The North Face 100km Duo: The most Soh Hai race I ever ran...

The North Face 100. I consider it as one of the elite trail running series around, held in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Australia and a few other countries. Of course I am nowhere near the elite level to attempt the 100km solo category.   Last year I entered the 50km duo category and I finished it looking like this.

I only had 8 mins left to cut off time.

Obviously at that time I swore I will never do it again.  But do we ever learn?

This year I entered the 100km duo category and even worse, I don't have any finishing photos as I came out so damn late, the area looked like this when I finally made it back.

So cham.... nobody wan....  *sob*sob*  :(

And yes.  Something is wrong with this picture.  Firstly I finished the route from the wrong direction.

Let's start from the beginning shall we?

Early morning, rise and shine! Our first 50km trail run in MacRitchie Reservoir Park, Singapore.  My partner for this year was Dzul also known as barefootdzul.

Pic from Sasha Farina's Mandai album

The first time I woke up,  it was already 8.30am and I had 88 missed calls from Dzul!!! Shit. I overslept!!!  So I rushed to the race site to try and join in the middle of it and I couldn't find Dzul.  Of course lah. Race started at 8am mah.  Cursing and cursing and cursing...  And then I woke up again.  This time it was 7.30am!! I'm still late!!! Bloody hell!!! I can't make it in half an hour!!! Curse and curse and curse again.... Then I woke up....FOR REAL...*blink*blink* okie it's 5.30am.  Get your bloody ass up right now when it's for real. What the hell... I just had a dream within a dream within a dream. 

Got to the race site by 7am as promised and looked for Frank.  Found Dannie and Carrie.  Found Frank. Got our race kits.  Put bags in locker. Found Syah and Kash.  Then finally found Dzul.  Also met Adam, Mohan and Ben Swee.

Can you spot some similarities?  :D

Headed for the weigh in and spotted Allan who had just finished his first 50km loop and was going in for his second loop.

Allan went on to finish the whole 100km by himself in 13 hours something. THAT IS FREAKING CONSISTENT with his Sundown 100km Ultra timing in June this year.  Helo? Where got normal people have same timing for road race and trail race wan? What are you? Kwai lei gah? Han teng emm hai yan lei geh.   :P

Anyway,  went in to the weigh in where they measure your gear and hydration to ensure you're starting off with the right amount of fuel.  Met Alexander Asree, Razif Yahya and Deo.

The atmosphere was pretty tense. It's like everyone was trying to outdo each other kinda feeling.  I know I was shit scared.  I have not been building my trail mileage.  I have been prioritising swimming over everything else. Anyway,  so we were flagged off at 8am sharp.  And this year,  we didn't run past the toilets.  We ran into the bridge thing.

Yesh that ish Kash in front.  Hehe...  this is another supermom who will kick yours and my ass anyday.

We ran into the trail and Kash was close behind for the first 3km.  Dzul and Syah was ahead and I lost Dzul after about 4km. I also lost Kash thereafter.  Then Razif, Ijam and Ian passed me. I kept shouting for Kash but no response.  (I had TOTALLY FORGOTTEN that you're not supposed to shout your friend's real name in the forest, for superstitious reasons)   Anyway, I knew Kash will catch up to me at some point.  And true enough by the entry into Durian Loop,  Kash found me again.

Kash kept me company until after Mandai check point,  as we entered the jungle area after the tarmac, then I lost Kash.   Winnie came by soon after,  but I lost Winnie too. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I keep up with anybody? Well... firstly,  my legs were hurting like hell, as I wore the NB Minimus MT10 and the whole route was full of pebbles and craggly rocks.

It was a HUGE struggle to make it to the 27.7km check point by 1pm for me. It was just continuous barren land of pebbles, pebbles and more pebbles and pebbles and pebbles and more pebbles and more pebbles and pebbles and pebbles and pebbles  (you get my drift?)   You try running that kind of terrain in your Vibrams or other minimalist shoes and tell me how you feel.   When I finally got to the so called check point,  there was a medic tent and towels and water.  But the check point that checks in your TIMING is AFTER this freaking hill called Hill 265.

I have been dreading facing this hill ever since Shariff aka Singapore Blade Runner mentioned it last year.  But surprisingly, I didn't need to crawl on all fours.  I managed to stay on my feet.

I really don't understand why would TNF put the medic tent down there just before this hill and then the timing check point AFTER this hill.  Who is going to seek help down there when you have to climb this hill first and then only you'd get to check in up there?

Anyway,  so I skipped that water and medic point and tackled this hill just to check in by the 1pm cut off so that I don't get swept by the sweeper bus.  Bloody hell that cost me water.   Soon after Mohan found me.

 

And after a while, I also lost Mohan.  :(  

I really really regretted wearing the NB Minimus MT10 as it was SO DAMN PAINFUL to endure the pebbles for such a long distance and hilly terrain. The WHOLE time I was cursing sakitgilerbarbieporkeymarkpunyasakitomgkenapaakupakaiNBminimusstupidnakmampuspunyasakit.   Anyhow, I had no choice but to endure it.   

