Mok Ying Ren sets 21km PB of 1:08:18 in KL run

By Mok Ying Ren

Ed’s note: Mok Ying Ren shares a first-hand account of his run at last Sunday’s Bareno Run in Kuala Lumpur where he set a personal best time of 1:08:18.

Kuala Lumpur, Sunday, March 13, 2011 — I went up to the run with six other runners including Jason Lawrence, my Kiwi training buddy. Jason was sick on Friday and was vomiting quite hard so it was unfortunate he could not perform as well as he wanted on Sunday. My target was a sub 1:10 for the half marathon. To do this, I needed to run faster than 3:20 per km.

The other runners were from all walks of life: Sia Chuan Han, the 2010 Macritchie Runners 25 Ultramarathon champion who was running the half marathon in KL; Evan Chee, an SAF 6 Division runner who was running the 10km; Hana, a top female runner in Singapore who was competing in the 10km; and Kek Hong Leng, a top veteran runner from Singapore who also running the10km. We took a Grassland bus up which took some time to cross the immigration checkpoint because it was the first day of the Singapore school holidays.

The morning of the race, we woke at 3.30am. I ate an SIS gel, some chocolates and a can of coffee. We took a fellow Singaporean runner’s car to the race site about 3km away.

When we reached the race area at 4.45am, I saw one Kenyan warming up. I was very happy to see him because I knew that I could try and follow him and that it will be fun. I told Jason we better make sure the Kenyan did some leading rather than following us and kicking at the end to win.

At 5.25am, it was surprised to see that the organisers were still putting up the start line. The atmosphere was quite chill.

When the race started at 5.30am, I had my burner gel in my hand, ready to pop it within the first 5km. I wanted to start off at a honest pace – not too fast and not too slow and since no one wanted to lead, I went on and took up the job and went about a 3:20/km pace. After 1km, three Kenyans came from the back. Boy, was I happy. I could not wait to just stick behind them and let them do the pacemaking to pull me through my new personal best.

They were going faster and faster. They kept stealing glances at me and kept upping the pace whenever they see that I was still shadowing them. They kept talking among themselves and I had no idea what they are saying. I just loved the feeling where I was the only non-Kenyan. It was surreal and I flashed back to the KL marathon last year where I followed 10 Kenyans.

This time, they seemed to be trying hard to drop me early rather than let me follow them through. At 3km, I popped my burner gel to give it time to digest and start its action at the 15km mark. The first water point was at the 4km mark. They sped up dramatically before it and took the water before slowing down again to drink.

I wanted to send a signal to them that I was a strong runner and not intimidated by their pace. So I purposely sped through the water point and went into the lead. They followed me for a while before taking over the pacemaking again, this time adding more speed to it.

At 6km, we entered into the stadium compound where it was rather hilly and windy. I decided not to follow them anymore as their pace was too fast. I did not want to kill myself. So I pressed the lap button on my GPS, which showed 3:15/km. I was happy with that but I thought to myself its another lonely race for the next 15km all by myself. So i just continued running, hoping for the best.

It was a hilly race. I can confidently say it is the most hilly race I have taken part in. At the 9km mark there was this very steep hill which ends with a right turn with a short down, then up, up, up again. It was rolling all the way on the highway.

At this hill, I noticed one Kenyan had dropped off the pack of three and was on his own. I told myself “Let’s not bother about the time and start racing!” I was motivated to catch him. We watched the Athens Olympic marathon race the night before and I was pumped up as I imagined myself to be stefano Baldini, the Olympic winner, and how he came from the back to beat the Kenyans in the marathon.

So I chased him.

At 11km, I managed to catch him. He said he had a stitch and told me to chase the other two. I thought he just wanted to draft and follow me to help him catch the other two. I asked him to lead but he was really tired and he did not follow me for long.

After another 3km at the 15km mark, I vaguely saw another Kenyan who dropped off. I wasn’t very sure as the route was windy and hilly and I could not really see well. I told myself he had to be there and kept going.

At about 16km, I was quite sure he was in front and pushed even harder to catch him at 18km. I was rather excited now as I was in an unexpected position. As I had not seen my GPS since the 6km mark, i was unsure if I was still on target for a sub 1:10 half marathon. I took a glimpse at it at the 19km mark and I saw that my average for the last 13km was 3:18! That made my average about 3:17 up to that point. I was so excited that I was still within reach of my target.

I ran harder this time to chase for a good time. At the last 1km, I pressed the lap button and went all out. I finished with a time of 1:08:18.

It was a great race!

I really did not expect the PB especially since the day before we did a short recce of the route and it was just so hilly.

I would rate this as the second best race in my life. The first would be the KL race where I ran with 11 Kenyans and beat nine of them to come in 3rd.

Top 10 for Category A – Men Open 21KM
Position Bib No Name Time
1 A0933 MOSES KIPKORIR KIPTOO 01:06:50
2 A1007 MOK YING REN 01:08:18
3 A0934 KIPCHUMBA KIPROP 01:09:26
4 A0958 JOHNSON KIPKOSSGEI TARUS 01:13:56
5 A0668 MOHD HANAFY BIN ANAS 01:14:51
6 A1036 AHMAD LAMCHANMAK 01:15:43
7 A0552 JASON PAUL LAWRENCE 01:18:34
8 A0894 BARRY LEE CHUN SING 01:26:41
9 A0622 LOH CHWAN CHYIN 01:27:02
10 A0971 CHAN JUN SHEN 01:28:50

If anyone is interested in getting Mok Ying Ren to give a talk, you can contact him via email by clicking here

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