#45 - Seremban Half Marathon 2013

Yes - yes, the Seremban Half has happened last weekend, and, to go straight to the point, my aim was very simple, yet a tricky one - improve on my PR of 2:04.44 which I had set last year here at Seremban. Since my other 21k races (PJ and Brooks) ends in a rather disappointing time, I truly believed that this sleepy town in the south would be the best place to do so.

I arrived at the hotel at around 1 p.m., checked-in, got to my room, and quickly had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant beside a 7-Eleven store. It's an easy choice really, in spite it being ran by (what I suspect) devout Buddhists, because number one: it's vegetarian, it's the healthier choice (then the obvious mamak restaurant), and it's very cheap. Surprisingly cheap. You can never go wrong with that.

After lunch only then I walked all the way to the Majlis Perbandaran Seremban building to collect my race pack. Safe to say that I am not disappointed - a Brooks dry fit vest, a bottle of lime-flavored Gatorade, a sample bottle of Shokubutsu Active Guard Sporty Fresh shower foam (my, my - what a handful), a sample packet of Salonpas medicated plaster (though how very weak I thought it felt), and a RM120 cash rebate voucher for Brooks running shoes.

Raya in a Brooks running shoe? Why not.

To all the forever lonely hearts out there, rejoice! This is the loneliest event promotion banner... in the world.

The one thing that I noticed about this year's race is the great lack in promotion. The website is not updated. A walk around Seremban harbors not even a single bunting or singages to announce the public about the event. Don't even think about overhead gantry matrix signboard displaying message about road closures or whatnot. The only promotional material that I found is a solitary poster, albeit a huge one, near the Pasar Besar.

That's it.

Anyway, on with the race. So, did I manage to improve on my PR? Oh yes - I sure did...

...all point-nought-three seconds of it.

Yes, that is all.

Hah!

"Never mind", I said to myself. Remembering that the Seremban also is the most generous with free gifts (from lucky draw), perhaps I could win something big, like a house like that lucky guy from the inaugural race.

So I convinced myself.

As I crossed the finishing line, receiving my certificate of participation, the finisher's medal, and my lucky draw ticket, I quickly made way for the super-long line for the lucky draw counter - thirst be damned. As I was standing in the queue, I saw one paraplegic guy in a wheelchair wheeling away in delight holding a brand-new Brooks dry fit shirt. "He got that from the lucky draw!" I know that I could go for something of similar type of prize as well. Daddy's feeling lucky today! Woo!

I... I spoke too soon.

Not even my winning pre-race stance helped. Damn...