Compressport Half Marathon - The Day When All The Stars Aligned
In My Dream
I was leading the race the whole way until the 15km mark when my shoelace got loose, so I stopped at the road side and tied it. At this time, 2 Kenyans had caught up and overtook me. Muhaizar and Jironi were about 50m behind so I waited for them and ran with them. They looked quite exhausted so I asked them if they were OK. They couldn't speak much because it's too tiring. I looked at my watch, we were at about 3:30 pace, no wonder they were tired. I paced with them for about 3km and sped off because I wanted to chase the 2 Kenyans. At the last 1km to go I caught up with them and tried to close the gap. They saw me approaching and started to sprint too. We sprinted side by side until the last 100m to go when I actually overtook them but there were so many people and cameras at the finish line, so I had to slow down a bit to pose for the photo. They took this chance and overtook me so I got 3rd ranking. After like 5 minutes, Muhaizar and Jironi reach too. They got 4th and 5th. This is how I won the 3rd in this race.
Can I just stop here and don't have to tell this is a joke? LOL. Trust me, it's lame but definitely much better than what really happened!
Reality
Instead, I got 3rd because 6 faster runners got DQed due to the negligence of the organizer. There were no Kenyans, no Muhaizar, no Jironi. They are all in my dream. LOL. I felt very bad when I went to the stage to claim the prize. A bunch of them including 6 from Men Open got disqualified because of running the wrong route. They were undeniable much faster than I am. I was 9th in Men Open before they missed the junction. There was no single marshal or any signboard at the junction at about 4.5km where we supposed to turn left. Another guy and I also almost missed it too, luckily one volunteer reach in time and shouted to us then we quickly u-turn back to the correct route. Those that ahead of us was almost nowhere in sight already. The closest to me was about 3-400m in front, he was about to turn right at the junction further up. I immediately shouted asking him to come back but I think it was too far already so he missed it.
After the u-turn I became Men Open champion, Vadiveelu and Chin Han in veteran were in front of me. At about 14km mark, Alif Naquiddin and Wai Lee caught up and overtook me. I tried to follow for like 1km and slow down. The form wasn't good. The route was flat and the weather was so nice, I couldn't find any excuse but I ran slower than my Seremban HM. Form hasn't been up since then I think one of the reasons is lacking of quality training. My mileage was actually quite high but mostly junk miles and a lot of 6~7:00 ish pace which actually do more harm. That's the consequence of training aimlessly.
From 9th to 3rd
So, I was given 9th when I reach the finish line. Chin Keong, Cheong Lee, Khairul and a few who took the wrong turn and ran only 18km tried to negotiated with the organizer but no luck, so my ranking moved up to 3rd and it's so embarrassing to get the prize in front of them! Not sure it's my lucky or unlucky day.
Thought
I wonder if this is the new trend, there were few races in the last few weeks disqualified runners due to mistakes caused by the organiser. How can you have no marshal or signboard at the junction where we supposed to turn? Some might argue it's runners responsibilities to study the map, yes, even if it is there are still chances that accident will happen and not everyone understand the map. Even if understand no way we can fully memorize it! Come on, it's common sense. There will be ambiguities and confusions when you try to convert your map image from your vision into reality. Especially when we are racing our brain can't process due to lack of oxygen. How can you expect runners to know which road they should turn or how far they should run before making the right turn? Not to say runners might fuck up or even cheat, how can you not prevent that?
We are still so far behind when comes to the sports system and the lacking of the sense of making it better doesn't improve this situation. We can't just satisfy with delivering a "so-so" event, we have to try to improve in every aspect, try to make it a perfect one. How can you expect Malaysia to excel in running when we can't even organize a local running event nicely? Every small things count. This is not the only event that screws up, there are plenty of them! Like the Bagang Lalang race the day before too, some of the 10km runners if not all of them got disqualified due to taking the wrong turn because of the negligence of the organiser. How much more this needs to be happened? I've a feeling that the next few races that I'm joining will have the same fate too, I can sense their dodginess already. God bless runners.
