Borneo International Marathon - 1st May 2011

This was a good holiday.

And yes I'm currently sunburnt and down with a fever.

But it doesn't make the past weekend in Kota Kinabalu any less FUN than it was!

My third BIM to date.

If you've been following this blog.....you'd remember that this course was my FIRST full marathon attempt back in 2009..(but then it was a slightly different route due to different sponsor and it was held back in October)

As always....this race was very well organized.

This year, race was due to start at 4am.

I still personally feel that 3am was a more appropriate start time considering that the weather can be a scorcher in these parts of the country.

Prior to the start of race, Alexis and I decided that it would be wise on our part to try and run this race as fast as we could.....preferably to complete sub-5 hours, and preferably without increasing our risk of skin cancer exponentially.

Also it would be our 'pie-in-the-sky' aim as neither of us had ever sub-5 in local weather conditions.

Decided this year I was gonna tote along my camera.

If anything, it would be my mini-upper body strength training workout.

Oh..and this year the turn out was bigger and more HAPPENING!!!!!

* Alexis and I pre-race!

From the get-go.....I was following Alexis and Maybel.

Erm...scrape that. Make it Maybel and I were following Alexis.

The girl was on fire!!!!

* Near the first turn around.....

* I LOVE the volunteers.....BIM has the BEST ever!!!

She kept pushing the pace and I figured we might as well try and cover more mileage while the sun was still in its slumber and the temperature was still rather cool.

At around 6km, we lost Alexis. We figured she was right behind us.

Maybel kept a pretty constant and quick pace.

At the first turn around at 10-11km, I was still able to follow Maybel's lead.

Probably about 5 more km later, that is when running Maybel's pace became a tad more difficult and laboured.

Brain kept telling the legs to get a move on. Legs planning a mutiny in secret.

* The Air Asia support crew was FUN FUN FUN!!!

We arrived at kilometer 20 in 2:08.....pretty decent and high probability for a sub-5.

But trying to keep up with Maybel has somewhat taken its toll.

My legs were starting to feel very heavy.

I was also starting to worry about cramping.

(stupid mutinous legs!!!!)

Brain kept churning out positive vibes and feel-good encouragements.

Legs were not buying into it.

Somewhere between legs refusing to move faster and still wanting to sub-5...the sun rose, achieving its full glory.

* Heading into town....LOVE the view!

* Can you spot Maybel, leaving me behind to eat her dust?!

And then......some idiot turned up the thermostat!!!

I sadly watched Maybel kicked it into high gear as I slowed down to a shuffle, cursing my genetic coding that marked "slow runner" on it.

* Running past the jetty.....

With Maybel gone...I had no one to talked to.

Thank goodness I had my camera and loads of random strangers to talk to....

Sure I get the odd stares all around.

But my training in the nuthouse had made my epidermis pretty thick!

Running into town.....that was when the full marathoners converged with the halfies and ten-ers.

Shuffling along to the rising temperature was no easy feat.

Trying to get the halfies and ten-ers to run and chat with you was even worse a feat!

Mentally telling myself that I can still sub-5 it.

I just have to keep placing one foot in front of the other without tripping over myself.

(or at least not in front of a cameraman!)

* Water station very much welcomed in the heat....

I was on the look out for familiar faces.

At least people I know would be obliged to talk to me....and pose for a picture.

Running past Sutera Harbour was lovely......the tree-lined streets were still providing some form of relieve from the killer sun rays.....did I mention that the view was lovely??

Just keeping one foot in front of the other.

The turn around at Tanjung Aru (I think...), I was ecstatic!

That just means about 8km more to go!!!!

I'm ALMOST there!!!!

I glanced down at my watch.

4 hours plus.

Sub-5 was still within this reality.

But the run back was tougher than I've anticipated.

And I'm starting to walk more. Not a good sign. Too early to be walking this much.

Brain starting to be a little bit on the quieter side.

Dude...crank up the encouragements!!!!!

* Spotted Andrew and Jennifer on the way back......

* Elaine and Uncle Gary.....

I walked/run until remaining 5km more to go.

4:35.

Sub-5.....a little difficult.

Make that almost impossible.

Oh what the heck.....I'd rather walk and do the best that I can at that moment.

One foot in front of the other.

* Heading back to Likas Stadium. The left side of the road was closed off to traffic...thus the pile up on the other side of the road.

In front of me....everyone seemed to be doing the 'zombie-walk'.

I fitted right in in the midst of the zombiefied runners heading back to the finish line.

So it was one foot in front of the other...run 3 lamp posts....walk 3 lamp posts.....snap a photo or two.....fantasize about going swimming and drinking green tea frappucino.....repeat.

And suddenly......it was ONE MORE KILOMETER to GO!!!!!

*happy dance...ouch, damn blister*

Tried to keep running (or shuffling depending on how you view things) for the entire last kilometer.

Why on earth is this last km so freakin far?!

One foot in front of the other....

...and out of nowhere....Likas Stadium materialized in front of me.....(excuse the dramatization)

Keep running....one foot in front of the other.....right onto the track......

And next thing I know...I'm DONE!!!!

In 5:09!!!!

Not too bad. I can live with it.

At least I have tons of photos to boast about.....(lame, I know)

So now a little sunburnt....having fever....hobbling due to that dreaded blister on the sole of my left foot......and eagerly awaiting next year's scorching BIM!!!!!

Congratulations to Elaine Pan for completing her FIRST FULL MARATHON!!!!

Same kudos to Uncle Gary who rebound from running-retirement to pace Elaine on her maiden FM.

(Btw...Uncle Gary paced me on my very first FM way back in BIM 2009!!!!)

And good job to all the runners who endured and persevered the distance and the heat.

In the words of Richard Reed....YOU GUYS ARE SUPERSTARS!!!!

Later!!!!