LAST NOTES OF 2017 AT A RUNNING EVENT: MARITIME RUN 2017.

Date: 10 Dec 

Venue: Ministry of Transport, Putrajaya.

It was supposed to be an event-free December. The plan was just to stay with my regular runs throughout the month in the build-up to the Twincity Marathon in January.

However, when the event manager on behalf of the organiser contacted me for reasons only truly known to them and offered me two free slots, I was not difficult for me to say yes.

Among the reason that told me were about my sharing of experiences with others through the social media after every event and how I have managed to get my entire family to join me running to stay healthy.

I quickly had the thought of run in this event with my wife. We started the year by running in the same event at KL International New Year Run on 1 Jan and it would a good ending of the year of running for us by running in the same event in the last month too. I decided to run in 21km and wife opted only for 5km fun run.

About 2 weeks before the event, I saw the promotion about the event again. There was 50% reduced fees for all categories.I guess it was another attempt to get more participants because there were several running events to be held on the same date in Klang Vallet as well such as Jakel Charity Run, Klang Int. Marathon and Chuck Chicken Run.

However, I was told there would be about 2,000 runners when I collected my race pack at the event manager's office. To me it is a quite good number because the Maritime Run 2017 is to be held for the first time by the Ministry of Transport if I am not mistaken. Initially I had some doubts to participate in this event but when I gave further thought, I decided to go ahead and tried to stay positive.I believe, with name of MOT as the organiser, that gave me some comfort to agree to be apart of the event.

I did not make any extra preparation for this event other than my regular runs.I ran about 128km total in November and before 10 Dec, the monthly km for Dec was at 35km. So, this event will add to that value to reach my goal of at least another above 100km total for December.

In the build-up to this event, I ran 15km at Putrajaya on Wednesday night and followed an easy 5km on Saturday morning. In between, I had one session of about two hours workouts at the gym and some core workouts sessions at home.

My goals in this run were just to free from cramp and to stay average pace 6 all the way to the FL. It is also very important for me to stay injury free because the Twincity Marathon is just within a month.

For cramp prevention and extra energy supply during the run, I took two sachets ORS twice in the span of 4 hours before I went into sleep at about 11p.m.Then I took two more sachets at about 4a.m and then I took one tablet of salt stick at about 5a.m.I also brought two tablets during the run. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy energy gel that I have finished consuming it during the KUL Marathon last month. So, I decided to take some dates with me instead.

I arrived at the event venue quite early with my wife at about 4.30 a.m. We were lucky to get the parking quite close to the FO area. From the parking lot in front of Galeria PjH, we could hear the sound from the event venue already. My wife decided to stay in the car and I went straight to the FO area by about 4.45 a.m.

From the parking area, I walked and passed tents for the crews who already started to gather. Then I moved further down to the FO Arches. There were two arches, one for the 21km & 10km FO and one for 5km. The FO time is 5.30 a.m., 10.00 a.m. and 5km respectively. At this time, there were not so many people around yet.

For this event I brought my DLSR camera and planned to take some photos of runners after I have finished my run.

After sending my bag to the luggage keeping tent, I walked again to the FO area. 

Initially I thought the FO for 21km was too early at 5.30 a.m. and 6.00 a.m or even 6.30 a.m. should be better after the Subuh prayer at about 5.40 a.m. something. However I changed my mind in the midst of the route later.

After that I went to the back of the FO arch area to perform my warm up workouts.

At this time, I started to see more and more runners arrived but still not that many. Some of my regular friends at events have also arrived. Among of whom I met were Adzyan, Hidayah, GME and Abi Umar.

Then I heard a lady emcee started to cheer up the crowd from the main stage.

I was quite shocked to hear when she mentioned that out of about 2,000 runners, only 241 runners registered for HM category. Upon hearing that, me and my friends laughed and started to make some jokes about it.

Among them were, we might have more chances to win and at least we are assured that we would not be out of water at each water station. Another one was at least all of us would be guaranteed the top 300 finish too! Ha ha ha!

However, since most of my friends including myself are just recreational runners, any run at any event should be a fun one. It is more about to experience and enjoy the run with not so much focus on timing or placing unlike those competitive runners.

There was a warm up session led by someone provided by the organiser at the main stage but I did not join because was chatting with my friends.

About 10 minutes to 5.30 a.m, runners for 21km were called to enter the FO area and due to not so many runners, the atmosphere was not that crowded and very relaxed. Some of us purposely went to the front line to make themselves available in photos.He he he...

It was nice when the FO was on the dot at 5.30 a.m by an officer from MOT.I can recognised that officer because we have met several times in my works.

My run

My run started very smooth from the FO line.When less than 300 runners ran that morning, the atmosphere was quite different from typical HM events that I have participated. There was no hassle at all from the FO line for runners to start running at build their normal pace.

