my take – on one of the “worst” races in KL

the complains were endless, from the under-manned water stations, to congestion at the finishing line and finisher tee collection booth, to the muddy fields, and the chaotic baggage collection.

it was my 2nd nike kl run, and i actually preferred evening than the morning runs.

even though all runners who completed will be entitled to a finisher tee, only the first 100 to complete the race will get a finisher medal. 100 runners out of the 15,000 registered runners! we placed our hopes on the youngest runner, in our contingent of…err…3.

we skipped the free power bar booth, and parked ourselves in the start pen, one and a half hour, before the flag off. by then, the heavy rain since the late morning, had been reduced to a light drizzle. it rained, literally everyday there for that week, and we were trapped at the lrt station for a good 30 minutes, on our first day there.

half an hour before the race commenced, i was sandwiched between a young lady and my hubby. i was glad we were on the extreme right of the start pen, else i might have fainted, even before i get to run.

it took me 1 minute to cross the start line, and for the first 19 minutes, without realization, my gps sensor had lost signal. majority of the route covered was on the highway, with wider space for the runners. the congestion was felt in the last 4 km, especially the route along jalan kuching, where only 1 lane was closed and the runners had to run with the heavy traffic on their right.

hydration stations were located at every 2 km, which i used them as distance markers. through out the run, i spotted distance markers only at the 1 km, 3 km, 8 km, 9 km, the last 800 m and 600 m points. my eyes were transfixed on the digital timer, as soon as i spotted the finishing line.

i managed to clear the queue for the isotonic drinks, grab the banana and mineral water, and the finisher tee in less than 15 minutes. rested, waited for ice-cream, took some photos in the carnival area, witnessed the human traffic piling at the finisher line (reminded me of jlr 2012), and heavy traffic along jalan parliament.

we were fortunate to arrive early, finish early, and most importantly, travel light. even though our shoes were muddy from the wet fields in padang merbok, we truly enjoy the run, and the party.

my official result – 1:09:56 (Rank: 228 (Female >25))