Date: 27 March 2010
Venue: Cyberjaya
This was our 2nd half marathon. After carbo loading with fried rice, we drove to Cyberjaya car park P1 to park our car, arriving 6.10pm. 21km starts at 8pm , so we had plenty time to eat bananas, wiping body glide & Vaseline, fixing timing chip & wearing shoe and of course, not to forget take group photo! Weather at 6pm was hot, the sun was still shining brightly. How the full marathoners ran in such weather, we wondered.
Luckily we parked our car in car park P1 (the furthest car park from the starting venue) and the shutter bus had plenty of empty seats for us. When the bus reached P2 & P3, most of the seats were taken. It was quite a distance from our car park to the starting point. On the way, we passed Dell, HSBC, Multimedia University and some of the roads will be our racing route.
Powerbar booth nearby the starting line
It was not so pack with people when we reached the starting point because 21km started at 8pm while 10km at 9pm. Hence, most of them were 21km runners. We saw empty queue at the mobiles toilets and headed for it (rule no 1: go to the toilet when there is no queue even if you don’t feel like going!). But a lot of people started to queue as we reached there too, maybe our rule no 1 is also applicable for others too-lah.
Mr Energizer's costume
Mr Energizer is recharging...
After loo break, went to collect our headlights. The headlight looks like E.T and not so comfortable wearing on the head. So some of us decided not to wear and I attached it to the wrist instead of head. It was almost 7pm by the time we walked to luggage storage, it was really far inside! Starting and finishing line were different, so we need to jog back to the starting line, probably around 600-800meters away from the luggage storage point.
Guess who's who? NB, Adidas, Asics, Anta, Saucony....
Group photo before run
Around 7.40pm, runners began to line up at the starting line. Pom pom girls (cheerleader) was performing in front but we didn’t see their performance as the view was blocked by runners in front. At 8pm, gun was off and we started to run. Along the road, it was actually quite bright and we expected at 8.30pm the lights will went off since it was Earth Hour, but it did not. Cyberjaya was well lit (TNB must be very happy…), or simply the Earth Hour does not apply here.
At 5km mark reaching HSBC, my time was 28minutes (don’t know the distance marker correct or not, never run so fast before). Water stations were sufficient of water and Gatorade until this point. Feeling so far so good, catching the momentum, no blister pain on my left toe, no huffs and puffs. All of my running mates have different pace, so we ran on our own in race. It was 66minutes when I reached 10km mark, yeah, there was distance marker so far. Still doing fine and continue running until saw 13km mark. There were water stations every 2.5km and I did not miss any of it to rehydrate. At 15km, my watch showed 1:38, already slowed down. My pace was getting slower and from here onwards I did not see any distance marker thereafter. At one of the water station, I need to ask the volunteers how far more and they said another 5km. Traffic was a bit chaotic as we need to cross few times from left to right side and back to left of the road.
At 5km mark reaching HSBC, my time was 28minutes (don’t know the distance marker correct or not, never run so fast before). Water stations were sufficient of water and Gatorade until this point. Feeling so far so good, catching the momentum, no blister pain on my left toe, no huffs and puffs. All of my running mates have different pace, so we ran on our own in race. It was 66minutes when I reached 10km mark, yeah, there was distance marker so far. Still doing fine and continue running until saw 13km mark. There were water stations every 2.5km and I did not miss any of it to rehydrate. At 15km, my watch showed 1:38, already slowed down. My pace was getting slower and from here onwards I did not see any distance marker thereafter. At one of the water station, I need to ask the volunteers how far more and they said another 5km. Traffic was a bit chaotic as we need to cross few times from left to right side and back to left of the road.
Reaching the residential areas, I kept wondering how many km more need to run as there was no visible distance marker. Just run-lah. When hearing drum beating, I guess it must be near the finishing line and then a volunteer cheered to us saying only 1km more to go. Passing the drummers and turning left, I know the finishing line was very near…finally saw the arch I increased my pace! Saw the cheerleader cheering for us, so relieve but how come no timing belt?? Duh….kena conned, this was not the finishing line, the finishing line was another 200m away! At this time, I was already very tired and slowed down my pace towards the finishing line. Finally crossed the finishing line after 2:31:30.
On the way running towards the finishing line, there were runners walking out at the same road. How the traffic could be so un-organized? Imagine for those full marathoners coming back and were blocked by a pack of runners walking out with their goodies bag. There was no water given immediately after the run. We have to queue up for it at the back of the area which is 200 meters away. Saw a long queue but didn’t know what it for as there were no proper visible signage. Luckily there was a volunteer (tall uncle) kindly told me that 21km runners can collect goodie bag at the back and don’t need to queue in the long line (it was for 10km).
Energizer booth
Back to the luggage storage area, I met up with others and too tired to find where the water station was. After stretching and water, I slowly regain my alertness & queue to collect my luggage and then goodie bag. The medal was given together in the goodie bag. We then went to cool down nearby the concert area. Wondering was there anyone really watched the concert as we did not bother to. Feel happy on completing the race together with my running buddies, all of them done well. We boarded the shutter bus around 11.15pm and called it a good night run for us.
Our goodie bags
Yes, the run itself was good but not so on the overall event from pre, during to after. Some points as below:
Pro
1. Sufficient water station every 2.5km – plenty of water and Gatorade…mmm, I love Gatorade;
1. Sufficient water station every 2.5km – plenty of water and Gatorade…mmm, I love Gatorade;
2. Hi-tech timing chip (but the ink came off lah….), still prefer the normal round timing chip;
3. Efficient luggage storage – thanks to the volunteers;
4. Bomba shower fountain at about 16-18km mark, refreshing!
Cons
1. Insufficient distance markers, or simply not visible – Should have this at least every 2km especially for full and half marathoners. Experienced this by keep asking the volunteers on the distance along the route;
2. Misleading finishing line – there were 2 arches at the finishing lane, pls put the arch only at the actual finishing line with timing belt;
3. Same road was used for finishing line and for those coming out from the goodie bags area. Misleading for those runners who finished later and need to dodge other runners who were going home. Pity those runners la…already run 42km and 21km and still need to dodge the packs of people…..;
4. No guidance and “umphs” at finishing line. Felt a great difference with Putrajaya Night Run when runners feel like “superstar” crossing the line and immediately given water & medal. At least be more organized to care take of the runners coming back to finishing, it was like “Ar, finish d ar? Where’s the water? Where’s the medal ar?”;
5. Medal giving – The medal was given in the goodie bag. How to ensure the runners really complete the run or not? As long as anyone has a bib on their chest, they are entitled to collect the goodie bag & medal;
6. Water station after run – we have to walk like another 200m to the back end for water…and could not see the signage at all. Put the water station in front la…;
7. Lastly, the most famous one, vest issue….no need to say more, comments already overflowed in Energizer FB.
Nevertheless, thanks to Energizer and Pacesetter for this event! Another medal in the bag
Love the medal though, 21km finisher medal -front
21km finisher medal -back
What's in the goodie bag...
~ As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are - Joan Benoit Samuelson ~RW
