Jakarta Marathon 10K Done!

 New medal to add after 2 years!

Congratulations to all runners today :)

Right, I am feeling really tired today because I had such a fantastic weekend! And a pretty rushed one too but I suppose it's awesome that everything went according to plan. Yup as I said in my previous post I just went for the Jakarta Marathon 10K race! It feels good to be back running although it's been almost two years since the last time I ran 10KM non stop. It's a pretty interesting experience to run a race in my country. A first time for me, and it was a good one :)

So anyway on Saturday I headed for Jakarta, went to Jakarta Convention Centre first to get my ticket for the Java Soundsfair which unfortunately, had an increase in the price! I totally regretted dragging so long. I didn't know the price will increase anyway. After that checked in my hotel, head out for lunch, and went for the Soundsfair in the evening. I am going to write about Soundsfair in a separate post cause there's quite a lot to talk about heh. Went back to the hotel at 11 PM and slept.

Oh yeah I was accompanied by one of my workers as I don't know my way around hah.

Woke up at 3.30 to prepare and headed for Monas which is the start point of the race. Everything was on time and we started the race at 5:15 straight. The route for the 10K race is from Monas to Glodok and back. I'm not really a fan of "straight" routes because the route is literally two stretch of roads with a distance of about 4 KM-ish. Would be nice to have a more interesting route but nevertheless it was alright. An empty Jakarta in the morning is quite a beautiful scene to be honest.

 Before the race

It's been almost 2 years since I joined a race so today's race feels like a trip back in time. I am very happy with my pace and that I ran non-stop for the whole stretch. I didn't beat my PB but happy to run within my targeted time. I gave myself 1h30m to run, thinking I'll be that slow after such a long time of not running but I ran a total of 1h17m! Well time didn't really matter to me. I just want to run to be honest, being part of the experience was awesome enough I suppose.

The first two KM felt really long for me somehow. I thought I already ran like 4KM when the mark only shows 2 and I was feeling so urgghh. It was only after the 5th KM that I felt "stable" and just continue to push myself. I was so happy to see Monas again as I was reaching the finish line heh. At the last stretch I just pushed myself more and yup, the race was awesome!

Walked back to the hotel, bathed, rested and I made my way to the train station to catch a train to Bogor, to catch a train back to the hometown. The planned time was 2 hours to reach Bogor but I forgot that the train station I took the train at (Gondangdia) is nearer to Bogor  than the one I usually take the train from (Mangga Besar). So I arrived at 11, and since there's no place to chill at the Bogor train station I decided to make my way to Botani Square which is a mall nearby (thanks to my cousin for directions!). Took an angkot to there and thanks to a lovely lady for telling me where to stop :)

Chilled at Starbucks before making my way back to the station via an Ojeg (motorcycle "taxi") this time. I was so so glad that I went 30 minutes before my departure. I thought the train was going to leave at 1:35 PM. Turned out I read it wrongly and it was leaving at 1:25! So if I were to go right "on time" according to my timing, I am going to miss the train heh.

And yup, that is all for my exciting weekend!

Hmm I felt really happy to have joined the Jakarta Marathon 10K. Today is the 299th day of the year, and 298 days ago I wrote on my diary to run a race here as one of my resolutions for this year. I wanted to "skip" this resolution for next year cause I didn't really practise running throughout the year. It was in late September that I came across the Jakarta Marathon advertisement on Youtube and well, I told myself that this is the only chance I have to accomplish my resolution!

With only 40 days left to the race, I ran twice a week on the treadmill and well just hope for the best I suppose. I can still remember the first running session back in September where I couldn't even run longer than 17 minutes. It was so tiring, I was out of breath, and I really doubted how can I even run 10K. But I just kept on running and well I got better and better. My sessions become longer and my speed increases. And today, my effort has been paid off I suppose.

I used to love running a lot back in Singapore. And I realised how easy and convenient running is over there. Pavements are good, air is clean, traffic is not scary, I can run whenever I want. Well I can run here, but it's not as convenient I suppose. And also, I don't have the time. Yes I know you will rebut my saying that we don't own time but we make time. Well then... I couldn't make the time! Haha. If I can have the opportunity to run more often every week, I would.

After today, I am really considering to make the Jakarta Marathon a yearly affair. I have something else on my mind though - The Bali Marathon! Would be a great experience to run in Bali alongside beautiful sceneries man. Next year perhaps? :P

Alright, day 300 tomorrow. I still have a few resolutions to accomplish, and also things to do before this year ends haha. I hope you guys will accomplish yours too! :)