I was leading the race the whole way until the 15km mark when my shoelace got loose, so I stopped at the road side and tied it. At this time, 2 Kenyans had caught up and overtook me. Muhaizar and Jironi were about 50m behind so I waited for them and ran with them. They looked quite exhausted so I asked them if they were OK. They couldn't speak much because it's too tiring. I looked at my watch, we were at about 3:30 pace, no wonder they were tired. I paced with them for about 3km and sped off because I wanted to chase the 2 Kenyans. At the last 1km to go I caught up with them and tried to close the gap. They saw me approaching and started to sprint too. We sprinted side by side until the last 100m to go when I actually overtook them but there were so many people and cameras at the finish line, so I had to slow down a bit to pose for the photo. They took this chance and overtook me so I got 3rd ranking. After like 5 minutes, Muhaizar and Jironi reach too. They got 4th and 5th. This is how I won the 3rd in this race.
 |
| Holy moly, the biggest prize in my running life. Should I be proud of? |
Can I just stop here and don't have to tell this is a joke? LOL. Trust me, it's lame but definitely much better than what really happened!
Reality
Instead, I got 3rd because 6 faster runners got DQed due to the negligence of the organizer. There were no Kenyans, no Muhaizar, no Jironi. They are all in my dream. LOL. I felt very bad when I went to the stage to claim the prize. A bunch of them including 6 from Men Open got disqualified because of running the wrong route. They were undeniable much faster than I am. I was 9th in Men Open before they missed the junction. There was no single marshal or any signboard at the junction at about 4.5km where we supposed to turn left. Another guy and I also almost missed it too, luckily one volunteer reach in time and shouted to us then we quickly u-turn back to the correct route. Those that ahead of us was almost nowhere in sight already. The closest to me was about 3-400m in front, he was about to turn right at the junction further up. I immediately shouted asking him to come back but I think it was too far already so he missed it.
After the u-turn I became Men Open champion, Vadiveelu and Chin Han in veteran were in front of me. At about 14km mark, Alif Naquiddin and Wai Lee caught up and overtook me. I tried to follow for like 1km and slow down. The form wasn't good. The route was flat and the weather was so nice, I couldn't find any excuse but I ran slower than my Seremban HM. Form hasn't been up since then I think one of the reasons is lacking of quality training. My mileage was actually quite high but mostly junk miles and a lot of 6~7:00 ish pace which actually do more harm. That's the consequence of training aimlessly.
From 9th to 3rd
So, I was given 9th when I reach the finish line. Chin Keong, Cheong Lee, Khairul and a few who took the wrong turn and ran only 18km tried to negotiated with the organizer but no luck, so my ranking moved up to 3rd and it's so embarrassing to get the prize in front of them! Not sure it's my lucky or unlucky day.
 |
| Men Open winners. All the lucky people (or unlucky?) LOL |
 |
| With all the famous runners |
 |
| Podium hunting season. LOL |
 |
| Woot, Charmayne got 10km 8th too! |
Thought
I wonder if this is the new trend, there were few races in the last few weeks disqualified runners due to mistakes caused by the organiser. How can you have no marshal or signboard at the junction where we supposed to turn? Some might argue it's runners responsibilities to study the map, yes, even if it is there are still chances that accident will happen and not everyone understand the map. Even if understand no way we can fully memorize it! Come on, it's common sense. There will be ambiguities and confusions when you try to convert your map image from your vision into reality. Especially when we are racing our brain can't process due to lack of oxygen. How can you expect runners to know which road they should turn or how far they should run before making the right turn? Not to say runners might fuck up or even cheat, how can you not prevent that?
We are still so far behind when comes to the sports system and the lacking of the sense of making it better doesn't improve this situation. We can't just satisfy with delivering a "so-so" event, we have to try to improve in every aspect, try to make it a perfect one. How can you expect Malaysia to excel in running when we can't even organize a local running event nicely? Every small things count. This is not the only event that screws up, there are plenty of them! Like the Bagang Lalang race the day before too, some of the 10km runners if not all of them got disqualified due to taking the wrong turn because of the negligence of the organiser. How much more this needs to be happened? I've a feeling that the next few races that I'm joining will have the same fate too, I can sense their dodginess already. God bless runners.
I like your post, thanks fro sharing.
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