Sabah Ultra TMBT 2012: My fourth 100km attempt since Sundown Ultra 2011 and successful finish.

When I first came back from 2012's Hong Kong Vibram 100km Ultra, Allan Lee asked me this question and said these things to me:

"Actually why are you doing all this for? I know alot of other people encourage and support you.  But your base is not good. You are not strong. We are real sports people. We know the truth."

Thereafter I learned that this whole group who call themselves the FRIM triathlon team, joined this year's Sabah Ultra TMBT 100km due to Allan's encouragement,  regardless of what their background was.  Then he roped me in. I even did a "presentation" in Ong's house, showing the pictures I took and the journey of finishing 2011's TMBT.  He even said to them, "You look at Cynthia like that also can finish leh"  That is in addition to some *&^%$# named Aleximon Lee who wrote in his facebook, that thanks to ME, everyone else knows that they can finish TMBT.   It was very degrading. It's like saying the most retarded person on earth can finish it.  So of course you can.  This is largely due to me having finished 2011's TMBT in 34 hours 41 mins and being third last overall.

Anyhow, I made a promise to myself that I will fix this shit. I will do a much better timing this year.

I spent a shitload of money on my gear.  Brand new and fifth hydration bag - the Salomon S-Lab 12. It cost me RM601 after a 30% discount. Without discount it would have been RM859.  I also bought another brand new and my fourth minimalist shoe - the Salomon S-Lab Sense.  That cost me RM708 after shipping and tax. I also bought a new headlamp, the Black Diamond Storm which was about RM180 after sharing the cost of shipping with Jeff.   My cheapest gear would be the trekking pole at SGD8 from Mustafa's, in Singapore.  Let's just say that I REALLY aimed to go all out and fix my timing this year. And I needed much better gear to help me get there. 

Then comes the training part.  I did a mixture of training in both FRIM and Kiara, as well as once in Nuang.  Though nothing would prepare me for what the elevation profile was going to be like for TMBT 2012.

The first 50km elevation profile.

The second 50km elevation profile. And they were not shitting you. If the picture showed it being that steep.  IT WAS THAT FREAKING STEEP. 

It was quite a funny flag off. We didn't even hear the count down. I was still chatting with Osbert, Amy, Trish, Jacky and Kee Seng when suddenly everyone started running.   Some guys were even still peeing in the bushes behind. HAH!? Started d weih!!! Hahahahaha!  That was hilarious.

Dev's picture of the start.

 

All 25k, 50k and 100k runners started together.

From the starting point at flag off, we needed to get up this short hill slope.  So there was a bit of a bottleneck there.   

Thereafter it was downhill all the way for about 900 meters. I tried to overtake as many people as I could before we hit another bottleneck.  

Karsten and I at the first 900 meters going down.  He was so chillaxed about the whole thing.  He came for a holiday.

After going down, we turned off the road and climbed up our very first hill.

This was JUST THE FIRST HILL! Holy macaroni. I was in super deep trouble.

Once we got over that hill, then it was running over sand, gravel, some rocks, a small bridge and a smaller plantation before we reached check point 1.

MOUNT KINABALU!

When I reached the first water station,  I was already like....Oh.... Shit....

thanks to Pui San for this pic!

I had taken about 1.5 hours for just that first 10k. Pui San, Agnes and some of the FRIM team gang were also there.  Chill... Breathe.. Breathe...

After signing in and refilling my bladder,  we headed up another slope.

thanks Pui San again for this pic!

And this... ladies and gentlemen was actually the beginning of a loop, if you noticed from the map, the 50k and 100k had to complete a loop right from the beginning of the map.   This was an interesting loop.   We ran through some more gravel and sand and more plantation.  But the most beautiful part is the cabbage plantation.

thanks Steve for this pic.  Yes.  I like to stick my tongue out. It shows you I was dying. And this was only the first loop.

 When you complete that loop and reached the next water station, it is actually what was the first water station, but now it doubles up as water station three.  There was another trunk with water in the plantation which became water station two.

After WS3, to get to WS4 which was actually the finishing point for the 25k's,  I bumped into the others like Peter Liew, Tommy, Claire Andrew, Zack and Felice.   At first I was with Peter and Tommy,  then I started to chase after Zack.   When Zack and I teamed up,  we passed Cally Ng.   And then I got confused.  Why were the 25k's still on our path?  They should have been done by now.  It's already 1 something in the afternoon. We were flagged off at 7.30am.  Anyhow, eventually when we got to WS4, then we realised that that was the actual finishing point for them.

