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.

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. A running holiday !

At the Jesselton Point Jetty.

This holiday was planned due to the Borneo International Marathon. I have not been to Sabah. A lot of people staying in West Malaysia has never visited East Malaysia. Due to the expensive flights previously to visit East Malaysia. And we even need a passport to visit East Malaysia. Now we can visit East Malaysia thanks to the cheaper flights and just with a MyKad, i.e. our identity card. We also have direct flight from Penang to Kota Kinabalu. How convenient !

My impression of my first visit to Sabah is I have should visited her earlier. But the place would not have been more organised and developed then. The main attraction of Sabah seems to be its tourism especially eco-tourism and with the famous Mount Kinabalu. Mount Kinabalu is Southest Asia's highest peak. It is 4,095.02 metres tall above the sea level. She has been attracting visitors far and near. You can find out more about Sabah at this link, sabahtourism.com.

The group of tourists I discovered most is from Hong Kong where I found out that it is only a short flight from Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu. But generally, Kota Kinabalu (KK) is more expensive place as compared to Penang. And the food is as expensive as Kuala Lumpur. Kota Kinabalu is also famous for fresh seafood. But it is place with much relaxed pace and KK is famous for it's fiery sunset. An attractive place for photographers. The main area of the city centre is not big which you can visit on foot. Unless you intend to visit Suteera Harbour or Tanjung Aru which is further away. Unfortunately, we didn't visit Tanjung Aru during the sunset. Tanjung Aru is said to have one of the best sunset.

Photo taken when she was trying to do a yoga pose. But I was too slow. But the photo still turns out to be awesome.

Absolutely amazing sunset photos

I could not go for island hopping before the race so as not to affect the performance of the race. So I went for island hopping at Tunku Abdul Rahman Park the next day after the race. I have only chosen two islands, ie Pulau Manukan and Mamutik due to time constraint.  The other two islands are Pulau Sapi and Pulau Sulug. It is convenient to visit Tunku Abdul Rahman Park as the jetty is in the city centre itself. Compared to Pulau Redang and Pulau Perhentian in Trengganu, I feel the Trengganu islands are more attractive due to the corals. But it is still worthwhile visiting. And of course, Sabah is famous for Sipadan island, one of top ten diving locations in the world. One of my diving friend once told me, if you dive, you have to dive Sipadan last. Because once you been to Sipadan for diving, you may not like the other diving locations. It seems that Sipadan's diving is that attractive !

Holiday mood photo at Pulau Mamutik

Pulau Manukan

My final conclusion on Kota Kinabalu is that I will travel again to Kota Kinabalu to visit the Kinabalu Park at Kundasang and more nature places near Kota Kinabalu. Kinabalu Park was gazetted as the first State Park in Sabah in 1964 and declared Malaysia’s first World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 2000 for its outstanding biological attributes. So it will be a first of many trips to come. And of course, a hike up Mount Kinabalu.


My next post will be on the Race Recap of the Borneo International Marathon (BIM). 

Garmin Forerunner 10

Garmin Forerunner 10

My Garmin Forerunner 610 was losing satellite signal a few times during my training runs and also the Penang Run 2nd Series at 14km. I just couldn't bared with it any longer. So I decided to sent the watch for repair. However, I was desperate to get a substitute as I have the Borneo International Marathon coming up on 25 August 2013. And I have still two weeks of training to go.

So I went to a Garmin dealer in Gurney Paragon to get the watch repaired and they told me they don't know when it will be repaired. But they were selling the lowest range of the Garmin Forerunner ie. Forerunner 10 which was priced at RM599. The Garmin Forerunner 10 is the entry level GPS watch for a runner.

This is what is stated on Garmin's website :-

Stylish, Simple GPS Captures Every Mile
Tracks distance, pace and calories
Start running with the press of a button
Identifies personal records
Virtual Pacer™ compares current pace to target
Plan, review and share runs at Garmin Connect™

Forerunner 10 is a GPS running watch that tracks your distance, speed/pace and calories. It also identifies your personal records and provides motivation along the way.

Ready to Run
Forerunner 10 is so easy to use, you can start your run with the press of a button. As you run, you can see your time and distance clearly displayed on 1 screen and calories and pace on another. You can also customize the settings to show pace and distance on the same screen.

It Fits
It’s our lightest, most comfortable watch yet and is available in multiple colors. The black/red and orange/black models have a slightly larger watch face and wider wristband. All models can be worn as a regular watch, so your running partner is always on hand. For typical use (with GPS on 30 minutes per day), the battery life is 10 days. If used continuously with GPS, the battery life is 5 hours.


