The Most Beautiful Thing 2012 Day 4

I had not seen a single red flag or tape for some time now. As I did not see any junctions, I thought maybe they placed it further ahead. I continued going upslope until I came to this big T junction. It was the main road. I searched for the flags or taps on both sides but could not find any. At them moment I realised I am lost.

Nothing much I could do except to back track. Halfway back, I met Ford and another runner who were making the same way up. They asked if I had lost my way. I explained to them I had gone to a T junction and could not find any flags or tapes. They suggested to go back to the junction to take a look. I chose to follow them, thinking MAYBE we were on the correct path afterall. *cross fingers*

When we reached the junction, we searched around again but we still could not find anything. Fortunately for us, one of the 4W land rovers of the organisers drove passed at this moment and told us we had missed the right turn. So we had to make our way back down. The three of us backtracked down and managed to find the turn that we had missed. The red flags placed there were simply not placed obvious enough. By going up and down the slope trying to find my way, I guessed I had done around extra 5km.

The three of us sticked together and continued running and walking. Its lesser than 10km to go. We were near the finish line! Guess what, we got lost again! This time we hit the main road again and we even landed right in front of Strawberry hotel! One of the runners phoned the organisers and they told us we had missed the right turn (a right turn again) and so we backtracked along the path where we came from. Luckily this time it was not far off and we were quickly back on track again. The red flags and tapes were again not placed obvious enough for the runners to locate them.

W12 (around 95km) was somewhere beyond the right turn. End point was near!

Leaving W12, we had to go pass some farmland again. It was going downslope and it was quite steep. We came to the main road and turned right and headed towards the town where the finish line was. We had to take another right turn out of the main road and continue the remaining 2km back to the finish line.

I finished the race in 20:22. My first overseas 100km. :)

Photo from Rabani Ayub (Facebook)

I was so so so famished  and so tired when I finished the race. I quickly had some rice and went to sleep on the mats that were provided.

Amy returned shortly after I woke up. The two of us took the same transport back to Mega D'Aru at around 9am. When the van drove out, we saw Trish turning into the finish line. I slept throughout the journey. Totally knocked out from the run.

When I reached the hotel, I took a  much needed good shower and went out for some more food. I was so hungry!











After the food, it was time for some more sleep.

Zzzzz ..


All of us who went together managed to complete the run. Amy even won #3 for the women's category. Jeri got #2. Congrats to all!!

This was dinner for the night. A very nice bak kut teh in town area beside the Oldtown Coffee.

This was just round 1. We had a second round of the same bak kut teh. Followed by dessert. Hahaha .. :)

Lessons learnt from the race:

1) Using 2 headlights together at night was really useful. The headlight I wore on the head was switched to long beam aiming further ahead to illuminate where I was running. The second headlight, I tied it to the strap of my hydration bag, was switched to wide beam pointing to the ground in front of me. In this way, I could have a clear view of where I was running and where I was going to step on. Sure beats just using a single headlight.

2) In such long distance races, we were bound to run together with some other people for some stretch of distance, when our pace just "matches" each other. There were some whom I had ran with in the race but I did not know their names (like the guy from Sabah who ran 3 - 4 km with me from 50km onwards). Next time I should try to ask for their names and where they were from.

3) Shit happens. When Jeri heard I got lost twice, she said if I had not got lost, I would have gotten a faster timing. Then she added on: "Oh, but this is trail running." I knew I could have gotten a faster timing but I was not upset about it. I just felt relieved to be able to find the way back into the race route. Remember, things could have turned out much worse!

4) Stopping in the tracks to admire the things around me. It is really worthwhile, and do not think too much about the time spent doing so.

5) Respect nature. Need I elaborate more?? :)