I would say that Mandai loop has got to be the most torturous loop because it was so freaking hot and exposed.  No shade.  Pebbles, pebbles and more pebbles.  I just couldn't wait to get out of it and back into the jungle.  Give me the jungle anytimeeeeeeeeeee!   When I finally got past the Mandai water point and back into the jungle,  I took off my sunglasses and the ground looked like it was just inches from my face man.  Bloody hell I'm already delusional. By which time, I had completely lost everybody. I was completely on my own now. Most of the time, there was nobadi, nobadi but me.  Just nobadi, nobadi, nobadi but me. And that song haunted me for the remaining way back.  Until I met Wee Kiat and Rachel (made new friends) just before the quarry.  And followed behind them until Rifle Range. Then I lost them. I don't even remember or know WHERE I lost them.  I just know I lost them.  Shit. And that's when the problem started.


After the river stream crossing,  I came to this fork, which for the life of me, I couldn't remember which one I came from. There were no markers from DirtTraction or TNF.   There was a wooden signage by the park itself, which showed turn right for MacRitchie park. A stranger runner passed by and I asked him and he said yes turn right for the park.  So I did.  I kept going and I came across a second fork.  This time there was another behind me who had been following me and he shouted turn left.  I looked at him,  he was wearing a safra t-shirt. Safra means he's a Singaporean.  So I trusted him.  I turned left.  And then I came across this thing.

This thing was built for you to run above the reservoir water and it eventually led you into the golf course.  I KNOW we did not run in here in the morning at all. But I have no idea where the heck I am!!!!

In the golf course area,  the guy who was behind me was still behind me.  I turned and waited for him.  I told him we are supposed to run back into the path we used to come in.  We did not come in here at all this morning. He said no, no, we are correct.  And he continued on.  I stood there watching him.  Then after about 5 mins,  he turned back.   And he said.... 


"I think we are lost" 


I wanted to strangle him. 


Gee! You think?!?!?!


Then he said but this way will also lead back to the starting line.  Really? Sure? Because I don't want to go all the way back to the other side now!!!  He told me to go on and please tell them to come back for him as his ankle hurts and his blisters just burst. Wahlauweh helo? You're the second person to give me wrong direction and now I have to run faster to get help for you.   Sigh okay fine.  And that's another 5km to find the finishing.  Shit.


So I went ahead and found myself in ANOTHER trail which was more treacherous as it had more hills and a flying golf ball flew past my face.  Because this trail is STILL right beside the golf course.  Had I been faster by a few seconds, I would have had a concussion and then we both die there, since he is injured and I'm too heavy for him to lug me.  Just great. 


Anyhow, eventually I got out of the trail after running along this thing again which snakes around the lake.

Yeah.  Disillusioned until cannot snap a picture straight.

When I finally found my way out of EVERYTHING,  I was on this side of the lake.

What the hell man??!!!???!

And everybody else.... was finishing from THAT other side of the lake. Shit.  I'm on the wrong side. But there's no freaking way I am gona swim across okeh!

I came from the wrong freaking way.

And I ended up finishing from behind of the starting line. When everybody else came in from the front.  Sigh. I looked at my Garmin. 9 hours 34min.  Wahlauweh. Si beh jia lat. Way over the individual cut off time of 9 hours.

Of course, I bitched like hell to the organisers at the finishing tent.  How could you not have marshalls or markers at those junctions???  You cannot assume all your contestants are singaporeans and know MacRitchie park like the back of their hands.   Their only explanation??? That their markers have been sabotaged by other people.  Then I told them to go back inside and rescue the other guy I left behind.  Ironically they shoved the map in my face and asked me to show which grid that I left him.   Helo? Are you guys retarded? If I understood your map,  would I have gotten lost in the first place??????????????  And about 20mins later,  he limped by.  No one had rescued him.  Great event management team this year I see.  

Found Allan and Shine.  Slumped myself down. Took off my shoes.  And my feet looked like this.

But what is the most sickening thing out of ALL THIS?  Mohan asked me so what was my distance coming out from the other route?  I checked my Garmin.  49.92km.  Then he said, go run another 80 meters and come back. WTF? Shit. I am short of 80 meters.  Now I cannot claim I finished it because I am short of 80 meters.  Bloody hell?????  After all that internal fighting and pushing myself through pain,  and in the end I am under distance? Bloody hell.  Stupid. I felt like the biggest soh hai of all soh hai's in soh hai land.   I mean come on?  I couldn't make it in the 9 hours, fine. But now I can't even say with conviction that I finished 50km ultra trail simply because I'm short of 80 meters. WTF lah weih. Through no fault of my own. Sorry lah but at that point of time, I didn't feel like running around in circles like an idiot just to make it 50k.  Skrew it.  It is what it is.

And anyway, the organisers whom I bitched to, already said that they are still taking my timing into account. And they still gave me the medal anyway.  By individual timing, I am completely skrewed.  But teamwise, Dzul's 8 hour finish gives me that extra 1 hour allowance.  Hopefully we will still be listed in the results.

Will I come back next year? I don't think so. Just sit in front of the tv and grow fungus is easier.  Seriously.