Penang Bridge Run - 24th June 2007

What a great and tiring weekend it was!



Driving There
My friend (who was not running) and I started off with a 3.5 hr drive down to Penang after a sumptious breakfast early Saturday morning, and had lunch at a great seafood village at noon just before crossing the bridge to Penang island. The same bridge which I would run over the next day (Sunday 24th June!) for the Penang Bridge run half marathon category.



Collection of Bibs
The first job on arrival was the collection of numbers and bibs at Queensbay Mall. I was the driver for Saturday, I was a bit tired when we got there, but was I surprised - Queensbay Mall was just like 1 Utama here - after parking the car, we were directed to the front of the mall where the collection counters were doing roaring business. The best thing about runs was that there was always so much atmosphere before and after a run - I could see people doing brisk sales of powergels and powerbars and there were also all sorts of promotions of other "state" runs - ie. Kuantan and Langkawi was doing their own runs albeit smaller scale.



What equally surprised me was the many people from all walks of life who turned up to collect their t-shirt, though not knowing what category they are running in, most did not even look like runners - thus looks can be so deceiving! Not forgetting there were tons of school children signed up for the race, probably in the 10k, category. And there were buses ferrying the out of towners in - I gathered the pacesetters team was probably one of the buses, bringing in a strong team from KL/Selangor, hurrah for the spirit !!



Carbo Loading and Reconnaisance
Deciding that I am staying in a hotel out of town and to my surprise the early start time (Marathon - 2am registration, 3am start, Half Marathon (Ladies) - 4am registration, 5am start), I bought my bananas, Milo and powergel/bar for a good start before doing the unusual "reconnaisance" of the route, as we were still wondering how I was going to get to the starting line since there was limited parking and my car was too new to be parked on the side of nowhere! By the time we checked in, it was almost 430pm, and just timely for a good shower, short rest and then we headed out for a foot massage at 6pm (heheh) and then to MacAlister St for the sumptious hawker fare (my fake carbo loading!!!). Next table, I spotted these bunch of singaporeans (I think), chiselled frame, proudly wearing tshirts proclaiming conquering the singapore marathon and the bintan triathlon. (So, I did not fake the carbo loading - the pros are gorging hawker fare too!!!)



Early AM
My friend drove my car and dropped me off the furthest point I could imagine at RECSAM - a teacher's trainning college (which was supposed to be the spot we had surveyed) as roads heading close to the Penang Bridge was blocked. In enthusiasm, I did not realised that this was almost a good 2km+ to the starting point. So, I jogged, walked and made my way there in enthusiam, only to be kept in a pen area within Sekolah Gelugor before the flag-off - once we were released from the pen, the flag off was like 1 minute the moment the "women" were released from the pen! (The men half marathons were flagged off 15 mins earlier!). I spotted Yufang, our national walker warming up in the pen.



The bridge in the early morning
I was a bit dizzy at the start as there were too many people. But eventually when we got onto the bridge it was a good smooth run. The initial uphill was a small challenge but I was actually my fastest during that period. The first 5km was just after the second arch of the bridge. Then it was a good downhill, so it was a pleasant run. This was where it was weird- the distance to Perai was much further, it was a good 5km all the way to the other end (the toll - so I did run the WHOLE distance of the bridge - it is not 13km one way as claimed!). By the time we made the turn at Perai toll, it was still dark (Thank god for the early start), and the small path where the turn was made was really bad and everybody walked! By then, I realised my watch had stopped, so I relied totally on my ipod for the distance info.



Coming back, I started to get tired just before the slope up, because of the longer Perai distance. By the time we were back on the arch, I was a bit worried as my watch showed I may be late. The concern I had was that this half marathon was 22.3 km, I had set my ipod to 22km, but my watch showed I did not have enough time.



Finally I saw the 1km to go sign, and believe it or not, I was so relieved I actually almost sprinted the remaining 1km to the finishing line just under the qualifying time. When I checked my ipod, I actually probably did my best 22.3km distance, better than my KLIM time. Maybe the malfunction watch helped to scare me!



Postscript
It was a good run - I enjoyed the bridge, the flats and the slopes and I think maybe next year I can attempt the marathon here. I am still in need of more practice to get my timing better even for the half, but I am glad I made it, it was a fun run all in!



For the organisers, I would definitely wish they were more organised in the drinks - the poor marathoners and half-marathoners are dying of a drink at the finishing line - but there was no free mineral water, and the lines for milo was so long and across the field at the fun-run finishing. Come on, give me a break, I was struggling in daze looking a good 15 mins for the drinks station, and I saw many people similarly NOT holding onto a drink after the race.



Thanks to my support crew, my friend who did the long drive back - my foot was sore after the race, but we did have our last look at Gurney Drive (after my 1.5hr nap) and had lunch before we headed back to KL.



See you next year, hopefully I could train for the marathon then!