Penang ECO 100 2017 - 50KM

Posted on May 15, 2017  •  6 minutes  • 1111 words

This was the hardest race I’ve ever join, also the longest hours race to me (until today). Here is the route:

After came back from Penang Triathlon , I rest for a while, and the training I’ve done only 3x 10km road & 1x 5.3km trail.

I should said I have not prepared (at all), that’s why I’m so worried.

The day before (12th night), I have a meeting until 11:30pm, and also not sleep well. The next day morning I drove back to Perak first, but then there was an accident that cause the traffic jam (around 2 hours stuck there).

Once I reached home already 3pm, then 8pm drove to the race site, quite tired actually.

I reached the race site

Race pack collection

I thought it was 50km, in fact it was 54.6km… (4.6km in trail is like 10km in road)

See the blue tape on my knee? The tape was quite useful when come to the trail run. I bought it few months ago, and I actually forgotten how to tape it on my ankle, so I call the seller who is a physioteraphist, and he immediately send me the video while he was driving. LoL… Really thanks him very much

Everytime there is a briefing before the race

Must jot down the number in case need any help. Also there is a private taxi service, RM60/trip, but I only carry RM50 with me 😅 .

Start soon, but I already felt sleepy 😴 Still have to continue any how.

The 50KM start from CP5. From CP5 to CP6 about 9.8KM. The trail is quite tough, because is too dark, so no photo here.

The mud make the route slippery, up & down also not easy. Thus, when I reached CP7, already 2am

2 hours for 9.8KM, the cutoff is at 4am, means I’m 2 hours ahead. After take some drink & banana, then move on. The next CP is 10.1KM. Guess how long I take?

Probably from CP6 ~ CP7 is the toughest part in the race. A lot of up hill, also a lot of down hill, and steep. When I facing up hill, I kept resting, due to my heart beat very fast, and headache, and sleepy, and very tired…

Then I started to think, should I just slowly walk over to the next CP, and DNF? So I was planning to give up already, because really not feeling well that time.

After reached the road (I thought going to be road afterwards), I check the time, which already 3am, and I asked a runner beside me, he told me we have hiked around 1KM from CP6… 😱 That means 1KM took us 1 hour??? OMG!!

Want to call taxi? NO! There is middle of hill, shouldn’t have taxi to come up I guess. So… let’s continue to walk…

I also don’t know how many KM, then going down hill, and it’s road 🙃 I was so happy and walk down.

WOAH~~~ Finally, 5:50am already. It took me almost 4 hours for this 10.1KM

So I refill water, take some fruits, consume some Nutrilite supplement. Then I saw some runners sleep there (there is a basketball court), so I also slept for a moment (not really sleep also, just for my mind & eye to rest).

The moment when I woke up is already 6:30am, but I felt fresh and energized 💪 . So I started to run slowly, the 6.7KM along the way is road, so great!!

Have great scene along the way

Reached CP8 at 7:35am. The next CP is 7.9KM away, not too far, not too near also…

After CP8, going to trail again… I was scared, so just continue to walk, no more run here 😅

You can see is getting up hill here

My thigh is quite painful now. But the next CP only 3KM away. so sit for a moment and continue~

The 3KM trail… like this

Reached CP10 at 12:22pm, which took me about 1.5 hour.

In this CP, they provide main food like fried noodle and nasi lemak. I heard some of the runners said want to give up, actually still have time. But I think may be they are too tired. One of the runner even said this is harder than TMBT . Again, I consumed Nutrilite supplement here again 😎

Well, I’m pretty confident that I’m able to finish it now. Move on…

This is the hottest time now, I somehow felt dehydrated. Hike until halfway, I started not feeling well again. So I sit down and closed my eye, rest my mind, for about 5 minutes. Surprisingly, I felt refresh again. COOL~~

I think probably is my luck this time, the sky suddenly turn dark, is like going to rain soon. But until I reached CP11, still no rain. Really nice weather, awesome!!

I reached CP11 at 3:30pm, still 4.5 hours to reach the finishing line, about8.1KM. Pretty much time now. So I take my time, and rest here.

I started to walk at 3:45~3:50pm, again…

The path mostly like this, pretty easy to go. Of course, there are up & down hill as well.

YEAH 🙌 ✌️ 😎 finally I reached the finishing line… My watch showing the time 6:10pm! The feeling was really awesome!! First time ever I run (hike) such a long hours, compared the my previous record, was 10hr 40min. Really really a big breakthrough to myself.

And here is the official result

Summary

As I mentioned above, this was my first time every to run such a long hours, and I was not prepared well for it too. So I learned that, take a nap can actually recover some energy. Of course, with the help of Nutrilite supplement too.

Before the race start, I consumed 1 sachet protein & 1 sachet of BodyKey meal replacement, plus Double X, B, E, Q10 & Glucosamine. My body status was: 56.8kg, 13.2% body fat, BMI 17.5, 1.5% visceral fat.

During the race, CP6~CP7, CP9~CP10, CP10~CP11, CP11~finishing line, each path I consume 1 sachet Phytopowder orange, to reduce the chance of cramp. At CP7 & CP10, I consumed Double X 1-set, E & Glucosamine.

After the race, I consumed 2 sachets of protein, Double X, B, E, Q10 & Glucosamine, Cal Mag D. Then after a day, I checked my body with Karada scanner: 57.1kg, 9.7% body fat, 17.6 BMI, 1.0 visceral fat.

How great is this, after the race I still gain some weight 😎

I guess this would be my toughest race in 2017. Probably I won’t join again if without proper training.