been bigger if the race wasn't held during the examination period. Anyway, the race was set to be an entertaining & exciting one. The annual PJ Half Marathon event is well-known of its friendly atmosphere.

In this race, my ultimate goal was to finish it within two hours & my second goal was aiming to have a better finishing time result. Nevertheless, I could feel that I would have a hard battle to flight in the PJ Half Marathon as I didn't train at all, throughout the last whole week. I told Penguin-1 about it when we met at the entrance of the Stadium; our last run was the recent Putarjaya Half Marathon. Hopefully, our reserved energy could help us to compete & complete the race. I hope for an enjoyable run & told myself that "to take it easy & have fun".

My PJ Half Marathon's Journey Begins…

At the starting area, I was looking high & low for Penguin-1 who promised to run with me for the first 5km. All the sudden, he & his brother showed up before the starting time. Then, he quickly asked us to walk over the starting line & asked Jason Lee, who was holding the Nikon D70 digital SLR camera, (one runner asked whether he was a reporter, but actually he is a friend of Penguin-1, who was there to take the starting photos and our photos; what a commendable effort!) to snap a photo for us. We happily posed ourselves for a good photo with other elite runners at the starting line. Ha! This is a first time in my life to have my photo taken at the starting line.

I started my stopwatch at the sound of the gunfire. Here I go… finally taking up the challenge to run the PJ Half Marathon run. As usual, I started with my own pace. Intended to do slow paces, but everybody seemed to take it seriously & run on with a high speed. I could see Ronnie (aka Pacemaker-1) running very fast pace from the back & at the right side of road, on the grass. However, I observed that there were not that many half marathon runners compared to the last Sunday's Putrajaya Half Marathon. Was it because of the examination period & the 24 hours international walk at Genting or the celebration of Mid-autumn festival & International Day of Peace?

The recent Putrajaya Half Marathon provided a better route, much less traffic; runners could run freely & less stress. As for the PJ Half Marathon, it was totally different; it was heavy traffic especially along the Federal Highway; runners were running side by side with traffic & they have run through few stretches of roads were dark & under construction.

At the Freescale (formerly known as Motorola) interchange, Penguin-1 & I were heading towards the U-turn at the well-known bridge in PJ & running on the pavement. I stopped at the 1st water station which was located at 4km mark for some isotonic drinks. They were so many runners didn't stop for a drink. I could feel that so many of them were passing by me...like the wind!

Before the U-turn, we spotted Lisa Oon who was wearing a special running long pants. Penguin-1 has a quick chat with her before we were turning back on the other side of the Federal Highway. Cars and buses were all over the place; we were breathing in so much of carbon monoxide. Somehow I wasn't disturbed by the presence of these vehicles since I have been used to running on the road shoulder at the Bukit Aman (Sunday morning training run) & other races venues.

In the next 2 kms, we were trading leads with Lisa, as well as Kelvin Ng (aka Pacemaker-2). I was striving to keep up my pace with them & so afraid that I couldn't maintain their paces. Now, I could fully understand why our bodies have evolved so that they could produce extra adrenaline (epinephrine) when we are threatened (just like this situation). This could make our hearts pump more blood to over muscles to enable us to fight and flight (run) with our strong energy. After a few more KM run, I started falling behind them...bye-bye! my running friends.

I could see those 10km fast runners were running at the opposite side & really admired their running talents & athleticism. Then, suddenly I spotted a familiar & cute lady runner, whom we met in the Putarjaya Half Marathon just one week ago, running in front of me. I ran up to her & said "Hello, June, nice to meet you again." Later on, Penguin-1 joined us to run a few KM. Her footsteps were smoothly pacing out. Very good fast lady runner; I was hardly hearing her breathing.

At the 6km mark, it started drizzling; I could see the flashes of lighting. I was a bit worry that if the rain was getting heavy, we would be in a deep trouble as the shoes would be totally wet; this might be causing us with some blisters. Not to mention that our running vests & pants were becoming wet & heavy. Putting us a cold condition!

At the start of the Subang flyover, I took my time to neutralize the hill and run a consistent pace downhill. Heading toward the 2nd water station which was located at 8km mark; I grabbed 2 cups of 100 Plus & then started to run slowly with a cup of water in my right hand. I could see Penguin-1 who was not too far from me; but I told myself that "I am not going to chase after him & it will be good for me if I could just keep him in my slight". Normally, after 5km, I couldn't see him anymore & he probably run ahead & disappeared from my slight. Nevertheless, I just preferred to run on with my own pace.

