My PBIM trip started at about 12:30pm on Saturday when I head off from KL to Penang driving on my own. CP had travelled with his family a day earlier.
I couldn't join him because I still need to bring the kids to their Kumon class on Saturday morning.
I reached Sunway Hotel at about 4:30pm and went for a quick meal in a old restaurant at the famous New Lane just beside the hotel.
Then I sms to inform CP I'm here. He invited me to join his daughter's birthday party at his in-law's place in Island Glade. I joined them at around 7:30pm for a quick dinner. I must apologise to Ashley for not bringing her a present. I promise to get a bigger one next time:)
After the dinner, I head back to the hotel for a short nap, wake up at 12:00am and head to CP's place again at 12:40am to fetch him to the starting line.
Even though only 600 plus full marathon runners, the venue is surprisingly packed with a lot of people. Some even setup a camp there to save on hotel fee. There are a lot of quarter marathon and half marathon runners. Many of them are students.
The marathon started sharp on time at 2:30am, officiated by Penang Chief Minister YAB Lim Guan Eng. Drums rolling along the starting line to accompany all the runners. The atmosphere was magnificent.
Very different and well organised compared to the recent SCKLM.
I started the race fully charged and was setting quite a good pace, now proven to be too fast. Reached 5km mark at 27m40s.
After the u-turn near Seagate Plant, we headed to the bridge. I was still running at sub-6 mins pace. Reached 10km mark at 57m45s. I will suffer for this pace towards the end 3 hours later.
Running at the bridge was a nice experience. The sea breeze was cooling and I paced myself with someone who looked like a veteran runner from Melaka. We reached 15km mark at 1h31m10s.
I stopped at the banana station and grabbed 2 bananas. Proven to be another wrong decision. My stomach muscles started to get uncomfortable with the load in it.
The 20km mark is after turning back from the toll gate. I reached the mark at 2h05m03s. Just 5 mins above my PB for 20km. Still going strong.
We joined up with the half marathon runners just before the mid point of the bridge and the road is full of people after that until the 30km mark. The atmosphere was party-like with a lot of half marathon runners taking leisure walk at the bridge. I reached the 25km mark at 2h41m19s.
The 30km mark is after the turning to the Jelutong Expressway. I keep looking for the signboard indicating this distance but can't locate it during the run. Based on the GPS, I reached 30km at 3h20m17s. I need to beat this timing in the up coming Pacesetters 30k run.
I saw CP who is on his way back after the final u-turn somewhere between 30km to 35km. He looked tired. I called to give him a cheer.
After a long and suffering run at Jelutong Expressway I finally reached 35km mark at 4h01m41s and then 40km mark at 4h41m22s.
The distance measured by GPS and organiser's marker is completely out of synced after the 30km mark. The organiser placed the 35km marker at 33.9km according to the GPS but placed the 40km marker at about 41km based on the GPS.
Based on the GPS I reached 42.2km at 4h57m38s. In the final official result I did a 5h08m. GPS reading said the distance is 43.8km.
I think GPS is measuring actual travelled distance while the organiser is measuring the course distance.
CP was there as promised when I crossed the finishing line. He had to wait longer than expected because my sub-5 target didn't materialised this time. Nevermind I will try again, maybe sooner than expected:)
After the run I walked around to cool down and did some stretching to avoid any cramps. I went over to the medical tent to get some ice for the calves while CP waits for his wife who is doing the 10k fun run.
3 of us went over to Island Glade for breakfast before I said goodbye to them and head back to the hotel.
A friend who came back from UK called to meet up with him and a few others in G Plaza for a quick lunch before I depart home.
The journey back to home was quite tough since I didn't sleep the whole night and didn't have any rest after the run. I reached home after 6 hours of drive with many stops for rest. It's safer to take a public transport next time.
Signed off from PBIM 2009.
