Penang Bridge International Marathon 2013 (PBIM 2013)

Thanks to Kho Kwang Leng for the photo.

The original attraction of the event this year was running the new bridge. However, due to an accident the completion of the new bridge was delayed. This leaves us having to run on the old bridge again for another year. It really demotivated us who has ran a full marathon at the old bridge before. Although I ran my virgin full marathon at PBIM 2012, the route and the start time makes it one of the most difficult marathons to run. As I can only do a limited number of full marathons in a year, currently I have limited to 3, I would have done another marathon if I knew earlier we will be running the old bridge.

Due to the downhill running at Penang Run 3rd Series, I was having pain at my knee area after my every run. It gets worse after I did a 30km run a week after the Penang Run 3rd Series.  So I have to cut down the mileage tremendously and hope it will recover on time. Unfortunately I have a Rock To Rock Run two weeks after the Penang Run 3rd Series. The pain at the knee never gets better. I start dropping the mileage further and cutting off the LSD. I substituted running on the road or treadmill to running on a cross trainer. It helps to maintain my fitness level but definitely it will not be having a good finishing time entering a race.

So 10 days before the race, I did a 20km run to see if the knee pain will be bearable. Fortunately, it is bearable to run, although the after run is still painful. This last 20km will just have to suffice. Then two days before the race, I got fever ! This race is really the most demotivating one to run. How to recover from a fever in two days. Even then your body will be weaker as I have a lost of appetite when I am having fever. The choice is should I skip the race since it is running on the old bridge?

After a day taking the fever medications, the fever has subside substantially but I could feel a slight fever. So in the evening I decided to take 2 Panadols and go for the race. Doing the best I can and hopefully I won't collapsed along the course.

The weather was perfect for the run as it was raining before the start of the race and it stopped. A perfect cooling weather. I managed to overrtake the 5:30 pacer at the 8km mark and was happy that I may still be able to run despite the lack of training plus the fever. But when I was on the bridge at 14km mark, I felt that I wanted to vomit. My body signaling me that it can't take the pace no more. The energy level in my body just could not sustained the pace. That's when my pace has to drop significantly and the 5:30 pacer finally caught up with me at the 19km mark. And I was running just to complete the race. I have to run by the feel of my body and not pushing it too hard, fearing that I may just collapsed and I have still a long way to run. I decided to walk a minute or two if I feel that my body is feeling too tired.

Reaching the 27km down at the Jelutong Expressway and I knew this is will be the real test. This is when your body and legs start to feel really fatigue and it is straight road with three slopes and making a U-turn at 33km back to E gate at 38km. I always felt that PBIM is over distance since my run last year. This stretch of the route is no longer just physical but mentally tough. Surprisingly, I could endure this stretch better than I expected although I did take a few brisk walks but the body is holding up. The legs is starting to get really painful at this point. And I have to really focus on the run and ignore the pain to finish the race. It was a relived when I saw the sign "1 km to go". I just try to push harder from there to the finishing line and finished at 6:05 which is only 2 minutes faster than my last year record. My only disappointment is not being to finish under 6 hours. Looking back at the lack of LSD and running a marathon with fever I am glad I could complete it at a slightly better time and not collapsed on the course. Since we have an experience pacer collapsing at the recent SCKLM,  this "pengsan"(fainting) incident can really happened.

The medals and finisher T.

With Andrew, Debbie and Shannon after the race

Yeah ! Time for recovery. No more races for the rest of the year. What is the best thing to do post-marathon ? Go for a holiday and only eat, sleep and enjoy the scenery. Osaka, Kyoto and Nara, here I come !


This post has been updated and edited as I was writing most of it while I was waiting for the plane to Osaka at LCCT Terminal.