Date: 30 October 2011
Venue: Stadium Petaling Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Distance: 10km (Garmin: 9.95km)
Timing: 49:42 (Gun); 49:32 (Chip); 49:34 (Garmin)
Pace: 4:58 min/km (Garmin)
Website: http://www.pjhalfmarathon.com/
First time doing this event and it was back after a 3-year absence. SW did this a few years back but skipped this year’s event as she was away. Overall, the event went well except for a few areas which could be improved. Despite the early flag off at 6:45 am, it was still hot and humid throughout the event simply because the route was unshaded; I can’t imagine what it was like for the 21km-ers.
Km1-2
This portion was a flat out from the stadium along the front of Kelab Golf Negara Subang heading towards SS7 Kelana Jaya. As usual, I place myself about 7-8 rows back to avoid getting caught with the leaders and going out too fast; Vijay was about 3 rows front. I remembered passing Vijay on this stretch but he would eventually overtake me (at golly-no-clue-where) to finish just ahead of me.
Km3-4 and Km5-6
The long stretch along SS7 which was a continuous climb – minor elevation which would turned into a downhill on the way back after the turnaround around km5. The mantra “you’ll be rewarded with the downhills” somehow didn’t resonate this time since there was hardly any downhill. Then again km5-6 were my fastest split given the slight downhill.
Ever realized that running a flattish route can work to your disadavantage? It does for me coz it’s the use of the same muscles over and over and over again thereby leading to an early fatigue.
Km7-8
Nothing much except for the side road along Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong and some of the industrial warehouse/factories. This was also where the second hydration station came up – at the u-turn at km8 (the first was at km4 before the earlier u-turn in SS7). How apt, huh? I was starting to hurt and just wanted the race to be over and kept repeating to myself: under 2 miles; 2 laps around LG etc.
Km9-10
Nightmare portion. See my earlier rant after I finished. Enough said. I checked my splits later that day and lo behold, km9 was my slowest – 5:15 min/km.
Pros:
a) Well organized for a Malaysian road race – from ease of online registration to reminders of race pack collection and run to race pack collection to run.
b) Great finishing at the stadium – this is rare; I’m indifferent about this but a few friends felt on top of world i.e. finishing the Olympics with the end at the stadium.
c) Race carnival post-run – games, Dulux handouts, The Star newspapers (since they’re the sponsor/organizer) etc.
d) Generous goodie bag and prizes. I didn’t expect to receive anything since the website only had prizes for the top 5 finishers. In fact, the top 20 were given something to take away.
e) Plentiful of parking around the stadium even when I got there at 5:30 am.
Cons:
a) The convergence of the 5km and Fun Run with the competitive category or rather just the 10km. They definitely need to improve on this.
b) No road closure (AT ALL!) which proved to be extremely dangerous this time – at the turnaround of km4 and along km6. This hasn’t really been a problem for me most of the time but the driver at km4 seemed intent on making me a burger patty for breakfast!
c) I’m not sure how much earlier they should start – 5 am like the AHM? Or 6 am? And whether the earlier start would make any difference since the route is unshaded anyway.
d) The prize money attracted a lot of African runners and they dominated the top 9 spots in the Men’s Open (21km) (MO) with the last one going to our national runner, Shaharuddin. Also the limited number of finisher’s medal (200 for the MO) was another source of discontent – if you’re racing the MO, your finishing time has be less than 2:07 hours. Perhaps for major/bigger events like this, they should have Open and Closed categories or eliminate the prize monies – just a spur for the local runners.
e) No distance markers – not a problem for me since I had the Garmin. Those without a GPS watch or footpod had to rely on the hydration stations which were about 4kms apart (next con).
f) Given the temps, humidity and unshaded route, perhaps a shorter interval i.e. less than 4km between hydration stations would be better.
Photo log (credits to Moey):
Photo log (credits to Moey):
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