So this is the second year I signed up for Larian Gegar at UM, and so it’s not my first time encountering the crazy hilly route. And this time they offered a half-marathon category, so I greedily and eagerly signed up for that without thinking twice… forgetting that I have not been training at all, and am not prepared for the steep slope of Bukit Cinta.
There were a few changes made to the 2015 edition of Larian Gegar, as compared to the previous year. This time offered 10km and 21km (there was only 5km and 10km in 2014), and this was a morning run as compared to the night run the previous year. The route was also different to accommodate the longer distance this time, but we still had to run up Bukit Cinta!
The 10km and 21km were both almost the same route; the difference was that the 21km runners would have to run the loop twice.
RUN DAY 15 NOVEMBER 2015
I had joined the R3vRun the day before with Andrew and Oppy, and I had opted to do the Viper challenge. Perhaps it took a toll, but to be honest I was high on adrenaline and I thought I had enough recovery time.
Andrew had signed up for this run too, but he only signed up for the 10km. Smart of him, really…
I didn’t run the 21km alone though, as Luan had signed up for the HM too.
Truth is… I was just not trained to run up Bukit Cinta. I didn’t conquer the hill at all. I could not maintain a running pace up, so I ended up walking most of the hill.
In fact, due to my lack of training, I found the entire loop quite torturous to go through. The route took us through Bukit Cinta, and through some of the residential hall blocks. When I finally completed the first loop, I kept wondering to myself… “WHY DID I SIGN UP FOR THE 21KM?!” If I had signed up for the 10km, I would have been done by now!
It was only because I had the determination to obtain the finisher medal that I pushed myself to complete the second loop – under the sun, with my legs not listening to me anymore. I walked most of the second loop, observing the landmarks and gauging the remaining distance in my head. My knees were giving up on me, screaming in pain when I refused to stop. They hurt the most when I was going downhill, and going downhill in Universiti Malaya was tough for an untrained runner like myself.
I was washed over with great relief when I finally crossed the Finish Line. Not much improvement – official net time of 3h02m, but the distance according to my pedometer was only about 20km – but at least I completed it, maintaining my usual pace, in spite of my screaming knees!
Would I join a run that goes through the steep slope of Bukit Cinta again?? I didn’t want to, but I was due to join the Bukit Cinta Ultra, which was about a month away (blogpost coming up)!
Well, since this is a throwback post, I might as well admit now that I have done much better since, and in fact am enjoying runs up Bukit Cinta! But that will be revealed more in later blogposts.
All in all, I have to say that the run organised within Universiti Malaya was quite well done though. Kudos to the organising team!
