Of gifts and MAEPS-MARDI Trail Run

I received early gifts for my birthday - one is something that I have been eyeing on for a while. Didn't really see that coming actually so I was surprised and happy. But one thing you should know about me is I value presence more than present. Dapat hadiah happy but would be happier with the presence so nak dua-dua ke ish  kah kah tamak kau ni. 

X

Oh well..

Ran for my second trail run in MARDI yesterday. Another demotivating run next to Penang Bridge last year. The route was definitely a tough one. 12km of going up and down the hilly trails. After a month of fasting with no workout at all, that was definitely a big shock to my muscles and fats -__-" Sepanjang lari tu I had Meghan's and Charlie's Marvin Gaye played in my mind for some unknown reasons. Sambil siksa-siksa naik bukit tu kepalaotak menyanyi lagu tu aneh sekali perasaannya..

Oh  morning of the run I set my alarm clock wrongly to PM instead of AM and only woke up when Z called. Kul 6.08am dia call terus bangun lompat mandi solat siap-siap. I couldnt really sleep the night before sebab tengah sedih lols.. Thank God the stomach worked well with me and I settled my number 2 before the run. Kalau tetengah lari tu sakit perut konfem memang give up je terus. Sped up to Serdang and only took me 20mins luckily the flag off was delayed for 20 mins!

I gathered some facts from my Garmin and Nike+ Running. I always run with these two with me just to compare the data. 

The maps. The elevations and the distance. 

This is from my Nike+ Running. Recorded a max elavation of 306m while Garmin recorded a max elevation of 319m. Took me around 2hours 30 minutes to finish the run. Stuck at the bottleneck area in between km 2 and km 3 for around 20minutes and took my own sweet time to climb up certain hills because I just don't have the energy to run anymore..

This elevation chart given by the organizer. Tengok naik turun dia pun dah menyumpah sebab seriously the trail really test your endurance and the ability to push yourself while avoiding cramps and excessive fatigue.

My heart rate monitor unhooked at the beginning of the run so that explains the red bar. Couldn't be bothered to hook it back I just took it off sebab takkan nak selak baju depan ramai-ramai orang tu pulak. Maka lupakanlah. Tapi comparing to data from my previous trail run which has the same distance and time ran I think I burnt around 1400-1500 kcal from this run. Or maybe lebih sebab heart rate increases more when I climb uphill therefore burning more calories? 

The one and only bottleneck area of the run is at km 2 - km 3 where we have to cross a small bridge (a titi actually). Can you imagine having more than 300 runners stuck at one area sebab the bridge can only be passed by one person at a time. Those who ran first and avoided the big group memang tak de la stuck tapi average runners like me would have to wait in the queue. Dahlah titi tu in between a slope down the hill and lepas cross kena naik bukit pulak. Maintaining your stability at the slope itself is enough to  put pressure on you knees. Menggeletar lutut 20 minit menahan nasib ada abang lembut lended his shoulder to lean on :')  

The view from the hill was quite nice. Tapi sebab penat and slightly demotivated I didn't take a lot of pictures. Except this one because I think the background was pretty stunning but the cameraman didn't quite capture the moment.,,

I was very disappointed with the organizer because they didn't provide isotonic drinks and only provided RO Seamaster water. I don't drink drinking water and don't really enjoy the taste of Seamaster. Luckily I brought my own 100plus and mineral water and thought to bring them just in case I need more water. Turned out I had to rely on the water that I brought myself. Rehydrated myself as necessary as possible because I always get cramps on my run lately. Alhamdulillah, I survived the run without cramps thanks to the 100plus I think? This is the first time I brought 100plus with me sebab trail run lari bawak beg so boleh lah nak pack macam-macam. Normal run biasanya bawak arm band je mana muat nak masuk botol air segala..


All in all I think this is the first and last time for me tu run at MARDI's trail kot. Hulu Langat's was way much better and fun than this one.