Borneo International Marathon 2012

I would have to admit that it has been a hectic week for me so far hence the slight delay of updating the post on this event. As many would have already known, I whisk myself away to the Sabah for another running event and also my second running event outside of KL. There were a lot of expectation on my side for this running event, especially since that this was now held in my birth town!

[Running proud in Sabah!]

[Team TehTarikRunners geared and ready!]

So this time around, I was set to run with resident Team TehTarikRunner Ash who was visiting the state for the very first time. However, there were some difference between our targets for this run. For me, I was dead set to break my personal best record and what better place for me to do this than here in Sabah. As for Ash, since that this was his first time in Sabah, he was going to take his time and take pictures while running the trail.

Unlike my Penang Bridge run I didn't have my lady luck Miss Ave T so it was going to be slightly different for this run but then I do have some of my family members in Sabah coming to cheer me on for the run, including my mom! (yay!)

[Clearing up the gear for the run!]

One of the best thing about this run are a number of reason, one being the scenic view that we will be running by during the run. Most of the time the runs in KL will be around township areas which kinda limits the view that you get to see during the run itself so this would be a refreshing change of scenery entirely. The other of course is that the Borneo Marathon is said to be one of the flattest run in the country which means that if there is anywhere you would want to break your personal best record, it would be here in Sabah. I was nervous and excited in the same time...

 [The three trails for the run!]

So the night before, we had a major carbo loading session at a Italian restaurant near town and head to bed real early, which is kinda of a shame since that it was a Saturday night and Kota Kinabalu is bustling with its night life. A small price to pay to achieve my target me thinks....

We got up bright and early and started to head out for the stadium for the starting point. Because we were staying right in the centre of town, we could see some of the 42km runners passing by the hotel as we went out, since they started theirs much earlier than ours. Gave them a few pep cheer and off to the starting point we go!

[Morning mist started to cloud the area...]

So as we were preparing for the run, we were told that there were a lot of celebrities also running in the 10km race so we were quite excited to see if we could bump into some of them. Then again I started to get butterflies in my stomach as I was really determined to break that record one way or another. 

Everyone was then organised outside of the stadium, with the gun fired and we were off!!!

At kilometer 1, I was going at my slow initial pace as how I trained before, until I realised Ash was running in front of me while running BACKWARDS and taking pictures! Talk about surprised motivation!

Kilometer 3, we were already running outside the main road and passing through our first watering point. The weather at that time was holding up (thank god) and I started to pass a lot of traffic from the initial starting point.

Kilometer 4, I realised that I was behind the Miss Universe Malaysia 2012, Ms Kimberley Leggett, who is actually a regular when it comes to 10km runs like this. I tried to pace with her run but I couldn't keep up after around 15 mins. For those who says that models suck at sports, this one just proved that out of the water!

Kilometer 6, we made a turn back from the town area and back to the stadium area. So far there were no major problems with the ankles but started to feel slightly sore on my left knee at the turn, which kinda slowed down my run a little.

Kilometer 8, I was walking for a bit by this time because of the knee problem. But when I saw the signboard to the stadium, I got my second wind back.

Kilometer 9, I could see the entrance to the stadium and I was checking my stopwatch regularly. I clearly missed my sub 1 hour mark but I was way in time to break my personal best timing, which is where I started sprinting like mad.

And thus, I DID IT! NEW PERSONAL BEST TIME!

1:06:24!

[Mom was waiting for me at the finishing line!]

[Team TehTarikRunner both beating our personal best record!]

[Managed to finally catch up with Miss Malaysia Kimberley Legget herself and take a pic!]

[Never short of a friendly face and jokes, we managed to even catch up with JJ and Ean!]

And so, I was friggin ecstatic that I finally managed to beat my personal best time as how I planned and what better way to remember the run here in Sabah by doing so. So far, I found that the event itself was great, with very little problems both on the organisation and public participation during the entire event. Perhaps in the future, I would love to see more big names running the event itself and making it even bigger than it already is.

[My finishing photo. Cannot get anymore epic than that!]

of course, we didn't forget our trademark pose.

 [Borneo International Marathon 2012 : COMPLETED!]

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