Prelude to KLIM07

4 March 07

I woke up as early as 5.15am. I jumped on my ride half an hour later and on the way I dropped by at a petrol station for my breakfast and Subh prayer. Then I hurried back to reach Perdana Lake Garden in KL for KL International Marathon Circuit Run 3. Circuit run is a training series for KLIM for the runners to gauge their ability to complete their run within the qualifying time. The circuit run also provide free entry to top 3 of each category. Unlike Circuit 2, I'm better prepared and arrive 10 minutes early, so that I can warm up and stretch properly.
The distance of each lap is 2.3km. The officials will record the time at each of the lap and at the end of 2 hours (for half marathon) or 3 hours (for marathon runner), your number of laps will be counted.
I've started easy and targeting to muster 9 laps within 2 hours (I've registered in Half Marathon distance as an early bird). In Circuit 2, my pace dropped drastically after 10km and developed blister on my right feet, so I could only do 12.5km in 1.5 hour. This time, I want to go further and faster. I did 4 laps in 53 minutes which showed I'm on target. After lap 6, my right feet started to feel the burning sensation again but I don't want to stop. While trying to decide whether to go on or not in lap 7, I completed the lap without any conclusion in mind vs body debate. So, I go on to complete lap 8 with my mind is about KLIM in 2 weeks time.
After the run, I saw a big blister on top of the hardened skin of my feet.