Phuket Mountain Beach Marathon on 22 Oct`06 (Sun)

Pre-race
Set off for Phuket on Friday night via Tiger Airways -- my first time @ Singapore Airport Budget Terminal and due to the after office peak hour, I was unable to flag down a cab and unbeliveably took the bus & train to airport! CY, C & W were waiting for me and after a swift check-in, we had a quick dinner @ Hans and rushed to board the plane (5mins before take off). Smooth transfer from Phuket Airport to our hotel, Golden Sand Inn @ Karon Beach -- perfect location as it was right opposite the start point of the marathon. A little disappointed with the room though -- small & musty smelling (gotta bear with it for 2 nites). There was a loud party by the beach that last till 5am! We woke up late for breakfast on Saturday morning and popped by the race expo to register for the marathon -- weather was great with clear blue sky (gosh, after the haze, it was a joy to breath in fresh air) and the expo overlooked to a lake and mountain. The organisers were setting up tents for post-race party and some local participants were pitching up tents in shelters next to the race expo(save cost on accomodation). This was more of a local race and everything was written in Thai -- volunteers were very helpful and spoke Mandarin to us as they could hardly speak English. For half marathons, we got a RED shoe bag, yellow event T-shirt and a finisher's medal at the end of the race -- very good race pack for 400 baht registration fee :) Oh, no timing chip for this race and the start time was changed to 5.30am instead of 5am. With some time to kill before the pre-race party @ 5pm (hightlight was 5km bikini beach run), we went for ATV adventure for 1,500 baht/pax -- exhilarating 1-hour with some nervewrecking moments (while rolling down a steep slope, I lost control of the bike and ramped into the trees! With no reverse gear, the guides had to help push my bike out!). The base camp was after the view point and we got a feel on part of the 21km route -- boy, the slopes were long and steep! Our quad bikes were rolling down the slopes FAST -- imagine running up the same slopes, ARGHHH! We had a late lunch and was stucked in our room when a storm delayed the start of the pre-race party. After raining pigs and elephants, we walked over to race expo -- there was free food & drinks and a bazzar selling running shoes & attires (prices similar to wat u get in Singapore). Met 2 runners from MR25 and chatted with them briefly -- was told that my category was competitive with many strong Thai runners. These runners took part in races to win cash prizes equivalent to their monthly salary! After carboload with seafood pasta @ a nearby restuarant, we had an early nite -- thank goodness we could sleep in peace with no loud music!




The Race
Woke up @ 4.30am, quickly washed up, down a packet of PowerGel and left for the start line @ 5am. Did a short run to warm up and followed by stretching. Gathered at the start line 10mins before flag off -- abt 100+ runners and was behind the MR25 veteran who was taking part in the Male 60-65 category. The horn sounded and off we ran along the coast -- boy, the MR25 veteran shot ahead! Decided not to follow his pace and maintained my 5:30km/min pace. The first 4km was flat and great for warm up -- was careful with my foot landing as it was still dark and I had my prescriptive sunglass on. Time check at 4km mark was 21:39min -- nice comfortable 5:25min/km pace. The hills began here -- runners began to stop and walked up the slopes but I persisted to run up the slopes. Huffed & puffed my way to the view point -- took my first water break. Huh, no isotonic water -- juz diluted tea. Still felt good -- calve muscles not tight, thanks to the NUS hill training runs! Then it was a long descent -- I flew down part of it and slowed down when my left knee hurt slightly. It was daylight by then -- saw runners on the return route. Couldn't helped but exclaimed out loud that the downslope was never ending!! Was happy to see the hill turned upslope and then a short flat portion before the U-turn mark -- the race marshall radio back my bib number as I round the marker. Time check @ 11km was 1hr3min -- managable 5:44min/km pace. Sigh, must have slow down during the upslopes! Gotta push hard to achieve sub2!!

The return route was tough -- practically all the runners around me was walking up the slope and I was so tempted to join them!! Arghh, I continued my snail pace up the slope -- C waved & overtook me but stopped to walk slightly ahead. When he heard me coming, he would pick up and run with me. Took my second water break at 13km -- no more cups!! The volunteers picked up a couple of cups from the ground and washed & re-used them. Re-fuelled with Gu Gel and resumed running up the slope -- overtook C and a handful of runners. Many gave me a thumb up for my effort of running SLOWLY up the slope!! SO GLAD to reach the view point finally -- the worse was over!! Gulp down a cup of diluted tea from my last water point and flew down the slope. Time check @ 16km was 1hr 34min -- oh oh, slower pace of 5:53min/km. Was a bit lost when there was no sign at a junction -- a kind Thai veteran pointed me to the right way and paced me for a distance along the coast. By then, the sun was beating down on us and I literally melted! The road was not closed off and traffic was getting heavy. Time check @ 19km was 1hr 57min -- *shake head* 6:09min/km pace, there goes my sub2 :( There was marker per 100m for the final 1km and I pushed on & dashed through the finishing line @ 2hr 08min -- gave the camera-man a victory sign and big smile! Yeah, I completed the race and felt good! Pleasantly surprised when I was handed the tag for 3rd place in my category -- wow, even had trophy and cash prize of 1,500 baht! That was a good consolation for not achieving sub2 :)


Post Race
Went searching for isotonic drink but couldn't find any -- went back to my hotel to pick up my camera and bottle of gatorade. There were lotsa food for the runners -- fried rice, noodles, fruits etc. C & W came back 10min and 30min after me -- all of us happy to complete the run! We met the MR25 veteran -- he came in first for his category @ 1hr 56min. He informed me that I had to gather the top 5 runners in my category for the prize presentation. Huh??! He managed to gather the runners for his category and we gave our support for our fellow Singaporean with loud applauds when he went on stage -- he got a trophy and cash prize of 3,000 baht. After a long wait, No. 1 & 2 runners were still missing -- the rest of us decided to forgo going on stage and juz collect the trophies. Boy, the trophy was bulky and heavy -- oh no, had to lug it along for the rest of my holiday!! Thank goodness CY came to my rescue -- she was going back earlier and helped me to bring it back to Singapore (along with some of my excess baggage)! With the race over, we moved on to our first climb site @ Koh Panyee (a floating Muslim fishing village @ Phang Nga Bay). We met the 2 MR25 runners while waiting for the tuk tuk to Phuket Town -- the veteran helped to negotitate with the driver to drop us @ the bus station. Along the way, we picked up some tips on marathon running from him -- he was sharing with the other MR25 lady runner who completed the full marathon in 4hr 55min @ 4th place. We parted way as they boarded the bus to Hatyai -- they travelled by coach from Singapore which took 1 day!


P.S. The MR25 lady runner ran the Phuket International Marathon @ Laguna in June and said this was a tougher route. And heard from DR that the MR25 veteran's average timing for half mary is 1hr40min+ -- this must have been a very tough course! I got eye no see tarzan -- luckily I didn't follow his pace! Though I was off my target by 8min, I had fun and it was a very good race experience! Runners were encouraging one another along the route and scenery was beautiful :)

Distance : 21.1km
Time : 2hr 08min
Avg pace : 6:04min/km