WS4 is also the surprise spot check station.  Pamela asked to see our handphones and headlamp.  I showed her and I passed the check.  Signed in. Took water. Went off.

On the way to look for WS5 and WS6,  now THAT seemed like a long ass winding road.  By now it was hot in the afternoon. It was starting to take its toll on us.  I exclaimed out loud that if we think this first 50km is shitty,  the second 50km is what will kill us.  One of two random guys asked me, "So do you think you can finish?"  I felt challenged.  So I retorted, "YES! this is my FOURTH 100km race.  And my second TMBT.  I completed last year too. I will finish."    They didn't respond.  They just looked at each other and went off faster.

By the time we went into another trail, Zack had started running again. Steve told me to go off.   Claire Andrew and Hana Harun caught up to me and overtook Zack and I.    Leong Kwan Weng and ah Leong also snuck up from behind.   Now to reach checkpoint 50km seemed like a longggggg time.   It was. It was uphill all the way.  And that's 12km of uphill.   But I wanted to reach it before dark.   In the end I reached 50km by 5.45pm.  Which was a good headstart for me.  Considering last year, I only reached 50km about 8.30pm.

At CP50km,  is where we had the drop bag option, so I asked for my bag and changed my socks.  There, KC Leong came to me and advised me to do the next 50km with someone.  I showed him that I'm going with Zack.  Then Tony Quay came over to tell me that I must eat something.  I'm notorious for not eating during a race. I would eat the whole KL on non race days. But during a race I don't want to eat.  Stupid right? It's got alot to do with the fact that I don't want to have to puput in the middle of a race.  And there are no portaloos  in TMBT.   Anyhow, at this time, Zack told me we'll leave at 6.30pm together. I said okay. Although I really wanted to leave there and then.   But I had promised Zack.  So okay.  I changed my socks. Changed my singlet to a shirt.  Ate some rice, long beans and eggs. Put on my headlamps.  Then we set off.

By this time, Osbert was also ready to go.  So the three of us set off from check point 50km together to conquer the second half.    The pic below is of the three of us.  In happier times.  *hiak*hiak*   before we knew how bad it was going to be in the second half.

I first met Osbert in the HK Vibram 100k this year.  Zack and I did our first 100k together in Sundown Ultra last year.  The ultra world is really not that big in this region.  When you get out there, then YES it's HUGEEEEEEE.

We set off going downhill.  It was a large road of gravel. Felice and ah Leong came up from behind and overtook us.   Osbert looked at me and said thanks for walking with him.  I said thanks for accompanying me too.   All this time, Zack was ahead of both of us.  Then out of nowhere, we hit a slope.  It was 45 degrees.  I started to overtake Osbert and Zack.  I just kept going. Up up up.  I expected them both to catch up with me later. After all, Zack is someone who normally bombs downhill once we hit a downhill.  But that never happened.  I kept going on. Until WS6. By this time, I had also overtaken ah Leong and Felice.

Signed in again. Took water. Left.

From this moment on.  CYNTHIA GAN WEN CHIN was completely on her own. In the dark. And this was a much longer darkness alone than last year for the simple fact that I left Zack and Osbert at that first uphill slope after CP50k.   Felice had ah Leong.  Further in front was Esther but she had four guys with her. Claire had Hana.  Judy had Kevin. I was completely alone.  Which was actually fine by me as I was in a really competitive mood.  I didn't want to talk.  I was gunning for time. I had set a target of 24 hours for myself.   To me, if I can do this route in 24 hours, then I have shot at that damn trophy in next year's HK Vibram Ultra.

So I trudged off alone. It was abit of a cat and mouse game between me and the rest. We'd catch each other. We'd leave each other. We'd catch each other again.  But nobody was saying Hi and talking each other.  It was a mind game.  I'm trying to beat you. You're trying to beat me. Even when we couldn't see who the hell is who in the pitch black darkness!  That Sept 15 night was the new moon phase.  Which meant that the moon wasn't out that night. If you didn't have your headlamp on, you're skrewed.  If your headlamp died in the middle of it, you're also skrewed.  Yours truly didn't bring extra batteries in her pack.  I had left them in the drop bag. I had expected the fresh batteries I put in that morning to last me for 12 hours.  After all, the damn box said it can last 70 hours!!! Bloody liars.  By 4am, my headlamp was getting dim.

