Thursday, November 3, 2016

Run: Jom Lari Run [11.5km], 23 Oct 2016

168km
Challenge Series 1:  100km of 125km

In five years of running, this is the very first time I signed up for a race just for the medal design. The cute pokeball medals keep reappearing in my facebook feed until I finally caved in. So cute!

Also the 15km would add on nicely to my 125km virtual run challenge. Usually we avoid smaller runs (from experince!) and those that are not near enough to be convenient. But the medal! So cute! And so I signed up..

Ughh. Should have heeded past experience - no small runs!



Race summary:


Pros
  • Medal. The real thing it turned out as great looking as promo pictures. 
  • Event photographers that actually uploaded their photos somewhere we could see.

Cons
  • The race was cut to 11km 'due to safety reasons'. Bad!! We specifically drove out all the way to Setia Alam for a 15km run (and I really need those mileage for my virtual challenge). We would not have signed up for an 11km run, because this is what we normally run in our weekend training, in a nearer, better place.
  • Terrible running route. We ran past construction areas and what looks like a sand quarry/factory. There was a 2km stretch of DUST ROAD. So we're running and kicking up dust, while choking on the dust of runners in front of us. It was horrible, we could not breathe well in this stretch. And it gave us irritated nose and throats for the next couple of days. 
  • Hardly any water stations. I carry a water belt for this reason but my running partner suffered through the insufficient water stations. 
  • And no water at finish line! What!! Exhausted runners coming in looking for water, only to be told there's none. There was no water to buy either. Pity the small kids who turned out for the fun run.
  • Incorrect markers. Since the course distance was changed I had no idea how far actual finish line was. My gps watch was showing 750m short of km markers, and the race was supposed to be 11km (but turned out to be 11.5km). Which means at the 10km marker (9.25km on my watch) I guessed - wrongly - that there was 1km to go and did not take a chew blok. Which I should have, since it was 2km to the finish line and I would have been able to finish better, instead of walking, feeling pissed off and worn out the final km. 
  • Toilets. Only rely on existing ones in MBSA building, of which only 2 is not clogged and usable.
Overall it was a sucky experience.  Please remind me this when I get the itch to register for a small run in the future! 

Thanks to my running partner for joining me in this not great run.

No comments:

Post a Comment