Malakoff Penang 17k 2013 Race Report

In every race that I participate in, surely there are some kind of hiccups along the way. Without that, I think I wouldn’t have much to write about. So I guess it’s a good thing in a way. =P On the 17^th Sunday morning, my plan was to get Jason picked me up with his bike from my house as parking would be a scarce at Esplanade. My race starts at 7am so I told him to pick me up at 6.30am. At 6.33am he called me and told me he was outside my house, I went out and I was wondering where he was hiding. Mana budak tu? Bayang pun tak nampak. I called him ask him where he was, he said he was at my apartment. Holy cow, I was at my grandma’s house that morning. I told him sorry sorry sorry for not informing him that I was staying at my grandma’s house. So I asked him to meet me at Esplanade. He was supposed to run in the 7k as a ‘ghost runner’ but I think he was too lazy to do so!

I quickly drove my car to the race venue. Reach around 6.47am and met up with Chiat Fong aka Captain. As we made our way to the starting point, Jason called and we met up and chat a lil before the flag off. We were released at 7am sharp. 2,500 strong participants took part in the 6^th Malakoff edition and this was my first. The route: Esplanade - Gurney – Straits Quay – Gurney – Esplanade = 17km. Since these are major roads, I really kesian those road users on that Sunday. So sorry for the wait.

Captain, Neoh and myself were together for the first 8k, captain was the pace setter and sometimes he was going so fast that I had to accelerate and catch up with him. Being the pace setter is never an easy thing; for me especially. My run strategy is always to mark a person, stick to the person right next to him/her and follow till I feel comfortable enough to overtake him/her and repeat step 1 again. It always works for me, and by doing this I actually feel less tired. 

Captain, I and Neoh

Once we got at the checkpoint, I felt I could go at a faster pace, so I signaled to Captain and Neoh that I was ready to “tekan minyak” but I know I have to be careful because we were only at Straits Quay and the sun is starting to rise. I left them and tried sticking to another faster runner but there was a gap, there were no one in between with a pace which I could follow comfortably. Either they are too slow or they are too fast. So I had to run on my own till somewhere around Sunrise Tower. I was starting to regret my ‘breakaway’.  Anyhow, I manage to find a target with a really good pace, a man probably in his 40s looking good in his 2xu tights and tri top. I tried following him along Gurney drive but I lost him not long after. For me, this part of the race is the hardest. There were no trees or shades, you could feel the sun burning your skin (and I was wearing ALL BLACK!). Saw a Malay chap took off his shirt and I was tempted as well but I did not. I persevered. I wanted to stop running and just walk a little but I told my body, no. Keep running. Motivating me with quotes like, “When your body is too tired to run, run with your heart, etc” those kinda stuff and it helped. 

Photo by Radin =)

 Getting into Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah was the most pleasurable moment in that race, the big old familiar trees providing massive coverage of shades and knowing that I’m about 5k to the finishing line. Here I paced a Chinese man, skinny but he is quite fast. Ran ran ran till we passed KPMG, I over took him and tagged an ‘Ang Moh’. Running besides him makes me feel really tiny. He was running at a good pace too. At this point, my body is pretty numb to any tiredness I have in my legs. I ran with him till the finish line and we did a sprint together as we approach 100meters mark. Of course he beat me and overtook me. He deserves it because he was doing the work for me. For me, the race is about finding your ‘Inner Circle’, the people who will push you, motivate you and inspire you to do better. I believe I’ve achieve all that in 1 hour and 29 minutes. =)

Captain and I after the race

I have to applaud the organizers for doing an excellent job in this race. Water station were well placed, we had 100 plus and Gatorade. =) Now I’m hooked to Gatorade. (I’m drinking one as I’m writing this post) They were being partnered with great sponsors as well, such as PowerBar, Nestle and a few others. Their inner circle paid off. There were some volunteers who set up water station for runners at strategic locations. Some were cheering and motivating runners. These are the things that make sports beautiful. I will definitely be there again next year.

Jason and I

Finisher

As I collect my medal and goodie bag at the end of the race. I saw Jason waiting for me outside the barricade. He was telling me how fast the first runner finishes. By the way his name is Ruburn Kummar, finished first with a blistering time of 57 minutes and 37 seconds. They also gave all finishers ice-cream, nasi lemak and a bottle of Gatorade. I gave Jason the ice-cream and nasi lemak because I was just too tired to eat. As I made my way back to my car, I met Neoh on the way, Paris (his gf) was looking for some isotonic drink, I offered them my Gatorade and went back home empty handed.  I’m blessed to be a blessing. =) Thank God for the beautiful race. 

Brought Shadow for his morning walk after I got back. He made a new friend. =)