Wifey's 21km Adventure

This post is dedicated to Wifey's 21km race in SCKLM this morning.

The commitment to do this morning race was rather impromptu. What started off as "i want to run 10km like last year" became "why not i run 21km this year". I admit it was me that influenced and make her think she can do it. There was certainly a fair amount of convincing from "you must train with me" to "why you want to torture me" happened.

Along the way, the three months prior to today's date (right after my Ironman 2010), there were a lot of challenges to actually put in decent mileage as part of the training regime.

However, with as much (or little) training mileage that she has, this morning with a short sigh of "i am tired" when the alarm rang at 0430, it was literally a battle to convince oneself to drag their feet to Dataran and start the race.

I applied the same (if not similar) tactic on my sister. But being a "Lim", I expect her to have the same drive, if not more, compared to this "Lim". Sis got hold of Jaclyn, her friend to run along and i was made to understand that this girl is fast. Yeap, she was fast!

The drive to race site was a breeze and we found more problem getting a car parking space as all the roads was already closed. A quick navigation around Lake Garden, we found a spot right over the Sg. Klang bridge next to the High Court to park the car - by the road side.

We walked to the race area and met up with more familiar faces.

Slowly, i can feel wifey felt a less more stress about the whole race.

Sharp at 0615hours, the gun went off! It took us about 30 seconds for us to be able to cross the start line. There were a decent crowd for the 21km run. Not too bad i would say.

We took our own pace and slowly made our way around KL town. We were making good progress and pacing as well. I was running with about 20 packs of Powergel, 3liter of ice-cold lychee flavored drink, ipod (that ran out of battery like before the race), about RM65 in cash and my iPhone. In short, i was running with at least 5kg extra - not a task as i already carrying about 8kg of excess weight on my body.

The first 5km run was good and it felt fast for a 21km race. It was almost a 6:00 pace which would meant sustaining it will almost ensure one to wrap up the 21km in 2hours 10minutes or less! That was also when i told wifey to go on...and i slowly dropped behind with a high HR of about 175bpm. Guess i am not as fit as i thought i was.

The route brought us passed area where we previously took for granted. I did not know there was a new slip road from Brickfields to the road facing Kuan Cheng! And damn it, the morning curry being cooked in Brickfields were too much!

"want roti canai or not?" i asked wifey.

She gave me the evil look. I took it as a NO.

I soon lost sight of Wifey as she ran down towards the underpass at Dewan Bahasa Pustaka. Along the way, Mac caught up with me, Omar, Shiraz and Edwin too, caught up with me. I then decided to just play it easy and start dropping back to see who else will catch up with me.

I slowly made my way and kept moving forward. The long stretch after the Loke Yew roundabout passing by Uncang Emas towards Jalan Peel was mental. Long and straight. But i managed to stop along the water station to thank the volunteers. They were the unsung heroes!

I was made to understand that the logistic of this year's SCKLM was sub-contracted to a good friend of mine, Nithi and his OrangeMan brother that runs TwentyFirst Century Sports! No wonder there were sufficient hydration! THANK TwentyFirst Century!

Credit must go out to Uncle Wan that has managed the Volunteers really well too. Uncle Wan took up the task after last year's major F-up when there were insufficient volunteers. I "tabik spring" to you Uncle Wan!

By KM 12, the sun was coming up and i found myself running along Jalan Peel. How this area has changed too, traffic wise. The crowd were still sticking together and i found some 42km runners amongst the crowd...way to go. Run your own race and don't care what people says!

I caught up with Wifey at KM14, near Wisma Time/Indonesian Embassy. I could be happier and i know she too, was delighted.

"So Slow? I waited for you la, quick, one Powergel", she poked.

I sort of forsee that Wifey will be way stronger than she thought she will be. The few traiing run we had, she did leave me behind panting. I guess some of the reason is that my pacing is not at her pace and usually when two person aren't running at the same place, it will be hard to keep up with one another. With more training run and pacing run, it should be great! Already, we are talking about her doing the running part while i cycle for Powerman 2010.

The rest of the distance, we ran pretty much together. We passed through Pavilion - a place we only pass by and never went in! Stopped to take a few photos even! At that stage, i noticed a lot of people are stopping by the road side to recuperate and i kept my eyes on the look out for anyone in distress. One thing i learnt about running and sports is that i will not be on the podium, so, really, i try to make it a point to ask if someone is ok. Please make this a practice as it might save someones life. (There is one fatality today at the race)

Example is the uncle above, he suddenly bend down and stopped at the side next to Pavillion. A simple question won't hurt and if he do not reply, i will be worried. Good to know he is just taking a breather.

As we approached KLCC and Jalan Ampang, the sun started to show itself. It also marked only 4 more KM to go. The remaining of the run was just enjoying the view and pace - while keeping wifey close in front of me. She was a bit worried about my heartrate and i assured her i am alright. I hate to be the hindrance for her to do a sub 3 on her maiden 21km.

As we approach the final 800meters infront of the old Mun Loong, excitement was already in the air and i could feel just how excited wifey was. I was extremely proud of her and the final 500m, we held hands and ran together, pulling each other towards the finish line.

Along the way, more familiar faces were seen shouting and rooting for us as if we are the winner!

Tey even managed to pass to me a long overdue newspaper cutting of Ironman Langkawi 2010 (the one that i kissed the ground after the swim).

Yeap, it was that emotional this morning and happiness was actually drawn all over wifey's face as we crossed the line in 3:01:52. Not too Shabby for a woman that ran less than 10 times over the run up to SCKLM and has never ran more than 10km (in a race setting) in her whole life.

Well done again Darling. I hope you enjoyed the first medium distance run you had this morning! Moving on, everything else will be easier now - until you decide to run a Marathon that is ;-)

Thanks to all of you that i bumped into this morning, especially so those that i've only "met" in Facebook. It's nice to see you in person. Also, to my friends that bumped into me, or me bumping into you, mucho gracias for the support you've given both to wifey and myself. Yes, i am slow, but it was a good slow!