Day 2 in Penang

Woke up at 2 am. Ronnie, SV and Shut were still sleeping. I let them rest for a little while longer, while I got myself washed up and ready. Ten minutes later, I woke them up, and by 2.45 am, we were all downstairs at the hotel lobby to meet IMD and Yee Hua. There were also other runners gathered at the lobby, all eager to set off for the race.

The six of us hopped into Yee Hua's car, and drove until a small road near the start-line (about 2-3 km away). We intended to park our car there and then walk to the registration point. But just as we had alighted from the vehicle, two scruffy-looking blokes riding on a motorbike came up to us and said that we had to pay them RM 2 for parking on their road. They were obviously cheats, but since we didn't want to risk them scratching the car or stealing its tyres while we were gone, we paid up.

As IMD's race was to begin at 4 am, he jogged from there right to the registration point, while the remaining 5 of us leisurely strolled on. We got there at around 3.55 am. I would say that the registration point was very disorganised. A huge crowd had gathered outside the venue (USM) by about 4.10 am (the registration time was between 4 to 5 am for male half-marathoners), but the gates were still not open. Female runners had to register in a totally different location altogether. By the time the USM gates were open, people were squeezing their way into the USM soccer fields, and it was a mess. No crowd control whatsoever. No one to say where to go or where to gather after registration, or when we needed to be at the start-line. There was just a general diffusion of people towards the backgate, so Shut, SV, Ronnie and I followed along. When we got there, we were again kept locked in by another gate. So we did our stretching and warm-up there. After doing a set of dynamic warm-ups, I did a short jog and bumped into Andy. I brought him to meet Shut, SV and Ronnie and we took many pre-race pictures together. At about 5.20 am, the backgate was opened. Our race was supposed to start at 5.30 am.


Universiti Sains Malaysia

The backgate led us onto narrow roads along private residential areas, and not a few runners took the opportunity to urinate onto the homeowners' walls or through the railings into their lovely gardens. :P Walking, walking, walking, and somehow we emerged onto the main road. I reckoned the whole line of male 22.3 km participants was spread out over 400-500m as we moved from the USM towards the start-line. Walking, walking, walking, and soon we could see the banner for the start-line straight ahead in the distance. Walking, walking, walking and then, without warning, the starter's horn blasted and the race had begun! No one was quite sure if the race had really started, since not everyone had made it to the start-line. However, the guy blowing the horn blew it a few more times, and then everyone started to run. Talk about being disorganised!

There were entire contingents of male youths taking part in the 22.3 km event. Many started to walk within the first 15 min, while some of the stronger ones made it up onto the Penang Bridge without stopping. There were some great slopes on the bridge, and I loved it. Tackling the upslopes with a brisk, high-cadence, short-stride, quick-shuffle, hip-swing method, I swiftly made my way onto the bridge and to its mid-point. (Although my left knee had been giving me problems earlier in the week, it felt great during the race. Thanks to Tekko for his brilliant advice on icing my knee!)

It was all dark everywhere, save for the traffic lamps along the bridge and little specks of light on the Malaysian mainland and Pulau Pinang. It was not really possible to see the end of the bridge, so it really took a lot of mental willpower to press on. The breeze was strong and cooling; it was fantastic. Past the mid-point of the bridge, I steadily proceeded to the Butterworth-end of the bridge, where the turning point was. It took me about 58 minutes to get there. (Runwitme has some great pics of the run. Click here to view his blog.)

On the return leg back to Pulau Pinang, I picked up my pace for the next 4-5 km, until I was back onto the mid-point of the bridge. By this time, the sky was brightening, and I could see the coastlines amidst the hazy sea spray. It was also then that I actually began to feel tired. *Not a good sign* I probably had about another 7 km left to go, and I began to slow down tremendously...But I kept on running, not walking, and that prevented me from being overtaken by too many people. "Keep it steady," I told myself, "And don't give up".

The last stretch of the run along the bridge was terrible. Young students on a short fun run filtered into our running route. They either did mini start-and-stop sprints, or walked in large groups, which made it very difficult for me to maintain a undisturbed focus on my pace. And then, the "1 km left" sign appeared. I had no energy for a final burst of fire, so I just stuck to my pace (I reckon it was about 6-7 min/km) all the way until I reached USM and received my finisher's medal.

I completed the whole race, covering 22.3 km, in 2 hours 4 min 32 sec. Extrapolating backwards, it meant that I did a sub-2 hour half-marathon (21-km), which meant that my form was still about on par with my personal best obtained in the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon. *cheers*

IMD did very well, coming in 12th position overall in the Men's Full Marathon category. Penguin and Hyperactive also came into the top 20 for the Women's category. Andy and Ronnie did sub-2 hours for the 22.3 km race. Well done guys and gals! :) It was a good race through and through!

Later for lunch, we headed first to Lemboh Keng Kwee to eat Penang's most famous chendol :) Shut was immensely satisfied by it :) And then we ate at a Nasi Kandar shop. As IMD and Yee Hua had to leave for KL earlier that afternoon, they dropped Ronnie, SV, Shut and I at Gurney Plaza and bade us farewell. Thanks IMD and Yee Hua for so graciously ferrying us around in your car!


My scrumptious lunch :)

Ronnie, SV, Shut and I hung around Gurney Plaza for almost two hours, and then headed back to the Vistana to retrieve our luggage. Later, we left our luggage in the care of our coach operators at Sg Nibong Bus Terminal, and went out hands-free to sniff out dinner. The mee goreng which I had was very delicious - I've never tasted anything like it in Singapore - but it made me wonder what sort of "special" ingredients the cook had added to it. *unsure look*

Things became a bit of a haze for me by evening time because I was so overcome by fatigue and kept nodding off. Somehow, at around 9 pm, I made my way up onto the coach with Ronnie, SV and Shut. And we were off on our way home.