I had to switch to the lower beam mode and whenever it was a road, I had to walk in the middle just to be able to follow the white line.

There is light in this pic only because of the flash in my camera, you have absolutely NO IDEA how dark it was and I was risking alot by being alone.  But I'm a risk taker. I'd do it alone again no matter what.

Every time I could hear the dogs barking, I knew it meant someone is hot on my ass.  At one point, I even frantically wanted to switch off my blinkers and my headlamp.  So that I can be in stealth mode.  If they can't see that there is someone in front, they can't try to catch me and beat me, right? I could hide by the hill slope. Be at one with the hills.  They won't even know I was ever there.

But then the other thought came into my mind,  if one of them accidentally shone his or her light at me,  I could be accidentally scaring the shit out of them,  they trip, they roll down, and then I have to spend the next 20 mins calling for rescue and/or I have to accompany them until the finish line.

Not good. Don't want.  Skrew it.  Let them catch me now. I'll catch them back later if I can.

So one by one they caught up to me and left me.

I managed to trudge on in the dark ALONE for all that journey with that dimming headlamp, passing WS7, WS8, WS9, WS10 until WP11.  All the while praying that the headlamp lights will last.  With no MP3 player for music. With no one else to talk to. With no more other shadows to chase. Only after WP11 that the daylight broke.  YAY! I can see better now! And I just need to find CP12 and then I'm off to the finishing! Yahoo!  By that time, I also knew I won't hit my target of coming back by 7.30am.  I was in a lot of pain.  And from WP11 to the finishing, I had another 12.5k to go.     When I left WP11,  Claire and Hana also got up and left and chased after me.     All this while it was a cat and mouse game between me, Claire and Hana.     They would stop and rest at each WP/CP but I would come, sign, take water and go.

Just before we hit the gravel and trails again, I caught Bobby Tcc.  He asked me about my new shoes.  I snapped, "Don't Ask".   Later he would find out why.

Once we hit the trails and it is going down again, I knew I would lose to these people.  I can power up hills, but I just cannot run down.  And these guys can.  I can't run anymore. My blisters were hurting like hell.  That last portion to finishing was simply excruciating to say the least.  Yes.  Insisting on running in minimalist shoes when your feet is not ready to run in them for the whole 100k is suicide. Especially when the shoes were created for Killian Jornet.  And I'm no Killian Jornet.  I had originally wanted to pack a second shoe but it couldn't fit in my bag so I took the risk of doing the whole 100k in the Salomon Sense.  Suicide Suicide Suicide.

So the last 12.5k was gravel up, gravel down, gravel everywhere.  And soon Trish caught up to me, with two other guys.  She told me not to give up.  I was like, I won't be giving up lah. But I don't know how to withstand this pain until finishing.   I told them to go off ahead.  And when they left, I squatted down to pee.  In broad day light. I'm sorry. But if you see a pic of my fat ass online taken by some villager, please help me delete it.  I really couldn't care less anymore when I was in so much pain.  My malaysian forest was facing the other side anyway, so you'd be spared from that.  Anyhow we all know what each other has right. I lost count how many times I had to pee in the open by the road side like that. And every time I had to put my hands together and ask for permission from surrounding spirits to forgive me for soiling their territory.

When I finally reached the very last check point, CP12, we had to cross this thing and start going down some vegetation/plantation.

 

And all the while I kept looking out for an orange building, which denotes the school.  WHERE THE HELL IS THE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!?????

Finally after some time,  when I finally reached the foothill, then I saw the orange building.

DOESN'T THAT LOOK FREAKING FAR TO YOU?!  

Anyhow, I'm almost finishing already. Shut up. Suck it up. Trudge on.

It took what felt like forever to get out of more gravel, uphill into a slope and finally I was on the road side going into the Zen Garden village again.

this was the last mountain view we had from this race,  if you arrived here on this road at night, I'm not sure if you could see it though.

From the roadside to the finishing in the school, it's about another 1km.   But I've never been so glad to see a school in my life!!!

FINISHED!  YAY!