With the quite wide road in Putrajaya , runners should be able to run comfortably with almost no interruption from the traffic in the very early period of the morning.

The overall route was quite familiar like other runs in Putrajaya. From the FO at Jln Tun Hussein and ran to the 1st km, then runners entered the long Lebuh Wadi Ehsan with U-Turn after the 4th km.

After the 7th km, we ran into Persiaran Selatan until another U-turn after the 13th km. Then running to enter the Lebuh Gemilang towards PICC on the left before running through the Persiaran Perdana to cross the bridge.

Then we ran passing the Lingkaran Gemilang 1 and then to turn right to run through Lebuh Sentosa and Lebuh Saujana before turning to the left to Jln Tun Hussein again towards the FL. For HM, the only interface with runners from 10km and 5km categories was at the final turn from Lebuh Saujana and then to the FL.

After the 1st km, I was running at pace 5 until the first U-turn. The feeling was good and I decided to continue to run at that pace as far as possible before going into pace 6 as I anticipated at most of the second half of the run.

After the U-turn I started to cheer up fellow runners from the other side by clapping my hands and screaming to keep them running. Honestly, whenever I do that, I am actually cheering myself too to stay calm and strong mentally to keep running.

The temporary surau was provided at about the 5th km for runners and it was just nice for me and then to continue the run. This time I have already prepared myself with the wuduk before the FO and at the surau I just stopped to pray and thej to continue.

I paused the run at my watch the moment I reached the surau and turned it on again after I have prayed and put on my shoes. The idea is to know how long would be the time to pray when I compare the time between my watch and the chip time later.

The temporary surau was quite proper for male and female separately. It was properly covered too and not just the tent with the space to pray. The bottled water was also provided for wuduk/drink for runners at the surau.

I felt refreshed after the prayer and continued with my run and was able to maintain the pace 5. However, I realised the different kind of challenge after that.

At this stage, runners started to become quite a distance from each other. I started to feel isolated because I could only see very few runners ahead of me. At some points I was feeling like doing my solo LSD runs at Putraya.

The challenge was for my mind to run at the pace of an event and not LSD run. So, every time I came close to any runner in front of me, I tried to ran with them as long as possible until they left me or otherwise. For a recreational runner like me, running with more people around me is always the preference because I can enjoy it more. The overtaking and overtaken by others along the route will give much better atmosphere for me to stay excited and encouraged to keep running.

However, once I entered and ran at Persiaran Selatan, I started to see faster and leading runners running against me after they made their U-turn. This was seen from about the route where I could see PICC on my right.

I felt quite good when my watch indicated that the timing was at 52 minutes when I finished 9km. It meant I could finish 10km under 1 hour at average pace 5 which I did and continued with the pace 5 until the 11th km.

Then, I knew I could relax a little bit more to finish the second half of the run at pace 6 as planned.

After the second U-turn at Persiaran Selatan, the atmosphere started to become more lively when I started to see and could cheer runners from the other side of the road.

My run after the 15th km was still very relaxed with no problem at and maintained at pace 6. In the same time, I still did not take any salt stick and the kurma as well. However, I stopped for a while at the water station after passing 17km to take two pieces of dates. At this point, I felt so relief that my lower body muscles expecially at my calf shown no signs of pain or cramp. I guess my preventive measures that I took before and during the run worked well again.

Another positive thing is with no energy gel taken and only dates, I could still energized enough to have a comfortable 21km run.

At the end, I finished another HM run and it was the 20th HM for me.What a long journey since first HM run in July 2016.

The last few hundred metres from the turn of Lebuh Saujana to Jln Tun Hussein was purely the part I enjoyed the most.

With my eyes could see clearly the FL arch and sounds heard from the FL area, that final steps of were full of more than just the desire to finish but also filled with personal satisfaction. I survived another one full year of running and I was about to end the year quite comfortably and free from injuries too to move into the new year very soon.

Finally I crossed the FL with both of my hands raised in the air again for the last time in 2017.

Officially I clocked 2:12 for this run and 2:09(21.3km, average pace 6.05mins/km) from my GPS watch.It means I spent about 3 minutes for the two rakaat Subuh Prayer. The bonus for me is that I was able to run at pace 5 for 11km.

My overall rank is 56 out of 237 finishers, 48 out of 178 men and 23 out of 58 in the Men Veteran Category.

After collecting the medal and snack pack just after the FL, I quickly went to collect my bag with my phone and camera in it.I decided not to run with my phone this time because I just wanted to experience and place all the memories in my mind for this last run.

My second daughter would like this because she has kept asking me why I keep taking photos during my runs. She said if I don't do selfies or take videos, I could finish my run faster and return home earlier.He he he...

