Garmin Forerunner 405 (Malaysia)

PUTRAJAYA NIGHT MARATHON KICK OFF YESTERDAY 6/2/2010 AT EXACTLY 8.00PM.

This night marathon will put my garmin forerunner 405 on test. Searching for satellite taking about less than 30 second.

8.00 pm we start off with the race heading towards convention centre (i think). Start slow as i dont want to waste my energy at first 10km. My pace according to garmin watch is 7.10 - 7.30 minutes per 1 km. Yes, you can programme the watch how many km it will alert how long you have been running with a little 'beep' sound. Interesting.

At exactly 3km alerted by my garmin watch and it is also our first 'time chip' scanner. Quite impressive by the garmin watch as the mileage is quite accurate. One thing good about the night marathon is there is a km mark at every km you had reached - ACHIEVED 1 KM, 41KM TO GO. Yes, that the spirit. Move on at slow pace.

Reached 10km point in 1hr 12 minutes. Not bad for a slow runner. Heading towards Alamanda, at 15km met with Chap Ayam runner, Khairul. Have a chat with him. He slows down as the path get steeper. Put my MP3 back on. Listening to the music will ease you.

At 20km in 2hr 20minutes. Long rest, drink 100 plus. Took my 2nd power Gel. Put ice on my knee, i think its going to cramp. At 25th KM, met with my gang, yunus, old timer. He ran quite fast, suprise to see him at this point, he said 'muscle cramp'. I went passed him with pride. Not long after that he overtooked me and i never see him again!!

At 30km, 3 hr 49minutes wasted on the damn hill.  Free power gel. Took it immediately with 100 plus. So far, my knee is working with me, and started to get sore. Compared to 30km New Balance previously, i get muscle cramp when i reached 28km. But now at 30km, no cramp. Good. But short joyed when i saw a very very long stretch of ascending road ahead of me, and by seeing most of the runners are walking and limping, its very demotivated.

Start running again, at very slow pace running uphill. Met with another runner, one thing about this runner, he just cant stop talking!! Good company. Overtooked him  when we are heading downhill. Saw this amoi, quite big size, and i'm behind her!! Overtooked her. Heading towards alamanda again and my ankle and my knee is killing me!!

No pain no gain...I'm following this one amoi and a 2 guys side by side. Trying not to loose them. Heading towards the mosque at 38km, another 4 km to go. Overtooked them when they seems too slow. Reached the mosque few minutes later, then disaster strike. My ankle and knee hurt like hell, started to walk, heading towards the finishing line which i cant see at that time.

A series of walking and short running, another 2 km to go. Most of my movement concentrate on walking and limping. Another 1km to go, the amoi that i overtooked at before the mosque overtooked me. Yes, beaten by a GIRL!! I dont care anymore, few encouragement word came out, "its getting near bro!!"..

After the u-turn and i can see the the finishing arch on the horizon, i started running. And i dont care about the pain anymore. I trained for this, i got to finish it with dignity. At last, the sound of 'champion chip' mark the end of my 42km marathon journey!! I'm proud of myself..!! yeah..

My Garmin watch indicated the distance at 41.98km, nearly accurate. Still acceptable to me.

Meet with couple of friends, complaining about the long hill, muscle cramp and countless stops, makes me want to do it again. Thanks to friends who cheered me up, i didnt get all their names. Its the same faces i met on every run. SEE YOU ALL IN ENERGIZER NIGHT MARATHON!!

10 March 2010 -  I received my certificate through pos today. Lucky it didn't rain this evening. I'm proud of having this certificate.

Coming up Next : Bareno 15KM on14 March 2010, Bukit Jalil.