The next morning, I slept in till 9. Went to 1utama and walked around and promised Ivan we'll have sushi. He's been craving for it. So we had a heavy lunch at 12. I thought it'd be good... you know.. carbo loading... lol!! We went to Sakae Sushi. It was really yum. Price.... after conversion, it's CHEAP!
We had lobster and egg roll sushi, soft shell crab, fried maki, tempura and unagi bento consisting of chawanmushi and miso soup as well.... (as shown in the picture).... not shown in the picture but went down our stomach as well were 2 pieces of inari each and 3 pieces of crab roll sushi each and ivan had additional 2 pieces of salmon sushi and green tea. Coming to a total of 76 bucks.
After our heavy lunch, we shopped a little and then ate yau char guai with soya bean and tau foo fa before heading home to SLEEP. Such pigs. Which was a rather bad idea because when you sleep, it takes longer for the food to digest.
Woke up at 5.45, showered, changed and I drank a cup of Milo... which was part of my usual pre-run meal plan. It was usually Milo + 2 eggs + banana but I skipped the other two. Thought I'd be fine since I ate such a heavy lunch. Karen came at 6.15 and then it was off to Putrajaya.
On the way there, I felt pretty good and pretty confident of achieving my target time. When we got there, Karen went off to the starting line coz her race starts half an hour earlier. I did a small business, took my own sweet time to put on my shoes, my running chip, my number .... drank down some Livita for added energy, and then walked around and saw the start of the marathon.
We stretched, jogged a lil and while we were heading towards the starting line, this lady that was selling this plaster strip thingy for the nose that's meant to make you breathe better stopped us and gave us some sample. She spent quite awhile talking to us and when we finally escaped her... the race has started. When we crossed the starting line, it was already over 3 minutes. Haha! We were the last to cross the starting line. But since we have the running chip and get our individual times, it didn't matter.
We caught up to the crowd pretty easily and all I remembered was I was running past everyone and no one overtook us. Ivan kept on reminding me not to run too fast at the beginning. First km, 5 min 45 sec. I felt good but slowed down for the next few km to 6 min/km because it's a long way more to go.
First water stop, I skipped it. 2nd water stop, I saw 100 plus and couldn't resist and drank some. Huge mistake. I started to feel a slight stitch. But I still kept on going because I know it will eventually go away. We were still running past people and it felt very good. It was a feeling I never had before.... because in NZ and aussie, it was always people running past us, even like big size heavy people. Over here, everyone is so slim. The body of the girls are to die for! At the start of the race when I was walking around, I see all their bodies and I envy them so much. So nice! I want... small thighs.. so slim...AhhHhh!! look so fit! jealous-nya!! I was just checking out their bodies from far when I was running and to be able to run past them... felt even better! hahahaha!!
Since I wasn't running with an MP3 for the very first time.. I had three things to distract me.
1. I'm gonna run pass that girl with hot legs in front of me
2. OooOo!! I get to run pass guys too
3. Small thighs Sher Mayne... small thighs....you'll eventually get small thighs if you keep running like them
This lasted for only 10km unfortunately. I was still very stubborn and greedy and took 100 plus whenever it was available at the water stop despite the stitch. Around the 8th km, I really had to do a huge business. It felt like it was gonna come out anytime soon. But there wasn't any loo around. When I reached the 10km mark, it was 1 hour. The hope of doing under 2 hours is very small unless I pick up my pace.
But... the stomach was getting worst. I kept on telling myself to keep going and don't think about it but after 1km... without any music to distract me.... I .... gave up... and ... STOPPED... and WALKED. Was so gutted I did that. I told Ivan... cannot la.. forget it.... Not doing it. And then people started running past us. ARghhh!! So so gutted and so angry at myself.
And then.. I decided to give it a try after walking a km and started slow jog. It came to over 7 mins for that. Then stopped again and walked because the legs started to give way as well and the mind wasn't in it anymore. I blame not having any music. All the way, we were just walked, jog, walked, jog..... And then come the 14km mark, I said to Ivan... let's start running. The need to POO wasn't there anymore. I felt like I can start going and I still have chance to do it under 2 hours 15 mins if I were to maintain a 6min/km pace... not long after that, we saw people rubbing ice. I did not know what I was thinking at that time. I think the willpower to run was very weak and as an excuse to stop and rest, I blindly went to the people and asked them to rub some ice on my calf too since it was rather sore. Silly silly!! Ice causes leg cramps!!! It causes the muscle to contract for goodness sake!! So not long after we left the icing station.... Ivan and I had leg cramps. Crap!!!