In the end my garmin showed that we were over-distanced by 1.39km.  With the amount of elevation we went through,  I guess it came to a point that I didn't care anymore.   And when you've done as much races as I have, you learn to take it all in stride.  Not enough water? Tahan loh.  Over distance? Tahan loh. Sakit? Tahan loh.    Cannot tahan?  Then don't race loh.

I finished this year's TMBT in an official timing of 26 hours 32 mins and 43 seconds. Alot better than last year's TMBT timing of 34 hours and 41 mins.  Last year I was ranked 10th overall in the women's 100k.  This year I only managed to go up to 9th spot despite an 8 hour improvement.  But it's okay. I'll take it.

I think what's on everybody's mind is this.  How different is this year's route compared to last year?  The only people who finished both this year and last year's 100k were Jiri, Cornelius, Mia, Felice, Jonas and I.   That I can remember off, anyway.

In my opinion,  last year's TMBT was more technical.  It definitely had less elevation but it contained the elements of an adventure race.   River crossings.  Dangerous hanging bridges.  Slippery bridges.  Narrow hill ridges cut into pineapple plantation.  Psychotic Miki camp inside Miki loop.   

This year's TMBT wasn't technical at all to me.  Sure our elevation profile was killer enough.  But the roads were wide. It was mostly sand, gravel and tar all the way.  Except for after CP12 when we went into someone's plantation backyard.

So if I were forced to compare for the common layman to understand and you're based in the Klang Valley,   I would say last year's TMBT route is abit like Kiara trails and Nuang with all the technical and narrow terrain. (see http://www.cyng-chasingdreams.blogspot.com/2011/11/sabah-ultra-2011-100km-trail-most.html)   This year's TMBT is abit like FRIM and the accompanying steroid hill in there.  WITH ALOT MORE steep elevation of course.   I would say alot of people did well in this year's TMBT as it was pure brute force of pounding up and down that steepness and those hills.    But don't get me wrong. Those WERE killer hills something like HK Vibram Ultra.

So did I really improve given that they are two different terrain and routes?  I don't know. I will never know.  Unless I go back and do last year's route on my own.  Nah...... no freaking way.

I have now achieved the 7 points needed to register for UTMB next year.  Will I actually register for it? I have until Dec to think about it.  If I haven't drowned in Ironman Western Australia on Dec 9th, then maybe..... just maybe... I will.    I don't know.  One step at a time, please.

Huge thanks to the SAC team for a well organised event.  I am looking forward to what is in store next year.  Thank you Aman, Claus, Rudy and Dev.  The four of you are sincerely the most SADISTIC race directors to say the least!!!

I will kill you guys later.... adios pistachios... till my next adventure...

The hunt for the perfect shoe... Salomon Sense

It's been aeons since I last blogged. 6 months to be exact. Mainly cos I didn't feel like talking about my "performance" in Singapore Aviva IM70.3 since I didn't exactly make it in the official swim cut off of 1 hour 10mins. Although I am satisfied that I did finish it below 8 hours.  7 hours 48 mins to be exact.  The run was the only card I had left since my swim sucks and my biking is dismal.

Anyhow this post is about the new Salomon Sense that I just bought and received yesterday.

I ordered them from www.racingtheplanet.com at USD195, got a discount as I'm a participant of Sabah Ultra: TMBT 2012 but in the end that discount amount was replaced by the cost of speedy shipping at USD30 as I wanted them delivered FAST.  Otherwise you only pay USD10 for standard shipping. Ordered on saturday. Delivered to malaysia on tuesday. But our customs held it back and as soon as I received the official letter from customs on saturday to go to Sepang and collect, I went. Had to pay another RM61.85 for the release. So yeah, in total it cost me about RM709.85 for this shoe alone.

In my previous three ultras, I had worn the Asics Kayano 16 for my first ultra, Sundown Ultra 2011 which gave me bad ass blisters this big.

Since then I have stopped wearing cushioned shoes and switched to the VFF and the NB Minimus MT10 (vibram soles). I wore the Minimus for the Sabah Ultra: TMBT 2011 and it really really really hurt alot on gravel.   I then bought a North Face Cyprus (also vibram soles) for the Vibram Hong Kong Ultra.  Those shoes helped me run better than the Minimus but it feels really hard when the terrain switches to tar road since it's primarily a hiking shoe.

