Bunga liar di tepi jalan Bukit Jementah, Segamat, Malaysia

Ageratum conyzoides

Crassocephalum crepidioides

Emilia sonchifolia

Cyanthillium cinereum 

Tetracera indica

Melastoma malabathricum

Asystasia gangetica  

Celebration of life: Four Lakes Trail Ultramarathon, May 24, 2014.

I stepped out of AirAsia Zest cabin. This was my first trip to Philippines, so I eagerly surveyed the Manila blue sky at the door step and took a deep breath. With this first puff of Philippines blessed air, I hoped it would propel me to the finish line of Four Lake Ultra.

At the airport exit door someone tapped my shoulder and asked me, "Are you going to Kayapa?" With this curious question I made another runner friend, Rory. Together we shared taxi to Pasay bus terminal and express bus to Baguio. Between Baguio and Kayapa I squeezed between runner friends in budget hotel room and cramped inside swirling speedy van on a roller coaster road.

When the van snaked through a dense pine forest, I worked my nose hard to detect that natural pine scent so eagerly touted by Race Director, but I guessed my urban smoked nose had failed me.

The process of checking into homestay, bib collection, listening to pre-race briefing, carbo loading,and early sleep all went smoothly according to script.

Before the flag-off at 4am, Jonel the RD stirred up a minor excitement among the runners when he moved around to wish good luck. We giggled and competed to pat his shoulder, hoping to rub off some gold dust from this Legend Of Ultra.

As we warmed up the uphill trail in the first 10km, the moving headlamps formed a terrestrial constellation that mirrored the Pegasus on the Southwestern sky. Soon the distant barking of Kayapa dogs faded behind and we were on our way to Mt Ugo.

It was a great pleasure to run among the majestic pine trees at foot hill of Mt Ugo, but once on the steep mountain slope, I huffed and puffed to the greeting from Mt Ugo, "Welcome to Philippines, my son."

I made a mistake of rushing up Mt Ugo and strained my knees. On the descent I was a changed man, limping and groaning on every step. Eventually I was banished far behind, left alone to enjoy the solitude of Old Spanish Trail, that even the conversation between my Brooks Cascadia and the trail pebbles would prove too loud. I stopped awhile to listen to the silence. Then I started to realize there was a hidden waterfall in the deep valley that whispered serenades to the surrounding pine trees since time immemorial.

Kayapa East Market aid station served me Halo Halo (ais batu campur) at 20 peso, payable to the stall owner, and it cooled down my overheated engine after struggling to meet the 9 hours cut off time.

A high, long and dizzying hanging bridge was waiting at the hell gate of the dreaded slope to Amelong Labeng. I literally inched my steps up, to avoid further aggravating my knee pain. It was a three hours of meditation and prayer to get to the telecom tower.

The run to Castillo village junction was smooth sailing. Aimless cows stared at me in the middle of trail. Lonely woman vegetables farmer moved slowly at farm. The world seemed to stand still here.  By the time I reached the dried up Buaca Lake, dusk had shown its color by turning the loitering white horse grey.

One runner and I trained our headlamps on the often-obscure path down the grass slope. Once we climbed up a pine forest, we heard whistle blowing and thought it came from Dayap aid station, but it was SOS from three lost runners. Checking my GPS I found we had strayed to the left according to preloaded gpx file. The grateful runners and I now had half an hour to sprint uphill to Dayap to meet the 16 hours cut off time. This urgency seized me and wings of angle had lifted my feet.

To my own bewilderment, I made it on the dot, not a minute more or less. I used up the last drop of childhood Dutch Lady milk that might still linger in me. This insane last-gasp exertion must have caused excessive break down of muscle, as I started to pass reddish urine (myoglobinuria).

In my heart there was a tussle between the steely desire to finish my first trail 100k, and the fear of kidney injury. After 10 minutes of deliberation with myself while heading to Banao -and lots of drinking water in one hour- another bout of reddish urine had convinced me to declare DNF. Finish 'at all cost' didn't find a customer in me, as I needed to bring back a viable body to my family.

