Adidas King Of The Road 2011 – Kuala Lumpur edition

Date: 2 October 2011

Venue: Sunway Pyramid – New Pantai Expressway, Selangor, Malaysia

Distance: 10km (Garmin: 9.78km)

Timing: 50:36 (Gun); 50:19 (Chip); 50:22 (Garmin)

Pace: 5:09 min/km (Garmin)

Result: 5th (Women’s Open) (here)

Website: http://www.adidaskingoftheroad.com/ or here

This should be billed the race “by all accounts I should not have done”. Here’s why:

• Wonky ankle from YRPR

• Wonky ankle being kicked by some jerk BEFORE the race start

• Runny nose

• Slight temp the day before

• Waking up in sweats during the previous day’s nap and in the night

This was an out-and-back along the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) starting and ending at Sunway Pyramid. There wasn’t really much of a scenery and it can get mind boggling running down an endless straight road with no end in sight. At least it felt that way for me. There were (I think) 4 upslopes on the 10km route, not too sure about the 16.8km category but everyone sure did not miss the last one – 800m to go and bam…it’s in your face. To add salt to the wound, they had countdown distance marker of 800m at the start of this slope!

Km 1-2

It was straight down the NPE with the first upslope at km2 and then the turnaround and the first checkpoint. With the wide span of the expressway, no congestion except for the first 20m.

Km3-5

The second upslope hit us after the u-turn – it’s basically the mirror of the first upslope since we were running an out-and-back on the expressway.

Km6-7.5

LONGEST stretch by any form of imagination. It was an endless road until the u-turn to head back. First though was to conquer the upslope at the tunnel (yes, another f***-ing upslope) before the toll booth and you thought you could turn around after that but no, you go further and further ahead. This took a lot of mental strength. Like a lot. Second checkpoint was after the turnaround.

Km8.3-10

Yeah, it’s a funny distance check but that’s what it said on the distance marker. It was here when Stanley called out to me and naturally zoomed ahead. Le sigh. I was hurting, more from the pushing the pace and the mental bit rather than from the ankle. Thank goodness (PTL!), the ankle held up. Hey, let’s not miss that upslope at the tunnel (remember, it’s a mirror) and the worst bit was having to see that countdown 800m marker at the start of the climb. The last climb took a lot out of me because I slowed down a tad with 400m to go and the girl who I had passed on the climb surged ahead to finish. Oh well, given the route (difficulty) and my wonky ankle, I’m pretty pleased with my run. After all, I did consider a DNS.

Pros:

a) Well organized.

b) FULL road closure – a first for a Malaysian race? Plenty of spaces to run/no congestion and no roadkill potential.

c) Updates through emails and SMSs.

d) Plenty of hydration stations, at least 3 on the 10km route.

e) Distance markers every km and in the last km, a countdown every 200m. Of course, the latter was a bane to me.

f) Good traffic flow post-run.

g) Good job by the volunteers and marshals.

Cons:

a) The road closure started earlier than usual and heard more than a handful of runners had to make some detours to get to the site. Also, the usual-to-me-parking entrance to Sunway Pyramid mall was closed. In the end, I parked at Sunway Pyramid Tower Hotel – this was ok since the car park is a common one for the mall and hotels. Plus, since I got there before 6 am, it was a flat RM3 fee. Score!

b) 4 upslopes for a 10km race? Really? Oh c’mon, that’s a bit too much, especially the last one when most of us are turbo-charging to finish. Ok, this might be a mute point since this is within runners to train for and overcome such obstacles. Hey, I’m a drama queen, ok?!

c) Really, like extremely, slow clearing of cheques/confirmation of prizes for the winners. They definitely need more than 2 persons to manage 6 categories (each with 5 or 10 winners). I waited (standing on an iffy and wonky ankle) for more than 40 minutes. And this was after I went to drop off my bag in the car and get (plus finish) breakfast. Would have been really cheesed off if I had stood in line hungry.

Photo log:

The usual ugly running pic - I never look good in any running pic!!! (credits to Moey)

The loot