Running in the Rain@Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010

Never imagined myself running during a down pour....+ thunder + storm. I think I would have quit if yesterday's run was just a normal LSD. Runners who worried about not having enough water during the race must be very happy yesterday, we had plenty of it.....

Compared to year 2008, I found great improvement in year 2010 PBIM. Number of full marathon runners had increase tremendously. I still remember there we only about 600 of us running in year 2008 and immediately after passing through the startin point, I felt I was running alone. But not for this year, I think we have more that 1000 runners participating in Full Marathon category.

I was on the bridge - still confused on the 16km and 20.2km marker when it started to rain very heavily. Runners in front of me all changed their lane to nearer to the divider, may be worry that the wind will blow us away. So I followed them. I felt so pain when the rain was "beating" my face. I decided to remove my specs so that it would not block my vision (anyway, I couldn't see even with my specs). I slow down because of the rain and many runners overtook me.

Route is different from year 2008 (not sure about route for 2009 as I did not participate last year). I thought the part after coming out from bridge is "easy", someone told me the U-turn is just after Tesco. I was so happy when I saw Tesco but I didn't know it was just the starting point of the most torturing part of the route. I thought I would see the U-turn point after each slope, but what I saw was just another slope with no turning point.. I am very very happy when I finally reach the U-turn, it mean my training - last LSD before Macau marathon is finished! can I can start to walk and run . I continued running slowly until 35km, then walk for about 500m and run slowly again until the finishing line. I am happy that I finished "quite strong" (of course lah, it was just a leisure run, no pushing).

My running was that interesting but I found this runner worth to be mentioned - Mr. Robbie Red Hat (this is printed at the back of his vest). He look "quite old" but still very strong. Over heard his conversation with Mr. Mohan that he had done 400 marathons (not sure if I got it correctly). Most interesting part is, he was wearing a torn red hat. The condition of his red hat is really bad, the top part (supposed to be covering his head) is almost gone. I wonder what's the story behind his red hat. Anyone know him, please share his story. (photo by Kwang Leng Picasa).

Overall, I see a lot of effort being put in to make the event a successful one, though there is still room for improvement, I think it's worth to give them an applause.