Penang Bridge Half 2007

Ahem.. What can I say.

Being kiasu can sometimes be good. I took last year's timings with me just to see if I can break last year's record.

The first leg from island to the mainland started kinda slow for almost 3 km. I was getting skeptical of a PR. But then, I changed mein "mind-tune" to Shakira's "Hips dun Lie" (world cup version) and that did the trick. I ran consistently faster than last year, up to the U-turn segment. I was beginning to think if I don't run out of gas, I might just be able to make a PR. It was a tight race!!

As mentioned in a previous post, one complication was Fajr prayers. I planned to do it on the other side, stopping the chrono as not to count the time to perform it.

By golly! I pressed the stop button but it must have not activated (kinda tight). After fajr prayers, I saw the chrono was still running! Still, I said to meinself, let's just to try match last year's lap timings.

The return trip was OK up to the central span. Then HORRORS, I saw a deluge of 10k fun runners, and most of them are walking. It reminded my of last year's Seremban Half. It was a frantic run & dodge game all the way to the finish, and I was noticeably slowed down.

End result: 2:31:56 including fajr prayer time, which I estimate at least 1:30.

Last year's time was 2:31:25, which was faster by 31 secs, but excluded fajr prayers. No way I can perform fajr prayers in 31 seconds, right? Meaning, I HAVE BETTERED LAST YEAR'S TIME. Hooray!! But dunno exactly by how much, haha.. No matter!

Post-race it was the usual search for water routine. The effort during the run, with mein under-trained condition, showed itself in a slight "yellow vision" if I stopped walking around, meaning I was close to passing out. Haha!!

Later on I sat by the road and watched the full marathoners. I hold a deep respect for them lar. At this stage I can't imagine meinself capable of it. Then as I made my way back to mein car, I chanced upon Running Mom, a first time marathoner & cheered her on. It was past 6 hours, but she has accomplished what all aspiring runners (including meinself) only dream of - completing a full marathon. Tabik spring to the lady. The lady got guts. I until now have no guts to do a full marathon.

OK..Lastly, for the record, here are this year's timings. All done at 7:1 run-walk ratio. Segment numbers denote the km markers on the bridge's central divider.

segment ---------- lap ---- split -- lap vs 2006 -- split vs 2006
start to 8.5 --- 15:33 ---- 15:33 ----- slower ------- slower
8.5 to 7.5 ------ 6:02 ---- 21:35 ----- faster ------- slower
7.5 to 6.5 ------ 7:05 ---- 28:40 ----- slower ------- slower
6.5 to 5.5 up --- 7:13 ---- 35:53 ----- faster ------- slower
5.5 to 4.5 dwn -- 6:47 ---- 42:41 ----- faster ------- faster
4.5 to 3.5 ------ 6:37 ---- 44:18 ----- faster ------- faster
3.5 to 2.5 ------ 6:45 ---- 56:03 ----- faster ------- faster
2.5 to 1.5 ------ 6:29 -- 1:02:31 ----- faster ------- faster
1.5 to 0.5 ------ 6:48 -- 1:09:19 ----- faster ------- faster
u-turn segment - 14:09 -- 1:23:28 ----- slower ------- slower
0.5 to 1.5 ------ 6:55 -- 1:30:23 ----- faster ------- slower
1.5 to 2.5 ------ 6:51 -- 1:37:14 ----- faster ------- slower
2.5 to 3.5 ------ 7:04 -- 1:44:18 ----- slower ------- slower
3.5 to 4.5 ------ 7:10 -- 1:51:19 ----- slower ------- slower
4.5 to 5.5 up ----7:51 -- 1:59:19 ----- faster ------- slower
5.5 to 6.5 dwn -- 6:05 -- 2:05:24 ----- faster ------- faster - caught up!
6.5 to 7.5 ------ 7:15 -- 2:12:39 ----- slower ------- faster -10k fun runner deluge
7.5 to 8.5 ------ 6:49 -- 2:19:28 ----- slower ------- faster
8.5 to finish -- 12:28 -- 2:31:56 ----- slower ------- slower!

Looking at the data, up to the second last segment I was faster than last year (inclusive of fajr time) but squandered the lead because too kaput to do a nonstop final push. Ach zo! But whatever it is, I have truly enjoyed this year's run!