Borneo International Marathon 2013 (BIM 2013)

Photo taken at Race Pack Collection.

Time for 3rd full marathon. Although the 2nd marathon at Langkawi was a disaster in term of finishing time. But I was thankful that I finished and have a good time. The half an hour of walking, facebooking and photography adds to the finishing time.

BIM Full Marathon Route

This is the first time that I actually plan my finishing time and determined my splits for the event. Andrew told me that this used to be a flat course. But that was in previous years. It was no longer a flat course this year. Fortunately, the experience in Langkawi has taught me well. Never expect a flat course when you run a marathon. The never-ending rolling hills in Langkawi is a real torture. The other experience I took away from Langkawi is that never keep walking even if it is uphill or when there is no cut-off time. When you keep walking and walking, you never want to run even when the route becomes flat.

Before the start of the race

So how I did I predict my marathon finishing time and pace for this event ? I used the MacMillian Running Calculator based on my latest half marathon time. It actually calculate your marathon finishing time based on your current time and goal time. I was targeting to finish at 5:15 and the calculated finishing time based on my half marathon time is 5:15:41 at a pace of 7:29min/km. Which is pretty close. That will be the ideal time. My next target time is if my pace drop really slow which I can feel from my long runs is to finish in 5:30. It will still be a big leap considering my first marathon is 6:07 and 6:37 for the second. After that, I used Runner's World Pace Wristband Creator to calculate the splits. But I only recorded the splits at 10K, 20K, 30K, 35K and 40K on a piece paper. So I finally figured out that I don't have to run with no direction not knowing my time targets.

The full marathon starts early at 3am and my transport comes at 2am. You can actually take the shuttle bus transport arranged by the organiser which cost you RM15. But I was lucky that Andrew's friend has transport and was also going for the marathon. After two days in Kota Kinabalu, my first experience with Kota Kinabalu is that the sun can be really hot when it comes out. Due to the postponement of the run from 5 May 2013, the number of runners must have drop quite significantly.

Flagging off at 3am starting from Likas Stadium, Kota Kinabalu with a pace of 7:04 for the first km which is actually too fast at the beginning. At 10K, I did 1:13 and the 10K split is 1:14. So I am within time. Next will be 20K. At 20K the split is 2:29. The pace started to drop after 18km mainly due to elevation gain inside University Malaysia Sabah. At 22km, it was flat but again gain elevation from 23 to 24km and another elevation gain at 28km. This is when I have a short walk and took a banana. So did I meet my 20km split of 2:29? Yup, I managed to make it at 2:29. The problem is the pace is starting to slow. The hilliest part of the route is inside University Malaysia Sabah.

The most boring part of the route is the U-turn at 29km at Jalan UMS, where we be will running back to the stadium. Basically, we are running the same route. And you can actually see who is ahead of you and who is behind you. And when I reach the 30km and looking at my time, I know I can't made it at 3:44 because my time then is 3:54 already and my pace is slowing significantly. But for once running in this third FM i can actually still run. Usually after 26km, I am just dragging myself to run. Although my pace has drop I can still run comfortably. And at 40km, my split is 5:06 and I am about 10 mins behind at 5:16. But I am hoping to hit the second target of 5:30. So I try to hold my pace steady and hope that I can speed up at the last few km of the race.

After the finishing the marathon, with a group of friends. Me, Andrew, Ngu and Ewe Jin

Finally, saw the sign, 1km to go. And it is a really long last km to run. I was surprised that my legs could still speed up at the last km which I am usually extremely tired by then. Just no more energy to run. Don't talk about speeding. This last km seem to be very never ending. Running into the stadium and just trying to hold my running posture so that I can have a good photograph. That's what most runners do at the finishing. At last, realising a nice finishing photo is important.  Finishing at 5:31:58 according to my Garmin. Only almost 2 mins off from second target of 5:30. Still very happy slashing 35mins off my first marathon is an achievement. And I really find myself finishing strong. Pacing myself conversatively in the first 20km helps without burning off all my energy early. So I could still run comfortably at 30km. Not to be overly ambitious on the finishing time ensure that I still have a good time. Fueling regularly at every hour also help, a gel every hour except on the 3rd hour which I fueled with a banana. Never hitting the wall in a marathon is really good plus a PB becomes really great ! Going for island hopping tomorrow. A running holiday in Kota Kinabalu is just awesome !

Last but not least, this marathon is well-organised race. Water stations with water and 100 plus. Also one water station with bananas and another with power bar. And the organiser really took the effort to get quite a lot of supporters for the whole route. Although the race starts at 3 am in the morning. So far, this race is the one that I ran with the most supporters and it helps. So weave a holiday in and run this race. It is worth the effort.

At the finishing lap

I like this medal !

The Finisher T shirt

It's time for recovery after BIM and preparing for the Penang Run 3rd Series, Rock to Rock Run and of course another Penang Bridge International Marathon. My virgin marathon. Running it for the 2nd time.