After taking some photos at the photo booth,  I returned to the FL arch area and looked for my friends. 

At the area after the FL arch, I met Aznizan, Habib and Ain from Anonymous runners and other friends who have finished their run as well. After we took some photos together. 

After having quick rest with water and snack, I changed my vest with the official event tee.My intention was just to appreciate the free slot given to me and my wife by the organiser by wearing it and them took some photos with it. I did not wear the tee because I am no longer comfortable running HM runs with any tee. After my first HM run, I have been wearing running vest only for all my HM runs.

Then I returned to the FL arch to wait for my wife.I told my wife to call me when she is getting close to the FL for me to get ready to take her photos running to the FL. Here I met another friend  Omar Shuib from Running Kaki Malaysia group.

Omar Shuib

While waiting for her, I decided to take photos of some runners reaching the FL as well.At this time, there were not so many runners for HM seen and mostly runners for 10km and 5km.I took photos of them randomly.

While taking photos, I had some chats with other runners who have also finished and waiting for others to finish too. Some waited for their wife/family like me and some for their friends.

Here I made new friend in person and his name is Rafizal Basir. He said he recognised me via FB posts.We had some chat about our experiences in running and took a photo together.Then we became FB friend.

Rafizal Basir

Upon received the call from my wife, I get myself ready to take her photos. By that time, I think I had several hundred shots of runners already which I will upload and share via my FB later. There was one lady runner came to me after she finished her run and asked how to look for photos that I took. I told her my FB ID and she can look for it soon after I uploaded all the photos.

So, once I saw my wife from my spot, I went closer to her and started to shoot her photos until she passed me and run to the FL. She looked very happy to finish her last run of the year too.

With our children were waiting at on Sunday, we could not stay too long after that. Then, I accompanied my wife to take her bag and snack pack.After my wife had quick rest with water and some snack, we joined the short wait to take our photo at the photo booth. 

Then we took some more photos around the main stage and then at the FL arches again to take more photos before we left. It was another great and healthy husband and wife outing for us again. In the same time I feel so blessed and happy that my wife is still enjoying running and also very excited to experience the new year 2018 with running in our family agenda.

The event

The weather was perfect that day I after I finished my run, I finally agreed with the 5.30 FO time for HM category. It is simply because the typically hot and humid Putrajaya was still cool and comfortable to run at that hours and I could truly felt the heat of the morning sunlight only from about the 17th km.

The setting of the venue is quite spacious which in front of the MOT building. There was one big area which is the parking area where the main stage, tents for luggage keeping, snack for runners, variety of meals and drink stalls and the photo booth were located.

Runners had plenty of spots to mingle and move around before the FO and later after they have finished the run. I think the lady emcee has done her job quite well in keeping the atmosphere lively.

Route safety and traffic control:

I must say this is the area that have impressed me the most. Along the route were placed with safety cones and the best part was two lanes we designated for runners at 3 lanes road. 

The marker for each km and direction and turns for each category were provided and can be seen clearly by runners.

Despite with only few hundreds runners for the HM route and not so busy traffic at Putrajaya during that hours, I saw at main junctions and turns, at least crews with flad and one traffice policeman were there and manned each of it.

Along the route, there were crews placed with flag to indicate the right direction for runners. Most of them were with their smile and keep encouraging runners to continue running.

I believe the early FO for HM was another key factor that made the traffic control much easier with not so many vehicles available on Sunday morning.

I think it is fair for me to say it personnally that this was one of the best traffic arrangement and control that I have seen so far at a running event.

I have zero complaint about water supply at each water station.It was more than enough with mineral water and 100 plus isotonic drink provided. However, I felt lucky to have my dates with me because I was expecting at least one water station would have banana after the second half of the HM distance.

There were medic team personnel at some water stations. I just asked at one of them after the 17th km if they have muscle spray and unfortunately they did not provide that. I did not have any problem when I asked for that but it would be good if they had it because during the last few km of HM or FM runs is often the time runners need such thing for potential muscle pain or cramp.

My final comments for the event

To some extent, I feel grateful and lucky that I agreed to participate in this event despite it was not in my plan.It was a quite well organised event from the time I arrived at the venue until I left although it was held for the first time. It could be better if more runners in HM category secured.

I believe with some improvements as what I mentioned above,good feedback and comments shared by runners who ran here this year and earlier launch with more promotion in the future event(if MOT want to have it again), it could attract more runners to participate. If I am not mistaken, the cash prizes offered for each category was quite attractive too and that could attract more elite runners to come.

Final messages for my final notes at an event in 2017.

It was another comfortable and enjoyable run with my plan executed accordingly. Another zero pain and injury free run and definitely boosted my motivation in the build up to enter the new year 2018.

"Healthy is not a destination.It is a lifetime and enjoyable journey"