Borneo International Marathon

RUNNING along the coastal highway, passing the Sutera Resort Development towards the direction of Kota Kinabalu city centre, I was struggling to keep up the pace. Passing the "8 KM TO GO" sign, I looked at my stopwatch and noticed that I was still within the target of under 2 hours to finish the run. It was then about 7:18 am and the sun was beating onto my face from the east. In that heat, I felt like giving up. 8 km was just too much to hold on to that pace. But I kept running anyway. It was a truly big test of mental strength.

About 3 months ago, while going blog hopping, I stumbled upon the Borneo International Marathon (BIM) in a friend's blog. I read with interest on her ambition to outrun Kenny Sia. Following the link from her blog, I found my way to the official website of the BIM. Then I decided to join the 10 km run. But later on, because of the encouragement of some friends, I signed up for the half marathon instead.

I surfed the net for more information on marathon training. Then more research by asking some friends who are frequent runners. Before I embarked on the marathon training, I have been running quite regularly at an average of 3 times per week; and each time I'd run between 4 km to 5 km. When I started my training, I gradually increased my mileage. During the earlier part of my training, I ran mostly on the treadmill at YFitness, but later on YFitness went bust and I was forced to continue my training at the Likas jogging track. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. Running outdoor is different from the treadmill somehow. Besides, I have since experienced running in the dark after office hours; in the wee hours of the morning; and twice in the cold rain.

I used to run no more that 40 minutes per session, and I couldn't go beyond 9km/hour average. Besides, it was also clear that I couldn't hold that pace if I had to run for a longer period. Therefore, at the beginning of my training programme, I had set my mind to finish the 21 km within 2 hrs 30 mins. However, as my training progressed, I could feel my strength and pace improving. I became more confident and revised my target to 2 hrs 15 mins. That seemed to be a realistic timeframe for a first-timer. Then later on, as I became more comfortable running at the pace of 10 km/hour for more than 1 hour, the idea of running the half marathon under 2 hours became increasingly promising. However, I had to do better than 10 km/hour. In fact I had to run faster than an average of 10.5 km/hour. It was a long shot, but as I got closer to the marathon day, I have abandoned the 2:15 target, and fully set my mind on sub-2:00.

Yesterday night was the pasta party sponsored by The Sabah Tourism Board. On the way to the venue, it was raining cats and dogs. It did not look like the weather was going to improve before today's marathon, but we were keeping our fingers crossed. At any rate, I had made up my mind to run even if it rained this morning. There were numerous cultural shows at the pasta party. Mia, who said she'd skip the pasta party, decided to come along at the last minute. But we left earlier at around 8:30pm.

I planned to retire to bed early so that I could catch at least 6 hours sleep. In the end, I only managed about 4 hours. It was still raining at around midnight. The possibility of running in the rain became increasingly real.

At about 4:15 am, I woke up and started preparing for the marathon. At about 5:15 am we started for the sports complex. We reached there at around 5:30 am. There were already so many people there eagerly waiting for the start of the half marathon. The full marathoners have been flagged off at 4:30 am. One more visit to the toilet and then I made my way to the starting line. I found a spot somewhere in the middle of the pack. A final check of the timing chip on my shoe. Some more stretching and warming up by a bit of jumping. Soon it was already the countdown for the flag off. And everyone started to rush forward, but I remained true to my gameplan. I ran an approximate 10 km/hour pace for the first 2 km, and then gradually eased into the 10.5 km/hour after the 5 km mark; and then later built up the pace to 11 km/hour.

I was a bit worried that at around the 5 km mark, I was already feeling the exhaustion building up, but I pushed on anyway. As I progressed further into the run, I gradually overtook those ahead of me one by one. I arrived at the 10 km mark—which was within the Sutera Resort—in 56 mins, still looking good for my sub-2:00 target.

Coming out of the Sutera Resort, we had to turn south towards Tanjung Aru. But just before reaching the traffic lights, we made a loop for the return route to the start/finish line. I was already panting under the hot sun, I have only covered a little over 12 km up to that point.

Because of the heat, I stopped frequently for drinks—alternating between 100PLUS and plain water. The return leg proved to be the most punishing part of the run because of the heat which had built up to around 30C by then. Passing the Sutera Resort for the second time, and seeing that "8 KM TO GO" sign, I was already at the verge of giving up. It was quite obvious that I was not going to be able to finish the run. Yet I pushed on for whatever it's worth, because after all, I was still within my target of completing the run in under 2:00.

So tough were the remaining kilometres that I started counting in my mind for every step that I made. And so I went, "1, 2, 3...", challenging myself to keep running for at least 1000 steps before giving up. But when I reached 1000, I challenged myself to do another 500 steps; then another 300 steps; then another 200 steps; then another 100 steps...

I just kept going and put some more kilometres behind me. At around 3 km to the finish line, I overtook Mia. She's doing the 10 km run which started at 7:00 am. At that point, my pace had gone down to 10 km/hour with about 15 mins left. I had to accept that it's close to impossible to achieve my target.

I am so disappointed to have failed in my mission—02:03:45 was all that I could squeeze out of my legs for my first half marathon. I have tried so hard; I got so close, yet so far. But later when the results were published, I realised that I got no. 30 within my category. I supposed that had a lot to do with the fact that only 87 veteran men ran in this first Borneo Marathon.

Today, some of my friends have failed too. This friend failed to outrun Kenny Sia. Actually I thought she had a good chance to beat him, but maybe my confidence in her was influenced by her good looks (smile).

Dr Liaw, too, failed to complete his full marathon in under 4 hours. I thought he could certainly do it, judging from the way he ran at the jogging track. He said he suffered cramps in his legs after 30 km.

Perhaps Teo suffered the biggest disaster today. He tried to convince me to join the full marathon together with him. But I am a realistic person, and stuck to my half marathon. Teo proceeded to sign up for the full marathon, suffered severe cramps in both legs at the 35 km point and had to withdraw from the run with only 7 km remaining. Teo, my friend, if you are reading this, you need to do more than just 15 km for your long runs if you want to attempt the 42 km. Youth is not everything!

Next Sunday I will do the Mizuno Wave Run (10 km), followed by the Penang Bridge International Marathon (25 km category) on 16 November, before heading for another 21 km run in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon on 07 December. I want to try to impove on my time in the Singapore Marathon. I just hope I won't die from all these running!