4th March 2018:
This was the first event that I have ran in Perak and also the first one that flagged off at 01:30 in the morning for the 21km event.
I wasn’t sure whether the start time was either too early in the morning or too late at night….. we stayed in Taiping and tried to sleep in the hotel around 22:00 for a couple of hours. Not really successfully however when I woke by the alarm around midnight I felt ok. The conditions were perfect thanks to the late night rain which brought the temperatures down.
Our hotel was around 2 km from the start so Martin & myself decided to walk/jog to the start to warm up.
At the start line we were able to meet up with Kevin. Although there are always pre-race nerves (anxiety) I felt good and believed I could run well. The support from Glenn at Asia Physio and the advice from him, coupled with the “runFASTER” program from Mark & Jeff at “TheRunningPlan” had given me renewed confidence to at least put in a fair performance. With the overnight rain I felt like the conditions (cooler) would also be very supportive too. I had set myself a target of 2:20 originally and then adjusted this to 2:15 due to the favourable conditions in the morning.
The race started on time and off we set – it was a first for me to run with a headlight and the GoPro strapped to my hand, I was also kitted out in my new sponsored kit from BROOKS RUNNING MALAYSIA.
Everything felt right……
The 4th KM was my fastest at 05:59 minutes.
The first 5-6 km I quickly got into a rhythm and the “high knees” strategy from Glenn felt positive. Still not 100% natural but certainly not as awkward as I felt in his Physio when he original gave me the advice…!
The km’s Continued to click by and reached the halfway stage in around 1:02 which was probably the fastest I have been in 2018. Still a long way off my PB but I am 20 plus years older now 🙂
I did develop a couple of twinges in the quads (which is probably due to the new running style) so switched to alternating the high knees with my normal strides.
At the 19km I had my slowest split (7:00min).
As I reached the last 500m I decided to start the GoPro to run a commentary over the last stretch (please watch the video LINK)
I could finally see the finish in sight and I was inside my 2:15 target for the day…!
As per the above video, I did not push the last 200m – finishing without an injury was the most important.
Finishing in 2hours 12 minutes and 12 seconds (net) for my fastest 21km of the year. I was well pleased and also a little emotional as this seemed a good improvement on previous times. Finished in the top 20% of the overall field.
With thanks to (in no particular order):
Brooks Running Malaysia (kit sponsors)
The Running Plan (Coach & Running Adviser)
Asia Physio (Glenn Favers)
Howei Events (Ambassador Program)
Martin Cartwright (Running Partner)
Kevin Kamal (Running Partner)
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