Daily Life: Borneo Marathon 2014

Personal experience at Borneo Marathon 2014

This is not my first time taking part in Borneo marathon as was there last year for FM. But this year do not see many familiar faces at the race. Could be due to the long weekend or other races but only managed to see Mohan before the race begins.

The race route remains mostly the same as last year as so i thought until 20 mins before start of the FM flag off are we told that the FM will start outside of the stadium. Last year was inside Likas stadium. At 3am sharp, the FM was flagged off. since the beginning is the same, decided to go slow. During the warmup session, my left knee cap starts to hurt a little so thought go slow is a better choice.  From Likas stadium, run pass the sabah trade centre towards atkinson clock tower. Suddenly need to visit the toilet so went for the water/aid station after padang merdeka. As there is a stretch which is not well-lighted, got a runner hit the depression on road but thankfully no injury. Still too early in the race.

With excess water out of the system, feel like a bird and started running a little faster. Between karamunsing complex and kian kok school, there is a slope that will turn into the expressway. I attempted to relax my head/arms and take shorter steps to save energy while maintaining my pace. It proves critical later. After Kian Kok school water point, I started to take 100 plus mix with water from my hydration bag. I train with my hydration bag so top it up the day before with plain water. It proves to be a difference as the race progresses. After the school, it's back towards likas stadium. By this time the 21K runners are just arriving at the stadium with some of them cheering us on.

After likas stadium, its towards Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) the water/Aid  points are spaced 2KM apart from each other with one table plain water, one table 100 plus, one table plain water, last table 100 plus. I do like this arrangement as no need to have mix-up of 100 plus and plain water. Reminds me of SCMHK and SCMTW water point stations setup. The volunteers also shouted out earlier what they are holding so just go to the one needed will do. Inside UMS is the in-famous UMS hills which is needed to clear before can go out of the campus. So i went into my same method for clearing the expressway earlier. This time I was traveling up the hills while other runners walked up. For every up hill, there is a down hill so i was in a better position to travel down faster. No need to have brakes since pace is comfortable and relaxed. In my mind, I was telling myself to continue moving despite the slopes. After 4 hills later, I was out of UMS and toward 1 Borneo shopping mall. The bulk of the FM runners are just entering UMS so gave them some claps to push them on. I also saw the morning light on the horizon so think that with my pace, i should be able to aim for either 5 and below. The route remains the same until the u-turn last year. this year u-turn is near the industrial estate which is some distance from the previous u-turn point.

My heart nearly sink as a result but since already clear so much, no way i will stop. From the beginning of the race, I had split the race into 4 parts of 10K each so its easier to encourage oneself. After the U-turn, its 31K (i think, cannot remember) so just press on. The sun is up and behind me. From then on, I was splitting the distance further into 2K each and will see my sportstracker app at 34K to see if i am still on target or not. The 34K mark is outside 1 Borneo shopping mall and the app shows i just took 3hrs 53mins, which means i have 1hr to clear 8K as long as i continue my pace. With determination to make this my run my PB its a do or die trying from then on.

As its return journey back pass UMS, the HM runners are coming out walking so have to ignore them and continue. To make things worse, the water stations has run out of paper cups so it's drink from the bottle which i took some slip of 100 plus and mix with my hydration bag water. it continued to the end of the race with the last 2 drink station completed no more water and with the morning sun up, i pity those running without any hydration belts, bottles or whatever. The junction after the city mosque remains jam with cars and the traffic police this time round stopped the traffic on both sides so we can cross and go towards Likas stadium. No increase in pace but have to say 'excuse me, make way' for those walkers as i run past them.

At the stadium, there are some extra cheering local running group. One runner ran pass me and stopped outside the stadium. I have to tell him the end point is inside the stadium, not outside. I was already running on empty and was increasing my pace to finish it. so close yet so far. My torchlight which i attached to my hydration bag came out at this point n i have to hold the torchlight in its porch while i dash to the finish. As quickly as it started, it ended when i cross the finish line. I stopped my app and it reads 4hrs 57mins. guess I was too wasted to jump up so just save the record first and go to the FM area where they served iced milo, orange juice, eggs, toasted bread. Had the ice cold milo and orange juice. Heard on the PA, the champion for FM open female is from Singapore.

