Virgin Money London Marathon 2020- The 40th Race

My running partner for the first 5 km and the last 8 km

I never expect to be able to run in Virgin Money London Marathon 2020 and not having had to go to London. The actual Marathon was scheduled in March but postponed to October due to covid pandemic. As the pandemic did not subside by August,  London Marathon organiser had to make the general participants run virtually wherever they were on 4th October. The elite runners were allowed to run in a very controlled environment at St James Park. The original participants who had successfully registered for marathon 2020 was allowed to opt for the virtual run or transferred their slot to London marathon 2021. Besides that more running slots were created for new applicants to participate virtually. I was very lucky to notice the opening for registration early and acted promptly to get myself a slot because the empty slots were fully taken up within few days. In total there were 45000 participants from 129 countries who would be taking part in this marathon.

My Car serving as my water station

We were given a running app created by TCS ( Tata Consultancy Services ) to be downloaded in our handphone. The app would be able to track our run wherever we were but we were only allowed to start our run earliest from 00:00:00 BST and had to finish by 23:59:59 BST ( British Summer Time) on 4th Oct. Since we were given 24 hours to complete our run I divided my run into 2 parts, that 21.1 km in the morning and 21.1 km in the evening. 

I started my run at 7:00 am or 00:00:00 BST from my starting point near the foothill of Maxwell Hill. Seok Wan accompanied me for the first 5 km of my run. I started my run by pressing on the start button in the app and stopped to see whether the app was functioning correctly after running a short distance. I was shock to see zero mile covered even though I had run almost 1 km. Actually I should set my phone's time zone to London time which I did not. After some trial and error I finally managed to set the time zone correctly and the app began to function perfectly. I had my Garmin watch as my secondary gadget to measure my run as a precautionary measure. If the app failed I could still upload my result from my Garmin connect to the organiser. 

After 5 km, Seok Wan stopped running and I continued on my own along my usual route around Taiping Lake Garden and the surrounding residential areas. It was quite sunny and hot from 8:00 am onwards and I really had a terrible suntaned. By the time I stopped my run or after covering half of the full marathon, it was almost 10:30 am.  Time taken for my first half marathon was 3:05. I paused my TCS app to be resumed at 4:00 pm as planned but I stopped my Garmin watch to just measure the time for 21.1 km. 

Time for my first 21.1 km registered by TCS app and Garmin watch

I tried to get some sleep before I resumed my run but I could not sleep and did not get the proper rest I so desired.  By 3:45 pm while I was getting ready to go out for my next run. It rainned heavily and it only stopped at 4:30 pm. By the time I started my next run it was 4:40 pm. As I had volunteered to shoot a half-hour video of my run for BBC live video wall from 5:00 to 5:30 pm, I had to carry a camera stick with me. 20 minutes after starting my run and reached Raintree walk of Taiping Lake Garden,  I logged into the live wall of BBC by keying in the unique password given to me. I could not hear any voice from the moderator on the screen but when I touched the screen, I could see a small window occupying a small section of the screen showing my surrounding in front.  So I assumed I was in the BBC live wall and started shooting the video of my run for about 2 km from raintree walk until Maxwell Hill. Maybe I did not manage to shoot anything at all but I did not worry too much as my main aim is to complete my marathon. 

My e-certificate with my elapsed time

I was experiencing fatigue in my second run and my pace went down drastically compared with my first run. After running 11 km Seok Wan came to pace with me again. Seok Wan was in good form and ran faster than me. I really had to struggle with my steps behind her. She did not accompany me till the end but stopped after I had 2 more km to go. It was already dark when I still had  5 km to completing my run but I had my headlight with me since I had anticipated running in the dark. The last 2 km was spent running alone in darkness along waterfall road and race course road and I was shocked to spot a herd of wildboars by the road side. I turned back to avoid them and continued running in safer zone. I was really delighted when the voice from the app congratulating me that I had completed the 26.2 miles. My total active time for my full marathon was 6:20 but elapsed time was 12:30. If active time is considered this is my PB which I never dare to dream achieving but if elapsed time then this is my poorest full marathon time. Even though I splitted my run into two but I still felt very exhausted after the run. So perhaps two half marathons within 12 hours and a full marathon within 7 hours does not differ much in causing tireness and fatigue. It is amazing that I had finally earned a medal of the Abbott World Marathon majors by chance and luck. 