Thank God my urine was back to normal after four to five pees in about six hours. DNF’s depression descended and shadowed me for the rest of my stay in Kayapa. I was only soothed and healed by the vibrant city life of Baguio and its stunning view of countryside.

The friendship and camaraderie I enjoyed with fellow Malaysian and Filipino runners were unbelievable.They just simply warmed my heart. The joy and satisfaction of the whole trip would serve as an excuse for me to return one day for the unfinished job.

view to die for at Mt Ugo
Boss for two minutes
I want a house like this
in the company of these two elite runners
conference of two nations- Malaysians and Filipinos
Malaysian contingent with RD Jonel

KL Tower International Night Towerthon Challenge 2012, 19May2012

Saturday, May 26, 2012

KL Tower International Night Towerthon Challenge 2012, 19May2012

Time: 2:55pm

Category: Men Junior Veteran

Tower height: 421 meter

Number of steps: 2058

Finishing time: 27:28.65

This is the first time I participate in this tower run race. I have always wanted to do this run in the past but did not take the courage to register for it, as my knees were weak and always gave me pain during previous mountain hiking trips.

However this year I feel I am ready to give it a try. The successful Gunung Tahan trip last year have given me confidence to tackle unknown climbing events. And I had completed two full marathons in November and December 2011. So the twin requisites of strength and endurance are there to give this event a go!

Two weeks prior to the big day I embarked on some self-prescribed training regime as follow: Squatting (S)20 times, stepping up dinning chair (SU) 15 time, cross leg half squat (CL) 5-10 times.

Date Morning Afternoon Night

             (S/SU/CL) (S/SU/CL) (S/SU/CL)

4/5/12- 20/15/10 20/0/10 0/10/5

5/5/12- 20/0/10 0/0/5 20/10/5

6/5/12- - >10 km long run -

7/5/12- 0/0/5 0/15/10 20/0/10

8/5/12- 20/15/10 20/15/10 20/15/5

9/5/12- 20/0/10 20/0/10 25/15/0

10/5/12- 0/15/0 20/0/10 0/0/0

11/5/12- 20/15/5 20/15/10 20/15/10

12/5/12- ->10km long run-

13/5/12 -rest-

14/5/12- 20/0/10 0/15/5 20/15/10

16/5/12- 20/15/15 20/0/10 20/0/10

17/5/12- 20/0/5 20/15/5 20/0/0

18/9/12- 0/0/10 0/0/0 0/0/0    

With this training regime, to which I did not adhered strictly as shown by the record, I was able to finish the the whole race in 27:28.65 minutes.

The race involves a short 1~2km run before reaching the tower entrance to the staircase. I jogged slowly on this stretch so as not to exert myself too much. When I reached the staircase and started to climb, I was feeling comfortable, so I ran up the steps, one step a time, and counting the steps. 

 

By 800 steps I was already panting, the pace slowed down, was no more running but walking. By this time exhaustion was taking over the ability to count steps. I was more interested in completing the remaining 1200 steps than keeping track the progress. I passed by 3 or 4 water stations, did not finish the drink in one gulp but slowly seeped it, occasionally toasted the cup to a poster on the wall and shouted "cheers" to the actor.

The race was quite strenuous so much so that I really shrieked for joy when I crossed the finishing line and excitedly high-fived those volunteers. The finishing medal was wrapped around my neck by one sweet lady, and I wore it for the next one hour loitering around the tower, sampling free Milo, 100Plus and other drinks, as well as enjoying a live rock band which blasted away any audible conversation and could possibly woke up any dead from ground.

Veteran? I felt funny to be grouped as this, look at my face people might think I try to fake my age to gain advantage to compete with the elders, but deceive yourself don't- the champion in this category finished in 13 minutes!!

Thumbed up before the race. The dry and clean body would soon be drenched thoroughly with sweats.

Mr Oliver Ker, the evergreen runner, at 70 years old, was preparing to dash up the tower after jogging 1km up the slope. 

