THE ' TESTING' TIME PUTRAJAYA NIGHT MARATHON 2017

Putrajaya Night Marathon 2017

4 November 2017

21km

FO at 8.20 p.m.

Dataran Putrajaya

The preparation...

I came to this event with no short of confidence personally to perform better than my last 21km run at MPKj HM 2017.

The build-up was according to the plan a week before the event date. On top of that, I recorded 160km in total runs in Oct to mark that I have fully recovered from my injury and has rebuilt enough fitness and endurance. That should be able to help me to finish the HM at PNM this year comfortably.

I ran 15km on Monday comfortably after regaining the pace 5 for 12km run at Allianz Pacer Run on 29 Oct.Then I had cross training sessions at the gym on Thursday. Supposed to have a short 5km run at least on Friday morning but replaced it with treadmill run and easy gym workout due to the rain. I believed that should be enough to keep my body in a good shape and my muscles in the active mode to run on Saturday night.

The meal and liquid intakes was also just how I prepared myself my previous night HM runs. PNM 2017 is my 5th night HM runs and my 18th overall HM runs from 2016.

Before the FO...

I arrived at the venue at about 6.15 a.m. and waited at the flag poles Dataran Putrajaya. Agreed with my Anonymous Runners(AR) friends to gather there for me to pass the race pack to some who requested me to collect. Then we also agreed to have our group's photo session with my DLSR camera before the FO because some will run FM and some HM. Razman Shah was the first who arrived as passed him the race pack. While waiting for others, I met Ahmad Johan, Pak Engku Raja and then Kak Yang Farina Abdul Aziz.We took some photos together too.

Then my AR friends Fyrus Azim,Roszalee Othman, Mohd Yusnisan , Zul Haque, Mohd Rizwan Jamal, Marzuki Khalid, Dean, Zamri Harun, Aen Amir Norhazura Hamzah and Noran Noranchik(new friend from Melaka)arrived and we had the photo session before leaving for the maghrib prayer.

While walking from the masjid I bumped into Megat Aleef Munawir who I met in person last during a night LSD run at Putrajaya before we became FB friend. Arrived again at the same place and met Cikgu Ikmal, Epul Nana,EstherBan Chuah and Linda Zaini with their friends. Ijam was also there and the last time we met was at SCKLM in May.

Then I left to keep my bag at the luggage control place provided by the organiser. Although it was not raining at that time, I decided to wear a cap as the precaution because the was forecasted during that night. Why? The rain water will affect my eyesight for a specky like me without the cap. I also decided to run without my phone to minimise additional weight to carry with already extra 3kg that I have gained while recovering from my injury in Sep-Oct.

At the luggage control canopy and FO area, I also met Yoe Niezam, Adzyan Hamid, Muzamir Abu Bakar Jamal Zabari and Mohd Irwan Bin Ismail. We had a quick chat among us before performing the warming up separately until the call by the emcee and crews to gather at the FO area.

My Run...

The start was almost flawless for me. Among the crowd from the FO line, I managed to isolate myself to run at my rhythm about 1km later. Glad to see that I started the first km with pace 5. It was a smooth run with average pace 5 until about 10km. Just according to my plan. At that stage, my mind has started to think about to get better timing than at MPKj should a realistic target because to beat the 2:03 here last year looked unlikely.

However, I can make my best plan but He always has a better plan for me. Started to feel some discomfort in my stomach at about 11th km. The discomfort then gradually becoming some pain that my core could not bear it anymore by the time I reached the 13th km. Suddenly the memory of my run at MHWH night run in July flashed again in my mind. Not again!

It looked like the diarrhoea struck me again but what puzzled me was what could be the cause?

Then my core muscle could not stand the pain and the only option left after I tried a slower run was to stop running. Can't really recall it clearly where it was but I also saw abg Talib Kastam from Johor walking not long before I stop my run to walk. I started to walk while massaging my belly with deep breathing to try to ease the pain and hoping for a mobile toilet to be avaible at the next WS.

During this walk, I felt so disturbed mentally when I keep seeing more and more runners passing me and in the same time feeling hopeless in discomfort while dealing with the pain.

The stomach problem truly shocked me because I did not think that I have eaten something that may have caused within 24 before the FO.

Other than my regular meals before a HM run with extra plain water and some isotonic drink from the morning to the tea time, I did not take anything sour, spicy and hot for the so-called carbo-load meals.

