The North Face 100 Thailand 2013

For my first race of the year, I decided to kick it off with a slightly bigger bang than the usual road race and flew to Bangkok for the North Face 100 Thailand edition. Having heard from friends that the TNF Thailand was a fairly easy race, I decided to go for this. Of course, I wasn't up to the task of doing the 100km or even 50km and went for a safe 25km. But then the race site was moved to the more hilly PakChong district and my heart dropped a bit. 

This being my first oversea trail race and with a dismal record in the Singapore edition, I wasn't very optimistic on how I was going to fare. Will I withered in the heat of the Thailand sun? Will I get another sprain? Excuses excuses. Haha. But I was really not going for any PB or any glorious finish. What I wanted to do is to enjoy and savour the run.

So armed with my trusty hydration bag filled to to the brim with water, gel, first aid, phone and a camera, the sidekick and I found ourselves at the start line at 6 am on a cool dark morning. We then discovered that we were to put it mildly, very "overdressed". The Thai runners came without any extra - no hydration bag, no fuel belt and not even any hand carried bottles. It seems like only the foreigners were prepared to the nice while the locals apparently don't need any of these. What did they know that we didn't?

The 25km was flagged off 5 minutes later than the schedule 6 am to as the MC announced "for safety so that it will be brighter". Still we found ourselves running in the dark for at least the first half hour before it was bright enough for us to see clearly. And what a sight! We ran into the rising sun! It is moment like this that makes running so memorable!

But not too soon after that, the sun rise was forgotten as we set out legs to tackle the hills and there were many going up and up at least for the first 5km.

The trails were wide ranging from 1.5m to more than 2m wide and with not that many participants, it was fairly easy to run without any "human jam". The ground for the most part were soft trail with small loose rocks and laterites. While it may be difficult for grip, it didn't really pose any problems for those with a good pair of trail shoes. However, what we had to be mindful of was "minefields", not the type that can main or kill but something worse; cow dungs. And they were everywhere since there were plenty of farms around the areas.

For the most part, we were running right in the open and we were thankful that the sun did not come out at all. During the 3 hours we were out there, it was cloudy throughout and the temperature was around 20 to 23 degrees. With our slow pace and the great weather, it was photo shooting time as I snapped photo after photo of the every changing landscape.

The route wind through the base of the hills and the highest we climbed was all the way up to 550metres according to my GPS. Then it was a series of up and down but nothing that was really tough or not "runnable". In fact, I think at least for the 25km distance, it is easier than the Singapore edition.

This is the course elevation

This being the outskirts, there were relatively few villagers unlike in say Cambodia but nevertheless, what little support from the villagers and the kids were a sight for sore eyes.

We finally finished our sight seeing race in slightly over 3 hours. I dare say if not for the many stops to enjoy the view and take photos, we probably will have finished in under 3 hours. In any case, this was a PB since my last race of the same distance in Singapore was a miserable 3.30+ hours. 

While some may not agree, I think after completing this, that the Singapore edition is tougher. Firstly, the weather here is fantastic and I understand it is like this most time. Secondly, the trails are easier to run as opposed to the narrow and rocky trails in MacRitchie or Bukit Timah. While there are more uphill here, the gradient are not so steep and long to force one to have to walk up the slopes. Unfortunately, I heard they will be moving the race site again for next year otherwise I will highly recommend this race for beginners to trail races.

More photos can be found on my FB and Runningshots.

Ultra & Trail Running

Trail running has been getting popular in Singapore. Not too long ago, there was only 1 trail race in Singapore and that was the MR 25 end of year MacRitchie Ultra Trail race. Then along came the Salomon Trail run and North Face 100 Challenge and the scene exploded. From 1 in 2007, there was at least 5 trail races in 2012 and now in 2013, the first competitive running event of the year is a, yes, you got it, trail race - the Green Corridor Run!