My e-medal , the real medal will come later.

                     Time for my second 21.1 km as registered by my Garmin watch and TCS app

Virtual Tokyo marathon 2020

Due to the corona virus pandemic rampaging the world at the moment all the marathons have to be cancelled. I was lucky to be able to run in Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon held in January 2020 which was only slightly ahead of the corona virus epidemic which first occurred in Wuhan, China. Actually I had registered to run another marathon to be held in March but that marathon was  cancelled as the epidemic had spread to Malaysia during that time. The whole country was put under lockdown for almost 3 months before situation improved.  During the lockdown I still exercised but only did running on the spot in my garden. Though exercising at home could be exhausting too but it was not so fulfilling as compared to running outside. 

Seok Wan, and I started the run together for 5 km

As my wife and I are members of the St Peter's Park Run in Sydney, we participated in its virtual park run called (not) park Run which was being organised every week. We just have to run 5 km anywhere in the world any time and submitted our time for 5 km to the organiser for ranking among participants every week. The ranking will be published in the Park Run’s webpage every Tuesday. So that is my initial exposure to virtual run and it is free.We usually run in the evening from 6:30 pm when there is less traffic along waterfall road and lake garden. From the result published by St Peter's Park Run Group every week our times ranging from 33 minutes to 50 minutes were ranked among the slowest but  we were ranked first for making the most runs every week.

As the pandemic caused all the premier marathons in the world to be cancelled,  Virtual Marathons for all those premier marathons in the world such as Berlin Marathon, New york Marathon , Tokyo Marathon, Prague Marathon and so on were being organised. The organiser, Virtual Runners fixed the date for the various marathon to be run anywhere in the world. Runners from all over the world could register to run either one or more of the marathons with a registration fee which includes a medal to be posted to those who completed the run. Finisher t-shirt was also available for booking during registration. I paid RM206 for the medal and finisher t-shirt by registering for Virtual Tokyo Marathon which I found it more meaningful. This is because Tokyo was the venue for 2020 Olympic Game but was postponed to 2021. Perhaps that is the reason the Virtual Run is called Tokyo Remembering the Olympic Spirit Marathon International. Anyway I just called it Virtual Tokyo Marathon. We could register for either 5k, 10k, half marathon or Full marathon. I registered for half marathon which would roughly be a 3-hour run for me in my neighbourhood. After registration, I was invited to join a facebook group consisting participants of the Virtual Tokyo Marathon. There are more than a thousand members from many countries and the platform allowed us to know our fellow runners by  posting our runs and getting feedbacks and comments.

Taiping Burmese Pool

My route consists of a few slopes

The hidden Tupai river at the fringe of lake garden

The complete route of my half marathon

One week before the Virtual Run I practised running the full distance of the half marathon at Taiping Lake Garden. As I embarked on the run without much preparation and started off the run too late in the morning, I was totally exhausted due to the heat and bringing insufficient drinking water. In fact I was feeling hungry and I could hardly moved after 18 km of my run. Actually I could just stop the run but I persisted until I finished the 21 km as planned but the time was 3 hours 14 minutes, about 25 minutes more than my run in Taipei. My aim of running this pre-run is for the purpose of making use of this time for virtual Tokyo Marathon if  I could not run on the actual day due to any unforseen circumstances. I hit against the wall in this pre-run because I ran without consuming any energy gel which I usually do. This terrible pre-run experience taught me a lesson and forced me to be more prepared for the actual virtual Run on 2 August.

   

On the actual day, I woke up at 4 am to take my breakfast and only set out in my car to my starting point at the foothill of Maxwell hill which is very near to my house exactly at 6 am. My car was serving as my water station with plenty of drinking water, isotonic drink and banana to make sure I would not hit against the wall. My wife , Seok Wan ran together with me for the first 5 kilometers before I continued to complete my half marathon alone. Even though I was running alone but there were other joggers along my route whom I could pace with. The pacing allowed me to run slightly faster than my normal pace as most of those joggers were faster runners. My route was quite a big loop but I still managed to return to my water station twice to hydrate myself.  I started and stopped my run exactly at the same spot that is near my car but the total distance covered was not far from the 21.1 km half marathon distance. Though my time of 3 hours 7 minutes was not too impressive but I was quite happy with it and did not feel so exhausted as compared with my pre-run. 

