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Monday, January 20, 2014

RACE REPORT : YOMA YANGON INTERNATIONAL MARATHON 42 KM

Yoma Yangon Longyi run 42km

19 January 2014, 3am in the morning.

Received wake up call from the hotel reception (May Flower Inn) as I told them earlier to do so. Don't want to be late in this marathon event. I've never been to Myanmar before, so basically this is the greatest way to do something that I love the most in one go : travel & marathon. Time was limited but I enjoyed every bit of it!...


So here's the race report for this event.

Yoma yangon international marathon took place at Thuwana stadium. Flag off time for 42km at 5am. There's also another category - 21km and fun run. At starting point, for 42 km category more or less only 300 participants. Hopefully I won't be the last person to arrived at the finishing line later. I did set my target - sub 5. Never achieved this before, maybe this could be a good start for 2014.

5 am. And the race begin.

I just maintained my pace around 6.00 or 6.15 minutes per km for the first 21 km. long way to go, don't want to felt exhausted earlier than I should be. The road was not in a good condition though. Holes here and there, and the runner had to watch their steps. I'm quite surprised with the cheering support from the local people! They keep clapping and shouting to boost our spirit and guess what? It works for me! They're so supportive and that's another reason why I can clocked my first 21km at 2 hours 7 minutes.

Most of the route at suburbs area. Passed by through a few universities and city area. The villagers was so nice! They provide water and food for the runners. The water station itself was sufficient. Medical support too. No complaints about that. The traffic control also terrific from the police on duty. Great effort. I still remember the feeling when I ran beside the inya lake. So calm and peaceful.

At km 30.

Bumped with
Faiez Buer . He looks like struggling with the cramped. And we clocked 3 hours 28 minutes at this particular distance. With balance 12 km, it is so possible to achieve sub 5 considering we had 1 hour 30 minutes left for us to complete the marathon. So I start to dream, and put my hopes up high for it to comes true. PB in myanmar. How nice was that?

At km 34.

Walking. And run. Slowing down. And walk again. And mingle with other runners as well. I stopped to talk to them for a few minutes, figuring it would provide the psychological boost I needed to make it to the finish line. But when I started running again, I knew from the first stride that I had made a mistake in stopping for so long. My muscles had frozen, and every step was excruciating in a way that I hadn’t felt up to that point.

But I have to keep running!

This agonising condition never eased, and in fact quite horrible all the way to finish line, making the last 10 kilometres an extremely uncomfortable experience. With the dusty road and the weather is amazingly hot, I knew I won't be able to finish the race below 5 hours. And the dreams just fade away at km 39, where I clocked 4 hours 57 minutes.

The last 3 km is the hardest one for me. Finally it comes to an end. Can't wait to end this, Unofficially clocked 5 hours 34 minutes at the finishing line. And I'm so happy to earned the finisher medal and finisher tee. Worth the pain. Not my personal best but still, better than my last marathon in PBIM2013. The real satisfaction for me not about the timing (as I know I'm not quite a fast runner), but when I can said that 'I have finished this!' - thats, the real satisfaction for me! Alhamdulillah!

Congratulations to my other fellow friends that joined the marathon together.
Shaiful Zakaria you did a great job! Sub 4! Syed Jay - sub 5! Faiez and I - sub 6. At least none of us become the last person to arrived. Good job you guys! It always felt good to see runners from the same country.

Overall, the event was successfully organised. Probably better than last year. I know the organisers already make a lot of money for this event but hey, I look at this situation as a win-win situation. I can travel to Myanmar and doing a marathon at the same time. And one thing for sure - I love the way orang kampung there become so supportive and friendly.

Ok. Done with the race report. See you guys again next year. Maybe I should come again and renew my timing.

Insya Allah.
 


 

 
*Oh, did I mentioned that I run with longyi? Yes. It's myanmar style. Locals Kain sarong. And all the way 42km with this longyi such a totally new experience for me.

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