“Have you thought about becoming kitesurfing instructor and
earn money by teaching? Kind of cool life right!” asked me Rune during our now
rare games of Magic. “Hmmm…actually I haven’t” I replied and focused on the
game. “You can run a kite school or a water sport centre” he added, but I was
barely listening. When I got home the next day, I started thinking about what
he said, then thinking a bit more and then I realized that it is an excellent
idea. Some kind of backup plan J
No surprise that in a week I booked a kitesurfing instructor course in
Thailand and was going on another two week holiday! Sponsored almost entirely
from the 2012 leave, but I was sure it was worth it.
“Hmm…maybe I can
search for some adventure races in the area too…once I’m going there” I though
and started googling. “Wow…100km ultra trail marathon in Borneo…that’s
close…never done anything like that…but fits the schedule nicely…so let’s do
it!!” I decided and arranged for a small detour!
The Most Beautiful Thing is Malaysia’s first 100k Ultra
Trail Marathon. I would prefer to do a real adventure race, but getting team
mates and all the logistics is a big hassle, so I chose this as an easy
solution. Did I say easy? I was never even close to running 100 kilometers in a
single go. I ran one classic marathon so far and completed 90 km hike in two
day during Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. I felt like that I would probably get
to the finish, but had no idea when and how! So on the beautiful Saturday morning, 5th of
November, I stood on the start line along with 80 other ultra marathoners. Mount
Kinabalu on the horizon, nice dirt track ahead…perfect day for some running J
5…4…3…2…1…GO!!! And I was off…
My strategy was to forget about the others, run to finish
and enjoy. And at the first kilometer it was exactly like that. I started with
easy pace 10 km/h. Around 10km it started to be a bit hillier so I was walking
up a lot and running down and flats. “Man…like that I will never get there…I
have to start running up the mild slopes also” I decided and started slowly
passing runners on uphill still keeping my pace. From the Coast to Coast race I
learned how easily you can lose time on check points and transitions, so I was
shortly stopping only at every second check point to refill water and was
eating power bar every 1.5 hour while on the move.
At around 30km I started to feel pain in my legs and felt
tired. Fortunately the terrain changed to nice narrow trails through grass
fields, forests and jungle using several hanging bridges to get across rivers,
so I forgot about the pain and was enjoying the run still keeping my pace. But
when I got out of jungle onto a wide gravel road along the river I was
finished. My legs were in big pain and I couldn’t run. It was on 39 km, so I
decided to rest and walk 2km to CP 4 and see what would happen next!
“Do you know how many guys are in front of me?” I couldn’t
resist and I asked the time keepers at CP4. “There is him” he pointed to a guy next
to me I caught on the steep uphill to the village, “Then him” showed another
guy just entering the CP, “And there is one more ahead. You are second!” he
added. “What???” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But this information together with a bit of rest I got during the last 2k somehow gave me the power to push
forward. And I started pushing hard.
There was nothing much flat to really run, but I at least kind of stumbling/jumping downhill and was walking quickly up. Now I think it was my strength,
because I was walking much faster up than many others. At CP 5 at 50km I had 5
minutes lead over my pursuers. I ran into the CP, signed up, grabbed a water
bottle and was off again. I didn’t know that there was food available. That’s probably
why I haven’t seen them ever again J
Further and higher I was getting and narrower and more
technical he trail was becoming, more strength, speed and fun I had!!
Surprisingly the 15km jungle section around CP6 and 7 was the best part of the
race. 20 centimeters wide trail cut into a steep grassy slope slowly winding up
the valley, muddy path full of roots through a jungle bottom or a downhill
slalom in a thick cover of trees and bushes wiped out all pains and refueled
me with fresh energy. I was running fast and enjoying it with full breaths.
