March 6, 2005
Allenawi

Fakawi does a Marathon

Sunday, 6th March 2005

Five and a quarter hours and approximately 60 thousand pounding steps later, I’ve completed my first ever marathon – the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon 2005. What can I say, the mere fact you are reading this article shows that my conscious mind is still ticking although madness is surely crouching somewhere nearby.

Madness because of the reckless way in which I prepared myself and foolish because I sign up for it on account of a conversation I had with a certain Mr. Ek Liang during a Quick Release party in January. (Oh yeah, Ek Liang decided to do the 10km run instead). Fortunately, a kind Samaritan which goes by the name of Boss agreed to accompany me. Thanks Boss! For safety in numbers, I spoke to Ish and since he has done it the year before, he is pretty certain to do it again. Bravo, three’s company. Being a major ignoramus, I signed up early and even qualified for early bird discount of RM10. Yay!

Training

This is what I’ve learned: If you don’t know what you are doing, better ask somebody who knows. I didn’t know better. I thought a couple of months of running so be OK for what, 42km? After all, I reasoned, I’m not here to win the race. What’s my objective then? Been thinking about giving it a good angle, something honorable and not the old cliché of “Hit the Streets & Beat It”. Ahh yes. Investigative Journalism – this whole marathon thingy is my way of reporting for the Fakawitribe.com which for some time already has been devoid of new articles (that is if you have checked lately).

So training as I call it involves running every other day with the exception of Saturday which is cycling day, on days that I don’t feel like it, on days that my wife doesn’t feel like it (kidding!) and of course Chinese New Year Break – smack in the middle of my running program where I’m supposed to do about 20km according to the schedule.

I ran about 10km initially, increasing 1 km every run on the next run. Warning: Health Hazard – Do Not follow my schedule. You have been warned.

So with all those breaks and don’t feel like it days, the furthest I have ran is 15km. Anyway, Boss, Ish and I decided to do some training together and we met up at Bukit Jalil park on Saturdays for our run. This is my barometer – if I can keep up with either of them – I should be OK. So I did and I was quite happy with that.

Having gotten a max distance of only 15km I’m just doing a third of the marathon distance and somehow I have proven the old adage that what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you. Those of you who knew me would know that usually I do quite a bit of research in things I wanted to do, but this time round I deliberately choose to remain ignorant. I have not read up on how to run, how to train for a marathon – nothing, zilch, nada. All for the sake of remaining pure to the objective of Investigative Journalism.

Let me tell you this: For those of you who has not even jog before, running hurts! It hurts you in places that you have not known that will hurt. After my first day of running, I was walking like a cowboy straddling a horse. Sort of like having enlarged testicles. Have I said it before? Running is hard.

Equipment

Again the ignoramus learns his lessons hard. On my first day of running I wore the Salomon XA PRO. Boy, that shoe is not built for road running – it hurts like a female dog.

So, luckily the Chinese New Year Sale is on and I bought a pair of Saucony for RM99. A bargain, I reckon. That pair of shoes worked pretty well for me in training. Running shorts – I heard all the horrific chaffing stories already so I bought a pair or Nike Dri Fit running shorts. So that’s pretty much the gear I bought specially for this assignment.

Night before the race

SMS between me and doc:

Doc: How? What you eating tonite? Carbo loading ah?

Me: Yeah. Eating tosai for dinner.

Doc: Noo. Tosai made of fermented rice flour - gives you gas.

Me: Yes ah? Ok roti canai then.

Doc: Want dim sum?

Me: Wow rocket fuel.

Doc: But you running marathon need diesel not rocket fuel.

Me: Knee pain. Can eat ponstan before race?

Doc: Can. You want undetectable ponstan?

Me: No. Save that for ironman.

The Race

I didn’t know how many people turn out for the race but there are sure a lot of people around. Beats me why so many people would want to wake up in such an ungodly hour on a Sunday morning to torture themselves. I did not see Ish as Boss and I waited at the starting point. Met some guy who mistook me for Wong Ah Thiam. If you don’t know who he is better ask around. Anyway, told him I’m not and I’m doing my virgin marathon. He was speechless when I told him that he has guessed incorrectly that I have done a half. I was having a bit of a panic attack because of his reaction but managed to shrug it off. See, ignorance is a good thing.

Anyway the race started at 5am and we’re off and I was just following Boss’s pace. It feels great, I was relaxed the sun is still not out, we could see stars, the air is cool and my legs are doing just fine. I am settling into a nice rhythm and even managed to share a few words with Boss.

At about 10km…

Me: Ack, Ack…

Boss: Whazzup?

Me: Choking… no water just ate power gel…

Boss: Next time see water station only eat gel

Me: Yah hor…Ack..Ack..

You’ll have to excuse the lapses in memory from the 20km onwards.

At about 31km into the race…

Ish: Are you hitting the wall already ah?

Me: Yes. [What a timing to ask such questions…]

Between 33km and 35km I am really into the pain zone. I stopped by the roadside for a pee and my pee is cloudy and red in color. Ooops, this is not a good sign. I made a mental note to start taking in more fluid. At around the 34km mark I am in Jalan Duta and this is where things start to mess up in your mind. You see people running towards the finish at the opposite side of the road and you want to be on the other side but then you see the U turn to the other side is about 2km away. I’ll be honest, the first word that comes to my mind rhymes with puck. I can only do 2min run with 2 min rest at this point of time. The sole of my feet really hurts though I did not have any muscle cramps. I keep bumping into this Korean lady Kyeong Hee Lee – one amazing lady who ran with a Powershot G5 and stopping now and then to take pictures and still she overtook me with her steady stride after 35km. Not to mention this Mat Rock guy with long frizzy hair, Black Sabbath T-Shirt, straight cut tight jeans and Kickers boots overtaking me in the final stretch. That’s humbling.

And so the last 5 km was uneventful, I managed only to shuffle my feet along till the finish line and met my cheering fans friends. Here is the official result page: http://www.klmarathon.gov.my/overallmen.htm (no longer available). I am finisher number 566 out of 775.

The organizer did a very good job of providing enough drinking stations and clear markings. Good job. They even spray paint the distance and the slowest time on the road so that you know whether you are still within the cut off time.

So really what did this whole marathon thingy meant? In the grand scheme of things nothing much really; in fact it is really an exercise in futility as doing it in 5+ hours is nothing to write home about. But I have won one thing though – I have won the right to tell a story. Cheers! Thanks for reading.

-Allenawi