Sharing on the BIM Marathon 2014 in May...
The Heat
Is On
Borneo International Marathon (BIM), is an
annual event in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah was held on 4th of May 2014. It
was my second full marathon with my husband.
Around 20+ fellow running friends from Kuching
also participated in this event, mostly going for the full marathon while a few
went for the half in preparation for the upcoming races.
Firstly, I would like congratulate our
members who had completed at the BIM, strongly and a handful with their
personal best achieved.Here’s my recap of event.
The Day Before The Race
On arrival in KK around 4pm, Willie and
Jade picked us up as we shared a rented car which cost around RM70/day and we
were glad for them as they need to drive thru unfamiliar road and endure the
traffics.
We headed straight to Courtyard Hotel @
1Borneo. It costs RM138/per night which is including breakfast. Breakfast area
was nice giving an overview of the busy city center. Free breakfast buffet is
ok at best. The hotel is within a 25-minute drive from city centre. The hotel
also about 15km from Kota Kinabalu International Airport. There are few hotels at
1Borneo to choose based on your own preference and budget. Neighboring there is
Tune Hotel, Hotel Novotel and Grand Borneo Hotel is an integral part of 1Borneo
Hypermall.
Hypermall is just 2 minutes’ walk from our
hotel. After dropped our stuffs, we went there to have an early dinner. On the
stroll back to the hotel, we popped into the supermarket searching for banana
for our breakfast but couldn’t find any; luckily Shannon Lee (President of
HPRC) found some and offered some to us. For those who take banana for breakfast
advise to get from town wet market.
The Morning Of
15mins ride to the Stadium. As we made way
in, the Stadium was brightly lilted and soon familiar faces start popping up. After
a brief grouping and some photos taken, we proceed to the starting point which
outside Stadium Likas.
And we’re Off
Gun went off at 3am.
The condition on race day ended up being
about 35 degrees C, warmer than anything I’d ran in during training. The course
took us for a short circuit of the town, looped back to stadium and headed to
the seafront Likas Bay before taking us into UMS (University Malaysia Sabah).
I
got tired much quicker than expected due to the heat and the hills at 20K and
23K marks. The real first hint of fatigue set in around 25k. By this point, we were
10k into a stretch of the undulating course (1Borneo, passing near my hotel);
no serious hills as such, but certainly not pancake flat. Many runners consider
this one of the toughest sections and I have no reason to disagree. This was an
out-and-back route. However, on the return leg, saw fellow running friends and
we were cheering each other on.
My husband was suffering calf cramps by
this time and had to slow down. He encouraged me to proceed on so, I ended up
running about 12km of the race alone. Hitting the 38k marker was a strange
feeling and nauseous. Probably is because of stomach bloated due to drink too much
of water. But on the other hand I knew I only had 4k left as I was going to
finish. I tried as hard as I could to pick up the pace on the last stretch. The
finale mile led runners back into Likas Stadium.
I did it! A personal best for me.
Beyond the finishing line, there
was a free massage. Also, the race was concluded with a much appreciated cups
of cold milo (drank countless cups), eggs, sandwiches, noodles and etc.
While sitting on the bench, we cheered hard for fellow runners
coming into the Stadium
and you get to reflect the emotions of pain, fatigue but also joy and
excitement of runners crossing the finishing line knowing I had experienced one
or more of those during the process.
We ended the event with a group photograph,
proudly with our Hornbill Pacesetters Running Club banner and running T.
Post-Event
Among some of the major complaint would be
water and isotonic shortage and hope for more sponge station in the future.
Would I do it again? Immediately
afterwards, my answer would have been an unqualified “NO”. But a few days
after, we had signed up for Kuching Marathon 2014. :)
Reported by:- Grace Lee
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