Great Eastern 30k 2008

Planned to sleep early the night before race day. Tidied my room which was in a clutter, prepared my running gears for tomorrow, pinned the number on running vest, etc.. siap park my car outside the college so that won’t have any problem leaving at 4.30am. Then I realized that my reporting card was missing !! Damn… mana ye ?? humm.. check sana sini in the room tak ada pon.. humm.. spent a blardy 20 minutes looking for the card.. *sabar je la..*.. could it be in the car?? must check la kan.. so around 12 midnite (awal la sangat nak tido ye..) went to the car which was parked outside the gate and search for the reporting card.. nasib baik ada !!! *next time dpt je number and reporting card, terus pin kat vest okay !!*

 

I woke up around 4.. huhu.. 4 hours of sleep.. cukup la tuh.. had a quick shower, then siap2 to go.. LUCKILY the gate wasn’t locked.. so managed to slip out without having to wake the guard up.. haha.. best nyer la kan..orang lain syok2 tido, kita dah pi jln2..haha.. jalan2 ye julie..okay , okay.. Since reporting time was 6am for 20k category, I didn’t have to rush to Tmn Tasik Perdana.. cruised 60 – 70 km/h along Jln Kuching.. By the time I reached Tmn Tasik Perdana dah banyak kereta.. as there was more than 1 car park around the area, it didn’t take me long before I found a parking space..*you gotta be early ..*  saw Abu and friends masa sampai. Called Jimmy Panjang (Kuantan Pacesetters). He’s on his way to the car park. Azrul and Ah Chong also on their way (also Kuantan Pacesetters) .

 

This is my 3rd consecutive year running Great Eastern Pacesetters run in the 20k category.. so this year, takde la excited gila or berdebar2 on race day.. just nak menyahut Dino’s cabaran that I could do below 1hr 56mins.. plus I’ve started training earlier than usual, keeping my fitness level at an okay level. As usual, before race hafta visit the loo.. haha.. a long queue.. and also a fun time to see the familiar faces; Sharon (Kuantan Pacesetters), Joanne (Sharon’s sister), Fong (national rower), Mariana (national duathlete), and a few others. During report time saw Nurina ! Her husband, Major Kalam was also running that day , tapi tak nampak that time.. maybe tengah warm up kot.. did a bit of stretching, warm up.. and by the time I realize it was already 6.20am.. Saw Naresh Kumar and gang at start line.. yg lain tak nampak.. Sharon and Joanne was somewhere at the back.. okay.. haha.. again this year, dapat diri kat depan start line.. if you go to Pacesetters website.. you can see me at the front page.. hahaha…anyway, sempat lagi tuh sembang with Naresh.. he’s flying off to Vietnam for work.. so he’s gonna miss Towerthon..hahah…. *issy.. tak baik …*

 

6.30am .. horn off.. (no gun… so no gun off.. got horn off only..) haha.. sounds funny lah ! A slightly different route at the starting.. i was the second lady for the first 200m before Mariana zoomed by.. huhu.. I managed to find and keep my pace earlier this time.. not following other’s pace, and not trying to speed.. the first 5km was okay.. Bukit Tunku pon okay.. a  couple of Singapore ladies passed me..(laju..), tapi last2 dapat potong balik. after the 2nd water station, Shahrom’s girlfriend passed  me. Fuyyo.. she didn’t stop for drinks..  I stopped at each water station.. an ample of time wasted there.. suppose I grab the drink and keep on the run.. haha.. so, next time have to spend less time at water station lah.. a gentle reminder to all, keep yourself hydrated through out the run.. don’t listen to your throat .. *ha?* i mean, drink whenever u meet a water station.. don’t drink only when you feel thirsty. If not you will dehydrate .. In fact, you need to drink more than usual in the days,weeks and months leading up to a marathon/race.. in  any endurance sports you sweat..and those fluids lost need to be replaced.. if not your running will suffer, and it will hurt you too, of course. Symptoms of being dehydrated :-  exhaustion, dead legs and gradual slow down..

