Kuching Marathon 2017 (KUMAR 2017)
This is the final part of the Great Borneo Series and (BIM, Miri and KUMAR) and i felt kind of incomplete after missing the Miri Marathon. The golden extra medal of honor of GBS looks extra cool. I heard quite a bit of bad expereince for the last 2 KUMAR, but sometimes it still worth to try.
I am not sure where to start for this review - the last FM i did was the SCKLM, DNF with ITB. Recovery took a bit longer than a month and cost more than RM10k!! (i would probably stop running or bet on a longer self healing recovery route should that came out of my own pocket). Prior to KUMAR, I had a good 21k and 10k events, a good motivation for another FM. But, the training part was really a big joke. Quite tied up and spent more time at the gym in the final 2 weeks trying to re-gain much needed cardio. On the other hand, I have to spare more time to train and motivate my wife (Ris) for her first 10k event at KUMAR. It was a good progress for her and I expected her to finish around 1:15-1:30. But I am still worried that she may not complete the 10k as her longest run was only 6km.
Nine of us from Anonymous Runners registered for KUMAR 2017, travelled in 3 batches and decided to meet at the event site. Most of the members already planned for extra day for Kuching but my wife and I decided to make it a short trip (Sat-Sun), with clouded mind thinking the kids at home. At the airport, as usual, many familiar faces travelling for the event. Ris was so happy meeting her colleagues and I end up spend much of the time during this trip with the girls than our AR guys. Well why not, for a change. LOL. Sorry guys.
REPC - we reached the REPC at the Plaza Merdeka around noon, and it was already a long que, but the process is quite fast. Some usual stuffs inside the kit - brochures and vouchers, running vest and bib. Similarly the expo with usual merchandises, promo and offers. Since the 10km would not have finisher tee, Ris decided to buy the official event tee for souvenier and running tee for the race, which is cool.
HILTON - FO for FM scheduled at 1am, and 10km at 5:30am. So done with REPC, we had our long due lunch at the Plaza and then straight heading for check-in for some rest. Ris and I stayed at the Hilton, the girls stayed at Pullman, and the AR guys... aiya where were u guys? Check in was a bit slow to my liking, then I read this "If you are not satisfied with your stay, let us know and we'll make it right". WOW, that's promising, let see. The room was nice with all the amenities, but smells tobacco. At reception I already asked if we can change room, but they were fully booked. Later that night, I asked them to check on the safety box, and within minutes the same reception came to the room to check on it. Impressive, i thought. After a while, she couldn't fix it and politely excused herself to get the "engineering guy". They came back minutes later, but still not resolved, and decided to get a new box for me. I was like, REALLY? So the words are true then, the will make it RIGHT at whatever cost!. About 10 minutes later the "engineering guy" came back with 6 new batteries and said "kita try dulu aaahh, manatau". Works like a charm, issue resolved, they did make it right!
RJ Kopitiam - I am sure they are many food choices and delicacies adventure in Kuching, but we just need to fill up quickly and get enough rest for the race. Even the famous Roof Top was given a miss. So we went to this RJ Kopitiam, which was about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. It was a good choice for a quick and tasty Indonesian type of food - ayam penyet, ayam bakar and 3 layers tea (and we were back at the same restaurant the next day before going off to the airport). The ambience was nice too. Highly recommended.
Kuching City Street Parade, "Unity in Diversity" - Coincident with KUMAR, the city was also organising a parade aimed to boost tourism industry, and indeed it was a nice colorful events, great for photography. Managed to capture some and I end-up spend the night at the parade before calling it the day around 10:30pm (the main stage was just beside the Hilton). The event closed around mid night with loud fireworks, which was only an hour before the flag off.
The Overall Race and Route - Well, at least I have it covered so far. I did not performed well, not anywhere near my target time, but still managed to finish the race with 5:26. The actual intention was to complete the FM in 4:30 (ambitious) so that I can still catch Ris at the SL for 10km, scheduled at 5:30am.
FO was on the dot. First km, too crowded for a run. Then the first 2-3km, I was running along side Wan (AR Ultra Runner) around pace 6. We passed the slow and steady Zalee (another AR Ultra runner, running his 2nd FM), and maintain that pace for several km more. I was getting more confident with the pace while keeping close watch on the GCT balance (one factor contributing to my ITB injury). Wan slowed down later on and after 20km, I was clocking just a bit more than 2 hours. Well within the target. My issue started after KM30, dropped the pace to 9-14 much of a walking pace. Around 4:40am, make a quick call to Ris to make sure she's awake for the run, on her own.
Eventually, Ris completed her 10k with 1:20, well within my estimates. Big Congratulation as I met her at the FL, and I knew this is the beginning of higher cost of running - everything (registration, shoes and gears) for two please, thank you.
Total improvement! That's some of the comments i heard. My observation: plenty of water station, plenty of water, isotonic, medics, road marshall, crews, road directions, some KM markers, banana and watermelon, just not much to complaint about.
I (or WE I shall quote) would want to be back for the race next year, Insyallah.
