2012 BII Bali Marathon

The island of Bali - blue seas, bright sunshine, soft breeze, and warm smiles - is one of the most pleasant places in the world to be. People head there to enjoy the slow life and good food. So it was an act of lunacy for me to sign up to run Indonesia's first marathon in Bali. Much of this has to do with Erik Koenen - who is an alcoholic with a running problem - who had a fantastic maiden marathon in 3:31!. [Congrats mate.] My preparation for this race was not smooth. With Danamon in the background, my training runs were intermittent. To convince myself I was up to it, I ran 28km a week before the race. I completed it, and so without any peak in training nor tone down period, I decided I was up to it. Bali turned out to be the toughest of all my 13 marathons. The first enemy was the heat. Even with the flag off at 5 am, and as Bali is substantially east of Singapore but in the same time zone, the 5 am flag off is like a 6am flag off in Singapore. By the time its 8.30am in the morning, the heat was punishing. The second enemy was the hills. Bali is a hilly place, and once you run away from the coast to the centre of the island, you are only going one direction - up. In this marathon, there were three separate loops leading runners from coast to inland. From the 23rd km to 36th km, it was almost always uphill. [Marathons are meant to be flat! I am certain the run from Marathon to Athens did not have too many hills.]

But there were pleasant points. Once away from the coast, you are always running in padi fields and through villages on metal roads. The villagers cheer you as you pass them, and they give you warm Balinese smiles. Kids were everywhere offering high fives. The hills were picturesque and if it was not so damn hot, the run would have been truly pleasant. I ran a good three quarters of the race, faster than my usual pace. But I hit the wall at 32km. I started cramping but did not stop smiling. I ran and walked the remainder of the way and finished the race with a new record - not a time record - I finished in 5 hours flat [an achievement] - but this was the first time I actually went to the medical tent to get attention, overcome with cramp. Least Felicia was there and put her medical training to good use! Still feeling hungry and thirsty.....