Not to lose out, ultra running has also been getting popular. Again, apart from the MR 25 Ultra marathon there was no other ultra race in Singapore until the people from Hi-Velocity came up with the Sundown Ultra Marathon. Then in 2011, Running Guild came into the ultra scene and last year, they organised 2 Ultra races of which one was a whopping 168km round the island run! This year, despite the small size of Singapore, there will be more ultra races starting with the Twilight Ultra and culminating in the monstrous 200km ultra!

The scene in Facebook has parallel the running scene with 2 new Facebook pages started within short time of each other promoting trail and ultra running respectively. There is also another group that is organising a series of "Fat Ass" runs, ie a series of ultra runs modelled after those in the US!

And all these when Singapore has not much trail and not much land to run on!

To overcome these problems, Singapore runners are happily packing up and flying overseas to complete in Ultra trail racing. Take the recently concluded Hong Kong Vibram 100. Of the total 1213 participants from 39 countries, tiny Singapore has the 3rd highest number of participants at 111, a solid 9% of the total numbers. I dare say it will be the same at the next Hong Kong Lantau race, the Thailand North Face 100 Challenge and other nearby trail or ultra races.

For those who have yet to take up trail running, give it a try. It is more therapeutic than road running,  with the nature, the green and the fresh air. 

For those who are want to earn the honour of being an Ultra-marathoner, the wait is not too far off. The first ultra race of the year is just 2 months away in March! It will be a doable event as it is held in the relatively cooler night time and runners just need to complete a minimum of 5 rounds of 10km at the East Coast Park within 16 hours to earn the honor.

For those going to the Thailand North Face 100 Challenge, seeya there!

Weighty Matters

A lot of my friends are forever hoping to lose weight. Frankly quite a number of them are already quite slim and almost to the point of being skinny but somehow they still think they are too fat. Maybe that is a sight of anorexic?

For instance, there is this guy that I run with quite often. At one point in time just a few months ago, his stomach was "protruding". One day, he declared that he was going to lose weight and that his stomach will be smaller than mine. Of course that was fairly easy to achieve since he didn't know that cause beneath my loose tee, there is a flabby stomach. Within a few short months, his stomach was gone, his weight was down so much and he looks awfully skinny and sickly. On the plus side, he went from being a fast to a super fast runner coming in podium in a few of the recent races.

Pic from DumBell Fitness.blogspot.com

Then there is this young lady. She is already stick skin but she still proclaim every now and then that she is fat. Truthfully, she do have some muffin side but I guess that is the case with most people and something that cannot be avoided.

Me, on the other hand, have been trying to balance my weight for quite some time. Somehow I feel I am too skinny and need to put on some weight especially on the face but I am mindful that I cannot put on too much especially since I now have a thyroid condition which will automatically cause me to put on weight if I don't watch it. I won't mind putting some more flesh on my quite sunken cheek but I don't think there is any magical tool that can direct the fats there instead of the waistline. Actually if I follow the local BMI standard, than I am slightly overweight which is quite weird since most people wouldn't really think of me as being overweight although there was a point in my life when I was actually overweight.

Anyway, the reason I musing over this weighty matters is that it is now the Chinese New Year period and I will be gorging myself silly on pineapple tarts and more pineapple tarts and hopefully bak kwa as well as much dining here and in Bangkok and I need to really balance the calories intake but its going to be a tough battle and one which I don't think I will win. 

So I going to prepare for more runs from February onwards. There will be long runs in the trails and on the road, short runs around the neighbourhood and in town and long night runs. Its a tough life!

Plus Size Advantage?

Was at the Megatri this morning. This is a triathlon event. Nope wasn't there to compete just to kapo around. 

As I walked around, one thing struck me. There were a fair number of "plus-size" participants. Maybe that why this event is called the Megatri and not Singapore Tri or Changi Tri. Sorry couldn't resist that.

But I am seriously impressed by these people. Despite their girth and weight, they are able to do this swim, bike and run event. I like to think that the extra layer of fat help them in buoyancy and the swim leg but it must be a heavier load for them to carry during the bike and even more so, the swim leg. But somehow they did it! Bravo!

For more photos of the mega, check out Running Shots