Mine was gone after some stretching but Ivan's one kept on coming back the moment he starts to run. Sure the ice was part of the reason but at the end of the race, I realized.... not having bananas was another reason because bananas prevent cramps. It was clearly proven during my diving trips. All the while I thought bananas were just for energy.... until I went for diving, I realized it prevent cramps as well. Another silly mistake to skip out the banana from the pre-menu plan of mine.
At the 15km mark, Ivan asked me to go ahead and he will catch up. All these while he was sticking beside me and I felt bad to just leave him behind. I kept on looking back and slow jogged waiting for him to catch up. He wasn't too far behind me. I stopped a few times waiting for him to catch up to me but his leg cramps were pretty bad. He kept on waving his hands asking me to go ahead and saying he'll catch up.
And so...I went ahead without him. I didn't look at my watch anymore and all I wanted to do was just to finish the race. I ran and walk, ran and walk all the way, keeping an ear out for the sound of car keys dangling because that would mean he will be close by behind me. I did not hear anything.
The final 2km, I wanted to run all the way. But.. I failed. I can't believe I can't even do that. I still had to walk a bit during the last 2km. Obviously the will power was completely gone. I so wished I had my MP3 then. I walked till I saw the final km mark and decided... I'm gna run it. It so happened this lady ran past me and she looked rather old and I told myself.. I'm not gonna let this lady beat me. And so, I ran and caught up to that lady and ran beside her, following her pace.
Came to the final 150m, there were these ppl yelling.. last 150! last 150!! I recalled how I always enjoyed the final sprint. I was contemplating whether to still sprint since I already have such a bad time and being in pain already, the sprint is gonna give me even more pain. But then, the All American Rejects's Move Along song pop into my head. "Move along, Move along, Move along".
And so, I sprinted, chanting "Move along" in my head all the way. It was a bit weird because I didn't notice anyone sprinting. Maybe 1 or two. Some were even walking towards the finishing line.
Once again, I enjoyed my final sprint despite the crap time of 2 hours 27 mins. At least I had a good ending. I drank two cups of cold milo and a cup of 100 plus whilst waiting for Ivan to arrive. He arrived not long after. We stretched, he ate but I couldn't. Suddenly felt a bit unwell. We walked around a bit, went to get some deep heat and more drinks and then went back to the car.
Before that, we stopped by the results place and checked out the results. And that was when I felt super gutted. You see, top 20 gets money. And the person in the 20th placing had a time of 2 hours 11 mins. A time I could have done easily. Arghhhh.... The whole way back, I was just whining to Ivan.... could have these.... could have that.. if only this.. if only that... poor guy after leg cramp still had to hear me whine. Lol!! I'm gonna come back next year and join this race again!!! Next time, with the correct pre-run meal.... plus mp3 player.. and only drinking water throughout the race. Just hope the standard next year remains the same. Hehehehehe....
This half marathon story did not end here......
When I got home, we were meant go out for supper because the last meal we had was lunch. We went home first because I really had to go to the loo. And... I had diarrhoea. I felt really sick and ended not going out. Poor guy who was starving had to settle with the snack pack they gave after the run. Cupcake and banana and bread. He only ate the cupcake and half a banana. The other half was for me. Immediately after the last mouth of banana, I rushed to the sink and..... BLuekkkk!!!! I threw up. I saw milo and banana pieces. I was glad I actually threw up coz i felt better.
Washed up and went to bed. But still, couldn't sleep. That uncomfortable feeling came back again. Rushed to the toilet and threw up even more. This time, I saw mushroom pieces, rice, carrots, sharks fin (from the chawanmushi), seaweed..... There goes my japanese lunch. And then I had diarrhoea again. But after that... I felt so much better and went to bed and managed to finally sleep.
And so I guess..... it wasn't too bad afterall. On top of no training, no proper pre-run meal, no mp3 player..... I ran with food poisoning (my cousin said it was a gastro bug.. no idea what that is) and I completed it.
I'm gonna do this again!! And be more careful next time. Hehehehehe....
As I said, some roller coaster ride eh? Even my tummy was on a roller coaster. Hehe :p