Just wonderful feeling of complete freedom J
There was food on CP6 and CP7 (they were both the same
place), but I resisted a boiling stew or fresh pasta and only grabbed a couple
of bananas and ran away. “What?? Am I running the wrong way?” asked me a guy
going up to CP5 when I was heavily running back down to CP8, which was the same
place as CP4. “No no. You are right. 5km to your checkpoint. I’m already
running back!” I replied. “Aaaaha…OK…so you are first then?” he continued. “I’m
second. There is one guy in front” I shouted back over my shoulder. Just before
CP7, at CP6A, I knew that the leader was 15 minutes in front and because I didn’t
pass him yet, so he had to be still somewhere ahead.
“No no…I’m second” I told another girl going up. “Cannot be!
I’m sure you are the first one coming down I’ve seen” she replied surely. I
didn’t believe her much, but this information gave me an extra push to CP8
where I would find out the truth. What I didn’t know was that the leader was
sitting at CP7 having his stew when I rushed in, signed up, grabbed a banana
and was on the move again in less than one minute! So when on CP8 at 75km I was
told that I’m the first, the time for the final step came! 25km to the title!
Power bar, anticramp tablet and sack of
electrolyte I was saving for the finish came in and I was running down the
river to start the final uphill. I started walking up with a good spirit, but
when curve after curve were passing I was slowly losing my enthusiasm. After 45
minutes I was finally on the top and was stumbling down to CP9. I thought that
it was over. But when I saw the orange tapes pointing up another super steep
climb, I started to break down. Walking up, whole legs in pain, swearing
aloud…the climb was endless! After another 30 minutes I was KO. The climb
claimed me! I wanted to run the nice flat gravel road on the ridge top, but I
couldn’t. Eventually I made couple of quicker moves, but that was it. And when
the night came, descent became same steep as the climb and when the route
marking tapes spread to one every 300 meter bringing navigation uncertainty, I
was down! Shouting into the night, wobbling slowly down on loose stones wanting
to stop and rest in every abandoned hut along the way. I was desperate. But I
never stopped moving no matter how dire I felt. I kept going. These were one of
the longest 10km in my life. After the neverending 2 hours I made it to CP10 at
90km mark. I sat down, refilled water, had a coke, took a deep breath and set
off for the last 10.
The route became a bit flatter, so I managed to increase the
speed by running some portions. I smelled the finish, but was thinking more and
more about how far behind can the others be. I knew I was going slowly and I
knew that if somebody catches me now I wouldn’t be able to keep up. That was
what my brain was telling me. My body had a different opinion!
When I reached a village school I knew was very close to the
finish, I got stuck in the garden unable to find out where the trail went next.
“Ahh…it’s you!” I heard from the back. I turned around and responded
“Ahh…Anthony! You caught me at last”. What happened next was not my decision.
It was a decision of my body which acted independently to my mind! “The trail
goes to the left” one lady showed us a way and Anthony ran for it and I closely
followed. The trail led into the jungle again and just when we got in the trail
split. Anthony went right, but stopped because it was a dead end. I saw marking
on the left and took the turn and lead. Once nobody was blocking the narrow
trail I sprinted forward. And I was really sprinting. All pain vanished in
second, senses sharpened and I was leaping through a night forest only with my
tiny headlamp with all the speed I got. Roots, branches, boulders, streams or
hanging bridge…nothing slowed me down. It was a real suicide run. One wrong
step and all would have been lost!
After a kilometer the forest ended and I saw
torches marking the way around some houses. “Come on!! BE HERE!!” I shouted
still in full speed. And really…after another 500 meters I saw the arch. I
jumped though the finish line with fist high in the air. Unbelievable!!! Not
only that I made it to the finish, I won the race!!! Anthony took it easy and
finished 7 minutes behind. Other guys came one hour later, but at that time I
was almost on the way back to the hotel. 
I don’t know if 13:47:30 is a good time for trail ultra. It was definitely tough, but when I woke up the next day after 10 hour sleep, went downstairs for breakfast and just saw one guy coming back from the finish after nearly 30 hours out there, I had to think that he was tougher! He didn’t give up. And that it is all about. Keep going and don’t give up. It’s worth it to be in the finish and the feeling pays for everything. And if you are good (or lucky) the prize pays for something too J
