Penang Bridge International Marathon 2017-my 6th FM

They are walking but they are still in front of me

It is really unacceptable and unbelievable that the Penang Bridge Internatonal Marathon organiser could create such a mess in organizing this so called international running event. This is my only full marathon event in 2017 and I chose Penang Bridge International Marathon because I always regards highly of the organising team of this event. But, I am rather disappointed this time. 

I was given a xs running vest after waiting for more than one hour in a queue which did not seem to move. I registered as an early bird and already stated for L-size running vest yet it was out of stock. From the organser's point of view I benefited because I was compensated with an extra  L-size fun run t-shirt so that I could wear it to run my full marathon. So I wore the fun run t-shirt for the run and I really stood out among the full marathon participants. By the time I collected my running bib it was almost 4 pm and I had only few hours of sleep before the run at 1.30 am. I could not sleep as my mind just kept wandering  while I lied on bed trying to get a good sleep. I set my alarm at 11:30 pm and by 12:30 pm I was already on my way to the starting venue at Queensbay Mall. As usual I parked my car at a back lane in Taman Jerjak 4 but I had to walk more than 1 km to the starting line which I considered as a warming-up for the long run. 

There was a firework display before the gun-off but I did not notice much euphoria and excitement among the runners. Perhaps it is the emcee  who is not skillful enough to raise up our excitement and morale. The race started at 1:30 am as scheduled and I surged forward at the back of the pack maintaining a pace of 7.50 km per minute at the beginning of the run. The first 15 km was run on the highway near the bridge and I could feel the heat from the hot weather. I was still in front of the 6-hours pacers after 12 km but lost steam after that. As I was wearing my garmin gps watch which can monitor my heart beat, I realised that my heart beat was too rapid and I tried to slow down my pace when my heart rate reached 160 beats per minute. My maximum heart beat allowed should be 160. ( 220 - my age ) but it is optimum to avoid reaching 85% of my maximum heart beat which is only 136 beats per minute.  
       
It was cool and refreshing  while on the bridge due to the sea breeze but it was the time I was the most tired. I sat down to rest many times while running towards Butterworth and many who were behind me just caught up and overtook me. There were two bun stations and a banana station but I could only consume a piece of banana to replenish my almost depleted energy near Butterworth section of the bridge. While running towards Penang island, I had the opportunity to witness the breaking of dawn but the beautiful scenery in front of me was  not enough to lessen my tiredness. I met the 10 km category participants after I had only 5 km to go and the crowds really demoralized me a lot. Even though I was very tired but I  still maintained my slow run until I reached the finishing line 18 minutes exceeding the cut-off time of 7 hours.

I look more like a fun runner than a full marathoner

There was a long queue waiting to collect their finisher tee and medal but I was slightly disappointed to be informed that there was no more finisher tee after waiting for sometime in the queue. Later I was devastated to learn that everything were depleted, medal, finisher tee and towel just like my energy. Some angry participants argued with the woman in charge and few boxes of finisher tees were taken out from inside the tent but the crowds just rushed in to snatch the finisher tees. Many of them taking more than one tee but mostly small size tee. I was too slow because I was sitting a distance away, if not I would join in the fray too. I really felt sorry that due to the incompetency of the organiser, the participants were make to stoop so low as to scramble and snatch those miserable tees similar to the refugees scrambling and rushing for first aid food. 

So I had my bad experience this time which marked my 6th full marathon participation and the only one where I received nothing after paying RM80 and slogged for 7 hours on the road and bridge. Perhaps I will reconsider my plan of running Penang Bridge Marathon next year.

total time should be 7 hours 15 minutes because I forgot to end the monitoring immediately after the run

my heart beat range from 93 to 168, exceeding my maximum heart beat of 160 beats per minute