This year's PBR is my 20th half marathon. The best I could hope in my current woeful state of fitness is to finish within 3.5 hrs and get a medal. The plan was to run for at least 10 km and walk/ run the next 11 km. I found out this was not going to happen 2.7km into the race. At this point, I had run for 20 minutes but suddenly I ran out of energy. I am still at a loss on why it happened but I was reduced to a brisk walk all the way to the highest point on the bridge.
On the downhill section, I mustered enough energy to run. Ominously, at the bottom of the downhill slope, I could see in the far distance, fingers of bluish lightning bolts arching towards the ground. A short while later, I felt drops of liquid on my face. A drizzle would be nice and cooling I thought but what followed can only described wrath or punishment from the rain gods.
Rain drops fell furiously and I could swear it sounded like bullets hitting the concrete surface. The water drops were large enough to sting and and there were several occasions when I had to simply close my eyes. Needless to say, I was in no mood to slosh through the water or run in my now soaked socks and shoes. I could honestly say it was a joyless slog walk to the finish line. Thankfully I did finish in 3 hrs 10 minutes which is 10 minutes slower than last year.
It is far cry from my previous times of 2 hours over the longer (22.3 km) route which started from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Boy, I miss those days a lot.
Just one more thing ; As indication of how heavy the rain was this morning, I saw a 5 hour pacer for the women's marathon with a balloon so water logged that it failed to float in the air. The balloon was on the ground trailing behind but still attached to her.
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