TITI 50 - FELT LIKE A NEVERENDING JOURNEY... @..@

#PrayForMH370 

Hi there, welcome back to my humble dusty blog... Before that, my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and friends of the passengers and crew of MH370 who was still missing till now. Stay strong and never lose your faith ya..  I would like to share my not so recent anymore TITI 50 Race Report with you guys, ladies and gentlemen out there, especially to my fellow followers and silent readers.

Running the route is believing! 

Yeah, I know, some people might call me crazy or insane, jenis x sayang kaki for committing a "suicide" by registering this race, which was co-incidentally happened a week after TNF 100 Thailand. It was my maiden 50KM Road Race too. Who could resist the urge to sign up and run at the most lovely magnificent slopes along Batu 14 Hulu Langat towards Genting Peres, Jelebu? Although by looking at the elevation profile alone it really gave cold shivers down my spine but the I was confident enough I could make it within the 9 hours cut off time. I wanted to gauge my endurance and mental strength by running this 50km Road Race. I do had faith in myself.

Fast forward to the race day itself, I attended Abang Din's running clinic on the Saturday morning. It was my first ever running clinic after being running religiously for almost 3 years now. We ran around Titiwangsa Lake for about 3 km.  Mr. Rashid, Ms. Izwah and I learned a lot on how to do a proper stretching up and cooling down exercises. I need to practise doing all these more often since I barely do proper stretching before and cooling down after any run lately. Met Redz and Azlan too during the session.After that I went back and I had my hearty breakfast. I took a power nap after I had my simple lunch. I tried to avoid any spicy, too fatty or oily food as I did not want to run on an upset tummy. Glad I had that nap on the evening, or else I might be experiencing a sleepy Zombie mode during the run.

Reached Riverview Thai Seafood Restaurant circa 10.30 pm. Did not have any trouble finding this venue because I've saved the location once my 100km running buddies checked in on FB. Went to the loo for my No. 2 business first before I started applying the Vaseline all over the chaffing prone areas. After reporting to the organizer, I pinned my bib number which I took from Sis GAI. Thanks Sis for the trouble... =D

Group photo to ease the jitters. Thanks to RayZeef for coming and your continuous support ya! 

Ultra Gai and Eizam In The Making... =D

With a reknowned Tri Doc Shah... Congratulations on your Ultra finisher doc! 

After the simple briefing at 11.10 pm, the 50km runner were asked to go into the starting pen by 11.30 pm. Exactly by 12 midnight, we were being flagged/honked off. Earlier on, I agreed to run along Sis Gai for this race, to be her pacer/companion/bodyguard since it was quite unsafe for a lady to run up the slope alone in the dark. The first 3km was practically flat route. Once we hit the 4 KM, we started to run uphill. At first I thought it was merely a 1 km of uphill climb only. I was dead wrong. We decided to power walk ourselves on the neverending 4km incline and tried to run whenever we felt the road was slightly flat-ish. Our strategy worked like a charm and once we reached at the top, off we went downhill at our top speed. The breeze was cooling indeed. The 3km++ downhill part was pretty steep.

Pacing this strong Iron Lady GAI half way through.... It's an honour, Sis! =D

I was relieved to reach the CP 1 (9.9 KM) at the t-junction. It was like a fiesta with a buffet spread consisted of some sandwiches, watermelons, jelly beans, OREOs, biscuits, candies and isotonic drinks like Revive and 100Plus, Coke Cola and drinking water. The Girl Scout was very helpful by filling in my water bottle with cold water. After refilling my water bottle here and went to the loo for No. 1 biz, off we went to the next CP 2. After 11 km, I felt a muscle pull at the back of my right knee. Decided to slow down and exchange my left knee strap to my right knee then. It was the wisest decision to ease the pain at that moment. Running alone in the dark evenhough with my headlamp on was still creepy. After 5.5 km or so, I reached CP 2 for a refill and ate some slices of sweet cold oranges. Yumm! It jolted my senses to stay awake and energetic. Little did I know of what I would be expecting on the upcoming route.

The Crazy Elevation... Gulped! 

It was the second neverending uphill climb again. This time it was more undulating spiral way up. From there on, it was up, up, and away. Luckily the gradient increased gradually and it was still dark to see. Else I will definitely be more mental and tempted to power walk all the way up again. I tried to catch up with Sis Gai and her friend, Rizal as I could still saw them 200 - 300m in front of me. They kept me going even it was getting tough. It was getting so windy up there, I could hear the trees howling so loud even with my earphones on. Running towards a strong headwind was quite difficult and such an experience. Things got a wee bit spooky and I could not dare to look at the jungles on my right side. Touch wood... =D

In my zone... Noticed a car approaching but I wasn't prepared to strike a pose... LOL

Once I reached the top of the incline, it was so chilly and I started to make my way down. Tried not to blazing my way down as my ankles started to feel sore and painful. It was cold and I started to see water vapour from my mouth. Thank goodness I was wearing my semi gloves to keep my hands warm. I reached the undulating u-turn point aka CP 3 at 26.5 km after 4 hours 12 mins. I took a long break here, applied some hot cream on my sore throbbing ankles. The impact on them was unbearable, especially during the descent. After binging on those mouth watering watermelons, a bite of Oreo and banana, I started my way back home. Tried to keep up with Sis Gai but once again she just went blazing in her element all the way. Truly amazing!

