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Joined the 10km run. WL signed me up but didn’t manage to get herself registered. She ran along anyway. Overall an interesting run. Was a little worried that I wouldn’t finish since I was aching all over from Thursday’s Body Pump class. Completed the run in 85 minutes. Within the qualifying time and good enough for me, all things considered. Running in Cyberjaya at night was an experience both good and bad.

The roads were pretty lonely and dark. WL took the headlights so I was relying on the street lamps. There were a few near death experiences for me. First one was at the first major turn after flagoff where we crossed a street. As I was running across the road divider, I barely missed falling into a deep dark hole. The street lights were off, there were no marshals around the area and the grill was missing from the drainage. If my pace was a step faster, I would have dropped in and no one would have noticed. Good thing I stopped on time and skirted around the gaping 4×4 square. More than a few fellow runners were doing the same. After that first near misstep, I paid closer attention to where I was going. The streets were riddled with pot holes that would given your ankles a good mangling. Along the curb sides were drainage openings wide enough to take in a foot.

I didn’t like how they split the collection of the race pack (singlet, race bibs), the head lights (on the night itself before the race started), and the goodie bag (after the race) as well as the photo session. It was absurd that you had to queue four times on the same race. The goodie bag collection and photo session was probably the worse bits. There you are after completing the run and you’re waiting in line with 2000 other runners for a good 30 minutes to pick up the food pack and finisher medal. And then you go back into a queue for another 30 minutes to get your photo taken. The photos better be free!

On the bright side, there were plenty of stops for water and even a good spray down from the fire brigade (which unfortunately I missed since they ran out of water). The watering stops were a good distraction and I found the time and distance zipping by. Further pluses were the parking and transport arrangements. Shuttle buses were aplenty between the designated parking spots riddled across Cyberjaya’s Central Business District and the race’s start/end point behind Multimedia University. Would be great if this arrangement was adopted by other marathon organisers.

This is the first night race for me. One major downside to night race is that the air quality’s less than perfect. Unlike day runs where the nature’s had a full night to recover, the air on night races suffer from a full day of cars driving back and forth. A second difference is the road temperatures. Day races start with a cool road which gradually rises with the sun. Night races are reverse. The roads are hot to touch at the start and temperatures drop as the race progresses. While it may seem insignificant, it does have effect on your stamina and comfort as you run.

Having said all that, a 10km run is a 10km run. No matter how you cut it, that’s still 10km of distance that needs to be covered on foot. You never really appreciate the distance until you’ve walked it the old fashioned way. Energizer Night Race could do with slightly better organisers but overall, I’m pretty happy with the experience. Would I join again? Ask me again in a couple weeks after I’ve recovered.