Borneo International Marathon 2012 - My First Marathon Experience

The Full Marathon table.  So empty.

Collected my race pack with Daniel on 3rd May at Suria Sabah Shopping Mall.  I do not like this number.  I'm very particular with my BIB No.  Yay for freebies though.  Oh yeah, S size shirt is big!  I look like I'm wearing a rugby shirt.

I bought these.

Full Marathon race route.

Cut story short.

Sew the shoulder part of this vest.

To make it look smaller somehow.

Race starts at 3am.  I had slept at 5pm the day before and was having trouble sleeping, I keep waking up for many different reasons.  Alarm set for 10pm and I'm up.  Had banana for breakfast and was out around 12:45am.  Initially I planned to leave around 12 midnight but someone told me that's too early.  It rained.  Oh gawd so cold.  I was contemplating whether I should try the calf guard or not, end up not having em cause I having train in em yet.

I though arrived at Stadium around 1am and waited for maybe half an hour okay fine, I waited in the car for roughly 45 mins before I finally got into the stadium compound cause I wanted to go to the loo.  Oh, on another note, I parked my car nearer to the entrance this time after what happened last year when I parked my car near the gate.

Meet up with Daniel after done with my "business" and he check-in his baggage.  Met Marjie and KD.  Warm up with Daniel around the track and waited till 3am.  I was a bit surprised with the number of people taking part in the Full Marathon category.  I think I got so nervous that I went to the toilet few times before the race starts lol.  There aren't a lot of people.  Say like probably around 200 more or less in total?  And most that I saw were elite runners.  Met quite a number of people that I know from the jogging track and Sunday runs.

Oh lord.  Kanchiong.  And when it was nearing 3am, mind you I was sort of trying to fix my running shorts when they announce start.  Wait, where is the gun shot/initiate.  I think both me and Daniel were a bit confused with that part.  Off we go!

Oh yeah, there were I think two (2) sub 530 pacer and one (1) sub 4 pacer.  Recognize them with the balloon (this reminds me of Penang).  We started from the stadium heading towards KK passed Jesselton Point head towards Tg. Aru roundabout and make a turn there.  Water station at every 3km but I didn't see toilet though.  Where was it?  Along the road, got supporters, ambulance and police ready.  Best cheer is along Warisan Square.  I swear they were the loudest till I ran faster lol.  But somehow volunteers this year look less than last year.  Paced with Daniel with a comfortable pace below 7 mins for 10km, note to self, stick to water instead of 100 plus at the beginning.  I think he keeps checking on me ask if I was doing the right pace cause felt like I was running faster, but actually it felt easy.  Crosspath with some familiar faces and said hi.  Slight feel of fame cause I know so many people lol.  Lotsa support from runners I don't know.  Super fun!

I'm starting to lose sight of Daniel when I slowed down at the water station and went on my own till 14km.  That's when everything starts to get screwy.  I started feeling a bit gassy.  Tried to burp it all out but somehow it gave me stitch.  So, I tried to shake it off by walking a bit and it felt better except my legs suddenly felt heavy.  Oh lord, WHY?  Tried to keep running, I think I end up run walk run walk till I crosspath with the sub 530 pacer and I went with my target speed again which is below 7 mins.  Till I passed Jesselton Point roundabout where I stopped and walk again.  Crosspath with the group again and started pacing with them at 8 mins pace.  Motivating pacer, he was so loud and it was fun.  Gave me some advice and said I shouldn't worry about my pace and just have fun.  Actually when I was pacing with them, my right foot were in so much pain already.  Managed to push through till 22km till I fall off behind again and start to run walk again.

Ran alone, this is when I crosspath with tons of my friends who's doing Half Marathon.  Keep pushing, my pace were everywhere.  Keep psyching myself out.  I keep telling myself that I can do it.  Yeah run run run till I crosspathed with the sub 530 pacer and he was checking on me.  I told him I was too tired, I think that was at 28km and he gave me energy gel Espresso flavor.  I don't take coffee but just chuck it all in.  Heck I just passed a water station so I was having the aftertaste for more km.  But it helped a bit with the energy level cause I was feeling at the state of kapootness.  Passed the 2nd checkpoint and was trying to reach the banana station at 31km I think, nearing university apartment.  Took a banana and chuck that in too, I need water!  Run walk run walk, heck I was calculating my time and thought if I could maintain below 7 mins pace I could reach less than 6 hours.  Did not happen.  Legs were dying.  Everytime I tried to do it, I went too fast and too tired too quickly.  That happened a couple of times.  It was around 8am that time and the sun starts to shine.  Oh so brightly.

After an excruciating 6 hours 6 mins of pain, I finally reached the finish line.  I think there will be some fugleh photos of me walking in pain lol.  First time is the most painful.

Group photo with CSPians :)

Thanks Jna for the photo.  And congrats for completing first 10km in 1 hour 4 mins woot!  Remember my previous blog post about her injuring her knee?   Damn you crazy!  In this photo, of all categories, we all finish our race yay~

Results are out today.  More, click here.

Bad news, my pace "hancur" tahap gaban and did not reach target which is sub 5.  Good news, I've completed my first marathon within the time limit and I'm not the last one to reach the finish line.  Yay~  Thanks Daniel for grabbing me a drink, I think when I reach, my legs were in so much pain I can't stop complaining about it lol.

Head off to McDonalds for McD breakfast.  HAHAHAHAHAHA I think not enough liquid I was chucking the food till palate burn.  My eyes went all teary instantly.  It was Penang all over again lol.  Only that time I actually cried cause I was in so much pain.  Tried to ease up a bit with ice.  Yes, sometimes Massy does the silliest things.  Walked to Warisan Square for ice cream after that.  Surprisingly, no leg pain.  The only pain I'm feeling was coming from my foot.  I think my toes were swollen too.

Planned for a boardgame session the same day around 5pm.  I didn't nap cause I was so hungry that I couldn't stop eating.  I'll blog about the A Touch of Evil boardgame expansion set next post.  Thanks Blek eventhough I had to force him mwahhaha.  Oh god, I'm so evil.

1 Full Marathon medal and 2 Half Marathon from last year

All and all it was a good an fun race.  Well organized but why so little people sign up for it?  At least the finisher shirt I can wear this time.  Not as big as last year's.  Water stations never run out of water, except the banana station, Y U NO energy gel?  And I only spotted 1 toilet after 1 Borneo.  The road starting to get filled with cars nearing 9am.  The last few that haven't arrive lmao.  Good job!

See you again next year.  Not sure if I'm gonna do another Full Marathon or Half Marathon.  We'll see.

What's this year's plan?  SCKLM - Half Marathon in June and PBIM - Full Marathon in Nov.  Hopefully I can do better this time around.  Too disappointed with my performance for my first marathon.

Till my next post.  Thank you for reading.

Yes yes, this post is a bit messy cause I'm still tired and a bit lazy.  Oh!  On another note, I think I lost 3kg from that run lol.  Gaining back a bit of the weight and start recovery run tomorrow.

Oh and if you're wondering what happen to my palate, so I woke up this morning and were in so much pain, decided to go to work and thought I could just hold it in, but pain was too great.  End up going to the doctor's for medicine.  Still in pain though.  I need painkillers!

And, remember when I said I feel no pain except on my foot?  Started feeling it last night, I'm blaming the aircond.  Woohoo! Whole body pain.  Especially my shoulders and foot.  Lets do this again, Yay!  I need new running shoe :( no money.