Penang Bridge Marathon 2008 - Prelude

(press Shift Key and) click here for post-race reports: part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.
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This must the first outstation (away from Kuala Lumpur) run that I have since my foot injury. I will be driving to Penang to take part in the Penang Bridge Run on this Sunday 16 November. Okay, I am only going for the half marathon category.
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Penang Bridge Marathon in 2007: Raymond (in yellow), Steven and LeongYP. Filepix by Weng on 24 June 2007
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There will be three other runners in my car. Together with other runners going with Tony Q, we plan to have a sumptuous lunch at Ipoh (Saturday 15 November) and proceed with the journey. After collecting the bibs, we shall be savouring the good food of Penang. At this moment, it is not certain whether we could enjoy the extra hawker food before dinner; or even having additional supper.

Interestingly, I have never run at the Penang Bridge marathon before even though I have run three full marathons in Singapore. So this time around, it is considered my maiden run at the Penang Bridge Run. I have to run there to experience what it is like when other runners commented that “the fresh air smelled like fish”.

Beautiful sunrise that greets the runners. This time, with the starting time of full marathon at 3:00 a.m., it will be run under the street lights.
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Last year, I read a report that one runner was participating in the Penang Bridge Marathon. Of course, the writer’s group of runners was attracted to the famous food of Penang. So he ate and ate and ate … on the race event morning, he has to spend much time going for extended emptying of the bowel. So it was a blessing in disguise that the emptying process took place before and not during the run.

On the way back on Sunday 16 November 2008, the group plan to have lunch at the famous Tambun Seafood restaurants. According to a reliable source (runners) from Penang, the food there is reasonably cheap and delicious. Okay, I better stop highlighting about the gastronomical delights; otherwise, I could be looking for toilets along the bridge during the run. According to the same reliable source again, there are not many toilets lining along the route, and there are no bushes or trees either.
.Vibrant colour - Penang Bridge is on the left... photo courtesy of Weng.
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I actually have not run in Penang before. I was planning to run the Malakoff Penang 25km a few months ago but that event clashed with Adidas King of the Road at Shah Alam.

There is still one vacant seat in my car. If you would like to join us for the gastronomical delights or you need transport, do contact me.

My Training Runs

I have been running 10km every Sunday morning within the housing estate where I live. So last Sunday morning, I decided to do a 20km training run. Applying the marathon training methodology, a final long run must be done at least two weeks before the actual event day. So I sent out emails identifying my running buddies. Ang CK of Permaisuri Group (of Pacesetters Club) replied and I was pleased to run with them (note: I am from Subang Jaya Area Group).
.MPSJ stadium at Subang Jaya - filepix on 05 November 2006 on Subang Jaya 10km by yours truly (KC).
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It was a coincidence that the Friday evening (31 October) before, I was playing a strenuous bout of badminton games for almost two hours non-stop with the regular badminton kaki. Not only that the stamina has to be sustained, in order to compete in the game, I have to retrieve precision net drops, hard smashing, cross-court retrieval and so on. You could imagine that the impersonated Ling Dang (of China) is in action albeit a much slower pace.

On Sunday 2 November morning, I drove to Bukit Aman car park, getting ready to run with Permaisuri Group. The moment I ran, every step forward generated pain in my back that was caused by the badminton game. Ahhhh … So it was really anti-climax. I have to drive home while seeing other runners proceeded with the run.

Not feeling satisfied, I proceed to run slowly at the MPSJ stadium, about 700 meters from my house. With the rubberized tracks, it partly cushioned the impact. I managed to struggle a bit and later when the machinery of my body system was well oiled, the pain went off. So I was running round and round the circuit for almost one hour (the equivalent of about 13km).
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It is not easy to maintain the repeatable process by running round the 400-meter track for too long as other people would not quite believe what they see either. The following morning (Monday), I repeated another one hour of run. This time, my back was okay.

Training Run on Sunday 9 November
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I was running at the MPSJ rubberized track again this morning. Last Friday evening (7 Nov), I played the usual badminton games. While playing, I was cautious at the beginning about the back ache and the training run that follows on Sunday. But after being pressured and attacked by the opponents in the game, it was hell break loose and I engaged the aggressive and attacking mode by throwing caution to the wind. So after the game, I was a little worried that what it would be like on Sunday morning again.

I was glad that there was no back pain this morning. So I ran and ran and ran using time as a measurement for the distance. I realized that when I ran at the track where there are many other runners (leng chai and leng lui, of course), I tend to run much faster. Since I am wearing the branded running gears (that I don’t look like a casual runner) I must prove a bit that I am worth the salt.
.Yours truly (KC) - you have to imagine that I am running (in this photo)
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The difficult part when running fast is to suppress the hard breathing sound, much like a Formula 1 car without the deafening roar. It would not sound pleasant and polite when you run past other people (who are having their peaceful morning exercise there also) and the hard breathing sound is as though that I have just chased a runaway bull. Luckily, this is not the durian or petai season (or both); otherwise, with the Huh... Har ... Huh ... Har, the breath could be breathtakingly awesome.

Yes, I think I am ready to participate in the Penang Bridge Run after months of own training though it falls short of my intended training schedule.

To those who are going to the Penang Bridge Marathon run this Sunday, wishing you a pleasant trip and a good run. We may even meet at the same restaurants.

Written by KC