As a runner, your greatest asset- or sometimes enemy, is your brain! What you think and feel on and off the road has a tremendous influence over how you perform once you lace them up on race day!
Men’s health and women’s health AIA Night Run 2017, Hubby and I decided to signed up for the 21km half marathon, since it was scheduled to be held in Putrajaya (Nice route, flat and not too much of hills). However, we were informed by the organisers that due to unforeseen circumstances, the venue was held at MAEPS, Mardi- Serdang instead.
We arrived very very early, so we managed to get to a good and safe parking spot, quite near the starting point. Alright, let’s begin with a quick rundowns of the PROS and CONS.
PROS:
- It was a “Night Run”. It had a totally different feel than a morning race would have, which I enjoyed.
- It was a nice feeling to be running “in a farm”- closed to nature (Old Macdonald had a farm tune was in my head 24/7, while running this 21km route (LOL)
- I might be acting a little picky with this one, but I thought that the crowd was overwhelming, thousands and thousands of runners!
- Water stations were plenty (but it was badly manned and was disorganised)
- Porta-porties were sufficient
THE UGLY:
- The warm up session by Fitness First was demotivating.
- The flagged off was 10 minutes late, we could see the elite/veteran runners pushing their way to the front. At 8.10pm, the emcee did a countdown and off the 21km runners went.
- As far as logistics go, it was probably a disorganised race. To my opinion, there were too many runners. When the 21km runners were flagged off, runners were pushing, shoving into one another to be ahead/ in front. From the 1st km to the 5 km, runners were running in a bottle neck position.
- Certain parts of the route were pitch dark and there were lots of pothholes.
- To make matters even worst, the 21 km half marathon runners had to share the same route with the 12 km runners, and round and round and round we went….Lap one……..Lap two…….and all the runners were so confused that the 12 km and 21km runners were just running and slamming and crossing into each other. we were like a herd of cows running in and out of the “Kandang” to find our way home……OMG! It wasn’t a flat route, but on hills! It was like stairway to hell. At one point, this was pure mental torture for the 21 km half marathon runners!
- I could hear many runners grumbling and complaining that the route was dull, boring and unsafe. No proper lightings and roads were uneven and lots of pothholes.
- There were no proper signages and markers. Marshalls were busy on their mobiles, sitting in the corners, vaping and smoking and some were busy yelling and shouting “to the left…to the left..!” and “runners….21km to the right! to the right!” At this point, many runners were so confused and most of the 21km runners DNF!
Bad runs happens to every runner. Yes, me too! But when a bad run is happening to you, it is horrible! But when the wheels start falling off, you can either focus on the pain or you can use it as a learning experience.
I was just happy and relief to complete the race and managed to grab my finisher medal!
Be realistic…was it really such a bad race? You are racing no one but yourself! So this time yourself lost, next time your other self may win…….See what I mean, take the good runs with the bad, remember the highs and don’t dwell on the lows.
chrisywong.com 