Therefore, in anticipation of more gravel in Sabah Ultra: TMBT 2012's edition, I decided to hunt for yet another shoe.  I read about the Salomon Sense in Jeri's blog,  http://fatbirdgoesultra.blogspot.com/2012/07/salomon-sense-review.html and http://ultra168.com/tag/salomon-sense/  Watched the review on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF1pv1Bgtpo.  There and then I decided to give it a try.    I CANNOT wear cushioned shoes anymore, cos even when I tried to wear the Newtons for my runs lately,  the blisters came back.

Took the Salomon Sense's out for a run in FRIM this morning and goshhh. I was completely bowled over. Firstly, it's really soft and it didn't feel like I even needed to break in the shoe. It's also super duper blooper LIGHT, (210grams) I kid you not. Secondly, it fits like a glove even without socks.  And most importantly,  I didn't feel the edges of rocks, pebbles and gravel.  The protection is just right albeit being a minimalist trail shoe.   These have got to be the best Salomons they have produced thus far.

From left to right:  the NorthFace Cyprus, the NB Minimus MT10 and the new Salomon Sense.

Now. Salomons have been around for some time, but I never bought them as the other models have cushioning (which I am avoiding) and the heels are high.   I prefer the heels of my shoes to be as low as possible particularly when running trails as they make me feel more stable.   Have a look at the pic above.  The heel of the NorthFace Cyprus is still quite thick and high.  The heel of the Minimus is low.  Now the Salomon Sense's heels are abit higher than the Minimus but still less thick than the NorthFace Cyprus.

Okie don't get me wrong.  If you're running on terrain that is mostly earth, then the Minimus feels great.  I LOVE wearing them when I run in Kiara particularly running down that spiralling trail which leads to the Mont Kiara lookout point.  (I think you call it Magic Carpet?).   On tuesday this raya week, I wore the NorthFace Cyprus to Gunung Nuang and FRIM on the same day, (yeah trying my best to shove in as much training as possible),  they can handle the gravel but it rained so heavily that day, the shoes became heavy to run in. Plus the clay-like terrain made me skate in them in the rain.

I haven't run in heavy rain with the Sense yet. Let's see if it rains this weekend, then I can test them out. I did find them abit soggy from this morning's run and they're still wet right now since I sweat a tad too much. But for now, they feel really really adequate to tackle this kind of gravel and keep me going.

It's quite surprising since the sole isn't as fierce as the Speedcross's soles are. In fact, they look pretty normal to me.  

I felt quite stable and agile when I was running down the other side of the mountain bike terrain. My toes weren't hitting the front of the shoe. And just to be sure, I ran up and down that mountain bike terrain loop 3 times just to be sure that the grip feels just right and it does. So I know I won't be getting more black toe nails from this one. 

A forewarning first though.  Before you immediately click and purchase the Salomon Sense, note that

1. The front of the shoes are narrow.  If you're the type who needs a 2E or 4E or mak-kwai E, then it's going to cramp your toes.
2. As with all other minimalist shoes, you need to be fore front landing. If you are still heel striking, this shoe is not for you.
3. As with all racer shoes, there's a paragraph in this review http://ultra168.com/2012/06/18/gear-review-salomon-sense/  which says:

"Well, unless you are Kilian and can run a 100 mile trail race in around 15 hours, then this shoe would be ideal up to 100kms or around 12 hours of wear time. Why do I say that  ? Well I think as you run through the day and into the night during a 100 miler, comfort starts to take over from performance in my view, and with such a low heel drop and a super light weight construction, this must take its toll over the hours ?"

Essentially it means, they're not going to last long. But I'll take my chances.

Sabah Ultra 2011 - 100km Trail - The Most Beautiful Thing

There was an ultra trail run held over the weekend in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.  It was divided into three categories, you could do either the 25km route, 50km route or 100km route.  I did the 100km route. It started from somewhere called Kg Rajunan (I think) and finishing in Pukak Kadai.

 

Sabah Ultra 100km Trail Route map.

Most of the participants arrived on Friday, as the race started on Saturday for everyone.  The 50km and 100km-ers were flagged off together from CP1, where as the 25km-ers started off from CP3 which is Kg Bundu (I think).  We started off at 7am on Saturday.

Even from the starting line, you get a beautiful mountain view like this.

