Energizer Night Race 2010

Energizer night race 2010 was a great first marathon experience for me. The race was held just a week ago on the 27th March at Cyberjaya. I've entered the 10km category which is the shortest distance available for the event. Golly, this is my first time so I am a complete noob. The other categories were 21km and 42km, the full marathon. 

The route of the 10km race is pretty straightforward (Bottom). It is a circle, so we began and ended at almost identical location. Along the route at approximately every 2.5km, a station for drinks and sponging is provided. A week before the race, I have collected my marathon T-shirt at Melia Hotel Kuala Lumpur in Jalan Imbi. The only size left was XL and 2XL, but fortunately for me, I'm a big-size dude.

Huey did not take part in the race but instead accompanied me to the event as a spectator. She took many pictures of the event that made this post possible so I am extremely thankful. We went together with Ee Wen, who has taken part in the race as well and two of her friends. We arrived at Cyberjaya between 6:30 to 7:00pm which gave us a good 2 hours to explore the place before the race started. By the time we were there, the full marathon runners have started their race. We parked at P1, one of the many designated parking areas provided and took a bus to the starting point. When we arrived at the drop-off point 10 minutes later, the first thing we did was to collect our head gears. Further from the starting point, the organizers have set-up a stage and stalls to entertain runners and non-runners alike for the event. We chilled out at this area while collecting freebies along the way. The mascot of the race Mr.Energizer (1st bottom). Huey kissed Ms. Energizer at one of the stalls (2nd bottom).

I moved to the starting point of the race as the time ticks closer to 830pm. This is the reporting time for the 10km race although the starting time of the race was 900pm. I met one of my buddies here, Gary. He is a seasoned marathon runner so there is much for me to learn from him (1st bottom). At exactly 830pm, the lights on the streets were turned off in conjunction with Earth hour. The streets were darker than usual but good thing for us, we could switch on our head gears (2nd bottom).  

As the time wound down to the last 10minutes, the atmosphere was electrifying. Runners were boisterous and excited. I was trying to psyche myself by stretching and warming up my leg muscles. Then, I heard people were counting down numbers 7.....6..... yes, I told myself it is almost time ....5.....4.....3......I was getting really excited ....2......1 then the horn gave a loud wail "weeeeee" to signal the beginning of the race. Due to the shear size of the participants, 2000 of us, the starting point was like a bottle neck (Bottom).

The first 2.5km was a breeze for me. In fact, I was at the same pace as Gary up to this point before I decided to stop for water at the first station while he kept on running. From this point up till 5km, it was a routine jog for me because I have been training consistently up to this distance. I looked at my watch, the time shows 925pm so that means I was very much within the qualifying time. The qualifying time for 10km is 90 mins. Again, I stop at the 2nd station for drinks and only water was provided although I was expecting Gatarode.

From here onwards was a new experience for me (and my leg muscles) because I have not ran this far before. The tiredness started to sink in between here and 3rd station, which is located at 7.5km from the starting point. My legs were getting heavier and breathing was getting harder. However, there were 2 factors that were working for me at this stretch, first the landscape was mostly flat / downhill and second the temperature was falling so my body was not getting overheated. After what seems like an eternity, I could see the 3rd station from my sight and it was such a great relief. This time, they provided Gatorade. I took two big gulps and rested for a short 10s. Energy rushed back to my legs and a short relieved from the burning pain of my leg muscles. I looked at my watch again, the time shows 945. Since the race started, it was just over 45 minutes for 7.5km, clearly I'll be able to qualify.

In the mean time back at the starting point, Huey was enjoying the performances being shown at the stage at this moment including cheer-leading performance (Bottom).

                      

From the 3rd station up till the last point, it was purely gritty determination that got me going. I was totally out of breath and my movements were sloppy because my muscles would not want to listen to my brain. Worse yet, the temperature have fallen so much that I felt chilly because I was not working my body hard enough. However, the distance markers were doing a good job of informing me the distance left to the finishing line. When I saw the last 1km, my heart jumped for joy and to reinforce that, I could hear the noises from the crowd. At the momentous last bend, I miraculously managed to give a final burst of energy to complete the final stretch. After crossing the finish line, I stop to pull myself together. I repeated to myself, "I finally did it".  

At the very end, I got my finisher medal (Bottom) and the bag of goodies with a time of 65 minutes. My legs were aching like hell and it would last for a few days but the sense of achievement would last much longer than that, if not a lifetime. Ciaoz.