Motivating Feedback
As you run, Forerunner 10 automatically alerts you when you complete each mile, giving you a friendly beep and a screen that flashes your time for that mile. When you complete your run and save it, you’ll see a summary of how you did, including your total time, distance, average pace and calories. The watch even lets you know when you achieve a personal record, such as your fastest mile or longest run to date.

Training Tools
For runners who want a little more, Forerunner 10 has a couple of simple training features. Virtual Pacer™ compares your current running pace to your target. It also has a run/walk feature that’s helpful if you’re just starting out or your running plan includes walk breaks.

Store and Share
With a simple connection to your computer, you can upload your runs to Garmin Connect™ to see your run on a map, get more detail on each mile and share it with friends — all for free. You’ll be even more motivated when you see your miles add up in Garmin Connect and can go back and see how you’ve improved from last week, last month or last year. 

Various display of Forerunner 10

So I have to get this Garmin Forerunner 10 as a temporary training watch. It is simple to use as compared to Forerunner 610 and light. But it is like kid's digital watch to me and the display is definitely as not as good as the Forerunner 610. With less features, it is really a simple watch to use for runners. My major complain of this watch other than the appearance of the watch is the 5 hours battery life on GPS which is really short. I will run out of battery if I run a full marathon. Secondly, the display of pace, time, distance is not all one page. You can only choose two of the items to display on one page. My biggest mistake is that I didn't do enough homework online when I purchased the watch. I should have purchased a Forerunner 210 which is 8 hours in training mode similar to Forerunner 610 but without the touchscreen and more sophisticated features of the Forerunner 610.

Just hope that I could get my Forerunner 610 repaired. If not, I will have to  purchase the Forerunner 210 and what to do with the Forerunner 10? Keep it as a training watch, I supposed.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI  
Maaf Zahir & Batin

One for the Ladies !

Me and Mei Ping at Malakoff Run in March 2013. She weighs about 51kg then.

A lady runner, Mei Ping, which I met during my morning runs next to Safira in Seberang Jaya. She is such an enthusiastic runner and a much faster runner than I am. Occasionally, when I am doing my easy runs we used to discuss about running events. She has been participating more running events recently but her strength is in shorter distances mostly 10K and below. Recently, during one of the conversation, I finally found out she is an accidental runner !

Mei Ping and her family when she was 65kg

She was dragged into running by husband after giving birth to their child. She told me her weight ballooned to 65kg. Her husband wanted her to lose weight and she was never into running. She said that she started running for 6 days a week and mostly about 10K. Her word of advice is you must hang on and initially it will be tough. If you persevere the results will show. And after six months, she dropped a whopping 12kg to 53kg. She has been running for 5 years now and her weight has dropped to about 50kg. The other amazing thing she has been winning some races that she has entered. She has ran 10K races in under 50 minutes which I can't even finished 10K in 60 minutes. I am such a slow runner compared to her.

Mei Ping running at our morning running route

For ladies, that wanted to lose weight and maintain their weight. All you have to is run ! Just persevere and the pounds will melt off.  And remember don't eat like a horse after your run as you will feel hungrier.  She can be an inspiration to many obese or overweight people especially the ladies. A mother who become an accidental runner. Just because you have a child does not mean you have to put on weight. Get your butt off the couch and run !

The First Malaysian to conquer The Badwater 135 Ultramarathon

Ng Seow Kong before the start of The Badwater 135 Ultramarathon. Photo obtained from his FB page. 

This is the guy who inspired me to run my first marathon. He is such a low profile guy who has achieved a number of amazing feats on foot. I have written about him on my blog twice. The first time I mentioned about him was on A Journey to My First Marathon Part 3. I didn't mentioned his name. The second time was on Ultramarathons also did not mentioned his name but I provided his Facebook page. He is the one who keep me thinking if he can run more than 100 km why can't I run 42km.  He is also the one who introduce me to the book "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall. 

I was very excited knowing that he will be doing the Badwater 135 from his FB page. I have heard about the Badwater 135 from the Marathon Training Academy's podcasts especially on the interview with Dean Karnazes. I was aware that The Badwater 135 has described itself as "the world's toughest foot race" due to the distance ie 135 miles (217 km)  and the heat which was held in California's Death Valley in July. The temperature can soar to more than 49 deg Celsius. 

