My KL International Marathon 2007 Experience

Please click here to view 218 photos taken in Weng's new camera. This is the last photo album for KLIM 2007.

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Written by Steven (Penguin-5)

Running the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon (KLIM) 2007 was my most relaxing and easy marathon ever. I believe this is partly due to lack of pressure in achieving good timing. Since I have not trained much for this marathon, my goal was to complete the race – Yes, within qualifying time!

I set my priority target in finishing this race with lesser knees pain and minimal leg muscles cramp. Running a few marathons before, I know the equation well: no training, more pain; consistent training, lesser pain.

In this run, I paced with Weng. In fact, we have violated the Race Rules # 13 – Pacing is prohibited! We both agreed that we would brace the distance and finish it together. When either one of us stopped, the other would walk.

Weng was also under-trained for this marathon. The longest yard that he trained was 20km about two weeks ago. This time, Weng was running without his Nikon compact camera; instead, the usual left arm was strapped with a MP4 player to add entertainment while running, partly also that it looks trendy.

My longest distance in training was 14km on recent CNY eve morning. As such, I was qualified to receive the pre-awards “Under-trained for Marathon” also.

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I did prepare to avoid knees pain and legs muscles cramp a few days before the D-day. These are the two simple procedures that I prepared to avoid the pains and cramps: (1) Drink a lot of water to keep the body fully hydrated three days before the race. Drink water even I don’t feel thirsty. Go to the toilet as many times possible – it is crucial because it will drain out the lactic acid that was accumulated in the body. (2) One day before the race, rest more – especially the legs.

Amazingly, I finished this marathon with no knees pain and legs muscles cramp – at all! Seems like my preparation a few days before the marathon was actually working.

It was a totally different story for Weng. During the race, he claimed that this marathon was the toughest ever. Weng has to brace through the distance with legs and toes cramp. He hit the wall as early as at 20km mark. Since then, he has to gear himself up through this cycle: run-stop-cramp-walk, and run-stop-cramp-walk, and run-stop-…

At 30km mark, the exhausted Weng claimed that luckily he did not bring the camera along; if not, the weight of the camera would surely burden him more.

We crossed the finishing line with a timing of 5 hours 45 minutes. It was an achievement. We felt good having to complete the marathon. We were put to test the elements of life: We encouraged each other. We braced through the heat. We shared the pain. We conquered the distance. And we came back to the finishing line – together, as brothers.

By Steven