Gunung Ledang, Johor. 11Apr2012

This is the second hike to Gunung Ledang in recent years. In 2009 when I first hiked this mountain of 1276 meter, I had excruciating pain at knees during descent that lasted 8 hours. This time round I only use 3 hours to reach the foot hill. My wife Subang has much stronger knees, being ahead of me during the whole hike, even though this is her first trip to tough mountain. As you can see from the pictures, there are different obstacles along the way:

Lots of ropes and ladders up the numerous steep slopes.

The dreaded rock face, need reasonably strong arms to hold on the ropes and stepped up the granite. Those with fear of height often freeze and stop half way, giving headache to mountain guides who patiently encourage them to soldier on.

 

Bonsai garden at about 1100 meter.

 

The final climb, 5 minutes to the top.

 

The first ascent for my wife, the third for me.

An- son of the part-time mountain guide Mr Tan Jui Yong- the future pro mountaineer, can trek very fast, and was among the first to arrive at peak.

Gunung Pass, Gunung Yellow. Cameron Highland, 8Apr2012

Energizer Night Race 2012, Sepang F1 circuit.

First time I participate in this race. Distance: 15.5km. There was no half marathon category, other than the full marathon and 5km fun run. I finished in 1:57 hour, whereas my youngest brother Teck Chin did it in 1:30 hour. Met new friend, Ting Sing Moh, and old friends Kee Teik Jin and Selva (first and last met in Penang Bridge marathon last year), and Oliver- the evergreen runner. 

It was exciting to run on the F1 race track. In the heart one might want to shriek like a race car eeeeeeeeeeewooo. The night was humid and sweat easily. There were many water stations, about every 20 minutes run. The track outside the circuit was not brightly lit, so we had to turn on the head lamp which was given as a gift. After finishing the run, the finisher medal, t shirt, food pack etc. were given out in orderly manner. All in all this was a well organised race.

Drove home after the race at 11pm, reached home (only 170km away) at 5am next day, why? because I slept at highway rest station twice!

Jementah Hill, 140 meter, route for hiking exercise

This is a very popular place for locals to have morning or evening walk. The gentle slopes with few stretches of steep ones are suitable to children and old folks alike. There is one stretch of very steep slope that I treat it as 'hill run' in marathon preparation. For a beginner who never exercised this may pose a challenge, and can be expected to reach the first resting hut with no problem with slow pace.

The routes pass through rubber plantation and durian orchard. I had once bought a durian for RM5 during a fruiting season while doing morning walk. Certain part of the hill is secondary forest and here I spotted a bright red minivet, dollar bird and other wild birds.

Needless to say the air is very fresh, except occasionally stained with exhaust fume from the rubber tappers' motorbikes which ramped up the steep slopes. The laterite treks are well used by vehicles and are hard and firm even after a heavy downpour. Many mountain bikers are seen to come here to test their skills.

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2533426

Gunung Liang East & West, 3Mar2012, Day trip (12 hours), 1933 meter

Another KL Hiking Meetup event organized by Alex and Ray Lee

After a grueling six hours, I finally reached Gunung Liang West summit. This peak is lower than Liang East, which is another 15 minutes further away.

Trail head- After parking our cars and walked a short distance we reached the gate of water treatment intake point. The sign read 'No trespassing' but there was no guard here. We had to skirt around this gate and its perimeter fence by climbing a short and steep slope on the left (a hiker was seen on that part).

Kem Lubok Hantu- This campsite is quite big to accommodate many tents.

Next to the Kem Lubok Hantu was the ferocious river crossing where many of us were scrambling over the rocks to avoid getting the boots wet. Some did not succeed and fell to the stream of fierce current and swept down to the swallow pool below- much to our amusement after an initial panic for fear of drowning.

Kem 7E (Seven Eleven) at 1200 meter, five tents could be pitched here. Normally hikers will stay overnight here- not many are as crazy as we are to do Liang in a single day although it is doable. See here is Tee Kong Tiong and Vincent.

Summit of Gunung Liang East, 1933 meter, at 1:30pm, with Ray Lee, who hikes mountains like Siao Fei Xia (Peter Pan).

With Chun and Ez Paul. Notice the fairy tale-like mossy forest at the summit. I took lunch (some nameless bun and Kitkat bar) here at 1:30pm, rest for a while and follow the rest to descend at 2pm (turn around time).

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2588789