IRONMAN 70.3 Putrajaya Duathlon Race Report Chapter 4: The 2nd Run & Take Away's

The Run...

Again T2 took place despite the initial excitement with relative calmness and mindfulness rather than lightning speed. This allowed me to even remove my empty gel wrappers from my TriSuit Pocket (something I usually don't remember to do until I'm taking the suit out of the washing machine) and grab my water bottle with some Electrolytes just in case I'd unwittingly over done it on the bike or not drunk enough. 

The only bit of the plan that was not join to plan was that the heart rate in all the excitement, as it usually does when entering and exciting Transition, was spiking. 

As a result, Captain Sensible rejoined the race with some quiet words to subdue the impetuous youth again by telling him to "start breathing, calm down and find your rhythm". Thanks to this by the time I turned to go out alongside the Lake my heart rate was back at where it needed to be.

Running mode ON

At this point I almost run into Carl Smith, the Operations Manager for Ironman Asia Pacific, who was on his Motorbike putting out or adjusting the run course markings. 

Given all his other tasks that day, I was unable sadly to speak with him afterwards to confirm or deny this but, despite us having worked with each other on the Subic Bay 70.3 event a few weeks earlier, I'm pretty certain that he did not recognise me in my race kit versus my referee's gear :-)

Sadly, before I was able to enlighten him and have a bit of a social interaction like I had earlier with Baryy, Carl sped off to presumably check that the entire run loop was ready for the main event that inevitably would be arriving soon. 

Before I knew it I was at what I assumed the 2.5km and doing the U-Turn to come back along the lake again for the run home. This seemed like a very short and quick 2.5km and I started, for the first time, to start to think about the finishing line. At this point I took a quick glimpse at my watch and saw that I was on for my target time which was very satisfying and with this thought in my mind I kicked on a bit. 

As I passed the water station again on the return leg which was perfectly set up and brilliantly manned, I once again thanked the warm and friendly staff as I had done on the way out. They responded with some fantastic words of encouragement and again for others that race I urge you all to do this too. I know that's hard some times when you're hurting and struggling but my experience is that it really helps not only make their day but to get you through your day. 

Shortly after this I saw a very fast finishing Mohamad Haziq and soon after him Ezamshah Abdul Rahman also running smoothly. This helped remind me to stay focused and to keep my heart rate and my cadence up as as best that I now could. 

Having chosen not to take my final gel given how short it was to assist me with this I called upon the memory of my most crazy and puppy-like dog Tiger, who sadly passed away well before his time, on Boxing day last year. 

As he's done just recently he helped me put the "Tiger in my Tank" and with the usual tear in my eyes and ache in my heart at his memory and sudden loss, he took me towards home at a proper Tiger like pace.

Thank you Tiger

The run in to the finish line was a little convoluted with another     U-Turn and a few switch backs which made me realise why the outbound U-Turn seemed so short and fast because it wasn't half way at all and probably only 2km. 

However, this was all made irrelevant by firstly my friends at the Tadanamo Triathlon Team who were beautifully positioned at the turn to greet their athletes home and who very graciously gave some awesome shout out's for "Disco Dave" (if anyone wants to know how this race name came about you'll have to PM me - I've a deadline to make).

On top of this I was also then greeted by the totally unexpected and even more awe inspiring shouts of encouragement from Prem & Mee Leng who are the backbone of Care 2 Run one of the charities that I am blessed with being involved with.

Thank you Mee Leng & Prem

These two sneaky little people, who I'd spent the previous morning with in UM helping with a session with our Mentees who are participating in the current programme and the Junior Mentors who we are nurturing for the sustainability of the initiative, had not mentioned a word about their intentions of coming to watch me race and their presence absolutely totally and utterly made my day.

To put the Icing on my Cake I beat my performance goal with a time of 1:58:33 with all of the splits being better than planned. 

As I've mentioned several times my transitions were not particularly as quick, as I know I can do them quicker, and I'm sorely tempted to come back next year to try and beat the course record which was set by another cycling friend Danny Feng and which I missed beating this time round by 1 minute and 2 seconds.

Official results

Finally, to put the Cherry on top of the Icing on my Cake that day and to prove that it's never too late and that us "Uncle's & Auntie's" have not only got a lot to offer but do not give up so easily to the youth of today Pei Leng came in as the overall female Champion to join me on top of the podium. 

Sadly, I don't have photo of this as whilst the Organiser's took several shots I cannot find them posted anywhere. If anyone who is reading this can find them please share them with me. Thanks.

Meantime, we both received these little token's to remind us of a lovely little race when we both enjoyed being Kids again ;-)  

Men's Open Overall 1st Place Trophy & Medal 

Take Away's...

The overriding thing to "Bungkus" (Bahasa Malayu for take-away) for me is the sense of being in a playground and to not only do "Kids Events" but to have the mindset of a Kid too. 

Kids do stuff because they do things that they love to do. They have fun while they are doing them and they don't care or worry about anyone else while they are doing them. They internalise things and do not need outside stimulants to keep them amused they get lost in their worlds.

This "Kids Event" was a brilliant reminder to me of these wonderful attributes that as Kids we possess. They also reminded me of Stephen Jepson's mantra that "we must never leave the playground". Do check this Chap out by clicking on those two final links. He's weird, alternative and yes a bit strange but isn't that what makes people interesting. I certainly do and it makes me feel that I can "Live More" too by being more Kid like.

With that, I whole heartedly recommend participating in Kid's Events whenever you can to you all. They don't have top be races of course they could be parties. Although, my next one is the week after XTERRA Malaysia, at Nexus International School on 14 & 15 May and I can't wait for it :-)  

That's all for now. Until the next race...

The TriHard Rustman when he's writing this stuff
The Summit Seeking Sherpa when he's getting paid to do his stuff
And Disco Dave when he's racing and doing other stuff that he loves :-)