Brooks Half Marathon 2013 Race Review

The Brooks half just concluded this morning with me seeing a personal worst time of 2:29 for a half marathon. It's easily one of my worst race results ever but I'm not too concerned by it. I never had any expectations or goals for this race and I'm just glad I finished the grueling course in one piece with no signs of any recurring injuries, especially my knee.

The race gave me an indication of my limitations and the direction I will be taking for my approach to my marathon training plans which now goes into full swing. Hopefully I'll have the discipline to stick with the plan to a tee.

What? No medal this time?

This is the second (and probably last) time I'm going to be running this event cos the hills are simply grueling for a half marathon. While I appreciate hill work and challenges in a race but having to negotiate too many inclines that need mountain climbing gear is simply not my cup of tea, especially with a route that was overly crowded.

The wife and me started our journey to the race location a little too early. Got there slightly around 4.15am and found a nice little parking spot that was coincidentally right next to Kelvin. Chatted with him till slightly before race start when he went off in search of the loo and I decided to start a couple of laps doing some light jogging.

Headed to the start area and met up with Jamie, Calvin and Yvonne there. The gun went off while we were in mid-chat but with the cramped start area and the amount of runners there, it took like forever to cross the start timing mat. Got into an easy 6 plus pace following Jamie, Calvin & Yvonne. Not that we could go any faster even if we wanted to cos there was just too many runners in front of us.

We lost Jamie around the 2K mark when he needed to use the loo. I think Calvin either stopped to use the loo or just sped off cos it was just Yvonne and me from that point. I was cursing myself for not carrying a bottle of my own hydration cos the water stations weren't in the same spot as last year. I only have myself to blame for not really reading the race guide and finding out where they were located this time round.

The route was small and VERY crowded that I was finding it difficult and tiring trying to weave around all the other runners. The route really needs some looking into. The enthusiastic response to the race saw the number of participants increase this year and personally I think the route was simply too small and cramped to cater for this much of runners.

But nonetheless, since I wasn't giving this race my all, I just lived with it and carried on with my run. Chatted with Yvonne and pretended that I could keep up with her till somewhere around the 11k mark when I decided that the only way I would keep up with her was to break at least one of her legs ... LOL! I officially anoint her the title Speed Demon!

From that point it was just me and my mind. I managed to still keep to an easy pace till somewhere around the 16k when my race fizzled out completely. Neoh caught up with me and we ran together for a few kilometers and then I told him to keep on going cos I was going to crawl into the finish on all fours.

I was glad to finally cross the finish in one piece with no signs of any injuries, thank god. Made my way to collect my ... urmmm ... trophy and finisher tee and then got a change of clothes. Caught up with Adeline and Xydra of Skechers Malaysia for a bit. Finally also met Elvin, his running friend Adeline and Lorna before heading to wait for the wife to come in from her run.

I ran in the Skechers GObionic, the fourth time I've actually used it for long distance races (One 42k, two 21k's and a 25k) and it worked just as good on all four occasions. I've raked up quite a bit of mileage with it but surprisingly it's still not showing signs of wear and tear yet. But I do have another new pair in standby should it reach its mileage lifespan which might be pretty soon since it's my official race shoe.

Race organization wise, I thought the water stations were a mess and way too crowded that I had to push my way in to get some drinks. A little tip people. Get your drinks, move on and clear the space for the rest of the runners. As far as I'm concerned a lot of people also need to learn a little bit more about race etiquette.

With the overwhelming and enthusiastic response to this year's race that I am sure will carry forward into next year, the organizers may need to re-look the route cos I think the route was overly crowded this time around and became more so when the 10k and 5k runners joined up with the 21k.

Other than that, I did have a fun time. Well, if you consider having to slog up at least 4 inclines fun, that is :D