Having joined 2 times before , I was contemplating whether I should go again. I must say the competition is pretty tough for this race. As my Tortoise running club mates were thinking of a race to join together and nearby, I thought of this immediately.
Sign up fees were pretty reasonable and for the Full marathoners, you get 2 shirts, medals and many food. All category runners get to enjoy one food station at the 32K mark ( for 42K runners). This long stretch of food galore includes Fried Dough ( yuotiao ), crepe and many others. I was quite taken aback that the whole operation for the food has expanded since my last race.
Sign up and getting ready
This time round since we have a group of us, we took an MVP in, to speak the truth, taking the vehicle is best kept at 8 pax because 2 more pax would mean more squeezed up in the middle. We all know that the causeway immigration from Singapore to Malaysia is always a horror esp on the peak timings. MVP has its perks as it can go the bus lane and from Tuas checkpoint, all MVP will need to go the bus lane as a regulation.
Website: https://twincitymarathon.com/
The race pack collection was supposed to be at a mall but there was a last minute change of location to this big convention hall in Putrajaya, Putrajaya International Convention Centre. This is quite a big and new place and nearby there is a big mall with Le Meridian hotel called the IOI city. Was quite amazed at how the place had changed over the years.
Race pack collection at PICC
The race pack consist of the event tee, race bib, some brochures all put in a drawstring bag, you have to prepare the E mail with the QR code for registration to get the race pack. There was a small expo at the race collection selling sporting goods and also a few coffee stores too.
Name spotted
We went back to Cyberjaya D’pulze Plaza where our hotel was. I paid $45 a night this time for the then Tune Hotel to the now Fox Lite. Its the same setting but just that the management had changed and the colour scheme of the hotel has changed to a more modern purple and orange scheme.
Race Proper
Fowler and me at the start line
This time round I went with a group of my Monday tortoise runners, only me and Fowler did the Full Marathon, Rand did the half, the rest did a strange 12K distance. Nothing much to say about D’Pulze plaza just that it is a regular shopping mall with quite a lot of eateries and a big grocers too. It basically has everything you require. I also went back to Dr Khaki to settle some massage needs. But I just say the quality of the service is not as good as before.
42 Km starts early 4 am, therefore I had went to bed around 8 plus pm. I was feeling quite tired as we took the MVP very early. Somehow the sleep on board was not as quality as a real sleep on bed. Had some bread for dinner and that’s all.
I met Fowler at the lobby around 3:15 am and we walked over to the start line which is about 100-200 m away. The start line was just getting warmed up, there was no warm up zumba etc, there wasn’t even loud music maybe because there were some residential nearby. This time round I downloaded the GPX into my watch to prevent lost of way.
Somehow after the start line I realise I didn’t get the watch starting, only a few hundred metres away that I realise that. Route this time was less confusing and it went into a new place which I did not remember running the last time. There was a bridge and a beautiful big mosque. I guess these were built during Covid, the area looked new and had many new buildings. This was 16km plus and I was feeling very humid and sweating a lot. This was also where the 4 hour pacer caught up with me. Fowler was behind me all the while. I really did not want to run so fast and decided to stop for him to overtake me. I think I made the right choice because I saw him zoom past and went straight in front.
Going towards the end
Almost done
chendol
group photo for the finish!
Somehow along the way I was really sweating a lot despite wearing so much lesser and carrying only the hydration belt. This time I realise that I forgotten to adjust the hydration belt again so it was bouncing all around the place. But as long as the bottle is not too heavy it does not bounce so much. I stopped a couple of times after 25k and of course the major food stops caught my eye too, especially the one with the fried dough and crepe. Its really amazing and they even have plastic bags for you to take and go. The chendol stop is only available for the FM but I just stopped to take pictures not really taking the chendol.
Along the way, the few people with the same capability can be seen and I was always trying to overtake this quite lean Malay guy and he overtaking me encouraging each other. There were no more ladies in sight or behind me. Was feeling quite drained at 32km, but plucked myself up to keep to at least 6-6:30 pace from there. I felt , this was a wake up call for me but some how I felt I could not push it any further, could it be age? I think I will leave that to after the race.
As we turn into the last 500m, we merged back together with the other categories. Once I saw the finishing arch, I used my last burst of fire and dashed through it. Stopping the watch, I had never felt so relieved. As usual whole body was drenched, but I am glad I finished it. I finally came in 6th women veteran and 20th placing for the open category. I must say there were really a lot of strong women in the race and many were below 3:55 even.
Finishing Galore
The ending point was quite a carnival. Glad I was in time for the rest who did the HM and the 12km. Sally and Katherine all came in 5th and 9th position respectively for the women veteran, although we didn’t win anything, we all got a trophy each for the position.
There were many booths at the end selling sports stuff and also washing detergent too!As the hotel was really near, we went back to change before coming back to collect the prize. We finally left from Malaysia after a good hearty Fish soup lunch recommended by the driver. Managed to sneak in some souvenir shopping too. I would say it was a trip well worth it and I am glad I came with my friends this time!