I eased myself at the first mobile toilet about almost 2km from the time I started walking. Then I thought I could continue my run again and to try to make up some of the time lost due to my walk before that.

The pain at my stomach was reduced after the stop and I was eager to restart. Then came another blow to me. Just after few minutes I started my run, my toes felt numb. Then slowly a pain developed and attacked my right calf and seconds after that my left calf.

I thought dealing with the stomach problem that came with its grumpy sound was tough enough but when the pain at my calf muscle gave me the second blow to deal with. It was the muscle cramp that I have never experience in my previous 17 HM runs excluding LSD runs.

Unlike the stomach problem, I think I knew at that moments of cramp attack what caused it. It was mainly due to the sudden change from the pace 6 run to about 2km walk. Then the toilet stops. My own theory is, the conditions and liquid level of my muscles have also changed drastically.That may have caused the trouble for me to restart while I was still with the effects of the diarrhoea to my body that has also caused me to lose more liquids.

With the running 'disasters' struck me at the same time, what I did firstly was to stay calm and not panic. When the muscle pain due to the cramp started to become unbearable I just stopped and took very deep breath.

I stop running and pressed the area at my calf which painful with my both hands. Then, I kept my leg in straight position while bending myself with one hand pressing the calf muscle and one hand pulling my foot upward to keep my calf muscle in extended condition. I know I keep the muscle in loose condition, the pain would be more and if that happen, I won't be able to bear it and asking for the emergency help would be the only option left. When I felt better I did the same for the other leg.

Then suddenly I felt my left calf became very painful again and I quickly sit down with the leg remained the straight position and I used my left hand to pull my foot towards me. I know I need to quickly stand up again with the same straight position and walk or run slowly immediately. 

I thought I could do that with my right hand lift myself and make that transition. However, that was exactly the time when suddenly I saw two runners stopped and assisted me.

One runner quickly holding my back and tried to lift me by holding my shoulders through my arm pit and one more guy went in front and gave me one hand to reach with my right hand and asked me to stand up. I believed he also has the knowledge in immediate cramp treatment.

When I was to stand up and made that few steps of quick move forward, the worst pain of the pain eased at little bit and I was able to stay standing and moving slowly. When I said that I was ok after asked by one of the two guys, then they continued their run. It was fairly dark and I could not see their face clearly and I am very thankful to both.

True sportsmanship truly shown by fellow runners and that time, I was the beneficiary at the receiving end. If I am not mistaken, that was about between 15km and 16km.

That last time I had a cramp was in April 2016 during the 15km 100 Plus night run also in Putrajaya. Honestly, I was not sure whether to continue or not while I was enduring the pain due to the cramp this time. This was also due to in the same time, the pain at my stomach was building up again. I had the trouble to keep my deep breath that can ease the pain at my calf when my internal core muscle was dealing with the other pain in the same time.

Then I decided to continue and will decide later depending on how far I can deal with both problems. I knew if I just pushing myself too much to run again, it may cause me unwanted injuries that may risk my future ability to run.

So, the following km after that was just a walk. When I felt a little bit better, I tried to walk faster and stopped again to repeat the steps to ease the pain at my calf whenever I feel needed. It was about

2-3 hundred metres walk and stop cycles for few more km. At that moments, the timing was the least of my concern but with the same pace of walk-stop strategy, I knew that I could still finish my run under 3-hour.

At this period, I just freed my mind to avoid feeling too annoyed when more and more runners simply passing me even with their slow run. I heard one guy who recognized me said to loudly " Tu la. Abg Jai laju sangat mula2 tadi!" while passing me. I just replied to him nicely and smiled" Dah nak jadi. Nak buat macam mana"

The walk was also a 'war' in my mind while enduring the double trouble pain. It was between to stop called for a help from the crews and shipped by the medic team or to carry on.'

Then another running friend Linda Zaini happily said to me " Hi! Abg Zaini!" when she passed me during my walk. I assumed she did not know that I was truly in pain.

Not long after that the pain in my stomach started to build up again and this time was the worst.

This was also the time I bumped into Cikgu Afezi Abdullah as well and we had a very short chat. While we were talking to each other, suddenly I had excused myself to answer the nature's call again that caused by the diarrhoea.

That was the longest stop but positively, my stomach felt much better and the pain due to the cramp was lesser after that. That was at about 2km more left to the finish line.