Beautiful backdrop

The whole route consists of 10 check points (but CP10 is not your finishing) and in between there were 2 cut off points.  I needed to get to CP3 in 8 hours and then CP8 in 24 hours. I had no game plan really, on how I was going to clear these check points. Let alone actually finish the whole 100k.  I can honestly tell you,  that I was severely undermileage in terms of training and that other than that one time I went to Nuang, and frequent visits to Kiara,  nothing had prepared me for Sabah's terrain.  I had no idea how much trouble I was in. Although the route is basically running from one village to another village, the JOURNEY from one village to another village was really something.  When I got to CP1,  I got a pleasant surprise that it was Steph and John who was manning that check point.  YAY!



Steph, John, Me, Terence and Tony!

I was very lucky, in that I had Terence, Tony and Ah Fatt for company.  However, I had been slowing them down, as I couldn't really run.  I was brisk walking most of the time.  I was wearing the NB Minimus MT10, which I knew would kill me on the gravel road, but I had no time to buy a new shoe and break it in. So I had to take my chances with the minimus.  By the time we finally reached CP2, Tony and Ah Fatt decided to gun for it,  to make it to CP5 before cut off.  Tony advised me to reach 30km by 2pm and if possible CP7 by 11pm.  I said thanks and off he went.  Thereafter I had Terence accompanying me all the way until CP5.  Terence is really a God send.  He is someone whom I've seen always sacrificing his own personal timing and goal just to make sure the last person crosses the finish line.  This time he sacrificed for me.  I am more than indebted to him.  Terence made sure I reached CP5.

From CP2 to CP5, it was quite an interesting route.  We crossed a few hanging bridges and waist deep river streams.  We climbed hills and ran past paddy fields.

Nobody realised this, but during briefing the night before, when Aman and Claus explained there would be hanging bridges and river crossings, I was actually crying silently.  I have a fear of heights which most people don't know. And I have a phobia of wooden bridges.  On two separate occasions,  a plank broke under my weight and I went in the drain.  Another time, half of the plank broke and my left leg went in and I was dangling.  Anyhow,  I was lucky to have Terence and he taught me how to tackle the hanging bridges so I managed to get through all of them safely. 

When we finally reached CP5, it was about 8pm ish. As you know the sun sets in Sabah earlier,  it's already dark by 6pm.   Tony and Adeline were still there waiting for Terence to reach. CP5 is where you finish for 50km-ers.  And so this was the end of the journey for Terence.   Tony and Adeline was also in the 50km category.  This meant from here on,  I will be on my own.  Tony, Adeline and Terence advised me to stop.  Since it is really dark, it's dangerous and I will be alone. Plus the issue that I didn't bring my phone.  I couldn't call anyone if something happened.   I didn't bring the phone because I didn't have time to source for a cheap phone.  I didn't want to bring the BB as I did for Sundown Ultra and the phone couldn't start after the race.  I basically took a huge risk for being phoneless in Sabah Ultra.

After eating some rice and chicken, I changed socks and repacked my bag. Terence had wanted to give me his water reservoir,  as I discovered my Camelbak was leaking water at CP3.  I was actually carrying a useless Camelbak.  I decided not to switch water reservoirs.  Just rely on the bottled waters.  Took 3 bottles and off I went.  I wasn't exactly alone. I found Sunny and Serkawi was also trying to reach CP6, so we went off together.  At first I was faster,  but eventually I needed Sunny to help me climb the hill after those steps on the way to CP6.   It was really damn dark. I was using the free Energizer headlamp from the Energizer run.

When we finally found CP6, it turned out to be someone's house. From the back of his house, is where we used the steep narrow ridges which were pineapple plantations, to get to CP6A's loop, which turned out to be a really dense primary forest.  Rain had started pouring down.  As you can guess, it was really slippery and muddy and extremely dangerous. One wrong step and you will roll all the way down.  And I mean all the way down.

 Don't be deceived, I took this picture sitting down. On the left are rocks and the right are paddy fields. But these are ridges cut into the hills.  At any one time, only one can go. If you need to cross, I need to stop lean to the side and let you cross first. Or we'll both roll down.  When we finally cleared the steep narrow ridges,  it was time to descend with slippery muddy trails like this.

Again, my line of sight was probably only 5 meters visibility in front?  We were very very very slow. Very careful not to slip and roll down.  At one point, we were tired, so we stopped and sat for a minute. I took out Allan's Garmin and saw that we've been climbing like this?

