In line with our aim to join at least one half-marathon a month, Farah asked me to find a run in April for us to join… and I found this event, which was the only half-marathon available in our area for the month. Without hesitating, Farah said she wanted to join, and convinced me to join it with her.
So after all the registration was done, and I was looking forward to the only run in April I had signed up for… Farah dropped a bomb on me.
She was going to London and Paris in April.
She was going to “put me on an airplane“… or rather, she was going on an airplane, and leaving me all alone here!
There were four distance categories in this event: full marathon (42km), half marathon (21km), 10km and fun run 5km.
The event website was not exactly well-maintained… the information was sparse, and some parts (even until today, 3 months later) still show “Coming soon”.
RUN DAY 19 APRIL 2015
My boyfriend dropped me off at the event venue early that morning, before 5am. The full marathoners have already flagged off at 4:30am; the half-marathoners would be flagged off at 5:30am.
The location, which was in front of the Palace of Justice, had a huge flat area (including some grassy sections) which was a great location for a carnival. A stage had been set up for performances as part of the carnival.
I actually hadn’t been well the past few days. I had been suffering from a terrible cough and sore throat, and I even had to ask to be excused from a work-related event the day before (how could I convince prospective parents to send their children to the school when I’m coughing in their faces?). I was in two minds about joining this run – I was kiasu enough to want that shiny medal, but at the same time I knew that I should be taking a break for my own health.
In the end my kiasuness won over, and I decided to go for the event which I had signed up for; but I will take my time to complete the run.
Putrajaya was a nice place to run in, as the scenery was really quite lovely.
I finished the 20.7km run in 3h18m. A little slower than my usual pace, but not by that much. Whee!
There were performances on the stage, but I didn’t stay to watch nor did I stay for the carnival as I wanted to go home and rest.
Overall the event was nondescript for me. There was nothing significantly good (everything went rather smoothly), and nothing significantly bad – except that no goodie bags were given. The entry fee for this event was about the same as other run events (RM80 for half marathons), so it was quite surprising that there were no goodie bags, which have been given in every run event I’ve been to so far, including charity runs.
All for the glory of a medal!
