Jones's first Half-Marathon

My coleauge and I signed up for the Penang Bridge International Marathon under 1/2 marathon group, some 7 weeks ago. We wanted to just enter 10K category, yet the 10K Open category are just for 16 years old and below. if we insisnt on running 10K, we have to enter the 10K Fun Run category which does not enter Penang Bridge. So we took the challenge of 21km. The trainning started about the same time. Prio to this i have been regularly running and my base was 3km. First 4 week the trainning was smooth and the progress was very positive, with some minor ankle pain. I thought i was making positive progress jumping from 3km to 5km then 8km routine run, while getting 8 km to 20.5 km for long run, big mistake! I was increasing the milage way too much in such a sort period!

Week 5, after some shit dude stole our shoes (6 pairs in total, including my 2 weeks old NewBalance 758), i didn't do the routine run for a week. When i finally got a pair of new shoes, i jumped into doing the long run with the new shoes. Big mistake number 2! I chose the wrong shoes this time, my right foot is supinator, yet the shoes i bought was supportive type, which, increase the supinator. The sharp pain strike at the lateral of the knee, right after the long run. My right knee can not bend at all, every slight bend cause ultra pain and i have to walk with my right leg extend straight, like somebody balls just got bigger overnight! Yet after few hours, the pain just gone like it never happened.

I thought this is simply some normal knee pain and the wrong shoes issue, i quickly bought the same model exactly as the stolen one, New Balance 758! Big mistake number 3! There is nothing normal about knee pain. I keep up the routine run and long run, and each time the pain strike, i have to walk like the dude who have a big ball! The worst part is, the running time just get shorter and shorter before the pain strike. 4 days before the 1/2 marathon, i can't even finished 2km, the pain is just too much. The same day, finally i found out the pain i am suffering, is something called, ilitiobial band friction syndrome , ITB syndrome. I was suppose to REST when the pain strike but i kept training.. it is too late now. Bad news turn worse when my coleauge also suffer the same syndrome.

i spend the last 3 days gently massage the tight, and doing some stretching exercise, and taking NSAID.

Today is the running day, surprisingly the pain doesn't hit me for the first 13km. I was like, man, This is too good to be true. :-). just when i was feeling relief that the pain might not strike today, at km-14 the pinch began. oo crap, i don't want to walk 7km back to the finishing line walking like a dude with big balls! "Bite the bullet, 'enjoy' the pain" i kept telling myself, while increasing the volume of the mp3 player. Some cool gel ease the pain. The pain subside after i run slightly faster than my previous pace. The pain just dissapear after several minutes. Yet, every 7 to 10 minutes the pinch came back, and subsided... the last 6km was like never ending. I dare not walk more than 6 minutes even when my leg was so tired, knowing from experience the super-pain strike the moment i go too slow. When i was about to run out of battery, i reached the banana-station. Banana never taste this good!

Finally I saw the board showing that it is 40KM mark for full marathon, that mean, we are 2km from finishing line.. 2km, piece of cake! Wrong again! The final 2km still seems endless. My leg was really tired and it took me about 15 minutes to finish the last 2km. My mp3 was repeatly playing "Chariots of Fire" for the last 1km. Funny part was, the MP3 player also ran out of battery the exact moment i step on the finishing line sensor carpet. My record was 2 hours 30 minutes on my stop watch, I shall get the official result when they send me the certificate few days from now. With the timing chip, the official result is more accurate.

4 hours after the run, the super pain attacked the right knee, once again I transformed into the man with big ball :D

So far this has been the longest run of my life. The pain was really annoiying and frustrating, yet we have hell of fun time running along thousand of good runners! Hopefully after some good rest and treatment exercise, the ITB syndrome will be gone for good. I will try the full marathon next year!