On our way in,  many were already on their way out, and we were advised that the bamboo bridge and the other metal bridge were very slippery.  There were also 2 river crossings in and another 2 coming out.



I have no idea how I found the energy to keep hauling myself up, this picture doesn't do justice, but as steep a descend it was going down, it's also the same steep ascend going back up. I basically clawed my way out using the tree roots.

 It took forever in the dark but when we FINALLY found CP6A, it was about 3.5 hours later from the time we went in at CP6.  In total it took about SEVEN hours to get from CP6 to CP6A then back to CP6 which doubles as CP7 when you return.  SEVEN hours.  In the muddy slippery dark.  Just for one loop.  You tell me how?

When we reached CP7,  it was about 4am.  I had three hours to find CP8 if I wanted to make the 7am cut off.  There, Sunny and Serkawi stopped. It's also where I found Paul by accident.  I had no idea that he also withdrew. My heart sank. If even Paul withdrew, what chance do I have? But I was adamant on trying, as there's still another 3 hours.  Paul encouraged me to go for it.  So I did.

From then on, I was entirely alone.

It took me about an hour to get down from CP7 to the foothill where you will meet the sandy construction area.  Why? Because I took the steps down. I know Paul said to go straight and not the steps, but the map showed to go back where you came from.  So I stubbornly did not listen to Paul and took the steps down.   I knew that once I reach the foothill, I can start running again. I just needed to turn right because CP5 was on the left. Once I cleared the steps I tried to start running, but it was dark and I couldn't see properly.  After just about 10mins,  two cars came by, and it was them from CP7.  They've bundled into the car and they're going back to base.  They tried to persuade me to come into the car as well.  But I didn't want to.  I STILL wanted to try to make it to CP8.  I know they are worried about me, but seriously,  if I DNF-ed because I was incapable of reaching CP8 in time, then I would accept defeat.  But if you're asking me to DNF just because it is dark and I am alone? I cannot accept. I've lived my whole life in darkness and loneliness. I still want to try.

I was running about another hour in the dark and my headlamp was getting dim.  I prayed to God please let the sun come up earlier, please.  Please let me clear CP8, please please please.   Eventually the sun came up.  I could see better now.  So I ran faster.  CP7 to CP8 was probably the ONLY time I really ran my heart out. I had to force myself to run as by now I was wearing a normal watch. I didn't know my pace or how many kilometers more I needed to cover.  And then, I came across this landslide. It blocked the road. I was jammed for a moment.  I really didn't want to go all the way back to CP5 and ask for help.  And Aman Avtar will not care there was a landslide blocking your way.  If you looked left, it was the river and the current was strong. Then I saw footprints on the soil and realised others had climbed over it.  So I did that too.  This was another risky move, if the soil moved under my weight. I will be part of the landslide or into the river.  But I took it and got over the other side safely.

I ran straight all the way till the end and came across this thing.  It was after the hydro electric station thingy.

I knew I didn't come from here on saturday. And I didn't want to cross the river myself.  I backtracked and finally saw what I missed.  The bridge.

Crossed the bridge.  And then I forgot if I'm supposed to turn left or right.  I turned left at first. Ran up the incline.  Didn't see any orange markers.  Ran down back to the bridge.  Still didn't recognise the path.  Ran back up the incline again.  THEN I saw the gate.  Recognised the gate, went through the gate,  followed the orange markers that went through the field. AND THEN I SAW PEOPLE wearing the white TMBT shirt and I started shouting "Are you CP8?!! Are you CP8?!!!!!!"  They started clapping and I rannnnnnnnn!!! I was SO HAPPY I reached it in time!!! My watch showed 6:46am. I managed to scrape through the 7am cut off.

I counted there were 8 people chilling at CP8. I was the LAST ONE to check in and meet the cut off.  I quickly took some more water and ran off.  I had a shot at finishing!!! I had a shot of not being last!!! YES YES YES!!! Let's go!!!  What I failed to realise,  is that those 8 people had the chance to rest. I think they also had the chance to sleep.  I didn't. I've been on the go since 7am on saturday and it's now 24 hours later.   I only managed to stay ahead until CP9.

 
One by one, they caught up to me after CP9.  And in the end I became third last.  Oh well.

