11.10.2014: Putrajaya Night Marathon 2014

another 10 km completed, another medal collected

This is the second time I'm participating in the annual night run organised by BSN. And this is the third 10 km that I've ever ran. Yes, 10 km. Not 'marathon' as the title may suggest.

I admit that I had not trained enough though it is merely a short distance (compared to 21 and 42.195, of course). Only over the last week I had 2 practices at the gym's treadmill; 4+ km on Tuesday and 5 km on Thursday.

My unofficial time for this run is 1 hour and 17 minutes according to my Sports Tracker. Compare that to my last year's 1:11:34, I have not improved - timing wise. However, I'd like to mention that I reached my goal for this run (which I have decided only after 5 km in the run). Knowing from gut feeling (if you don't run enough miles, you know la...) that I couldn't beat my last year's time, I threw myself a challenge. How about finishing the run without stopping or walking? I took the challenge. And I won.

Azman and me, before the run

Another challenge that I had thought was at least to be level with Azman, my long time friend. That would be quite a challenge as he's a seasoned runner, so I dropped that one out. By 'seasoned', I mean he had participated in runs more than I had. He started only a year ago during BSN PNM 2013 running in place of another friend who couldn't run the 21 km, and continued on collecting medals - more than 20 I think. Yes, his first innocent run was a half marathon. Gila. Anyway, I finished behind him only for a few minutes. And what's more is that he thought of me as a pacer as I had ran non-stop. Haha... Well, over the course he was behind me every now and then, but managed to get past me as I slowly run my non-stop run one foot in front of the other. The fact that he's going to run a half marathon the next morning is not an excuse to run only a little bit faster than me.
:)

after the run - can still flash a smile!

What helped me to complete my challenge last night were 2 things: I pace myself with zikrullah. And I thought of Ibu, my mom. Somehow it is comforting.

The zikr? Subhanallahi wabihamdih (Glory be to Allah and Praise Him / Maha Suci Allah dengan segala puji bagi-Nya) over 8 steps. It works for me, both in cycling and running.

Alhamdulillah I completed the run and set myself a new record. Perhaps with regular runs at the gym or elsewhere, I could step up my game. Half marathon? We'll see about that.

Big note:
My company's corporate team won the 10 km corporate challenge this year, after a few years straight as runners-up behind OCBC. This year, we switched places. Kudos, SBM Runners!

Updated (13.10.2014)
Official results are out.
My net time is 1:14:56. I was faster 3 minutes and 22 seconds last year compared to this year.
:P