I think the reason for a better run this time could be a combination of reasons below.
1) Familiar with the route for most of it
2) Taking of Durian cake with banana the day before. provides the stored energy without the need for gel until the 34K
3) 5 hours sleep the night before
4) Cool May weather. The morning weather was cooling
5) More hill training at Upper pierce and BTH

For whatever reasons, just love getting a PB for humid weather so the training pays off. :)

Daily Life: Post Borneo Marathon results

Yesterday the results for the Borneo Marathon 2013 was released. I did not have time to go in take a look until today. To my pleasure surprise, i broke my own PB again. for 42K I did a 5hrs 26mins vs my previous PB of 5hrs 31mins done during SCMS 2012. Its a small step towards my goal of 5hrs.

I should continue to enjoy my runs n less focus on the PB. :)

Daily Life: Borneo Marathon 2013

Time really flies and its been a while since i updated my blog. Its understanding since i spend much of my time updating my facebook.

Just yesterday i came back from Kota Kinabalu for the Borneo marathon 2013. It was supposed to be in May but as there was the election, the run has to be postponed. I flew from SG to KK on thursday n was on the same flight with fellow runner, Linclon. We stayed at different hotel but we went exploring the town together while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive on Friday night. The town is very small n can be completed by walking. Going out to other parts of KK will require taxi but still manageable

I went to collect the race pack on Friday n met with Paul Lee who is the secretary of the Borneo Marathon committee. Linclon did raise the concern of the raising airport fees to Paul. He also mentioned to tied with the rest of the Singapore key running group like Team Fatbird so to promote the event even better in SG.Looks like a win-win situation between both side

The whole of Sat was spend exploring other parts of the town like the Signal hill, backpacker area and managed to catch a movie. After that is sleep time to prepare for the Sunday morning run. The run was from 3am with a cut-off timing of 6 1/2 hours. The route was changed from last year and we are expected to see hills with various degree during the run. The run in the beginning was mostly flat with only the up to expressway got a little slope. Then from city mosque onwards, there are small slopes with the more steeper ones at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah roundabout. I have to slow down as don't want to waste too much energy running up slopes with still another 20 odd km to run. By the time I went out of the loop, its 24K. Then one more slope from 1 Borneo shopping mall to BCCM Sepangar Church which is the 30K turnabout. There I saw many fellow runners both from SG to MY running back. I too pick up my pace and run all the way back pass Menara tun Mustapha. There i saw a fellow barefoot runner and we have a good pacing session until I overtook her n she wish me luck to carry on.

I only managed a 5hrs 27mins run n with the excellent weather, was looking for under 5hrs. Looks like i have more training with hills for the upcoming Chiang Mai marathon. Think i met more runners during this run than others. Mike from HK, Oliver from Sabah (He is a 70 year old n is walking instead of running but don't be fooled by his walk. he can walk much faster than most of us running. He is also taking part in the Craze Ultra later in Sept 2013). Linclon, Doris Teo, Eric Tee, Kim Lai, Teck Hock are fellow runners from I.M.D running but i never got a chance to catch up with their until during the marathon. Also saw fellow barefoot runners from Ipoh n KL.

I did not have much cramps unlike previous 42K runs as on friday n sat mornings i was having running session with Linclon.Not much long distance but it helps to keep the body adjusted to the running tempo. Think i will attempt the same for the AHM. short distance with slow speed. Who knows, maybe i will get a PB for 21K. I also takes more bananas before, during n after the marathon which may have allowed my body to react better n prevent buildup of the acid during the run.

One funny thing is many people including fellow runners and helpers are surprised that people can run in sandals. Earlier in the race I thought i am the only runner running in sandals then as the run progressed then i saw other barefoot runners running. Fellow runners are more supportive n respect that I am running in sandals. Looks like i have something more to prove n if i can run as fast as one in shoes, then it proves that barefoot running at least in Asia will continue to grow. :)