At 7:30am, right after the 8km mark, started to rain heavily. All runners were in soaping wet from top to bottom; just like taking cold shower with the clothes on in the morning. I really hope that I was wearing a swim suit or water proof pants under this type of weather condition. My underwear was terribly wet & my shoes were getting heavier. In spite of all these, frankly speaking, I was really enjoying the run & welcomed the rain.

At certain points, I was singing & dancing in the rain & feeling sense of "runner's high". I guess the rain was helping me to cool down my body temperature which I experienced once in the 30km training run at Bukit Aman which was organized by the Pacesetters club. I was energizing & feeling great! It was amazing that you could see the runners' hairstyles changed to a spiky type due to the rain. Hahaha! But, will I survive if today I am doing the full marathon? The answer is NO...

At the 11km mark, June, the lady runner slowly overtook me. This spurred me to follow her pace until the 3rd water station. I just followed her closely and soon realized a guy was running with her at most of the speed! This may be an opposite’s attraction. At the finishing, she told me that the guy was actually chasing her when she increased her pace & pacing with her when she slowed down.

As I was approaching the 12km water station, I saw Penguin-1 who arrived at that station ahead of me. Immediately, shouted his name few times. Finally, he heard it & responded & wanted to wait for me to continue the race with me. But I gave him a wave/sign to go ahead as I wanted to take my time to drink few cups of isotonic water. By this time, Penguin-1 was ahead by about 50 meters. No more rain! The rain has stopped. But, the roads were still wet & slippery which could be dangerous; however, if we have to run in the dry weather, we would breathe in a lot dust as those roads were under construction. Never have a perfect condition to run on the roads especially they are messy repairs.

After passing the BP station, reaching the Subang roundabout, from the opposite road, I could see the half marathon fast runners (elite runners) who had already u-turned back from the Terminal 2 & heading back to the Stadium. I shouted & cheered for those runners whom I could recognize & know. I gave my high thumb-up to Ronnie who was running & competing at the top 20 positions. His final result was at 18th position with an excellent timing, under the 21km Men's Open category.

At the same time, I was sort of giving myself some encouragement as I could still see them before reaching the U-turn at the Terminal 2. That could mean that I wasn't too far from them & a high possibility that I could make it below 2 hours.
After making the u-turn, I could see those runners coming from the opposite side. It really encouraged me to push harder & keep on my running pace. Otherwise, they might overtake me soon...no joke, man!

Before the 16km mark, I was looking forward to the 4th and last water station. I was in a joyful mood when I drank few cups of isotonic water. Azwar (aka Pacemaker) was standing by the water station cheering and taking photos. He told me another 2km to go. I puzzled & doubted it as the distance markers were not accurate. Anyway, didn't matter, I just have to keep on going until I reached inside the stadium.

I was excited when I approached the last sponging station under the flyover. That meant I am getting nearer to the finishing area. I ran and kept wondering where the hell is the stadium entrance. There wasn't any runner in front of me until I turned in a road, leading to the MAS's training center. Finally I entered the stadium, about another 300 meters to the finishing line, I run on the red track & felt so good to be finished within 2 hours as I could see the big clock at the center of the Stadium, just clicked to 8:21am. No one was cheering me on. It was alright as I was so glad that my goals have achieved & accomplished with my own style. While I was waiting to collect the finisher medal from the official, Mr. Wan (the immediate-past President of Pacesetters Club) was busy distributing and promoting the GE Pacesetters 30km runs.

While we were waiting for the rest of runners coming back to the Stadium, we took some group photos. Then, we saw our friends Chooi Wei & Chantelle entering the Stadium together & we cheered them. Immediately, we alarmed Jason Lee to take their photos. Chantelle was running gracefully in the last 100 meters (you can see it the attached photo), as well as Chooi Wei. It was very funny that I noticed Chooi Wei's shoes were completely dry. She told me that by the time she reached the 8km mark, there wasn't anymore rain.

We also met up with June, who won a prize for 9th position under the 21km Women's Open category. While we were talking to June, Chooi Wei & Chantelle, all the sudden, Kelvin Ng were shouting "Penguin-1's name" from a far end, app. 100 meters away. Maybe he was trying to attract Penguin-1's attention, or maybe, he felt that some people had the luck. Hahaha!

Before leaving the Stadium, June, Penguin-1 & I were looking for the 100 Plus drink. We realized that the 100 Plus station was left with a lot of drinks. This told us that the responses to this year's PJ Half Marathon wasn't that good.

Conclusion

What was my finishing time for the race? An unofficial time 1 hour 52 minutes & position 81. I am happy to receive the Finisher Medal as it is printed a position number on it. Overall, it was a fun & healthy run for me. I shall return for the next year's PJ Half Marathon race again. Hopefully, it is a sun shine day!

Cheers,

Penguin-11 (Chee Wee)

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