Halim Runway 2017 10K – The Longest 10K Yet 

This race was my first race in 2017 and in Indonesia. Since I moved back to Jakarta in November 2016, I still had not figured out about my running routine nor schedule, especially for trail running. So I decided why not to jump back to 10K road race, the distance that was the beginning of my running life 8 years ago. Also it would be a good training race for my trail marathon race in 2 weeks. I was a little nervous for these 2 races, since I had not put enough training other than in the gym.

About The Race (translated from the race website http://ayolari.in/lomba/halim-runway-2017)
Halim Runners (Runners HLM) is a community whose members consist of a combination of military and civilian runners. Halim Runners was established on January 7, 2015 and this inaugural Halim Runway Running 2017 race held in the stadium Labda Prakasa Nirwikara, to celebrate Halim Runners 2nd anniversary. This second year race’s theme was Running Towards Healthy Indonesia.
You would experience the thrill from noisily running aircraft that would not exist in other races!! This competition will be held in two categories, 5K and 10K, but only the 10K course that would have a sight of those aircraft, so make sure you are ready to run the 10K !!

Sun Up We Start
I arrived just a few minutes before the starting line. It took me a little longer than my expectation. I went to the drop bag, before I line up at the starting line, where I met some Canirunners, my high school alumni’s running group. There were 2 different starting lines, first for the 10K and the second one was for the 5K. We sang Indonesia national anthem, Indonesia Raya, which I hadn’t done this for a long time and it was a good feeling.
Closer to the countdown, I started to push forward, closer to the front. When the gun time off, I still stuck in the middle of the pack, probably I was 32 second behind.  I started right away to run on the road side to pass the jogger. I immediately picked up my pace, too fast I think, but it was inevitable. I broke off from the crowd just before the 1st water station, probably km 1. I had my OrangeMud handheld bottle with 200 calories of Tailwind in it, so I skipped any water station and kept my pace steady. The course was lovely, but not a fast course. It has plenty sharp turns with a good amount of rolling hills, not too boring like a usual road race. We were also passing the airplane hangar and runway, so it was entertaining. The weather was cloudy, the temperature was perfect for Jakarta standard, tho I was drenched already by the time I hit km 3. Slowly but sure I kept passing runners,. Just before the turn around point I saw the first runner, I was probably only 1 km away from him, but I had no appetite to chase these fazt kids. Also I counted the runners, and  I was not that far from top ten, I would be in heaven if I could hit top ten.

Me Dumb Dumb Not To Looked Around
When I hit the turn around, I slipped in the checkpoint sling to my shoulder so I wouldn’t need to slow down, but my momentum sent me off rail and ran over the side road, meh, rookie mistake. At this point I was behind a runner with red shoes, he had a constant pace. I was tempted to pass him couple times, but I held it back since he was a stronger runner on the uphill, I might pick up my pace on the last 500m. I hate to do this to him, playing rabbit on him, but it was good to have a pacer. We started to pick up more runners slowly. I saw some of my high school friends, and we cheering each other, exchanged some low five. We had almost a hundred runners from Canirunners. When we got into one of the longest hill we passed the 2nd and 3rd female, and shit got real. We hit the 1.3 km more marker, or something like that, I was starting to red lining my body. I had been exhausted since km 6, I pushed it too hard in the beginning. I just suck it up, I thought it would be done soon. I passed one more runner and he looked like in trouble too, I told him that we were close, kept it up. He told me that he had a shoulder pain and he could not make the swing.  By that time I lost my sight on the red shoes runner, so I passed the 5K joggers or walkers from the right lane and followed the crowds who made the right turn. There were a marshall at the junction, but he did not say anything to me, nor directing runners. By this time it should be only 500-800 meters I thought. So I picked up my pace, I started to sprinting on the downhill, but yet I still didn’t see the finish line. Instead, I saw the 2.5 km mark. Shit I made a wrong turn, and I was on the 5K loop. I stopped and turned around. F word came out a couple of times as I ran back over those steep hills. I crossed the junction and started to pass people a little too aggressive, maybe. I was pretty upset by this time. Then when I entered the finishing shoot, I stopped for a second or two. The floating gate showed “START” not “FINISH”, so I second guessed myself. Argh I became more upset and sprinting like I had diarrhea to the finish line.

Happy Ever After
The run was done and done. I wished the race was more organized with the good marker, or the volunteer was more clear with directing us, especially with 2 different race’s courses share the same road. I think from the pickup package till the finished line it was not organized or did not have a clear directions. I did made an unofficial complaint, hope they would have a better event next year, since the course was pretty cool. Overall I enjoyed the run, despite I run 8 miles ish for a 10K, and lost 5 spots to be in the top ten,  I had a good training run for my upcoming trail marathon race in a couple of weeks.