My 1st Pacer Experience in Malaysia Women Marathon 2017 Half Marathon

30th January 2017
The journey started on chor3 when I coincidently bump into HuiXian in Genting. As we catch-up, we talk about running and as she is thinking of joining half marathon in MWM, I offer to be her pacer and we decided on 2:30hrs as our target. 1 month plus to go before the race, we make a pact to run more to prepare for the race. As soon as my running sifus know that I going to pace HuiXian, I get warned that to be a pacer, there are a lot of things that I need to take care. It's not just about running at our planned pace but to prepare for any eventuality that will happen on race day. As soon, as this feeling sink in, I actually get jittery because I worry that I will not be able to become a good pacer.

19th February 2017
To prepare for the race, we plan to train for at least a few times but we are unable to find time to run together. Finally, 2 weeks before the race. we manage to run together once by joining the MWM running clinic in Sri Hartamas. Pacing is so much different than running on my own because I need to adjust to her pace and if we get too slow, I need to at least encourage her to run a bit faster. The session end well and I am able to grow some confident in my heart.

05th March 2017
D-day came and I am excited and worried at the same time. Arriving early at Stadium Shah Alam, I saw a lot of runners already reach and prepare for their own run. Full-marathoners already started, half-marathoners are waiting for the start of their run and some early risers for other categories are there to cheer and support their friends and families. Start on the dot at 5.30am, we start the run together with other runners. Running slowly for the first quarter of the run, we pick up the pace and manage to run at our desire pace. The route is quite hilly and although we want to run faster so that we can achieve our target, we seem to be a little off pace. Reaching 15kms, HuiXian ask me about our pace. I look at my phone and I realise that we won't be able to make it by 2:30hrs. Strangely enough, we somehow manage to see SiawHua, the official 2:30hrs pacer in front of us. As we ran pass her, I know that the HM route is under-distance. And so, we manage to finish the run within our target.

Conclusion
1. Special thanks to my pacee, HuiXian for the opportunity to be your pacer. I enjoy the run very much.
2. MWM is a well-organised race with plenty of marshals and water stations.
3. Somehow, I still believe the route is under-distance by quite a lot with us finishing the race in 2:22:47.
4. I want to be a full marathon pacer in future edition of MWM. Let's hope this will happen soon, before I retired from running.

Photo with Rosaline (10km), Lionel (1:45hrs pacer for HM) and HuiXian.
Our pace is similar.
A nice picture of me with my pacee, HuiXian.

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