I don't run to compete. Though I do enter races. I don't run for exercise. Though that is a wonderful benefit that I don't dislike. I run as therapy. I run as a way to take a mental break. To replay parts of the day, develop comebacks to things I wish I had said, and run scenarios for things that are still to come. I might not be smiling, but I do enjoy it.
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| Smiling because it's over. That's about it. |
I ran my first marathon back in October of 2008, a nearly three and half hour out-and-back semi-circle around Lago Calima, just north of Cali, Colombia. Were you to have asked me at the finish line if I would consider another, I would have used what little energy and breath I had left to produce a single "ha!" (of "ja!" if we're being accurate to the local language). Little did I know that this was only the start of a life-time goal of doing a full marathon on every continent (excluding Antarctica).
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| A "good" air quality index is under 50. |
Since then I have checked North America off the list in 2009 (Grandma's Marathon - 3:24.36) and doubled up in South America with the São Paulo International Marathon (3:24.41) in 2013. There have been a smattering of 10K and half-marathons in between, however, going into my fifth year living in Asia, I thought it was time to cross the continent off the list. And what better way to do it than run through the city I call home - a first in my personal marathon history - with the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon?!
Unfortunately, despite my best training efforts in the spring and over the summer months back in Minnesota, August and September in Malaysia and Indonesia were not a great for outdoor activities. Fires set to clear peatland for the cultivation of oil palm, coupled with an unseasonably long dry season, caused a "haze" to settle over much of the region, raising the AQI to unhealthy levels. Thusly, this limited training quality and relegated most of my time to a treadmill - far from ideal.
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| Clearly this was within the first half. I wasn't interested in even fake-mugging for the cameras later on. |
When the same human-made disaster occurred in 2015, the marathon organizers made the decision to cancel, albeit a couple days before the event, angering many foreign athletes who would have canceled travel had they known in advance. Lessons were not learned and the race continued, justified by the improved air quality in the week leading up to race day, leaving those local runners just a week to reacclimate to running out doors again.
Long story short: it wasn't a pretty race. The 3:45AM start was jumbled and chaotic. The humidity, crazy wet. Parts of the course, as it was dark until nearly 7am, were potholed and poorly lit. Add to the top of that my own personal stunted training and you have an easily agonizing run.
No marathon is easy. I've never finished running 42.2 kilometers and thought, looked at bleeding toe nails, and thought, "yes! let's do this more often!" But this was brutal. Somehow I hobbled across the line 30 minutes slower (3:56.39) than my previous personal bests, a sub-4 hour experience I wish to never repeat. (Also, I hope to never end up in the medical tent for heat exhaustion again either, but that's another story...)
As British Track Olympian Mark Rowland said, "The race always hurts. Expect it to hurt. You don't train so that it doesn't hurt. You train so you can tolerate it."
I wish I could have, Mark! It was a struggle and hurt, but Asia is now officially checked off the list.
*****
EDITED TO ADD:
Validation! This year's SC KL Marathon was named to the Top 10 Worst Marathons...at Number 1!
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