I posted my time and snap-shot of my Garmin connect for the run as proof to organiser on the same day of the run as required. The organiser was quite efficient in the sense that on the next day the result of our run was ready for viewing. I thought I could be among the last in my man's half marathon category but I was still faster than one hundred plus runners among the total of one thousand plus runners. This is my first International Virtual Run and I found it quite a good experience. As virtual run is the normal now due to unrelenting pandemic, I may register for other virtual run especially local virtual run which is much cheaper to register.   

In the mean time I am waiting eagerly for my medal and finisher t-shirt to arrive which according to the organiser would take about 3 weeks.    

My certificate for Virtual Tokyo Marathon

Thumbs up for myself and all the runners

Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon 2020

2020 Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon

Taiwan is the country I wish to visit since many years ago but never know that it is the Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon that trigger the trip. I was jokingly talking about going to Taipei to take part in a marathon to a friend who studied in Taiwan before. A great surprise that he was interested in going with me and invited another friend to follow suit. We started our trip from Kaoshiung on 10/1/2020 and travelled northwards in Taiwan until Taipei where the marathin was held. We reached Taipei on the 16/01/2020 from Taichung via high speed train which only took one hour. We stayed at Beauty B7 Hotel which is very near to the starting venue of the marathon besides Taipei 228 Park for four nights.  

The collection of running bibs was not an easy task as the venue was quite far from our hotel and quite difficult to find. Luickily I had my two friends who are good as navigator using google map. The site for running bib collection is at Xinyi Boulevard just opposite Taipei 101 building.

Taipei 228 Park, landmark near the starting point

After collecting my running bib we proceeded with our itineraries of visiting places of interest in taipei before the day of action on 19/01/2020. The night before the race I still had cough infected while on the plane to Taiwan and I was wondering whether I should just give up the race. As I was feeling better in the morning of the race and very reluctant to give up the chance to run in Taipei which was my main intention of coming to Taiwan, I finally decided to run even though I am not in the pink of health. Luckily I was just running half marathon which would not be to demanding on my physical condition.

President palace, landmark near starting venue

Riverside park, finishing venue

As the temperature was around 10 degree I had to wear a thermal shirt before putting on the running singlet of the marathon. I could notice quite a number of participants wearing a just singlet and a short under such low temperature for the race. There are 3 categories in the marathon that is 42 km, 21 km and 13 km which attracted about thirty thousands participants. 10 minutes after the full marathon was started, we the half marathon category was flagged off. There were pacers for half marathon but only until 2 hours 30 minutes. I was standing behind the group which has no pacer as I was prepared to just run at a leisure pace through out the 21 km. I managed to maintain my pace at 12 to 13 minutes per mile as the the route is totally flat. We ran from garden road besides 228 park towards the direction of Beitou passing by quite a few tourist attractions. I stopped on many occasions to snap photos of the landmarks of Taipei such as Taipei 101in the distant,   the historical Yuanshan hotel, kuomintang war memorial and river side park which also was the finishing venue of the 21 and 42 km categories. There were water stations every 5 km interval and every water station provided banana , chocolate wafer, mineral water and carbonated drink. There were quite a number of support and cheer groups along the route to motivate us. 

I finished the race in a time 2 hours 55 minutes which is within the cut off time of 3 hours. After collecting my goodies bag which contained a medal , a nice towel, some drink and bread we had to line up to take a free shuttle bus to the starting venue which was almost 10 km away. As the queue was so long I had a hard time locating the end of the line where I could join in. The worst part is the cold because I did not bring any jacket or winter coat to put on after the race. I thought the finishing venue is the same as the starting venue just few hundreds metres away from my hotel. So I was reckless in that sense and should not complain being put in such miserable condition of being wet , smelly and icy hands for almost one hour before I reached my hotel. 

Misty Taipei 101  in the distant

 

The historical Yuan  Shan hotel