Believe it or not, I entered myself into another run. This time it’s a 7.7km tread (2.3 clicks shorter than the first event I participated in: the 2009 Standard Chartered KL Marathon).
The original plan was a bunch of us were supposed to be taking part, but somehow ‘registration issues’ caused everyone else to cancel so I was left to run alone… at night… in Putrajaya. Thanks guys.
I got some comments about entering the 7.7km which is sort of a downgrade to the 10km I ran previously. But this is because of the simple fact that there wasn’t a 10km category in this event, and I don’t think I’m ready to do a half marathon just yet. (21 kms… are you mad?)
So yeah, there I was on a Saturday night, quite nervous as I didn’t know anyone there and I was about to run 7.7kms at night in a city that I’m not too familiar with. Plus with the little training I had before the event, I was also worried about being able to finish the job!
But all my worries were washed away as soon as I arrived to Putrajaya. This city is truly beautiful. It kinda reminded me of D.C. But as soon as night fell, the city turned even more majestic and spectacular than any other city I have ever seen! (Sorry didn’t carry a camera thus no photos only file pics – go see it for yourself!). I was excited to see the rest of it up close… and that pretty much alleviated most of my nervousness.
The event started with full and half marathoners being flagged off first, as usual. Everything seemed pretty smooth. I noticed some of the 7.7km runners milling around at the back of the full and half marathoners, so I went ahead and chilled there. But the funny part was that the sound system wasn’t that great so when the half marathoners were flagged off, the back end didn’t realize it! They were still chilling at the back and had to be chased down by the organizer marshalls! To add to that some of the 7.7km runners thought the gun shot was also for them so they started to run together with the half marathoners! Again, the organizers had to chase them down and asked them to turn back! Damn funny la I tell you.
Anyway, it turned out that the 7.7km and 5.5km runners were supposed to be flagged of on the other side of the road. So since me and a bunch of others were on the full and half marathoners’ side, we were also chased down by the marshals to change lanes. (It sure seemed like the marshals did a lot of chasing that night. Hehe)
So yeah, after standing at the starting line for like half an hour we were finally flagged off. The run itself was pretty uneventful except for the fascinating views of the Putrajaya skyline at night. Our route took us down the road from the Palace of Justice, all the way down to the new condos being built then across the bridge to PICC and back down to the main road for the finish. The track is a bit tougher than the KL marathon thanks to the hilly Putrajaya Terrain. And I never realized that the bridges there were THAT high. But it was all okay la.
Unlike the KL Marathon 10km, there was no digital timing for the 7.7km category in the PNR. So once the runners crossed the finish line, there was no way to tell his or her placement except for doing it manually by lining up the finishers (and obviously, you had to time yourself lah). So after finishing I had to join a loooong queue until they handed me my final result. But I did catch some runners of the same category bypassing the queue all the way to the front. Some of those, the marshals caught, some they missed. So some ended up with better results even though they finished behind me! This was one of the major minuses of the event and probably the only thing I would complain about.
It turned out that I was 335th out of about 2000 runners in 41 minutes (wooohoo!!!). I was happy with the result although it could have actually been better if they had properly administered the finish line. Anyway, I still got the finisher medal (400 or below) and the certificate which was my target. To be honest, I was starting to doubt getting them midway of the run at the rate the others were overtaking me. Still can’t figure out how it happened. Hmmm… (wondering who were those people I saw… hehe)
The best part is that after finishing the run, I successfully gained back all the calories lost thanks to the slice of pizza and muffin from the snack pack provided, and by downing 6 glasses of oh-so-delicious iced milo and 3 glasses of 100plus. They went down like shots. But seriously, PIZZA?!! Anyhow, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life!!! I was absolutely famished!!
All in all it was a lot of fun. There’s still more room for the organizers to improve but overall they did a fantastic job. (The snack pack, end of run drinks, and drinking stations along the route were definitely better than that of the KL Marathon, I hope StanChart takes note).
Would definitely be joining again next year. Who knows, I might be fit enough for the half marathon then… NOT!!!! hahaha
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