I ran the Kulai Half Marathon today with zero training.

My half marathon Personal Best is 2 hours.

Today, I finished in 3 hours 20 minutes and yes, I paid full registration fee for this “painful” experience.

For the past six months, I did not run and train at all.
Not because I was lazy.
Because I was injured.

Motorbike accidents.
Long motorbike touring.
Obsession with pickle all
Small injuries that never fully recovered.

Two weeks ago, after returning from a 16-day motorbike tour, I casually asked my running buddies:
“Any run event coming up?”

One of them replied, very calmly:
“Kulai Half Marathon. Two weeks’ time.”

I signed up immediately.
No hesitation.

I believe in supporting local events.
And this one is less than 10 minutes from my house.
No hotel.
No travel.
No excuse.

Next question.
10KM or 21KM?

I only join 10KM when I run with family or office colleagues.
If I am alone, I can run 10KM anytime on road or trail.
So I clicked 21KM.

Zero training.
And in the next two weeks,
I never even lace up my running shoes.

I told myself:
“This will be my first long slow distance (LSD) for the 2026 running season.”

On race day, I made a very humble decision.
Follow the 3 hours 30 minutes pacer.
My first time following the last pacer group in my life.

I set two simple rules :
Pace around 7-8/km
Heart rate around 140

For the first 10KM,
I was surprisingly okay.
Breathing stable.
Heart rate behaved.

Then my right calf started complaining.
Soon after, my old enemy arrived ITBS.

For non-runners :
ITBS is when your leg hurts so badly that even walking espeically downhill feels like someone is negotiating with your knee using a hammer.

Downhill became my enemy.
Every step felt like a small argument with my leg in pain.

To avoid bigger trouble,
I changed strategy for next 11km
Fast walk.
Protect the leg.
Finish safely.

Good news?
Only the left leg this time.
In the past, both legs would join the suffering.

Luckily, the Kulai route was kind.
Not many downhills.

Haha, even my race shoes felt weird. Probably too long never wear them already.

I crossed the finish line at 3 hours 20 minutes.
Let’s be honest.
This is not a Personal Best (Worse).
My real PB is 2 hours.
Today is 1 hour 20 minutes slower.

So this is a different kind of PB.
A “still alive, still moving” PB.

A PB (Worse) for:
Zero training
Six months of injuries
One angry ITBS
Walking 11KM and calling it “race strategy”

This run is not an achievement.
It is a restart and reboot.

At my age,
sometimes showing up is already a win.
Even if the timing is ugly.