Sis GAI and I at the U-turn CP 3... Very cold here in this hour... Brrrr! 

I tried to run whenever possible and walk whenever I could not run, especially when I tackled the incline. Bumped into Norzana on my way back. She did not looked in her best condition either. The biggest obstacle was for me to power walk the steep incline at Genting Peres. It was still pitch black. I tried to catch up with other runners in front of me as I did not want to run alone, feared of the wreckless group of mat rempits and speeding car along the route. Once I reached the borderline of Negeri Sembilan - Selangor, I took a breather and managed to snap some pictures. Thanks to a generous runner. I took his pictures too afterwards.

These two pictures were priceless... Running interstate border... Never thought I could do this before!

Running down the same winding road again was really challenging for me. I wanted to run faster to make up for the long break and due to the gravity but my ankles would protest. The impact from pounding the tarmac after 5 hours was unbearable. So I resorted to small stride and shuffled my way down. Met Doc Shah Shazharn on my way down too. The eerie jungle was still on my left side but the night view was spectacular. It was a full moon with stars shining bright on the night sky. Felt like I`m on a shooting location for Twilight Saga or something. Finally I reached CP 2/CP 4 after the long running downhill. Did not waste much time here as it was about to break the dawn anytime soon. After refueling my hand held bottle, off I go.

Lovely golden forest...

I looked so blackie in this shady picture with my tahan teksi pose... Credits to Mr Tey ET

CP 1/CP 5 was not that far though but I took my sweet time whenever I met with an incline. Such a wuss... Huhuu... Many 50km runners were spotted along the route by this time. Some were walking while others were shuffling. It's ok as long as we kept on going. After a short break at the last CP, I mustered all the strength left to tackle the last mental incline head on. It was the steepest 3 km climb I've ever experienced in my life. I just power walked all the way up. It was started to get brighter  by that time. I did not want to be roasted by the morning sun on this hilly stretch, I said. Once I reached the top, it was another 7km or so towards the finishing line. So I just let the gravity take over my downhill run despite being very careful not to run too fast. Maintained my pace and kept on going as it was almost 8 am by that time. The view of KLCC and KL Tower perched  from the back of the hills was astounding! Once I reached the 50 km mark at 8.20 am, I knew that I still had to cover another 2 - 3 km within the 40 minutes time. The last 3km was insane. I tried to resist from walking as I knew that we were almost there. The sun was so bright and I did not want to be roasted under the sun. My pace was around 8:20++ when I crossed the finishing line in 8 hours 50 minutes (8:15:10 moving time). I was overjoyed! Yayyy...

Finally... I survived! Credits to Mr Khairi Muin... =D

The catch of the day.... Totally priceless... 

Received my hard earned finisher tee, pink trophy and a hand towel once I reached the counter. Thank you Mr Yim Heng Fatt for your courtesy. I would never make the same silly tingtong mistake ever again. *piak2 myself for that. Did not have the appetite to eat my breakfast, but I managed to have some Thai Mango Salad with some fish and fried noodles. Took some pictures with other finishers as well before heading back home. Luckily I did not experience any bad chafing or cramps. Just lack of sleep and rest.

TotisThoners Trio, Me, Zana and Gebs... Congrats to Gebs on his maiden 100KM Ultra Run! 

Well done to the organizer of TITI 100/50 for a well organized race event. The food and drinks were aplenty. So many choices although I  did not eat the sandwiches, afraid I might had to pangsai along the eerie route. LOL! To all the selfless volunteers, scouts, boys and girls, Rela officer, policemen, medical person in charge, I would love to express my gratitude. However there were some safety issues when some of the runners did not wear the mandatory headlamp due to the not so strict gears inspection done by the scouts. It was dangerous to run in the night without any headlamp or reflective band/blinker. A big congratulation to all the strong finishers of TITI 100/50 ULTRA. U guys were awesome and truly amazing on that day. To those who DNF/ could not meet the cut off time, fret not, do train harder and smart so that we could come back stronger next year ya... Honestly it got me thinking to reconsider my decision to sign up for  84 km Penang Ultra. Must train a lot harder, mentally and physically too for such an Ultra distance. Will I be able to meet the 15 hours cut off time? Sigh...

Thumbs Up To Mr Jeff Ooi, Race Director and the Organizer for the toughest 53km Road Race! 

Till then, toodles!

#PrayforMH370

My Garmin Data HERE.