My 3rd Half Marathon at MWM 2013

Went there did it, while driving back we were all tired and aching, I asked the two gals who decided to join us for their 1st Half Marathon (with limited training).  They are not regular runners, the furthest they ran was 7, may be 10 km, but they are quite active as in..they hike, go to the gym etc.  So I asked,  "What made you decide to sign up for a Half Marathon just like that?


"Well, we thought there ain't much time left to do something out of ordinary..."

Fair enough.

How often do you wake up at 2am to go out running?
Work till 2am, yes, many times.
Hang out till 2am, yes, numerous times.

Wake up at 2am to run 21km ... very rare indeed.

Was at race site the day before to collect our kit.  Traffic was terrible.  It was already about 4pm by the time we got back to town.  We sat down for a quick drink to rest and went back home.  

We were planning to hot to bed around 9pm, latest, you see.

I didn't sleep until close 1am.  Seriously.

As usual, regardless of the limited hours of sleep, the entire process was somewhat euphoric.  

Ya....running for 3 hours can be such a drag..but once completed, there's an unexplained sense of achievement..and you'd tend to want more and more.

By the way, I still couldn't figure out how come I got a better time, may be the route was easier, may be I was fitter than before..or it's really the wonders of RockTape haha.

I can't really remember the details, although it was only about a week ago.  As mentioned in earlier post, aches and pains were manageable throughout the whole run.   Much much beter than I expected, honestly, I was half expecting that I will either quit half way or drop on the floor due to severe cramps upon finishing.  Neither happened, thanks to diligent stretching therapy , RockTape and diligent trips to the gym and to the park :)  In fact, my back/butt hurt more now (due to sitting for too long) than when I was running for 3 hours.

Recovery period was shorter too..it took me almost 7 days to be able to walk properly after Energiser's 15.5km.  This time, I was feeling alright after 2-3 days. Returned to gym on the 4th day, legs were useless but I stayed till the end of class.  yay.

Overall, it was a good event.  Considered very well organised for a first time event.

Crowd was very much smaller mainly because it's only for 50% of the population.  Due to the smaller crowd, we got all the time we need to take photos at the official backdrops.  We never got a chance to do that in all the other runs as there were simply too many people :D

Males were allowed as pacers for their partners, i.e. they must complete the race together with their female partner, otherwise they will be disqualified.  I came a cross a few 'real partners' as in husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend who ran together side by side, more often than not the man will guide and motivate the lady to hang on.  Pleasant sight.

In my opinion, the registration fee was quite high (RM75 for HM) given that there wasn't any official running vest.  We got a pareo instead, which I don't intend to use at all.  Other goodies were Perskindol, some magazines dated January, Power bar, Nestle Fitnesse cereals, and that's all I think.  Nothing to shout about, really.

The only other highlight of the event was they brought in Kathrine Switzer, the running legend.

Well, some will say that true runners don't bother about prizes and vest..they only want to complete the run :)

Right..see below, a wonderful wonderful video that captured the real essence of a run, ermmm, basically it summarises what we do before, during and after a run .. see if you can feel the 'euphoria' and understand why runners do this over and over again :P