Then I tried to run again and surprisingly I could. I continued my slow run and started to cheer up fellow runners who were walking to run again slowly together to the finish the run. Some started to run and some just continued walking and that is quite normal towards the end of any run. Everyone will have their own 'battle' to overcome to reach the finish line.

While running towards the DCA building, I ran together with one guy who had the stomach problem as well. He said probably due to nasi lemak he took few hours before the FO.

By the time I made the turn to FL at the DCA building, suddenly I forgot all my pain because my eyes just focusing on finishing my run. The push from within was just about to complete my 18th HM run despite all the troubles that I had to overcome.

Also, quite lucky when I saw my good running friend/photographer Wong was there taking photos. I heard him asked me how was my run and quickly answered I had a cramp while he was taking photos.

The slow run to the FL this time was totally the contrast of my last years’ experience here. Last year I was sprinting to the FL for the PB of my night HM run and this year I was like running and limping just with the goal to finish the with the potentially my personal worst in HM run timing in my entire running journey so far.

However, the feeling was still great deep inside me. It was a different kind of PB for me when finally, both of my legs crossed the finish line in 2:46 according to my GPS watch. It is not the timing that I love to see in my running record but I learned the best lesson in dealing with the 'testing' time due to the diarrhoea and cramp attacks.

I did it again despite all the unexpected twists and turns along the route to the end. Every run will always remain as a new learning to be better or wiser for the next one. There will always the possibility that things can go wrong but we must deal with it positively or otherwise.

Regardless of how many runs that I have finished comfortably, we just could not anything for granted on what may hit us at any time in every run. To stay calm and having some basic knowledge to deal with the unexpected are among the key factors that made me finished my run finally this time. Despite we may have been well-prepared in all angles especially our body and mind for every race, things can always go wrong. We just need to get prepared for the worst-case scenario.

PNM 2017 may not be the experience that I would be most proud of but it gave among the best lessons that could make me better personally in my running adventure in the way forward.

I don't have much to say about the route and the event itself this time around because almost all pretty much expected. I have been running and driving in Putrajaya regularly and the route generally is no stranger to me. Just slight changes in the actual route this time compare to last at the first half and it was not raining at all compare as initially forecasted. Facilities and supplies provided were sufficient to me at the FO/FL area and along the route with pretty friendly crews to keep encouraging runners to keep running at each WS, turn and checkpoint.

Bumped into Al-Rumie after getting my medal at the FL but I could not talk longer to him because my stomach suddenly instructed me to go to the toilet again to ease myself.

Met abg Talib Kastam again while walking quickly to collect the finisher tee but I could not find him again after that. Glad to see him to finish the run as well despite the cramp he suffered. I could not really remember when he overtook me during the run. The last time we met and had a chat was at PIM Kuantan in March.'

Finally, I felt much better after my 3rd toilet stop and after collecting my bag with my phone and camera. I returned to the FL area and met some more friends such as Ahmad Johan Wad Nee, Walasri Usianbolt and took photos together. After collecting my bag, I met Dzulkeffly Hassan with his little boy who then helped to take our photos together.

With some discomfort still felt, I knew that the best thing for me is to go back clean up and have a proper rest. So, I decided to leave earlier than planned although I was keen to meet more friends at PIM this time.

I met some of my AR friends again when I was crossing the Dataran Putrajaya to go to my car. We took some more photos together with my camera before I left them waiting for others to finish.

Despite all what had happened to me this time, I feel happy and satisfied enough that I was able to finish the run. While writing the experiences bit by bit on my to Ipoh for work on Sunday until today, 7 Nov, I saw some of my running friends had achieved their great milestone as well in running from the FB updates. Congratulation to Ridzuan Ali, PokSu Adie and Khairul Azmi Ahmad Raslan for successfully completing your first FM run and all finishers at PNM 2017.

I also truly believe the tagline "Quit at never" for PNM 2017 has reflected to many runners that night including me personally. A DNF was an easier option but I did not.

A big thank again to all photographers such as from My Runners, bro KU Wong and bro Fiz Zo who were there and captured some awesome photos of me running again at PNM.

Until we meet again at Larian Keputeraan Sultan Azlan Shah at Kuala Kangsar this coming weekend and followed the first ever KUL Marathon in the following week for me to close my running calendar for 2017.

"Every start is the first win and every finish is the start for the next run".