Educity Sundown 2015: The Suicide Mission

 Suicide Squad will hit theaters next year somewhere in August. Well, it is something different about the movie. Instead of the traditional superhero story, it'll be about the antiheroes. The villains in the DC universe will band up as a team  functioning as a sort of unconventional, secret prison work-release program. It'll have the Joker, Deadshot, Harley Quinn to name a few.

I think I'll give it a pass. DC superhero movies seems to disappoint most of the time except for the Batman franchise.

Well, I am nowhere near a hero level let alone a superhero but joining the Educity Sundown Half Marathon 2015 early September on the 5th was a suicide mission for me.

I walked to the starting point knowing that I barely trained, hoping for the best to 'magically' happen.

Together with me was my partner in crime, Iqbal who was also hoped for some 'pixie dust' to be sprinkled to him. I found out at the end that his luck was much better than mine, much to my annoyance.

Hoping for magic

The first 6km into the run, it was quite a comfortable run. My pace was quite natural. The breathing was easy. It was an enjoyable run up to this point.

1st water station

It was so good that I even thought to myself, "Maybe it wouldn't turn out so bad after all......"

It was 8km that it started to go downhill....

Some entertainment at the 2nd water station

Selfie?

My left knee started aching. My breathing becoming more forceful. I might not survive this.

So why do I joined this half marathon if my condition was so bad you might ask? It all started when I want to plan to reduce the runs and focus on some of the runs that for me is matter. This year I decided that I just want to join one run - one half marathon run.

Safety #1 !!!

Initially, it should be the KL Standard Chartered. But after the event had been fully booked after just one week (no matter - the run had been cancelled anyway - due to the haze), I got another chance to fulfill my plan by joining the JB Educity Sundown.

Traffic along the way

Whatever running through one mind is very different than what is happening in the actual reality. Since I had enrolled into this half marathon in the beginning of the year, it looked like I had ample time for the preparation since it will only be on September. It was a whole bloody 6 months for me to condition myself.

More traffic?

Juggling to strike a balance between being the project leader at work and also taking new responsibilities with Darwisyah on board was taking too long. It is better to hope for cats to grow a pair of horns than me to properly trained for the run. I was just that hopelessly giving up to have a perfect preparation.

So, ditto the suicide mission....

Stepping into the 12km region, my whole body started giving in. The u-turn for the road going back to the stadium felt like I'm going to a endless long black alley.

Finally - on the way back to the finish line

I definitely felt a sharp muscle pull in my right calf. At the water station nearby, the watermelon never felt so good in my mouth. It was like heaven running through  my throat....

3rd water station - with the watermelons. Slurpppp!!!

Right now at 16km I'm just walking to the finishing line. I felt a second pull in my right calf. I don't want a replay of last year Singapore Standard Chartered's cramp to be happening again. While it was in the morning at the Singapore's run - right now I was running in the middle of the night. Pulling a cramp right here, right now will be much more disastrous.

A lonely walk

I discovered something new during this run at this stage. Even when I'm walking, I'm hurting both of my soles.

This is something hard that I have to admit but most possibly I have to find a new pair of running shoes for long distance runs. I had found that again and again that I'm not suited with minimalist shoes during running for the events.

Still a long way to walk

Anyway, even though it was hurting - I managed to walk until it was only another 2km to cover. It'll only take me about 30 minutes to finally finish this off. Or so I though.....

Because suddenly, one of the running committee member drove past me with a motorbike and stopped me.

What the hell?

"Bang, saya dah nak kena tutup jalan ni Bang. Abang kena naik bas balik ke finishing line."

"Alamak, sikit saja tu lagi nak habis... Lagi 2km lagi tu. Tak boleh ke saya habiskan sendiri?"

"Tak bolehla Bang. Saya sebenarnya dah nak kena buka jalan pukul 11.30 tadi. Sekarang dah pukul 11.40."

With a heavy heart, I jumped into the next bus that carrying the rest of the late runners. Surprisingly, the organizer had to utilize 3 buses to carry us all. I'm not the odd one out it seems.

All the kantoi runners

But it was an embarrassing moment nonetheless. Since I had started running 4 years ago, this is the 1st time that I had to be ferried by the bus because I'm in the last pack.

Having touched the finishing line becoming a non-event in the end. I don't even got a chance to take a photo at the end of the run because the last bus that will ferry us to the parking area will leave in about 3 minutes. Iqbal that had arrived 30 minutes earlier was quite in a panicky state searching for me.

A hollow feeling

  
Walawei..... orang baru sampai daaa.... Dah la kena naik bas.

Will I join the half marathon for the Sundown Educity next year? Surprisingly - it'll be a solid resounding YES.Of course I did had a hard moments here and there, but the event posed a new challenge for me. And since the location of the event is in JB, joining it for me is a no brainer.

But, this time I have to start from scratch. New plans, new kits, new outlook.... Now back to the drawing board!

19km run + 2km bus 

RUN RATINGS - EDUCITY SUNDOWN (HALF MARATHON) 2015
Organizer - 3/5
The safety aspect had been really taken care by the organizer. But it had been done up to point that it was detrimental to the mobile users of the roads and also for the runners. The roads had been jammed for hours. And the roads had to be open after 3.5 hours into the run which for me was too early. I find it is an irony that they rushed to open back the road when there were no more road users but failed to properly conduct the traffic when there was one.
Kit & Goodies - 3/5
The kit was standard. The process of giving out the the kits were organized. The temporary tattoo were a touch above the class, but the glow in the dark sticks were crappy compared to 2014. The medal designs is brilliant and I'm glad that I still got my hand on he finisher tee even though I didn't finish the whole run.
Route - 4/5
Compared to 2014, the air was definitely colder during the run. That helps a lot during the run. Running all through the scenery in Kota Nusa Jaya at night gave a different perspective about the place.
Overall Experience - 2/5
My ankle hurt. My soles hurt. Almost pulled the cramp - twice. Hurt my pride - riding the bus to the finishing line. Enough said.