I keep checking the Badwater website to monitor his progress. I actually wake up in the middle night to see if he has reached the 90 miles mark. When I found out finally that he has completed the whole race in 42:51:40. I was really excited. I was almost glued to the results most of the time.  I immediately congratulated him on Facebook. Although he has been away from Malaysia for more than 30 years, he has entered every race as a Malaysian. And he make proud us to be one. He makes us feel "Malaysia Boleh!. And he has completed more than 100 marathons/ultramarathons in 55 cities and in 31 countries/states. 

Seow Kong's finishing time

He is such an inspiration to runners !  

Seow Kong's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/seowkong.ng. I am unable to write about him in just a blog. You should visit his FB page if you want to know more about him. Get inspired !

Penang Run 2013 -2014 2nd Series - Race Recap

Penang Run 2013-2014 2nd Series. New Image. Wearing a Buff.

This is a race that I really find enjoyable although my Garmin lost its satelite signal at 14km and I have to run the rest of the race not knowing the pace and distance.

Race Pack Collection at Town Hall

Oh...who visited them at the Race Pack Collection

Two weeks after a trial run, the actual race day on 7 October. I did not take the shuttle bus from Balik Pulau to Teluk Kumbar, the starting point. So I get to sleep for an extra hour. I reach 45 mins before the starting time of 5:30am. And this is one race that I really did a warm up before the race. Some slow run with strides thrown in.

Finishing point of the 2nd Series, SK Sg Pinang

The distance markers and quotes. Volunteers hard at work.

The race started punctually at 5:30am and it was a bit crowded at the first km of the race. But the weather is just perfect. No haze and no rain. It was raining a few days before the race and the weather was cooler which really makes the run more enjoyable. After the first km, the runners started to space out and I could get to my normal pace. After about 2.5km, it was run up to the Bukit Genting. It was nice to watch fellow runners running up the steep slope in a group with some runners using the blinking red light. I used the blinking light from my headlamp which I put in in my Spiebelt for safety reasons. Quite a number of runners started to walk due to lack of  training on hills. But the breeze running up the hill was welcoming.

Then we have to run down the hill, certain stretches are dark and narrow. But the organiser has placed Peugeot cars with their headlamp on to brighten up those dark stretches. It was actually a great idea. At the end of the hill, it was sharp left turn into the kampung of Balik Pulau. That's when we have the sounds plus smell of nature. The cowdang smell that comes with it. But the cooling weather and nice kampung area, a flat course and very little traffic at this point really makes this run truly enjoyable for me. At that point, my Garmin lost its satelite signal. Only the time is still working. So I just have to run by feel. There was an elderly couple who cheer us along this route.  A big thanks to them, a little encouragement help us go a long way. The organiser has done a great job by having distance markers at every 2km with some interesting quotes. I could know the distance covered without a satelite signal.

The organising chairnan, Mr Andrew Loh and the MC of the event. 

The longest stretch of the run is Jalan Bahru, a 6 -7 km straight road. I realised it takes mental strength to conquer this never-ending stretch of road. So I just focus on the run, step by step. Putting on blinders to everything else. And just do it one foot at the time. It makes this route more manageable and kills the boredom of running this section of the route.

The ladies at the Secretariat at the finishing line

After the 18km mark, fatigue starts to set in. I feel my running pace has start to slow down. It is only 3.8km to the finish line. It's time to dig deep. Finally, finished the race of 21.8km in 2:33 which is 33 seconds faster than my 1st series. But still unable to dip below 2:30. But it is longer distance of 0.5km as compared to the 1st series and a much tougher route. So I did a better race this time. Most of my friends did a slower race for this series due to the elevation. The 2nd series is a much well organised race as compared to the 1st Series with distance markers and quotes. And we have plenty of food and drinks at the end of race like Milo, 100plus, nasi lemak, bread, water melon and nutmeg drink. And I just like the colour of the running vest for this series, apple green !

Not easy to be a politician nowadays. You even have to run half marathon. A great effort by YB Bukit Mertajam, Mr Steven Sim finishing the 2nd series.

The 3rd series will be the hilly roads of Balik Pulau. A 6km uphill run ! Followed by the winding roads to Teluk Bahang. Getting excited just thinking of the next challenge. Time to get into some long LSDs for the Borneo International Marathon (BIM) on 25 August.

The hills at the background

The medal for 2nd Series and two puzzle medals combined

So after the race, the next thing to look for is laksa. We decided to look for the laksa that is "in the middle of nowhere" in the hills of Balik Pulau. Very nice environment. A serene atmosphere and an experience to have laksa at this place. The taste of laksa doesn't feel great but the atmosphere makes up for it. So it is worth a try !

The Assam Laksa in the hills of Balik Pulau