 

Did the double hill with not much of problem.. maintained my pace as I dont want to suffer from unwanted cramps. After dapat the 2nd ribbon at Hartamas, my pace begin to slow down, another mat salleh tiba2 cam nak pace with me plak. adoi.. he ran the 20k as well.. before the Hartamas water stop, ada Powergel for 30k runners.. the mat salleh cam nak Powergel, but volunteer yg jaga the booth said ‘Only for 30k runners’..huhu. kesian.. i had another 2 neatly tucked in my sports bra.. *oops..* ye la, my running shorts takde pocket ma..  Maintained my breath coz I realized its getting faster and faster .. not good if you wan’t to avoid unnecessary muscle fatigue.. on my way back from Hartamas, passed so many familiar faces.. couldn’t help but keep looking on the runner who’s coming from the opposite way.. a few Kuantan runners, Goh, Nezz, Zabil, Azwar, Bacin, Saiful, Jimmy Panjang & Ah Chong, Ah Thiam, Shahrom, Nurina,Azrul and Nge. Azwar and Bacin appeared relaxed.. both going for Ironman next month. Good luck guys !

On the way back towards Bukit Tunku saw Shahrul and Rahimi on the bicycle.. ronda2 ye..! and after that Major Kalam ! (Congrats dpt join the Power Bar Elite Team ! ) I think from the Hartamas itself no lady runners passed by me except masa kat Bukit Tunku.. usually all running races pon macam tuh.. me in the middle pack, alone, but ada la jugak guys yg pace sama2. The mat salleh yg tadi tuh caught up with me at Bukit Tunku (on the way back). He tried to create a conversation while running, telling me that he left running for a few years already, and now starting it back.. all i could manage to reply was ‘ok !’ , ‘  i see…’.. ‘ahah..’ and ‘that’s good..!’ or simply a quick smile indicating that i was listening to him.. adoi na.. kacau betul.. but still, managed to finish the last 4k without much problem thos my leg muscles at this point was already heavy .. 🙂 I didn’t want to look at my watch, takut tak lepas the cabaran made by Dino. I only looked at it the 1st 10k, and the 1st two 40 minutes for Powergel time.. haha..

The junction into Taman Tasik Perdana : legs muscle felt even heavier.. but pushed myself.. a few hundred meters more.. haha.. and as usual, the last 300m sprinted to the finish line. Tey was already getting ready with his camera.. shouting and telling me to put my hands up, and ‘All the way , all the way !!’ . Finished my Great Eastern 2008 with a huge smile to myself.. happy and satisfied with the run and time : 1hr 54 mins. 🙂 Congrats Julie. Really happy.. The lady at the finish line took my number, and wrote it in the position card.. wa. .. 11th placing. 🙂 collected my finisher medal, my pouch at the luggage area, and walked back to the car park.. took my sweet time mandi,shampoo rambut at the toilet even though the makcik yang jaga tandas tuh said cannot shower there.. wuteva..

Phew… met Eric, Ngae , Vin, my Kuantan Pacesetters friends, lepak2 , sembang2, .. taking fotos.. wah… best giler.. I lost my food coupon…humm.. Nurina gave hers to me coz she don’t usually eat right after a race.. huhu..so next races, I know who to look for …hahah.. A few position which i can recall.. Mariana came in 3rd in the Women Open 20k, Shahrom’s girlfriend ; 7th, Puzi came in 4th for his category in 30k.. And Goh… he got 2nd place BUT disqualified himself (yeah, he himself DQed himself, not the race organizer).. he ran the 30k.. but took a wrong turn somewhere along the route.. coz that time it was still dark, and there was nor marshall waiting at the junction. And as you might have guessed, a few runners followed Goh.. huhu… but still if he took the right route, he would still be the 2nd coz the guy who came in 3rd was a good 12 minutes behind Goh.. Goh did 2hrs 8 mins.. wow !!!!!!!!!! giler… anyway, it was really a happy race day. 🙂 The Powerbar Elite Team 2008 who came showed off their new dri fit pwoer bar shirts.. cantik !! you can see them in the pictures below (Ngae and Mariana wearing them)..  The only person who was missing that day was Dino. 😦 

I didn’t record my 2007…but my 2006 time was 2hr 12minutes..  and 2008 >> 1hr 54mins.. alhamdulillah ! Next race kena improve lagi !!! To all winners, and everyone who ran last Sunday’s race, CONGRATULATIONS !! Jumpa lagi next event. 🙂