Apart from the reason that the minimus was hurting alot on the gravel, was also the back of the shoe that was pressing against my heel.  That middle part of the heel of the shoe there,  the texture is really hard.

I think it's a default in the shoe, because the left shoe doesn't press the heel of my left foot.  Only this right shoe does.  It hurt so badly by this time, for a while I was walking with this.

After a few kilometers,  a kind samaritan named Albert who is part of the SAC team stopped and lent me his sandals.

It was kinda oversized but if not for Albert, I wouldn't even last until CP10.   The road to CP10 was really mental. Simply because it was a never ending road of gravel, ascending then descending, ascending descending. And ascending then descending and ascending then descending and over and over and over again. I had another 20km to go.

But along the way, I was rewarded with a view like this.  I'm glad that I went through this route during the day. If I was so fast, and did it at night, I'd be missing this view.  This was simply an amazing view of the mountains.  My photo doesn't do justice since I didn't know how the heck to paste a panoramic picture together.

When I finally reached CP10,  I had taken about 3.5 hours from CP9.  By then I felt so dejected. I was in high spirits when I cleared CP8 and CP9, thinking I'd be done by afternoon. But I was so wrong.

I left CP10 after the medics there attended to my feet.  By then it was 2pm. I was greeted with another hanging bridge.

 And a steep incline.

I only had 5 hours left to walk the remaining rolling 12km hills from CP10 to the finishing line. You would think that is more than enough time.  But by this hour,  I could only do about 3-4kilometers per hour.  It was another never ending gravel.  Like the others, I was also looking for the finishing banner at any turning off the road.  But that fnishing banner never materialised.  Instead,  the ending was.... go into the jungle trail again.

Came out to ANOTHER hanging bridge.

By this time, I think there's been about 9 hanging bridges and obviously my phobia for them have diminished and I no longer fear heights with all the climbing I had to do.

After the last hanging bridge, I went into another trail which eventually led me to this school/clinic/hall and the FINAL ending was actually behind it, with a riverside for you to clean up.

I was very very very fortunate that I had Steph and John waiting for me to come out.  They had been waiting there since afternoon! Not knowing what time I will make it out. I didn't know that they would be there either.  And the whole time I was fighting through the night and the morning and the hot afternoon for a shot at finishing,  I was convinced nobody would realise that I'm still out there.  Later I learned, not only Steph and John waited for me at this finishing,  but back at the hotel, there were still good friends who checked every hour with each check point to find out where I am and whether I had returned or not.  Thank you all so much for that.

What are the most valuable lessons I have learnt from this race? It's not a race to help you achieve your dreams. It's not a race for first timers. It's not a race for you to mess around with, without training and expect to blaze through.  This race will either make you or break you. What it did for me? It really really really really really really really really forced me to be patient.  I finished with an official timing of 34 hours 41 mins.  I sincerely don't know how I could stand being out there for so long, just for a shot at finishing.  You need to remember, the longer you are out there, the more you suffer.  So if you're thinking of joining next year with the same game plan as me,  just walking it through,  I'd strongly advise you to think again.  This race is ABSOLUTELY mental. It is a mind game from the start to the finish.

All those times when I almost slipped and fell from the steep narrow ridges, seriously I was asking for trouble. I had no phone with me, I couldn't call for help. If you fall and you're alone, you can shout till the cows come home, but no one can hear you.  If you don't have a good sense of direction, you will get lost and it will cost you time. And three days later, I still have oedema.  Blood is not flowing normally up from my feet. They are still swollen.  The price you have to pay for 100k of banjaran crocker.

On a brighter side, this race has also changed me.  I am known to come back from races, shouting and cursing.  But when I came back for this one,  I was just so relieved it was finally over. I didn't even run to the finishing line to "finish strong". I didn't strangle Aman as I originally planned. Instead,  I smiled for Steph's video. I just walked to the finish line. Got my finisher medal. And I managed to have a calm conversation with Aman and say positive things.


This is my second 100km race this year. And my fourth ultra distance this year.  How do I feel? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I still feel empty.

Nevertheless, congrats to each and everyone of us who signed up for this adventure. Regardless of whether you finished or didn't finish, we still had the chance to run through banjaran crocker which under normal circumstances, we wouldn't be coming through here at all.  We experienced what the village folks use on a daily basis. We saw things we would never see back in KL.


Till the next one.........