Semenyih Eco Trail
I have been missing trail run a lot. I had missed iNov8 due to maid on break and KoKK since it clashed with Back to School weekend. So I had no trail runs at all until Aug. So I went to join this totally on my own. Registered myself quite late as well. Having went to Semenyih the year before, I was quite confident that time. Only then did I realise that I had never went to a trail venue totally on my own. I would usually join someone. So the trip there was quite scary as well, since the location was quite remote, and it was in the wee morning, where a lot of mishaps can happen (drunk partygoers, wreckless driver so on so forth). Alhamdulillah I managed to reach the venue safely. I didn't start at the very beginning. And being on trail, if you don't start at the front pack, you'll have a high chance of getting stuck in human traffic. Luckily the traffic was not long and it was quite clear after that.
Everything was fine, I knew I was not at my fittest self so I just went with what my body allowed me to. Semenyih is known with its gravel section. When reaching the gravel section, I had some sharp pain on the foot. Quite painful to the point that I had to stop a few times. I was even thinking, if I had pushed myself more, some ligament down there might be torn. I was lucky that this only happened at the tail end of the race. Not long after that, we had to do some river crossing and it was such a big relief. The coolness from the river relieved my foot tremendously. I managed to run better if not that much properly after that.
No tags was given out to me after the race. But I bumped into some familiar face who suspected that I might be on top positions. I was very surprised for 2 reasons, for suddenly securing this for no reason and for having someone keeping track on me. The organiser refused to announce who was the top winners until the end.
Long story short, the race gives out prizes for top 10 winners. There were a lot of categories as well. And I was lucky enough to secure a number 3 position. See, this is one of the reason that I just thought that maybe my condition wasn't as bad. My training runs were definitely very awful, but the races was not awfully shabby. That's the reason that I got stucked in my bubble, thinking that maybe it was the training that was wrong, not my health condition. There were few famous faces as well there like huiyoong, who was superbly fast and secured 1st position. Bad thing from the race was, I was officially having plantar fascitis. I paid attention to the shoe type since then. All my shoes were of stability type.
I signed up for this with a totally different idea in mind. I really thought it was supposed to be an ultra trail. I was not done with my trail run euphoria yet, as of then. It was quote pricey. I don't know why I had the idea that Fraser's Hill is near Genting and I would be heading that way for my journey. So I guess, it shouldn't be any problem for me to make my way there. So I went ahead and register myself, all on my own. Luckily, mazzy was interested to register as well.
So when the race day came, I had to manage the hubs. He was quite furious with what I got myself into. I also didn't know what I got myself into. Mazzy decided to overnight there with her family. I thought of (1) going there on my own with my myvi (2) bringing the whole gang. Had a quick check on waze and the journey itself would take 2 hours. Distance wise it's even further than Melaka. And to make things worse, it's in the opposite direction than Genting. Had a quick check from day before the race up to the night whether there would be any room available for us to check in. We can then bring the whole gang to overnight. Little did I know that Fraser is not that commercial, in fact, quite remote and still under developed. All rooms were fully booked. Not just because a lot of runners decided to overnight. Also because, there were not that many accommodation to begin with. We didn't have much choice but to only started making our way there on the wee morning itself.
We had to take the Kuala Kubu Baru route. KKB route is fine through the highway, but it can get very secluded and dark once beyond Rawang. As if that's not enough, route towards Fraser is even more challenging. The road was very narrow. At times we were uncertain whether that was the correct path. We were lucky that there were not that many incoming traffic, since there was no way you can easily see what's coming up ahead.
The road led to wider road luckily. And I remember we were quite relieved when we started seeing some runners were already running on the road. Little did I know that the ultra runners had started their runs at midnight. At least we got the road right. And the runners were so cute, with their reflective vest on. Nothing could easily be seen from far, except for the reflection. And the reflection move along with their movement so they had a very cute swaying movement in the dark. I salute these runners. Some were totally on their own, in the dark. That must have been the faster ones. And they were actually faced with real dangers. With roads that narrow, and God knows how fast can the drivers be, they can easily got hit and no one would ever notice it. The only good thing was of course, it was so remote, that it would be next to impossible for someone, irresponsible to go around that area at such hour.
That aside, we finally made our way to the starting venue, the clock tower. We got there quite in time, to get our bib and get ready for the start. Met mazzy right before starting and we managed to run together for a while.
The starting was quite good. It went downhill. So of course it was good. I managed to overtake a few, which was of course a good mental boost. once it reached the bottom, it went no where but up. All the way up. The same way upwards that we took using the car just now. The car ride uphill was already hard enough. And you had to run it now. This was when I started to develop this mind counting, to help with running. if you're better conditioned, you may need to count up to 40 or more. if you are not, only 10 steps might be it, and you may need an equal amount of walks. At least it helps to keep you running, rather than walking throughout.
So I managed to finish at no. 6. Bad thing I missed top 5 by just a few.
NPE Highway Challenge
So this was when I realised that something was wrong with me, in the days leading to the race and the old Garmin had suddenly died on me. I had to send it for repair and bought a new one ASAP. So of course I opted for the Fenix. Due to its training guide and all.
The outcome of the race was not too bad, considering how bad the runs before had been. My easy paces hovered around 6'50. It was the point that I decided to take things slow and improve my base fitness. Which I thought was what I was lacking. But it was indeed a decent 2:10 timing.
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| Strava stats from the LSD afterwards, which was a proof of how bad the run then was |
Semenyih Eco Trail
Date: 6 Aug 2017
Venue: Semenyih Eco Resort
Distance: 15 km
Position: 3
Official Time:2:05:32
Personal Time: 2:05:34
Pace: 8:19
Fraser Ultra
Date: 19 Aug 2017
Venue: Clock Tower Fraser's Hill
Distance: 22 km
Position: 6
Official Time:2:40:22
Personal Time: 2:39:19
Pace: 7:31
NPE Highway Challenge
Date: 10 Sept 2017
Venue: Sunway Pyramid
Distance: 21 km
Position: 70
Official Time:2:17:50
Personal Time: 2:10:29
Pace: 6:11
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