Phedippidations Wordwide Half Marathon 2009...

Event: Phedippidations Wordwide Half Marathon 2009
Venue: Bukit Aman carpark, Kuala Lumpur
Date: 10 October 2009
Time: 4.30am
Distance: 21KM (21.22KM by Nike+ SportBand 2.0)
Shoe: adidas adizero Tempo
By Frank

It's my third year into the Phedippidation Worldwide Half Marathon run. Though a virtual event, it's a privilege to be part of it. I thought it's going to be a lonely one this year, but I was wrong. A last minute e-mail sent out, quickly got the response from my friends like Jamie, Jeff and Lawrence who went for a hiatus. And therefore, most of the Platinum Runners were kind of "re-united" for this run. However, Luc strain his hamstring I think and therefore is out of this. And one thing for sure, we miss our ladies, Lynn and Geraldine.

My running bib this year...

As most of them are registered for the Zen 10KM run category, I started my run early at 4.30am to complete my half marathon distance. After running a loop around the Lake Gardens Bird Park, Jeff who just returned from his very long injury joined me. It's good to have him back and knowing his fitness will be greatly affected, we went slow chatting and catching up along the way. We did 2 loops together before Loke too joined in for my fourth and fifth loop. That will be about 13KM completed by then.

At 6am back at the carpark, we hooked up with Choi, Jamie and Lawrence who are running the 10KM category. Off the 6 of us went running the double hills route. Good startup together as we chatted till about the Mahameru highway crossover where each of us started to break away. By the time I hit the Tijani stretch, I have already ran 21KM in a time of 02:11:09. Indeed a very slow run for me, but I'm glad I ran it this way for reasons in bringing back my heart to "shape".

With 21KM completed, I continued my run back to the carpark which will then give me a total 25KM distance. I slowed down towards the end of Kenny Hills allowing my friends to catch up only to give chase at the final 1KM stretch, a tip given by American long distance runner, Dathan Ritzenhein to finish every run strong as this allows to build speed and strength.

With the run completed, we hung around chit chatting away. Though a low-key run this year, I did enjoy it. Maybe my fourth will see a record turn-out? Lets see...

Worldwide Half Marathon and Zen 10K runners...

My certificate of completion...