Saturday, 9 September 2006 - There is a first time for every thing. And last Saturday, I logged my first DNF in a race. I bonked in the last 1.5 km of the final run leg. My body simply shut down after I pushed it for almost 6 hours under the super hot Desaru sun.
This entry is dedicated to my support crew, my Baby TT and the Thian family who stood by me for SIX long + hot hours and who were still proud of me despite my DNF.
It was good to be back at Desaru with TT and the Thians. I missed their presence last year. TT just landed a new job this time last year and could not take leave. Ken Yiap was overseas. Desaru felt like a different place without them last year.
This year, Ken Yiap brought 2 camcorders and his new Canon camera. The 2nd camcorder was his insurance to make sure he would not miss my finish again (he was there back in 2003 and 2004 with a camcorder and for different reasons, he missed my finishing on both occasions).
The sight of the sea condition frightened me. No amount of laps at the Chin Woo pool could prepare me for the swim that morning. The strong waves made Chin Woo look like a kiddie pool. I quickly abandoned my pre-race target of 40 minutes for the swim (2005 - 41:41) and adopted a "see what I can do" approach.
Found my former Ironman training partner, Oo Weng Chong, among the crowd.
The small pro line-up is seen here (in orange caps), looking very relaxed. Ironman Moh is on the far left (in yellow cap) and SEA Games Champ Kimberly is on the far right (in red cap).
The madness started at 10.00 a.m. We were required to swim 2 loops (or 2km in distance). Hundreds of athletes swam out into the open sea towards the turn bouy in the middle of the picture (beyond the flag & in betweeen the boats). Then, we had to turn right and swim towards the 2nd bouy (parallel to the shores). We had to turn right again at the 2nd bouy and headed back to the beach.
Swear I wouldn't have dived in, if it was not a race. But thanks to the company of hundreds of triathletes, I soon got comfortable with those waves. Swimming out wasn't too bad but I felt the current pushing me to the left and away from my destination as I swam back to shore.
I finished my swim in about 48 minutes (> 6 minutes slower than 2005). Oo was right in front of me as I came out of water. Then, I remember seeing Ken Yiap (my personal cameraman) running along side me snapping away as I found my way to T1. I was glad to find that there were still many bikes at the transition.
Took things easy at T1. Thanks to help from TT with the sunblock at T1, I came home this year without a sunburn (cheers Babe!!! hope you are reading this).
For the first time ever, the road was closed to traffic. There were so many bikes out there and I could see a long line of bikes on both sides of the road thru'out my entire ride.
I was on target in the bike leg. I finished slightly under 3 hours excluding time in transistion (2005 - 3:13:35). My splits for the 3 laps were pretty even too and I did not push too hard thru' out the 90km. Ah Swee (fellow training buddy from Chin Woo) over-took me in the 1st 7km of the bike and I did not see his butt until the run. The pros lapped me when I was almost thru with the 2nd loop.
Ken Yiap could have snapped more photos for me on the bike if he could follow me in his car. He has done a great job. Look carefully, some of the pictures are actually in sequence.
Felt like a superstar at T2 with TT and Ken Yiap snapping away with the cameras and Stephanie (Mrs Ken Yiap) recording me with the camcorder.
Took things real easy at T2. Sat down, applied Vaseline, put on my socks, drank a cold bottle of Gatorade and enjoyed the "superstardom" (thanks again Babe!! - for getting the Gatorade from the ice box just minutes b4 my arrival at T2).
By the time I was up and running, it was almost 2.00 p.m. and I had slightly over 2 hours to run my 21km (2 laps) to dip below my illusive sub-6 hour target (2005 - 6:05:40). It was burning HOT by then. It was so hot that cold iced water poured over my head evaporated in minutes. I guess only triathletes would be nuts enough to run a half marathon at that time of the day. And its was truly reassuring to see hundreds of them that afternoon at Desaru (and who says active lifestyle is dead???).
My legs felt heavy at start of the run. 3 muscle groups were pulling - right quads & hamstring and left hamstring. I kept going and like always, the sensation went away after 1 - 2 km. The local elites (Razani, Shahrom and Ah Thiam) lapped me when I was at about 7km into my run. I was still on target at end of 1st lap with a split of around 59 minutes. By then, I finished the 3 packets of PowerGel I had with me.
TT is seen above handing over my replenishment at around km13. On hindsight, I should have brought more PowerGel with me or should have grabbed the PowerBar (as well) that was in TT's hand as seen in the 3rd picture above. I made the mistake of trying to run the remaining 8km with only a packet of PowerGel.
There was only one thought on my mind then. That was to finish the damn race as quickly as I could. Not only because I was still chasing my target but also to escape the hot sun the soonest possible. Quitting or DNF did not cross my mind.
The hill behind the guardhouse felt steeper when I got there for the last time. I was reduced to walking when I got there. I reverted back to running after that last hill and pushed myself a little harder from there. I was really suffering by then but I ran on anyway. The guy next to me advised me to slow down and warned me that I might not finish if I kept pushing.
I remember clearly that I passed the signboard that said 1.5km to the Golden Beach Hotel. Then, I bonked. I remember slowing down to a walk. My body started to lean forward and I could not walk upright. Then, I walked zig-zag on and off the grass and shortly after that, I collapsed.
It happened so quickly and the next thing I knew, the ambulance guys were already there with me. They tried to carry me into the ambulance and I protested. I remember saying "I'm almost there, I'm almost there" and something like "I'm gonna finish the race". I tried to stand up again but I fell back down immediately. I did not protest after that and I surrendered myself to those guys.
I got back to the finishing line in an ambulance.
