Sunday, July 23, 2017

Cameron Ultra 2017 - DNF

Cameron Ultra trail. My first attempt running 100km. DNF at CP6 at km61 at 7.00pm

Regret? No.
Sedih? Yes.

I trained so hard for this race. So hard.

Being a fulltime working mom of three with no maid. Breastfeeding mother to my 1yr 8 mths toddler. Finding time to train for marathon (in this case, ultra trail marathon) is not easy. So its really sedih to not being able to complete the race yesterday.

The race started at 4.45am. Everthing was ok at the beginning.

I reached CP 2 - Sg Pauh campsite at 6.30am. From there, I managed to reached gunung Berembun peak in 54 minutes only. Faster by 5 minutes from last year record.

Reached CP 3 - Robinson at 8.20am.
Then CP 4 - Boh Guardhse at 9.22am.
And CP 5 - Boh Cafe at 10.49am

I felt pretty good. If my calculation was right, I will finish the race in 22 hours as planned.

Route to CP 6 was quite a challenge. The longest CP in cultra route - distance 13km. Kena make sure ration air cukup.

My mistake was, lupa nak amik kira faktor cuaca. It was scorching hot whole afternoon. No wind or cool breeze at all. I didnt expect this kind of wheather in Cameron. Like, hello, Cameron kot. Suppose to be sejuk ok. Thats the main reason I choose to run my 1st 100k here. So, I wont suffer the heat 😭😭😭😭

Arrived CP 6 at 1.00pm. Its was crazy. Lost lotsa time here. It was so hot. Takda port teduh pun. Tea farm. Semua pokok rendah. I saw 3 guys ran with umbrella. Yes it was that hot. I also noticed a few runners decided to quit here.

Refilled my water bag here and quickly proceed to CP 7. Saw so many 55km runners here. Some of them already made a u-turn.

Reached CP 7 -  Green Quarters at 2pm. At this point, I walk/ran 5km per hour. From a far, I saw few runners ahead of me started climb up the  steep hill. They was so far and looked like a tiny dots moving uphill.

Saw few guys already made a u-turn for 100km. Waved to say hi to them. Nobody wave or smile back. Everybody looked tired. Most all of them used walking stick with both hands. For a while, I regret for not bringing the foldable Black Diamond sticks that Mamoru bought for me from Nepal.

Brace myself, fought the heat and proceed to my last checkpoint. I was all alone. I saw only a couple of runners very far behind me. I thought, I must be among the last runner to reach CP 8. Begin to lost hope, here. It was only 5km to reach CP 8. But the heat really weakened me.

Arrived CP 8 - Kg Pangen at 3pm. Took me 11 hours to reached here from starting point.

I saw lots of familiar faces here. Ryna, Neves, Murk, Hata. Suprised knowing that Im among the earliest group of women reaching CP8. Then I told myself, not so bad, isnt it. I still got more than enough time to complete the race.

Called Mamoru. Updated about my race and location. Told him I feel like I want to quit. He disagreed and tried to motivated me. He told me to think about all the hard work training Ive done for this race. He even asked my kids to shout "Mommy kena kuat".

I spent almost 2 hours here. Rest and fueled myself. At 4.30pm, I continued walk/run to CP 7 back. Felt strong. Reached CP 7 at 5.30pm.

The weather has changed. From scorching hot to cold windy and drizzly. I heard thunder. No more clear blue sky. All dark clouds now.

Arrived CP 6 at 7.00pm. Already dark. One of the cultra crew shouted, "Adlyana, ok tak?". I said "Tak ok", then I laughed. He warned me not to walk alone. He said CP 2 - Sg Pauh rained heavily. The heavy rain might hit the tea farm anytime now.

The other cultra's crew said, one of the runner got hyperthermia. That scared me. Hyperthermia. Rasa macam, better cuaca panas dari hujan lebat kat Cameron.

I was not ready for this kind of wheather. Kalau hujan lebat masa naik gunung Berembun, tak apa coz the trees will blocked the strong wind. I might get wet but not that cold. Kalau kat ladang teh, hujan dan angin gunung plus kilat petir tetengah ladang teh? And alone?

Decided to call it off at CP6 (61km).

Contemplating at first. But learning from experience, I know my body couldnt tolerate the cold. Tempreture dropped so fast to 14°c. Badan dah gigil. It'll be a lot colder if my cloths are wet. The cold will slow me down. I can still finish within cut off time, but if I proceed to run more than 24 hours, I will face another problem - swolen breast. That will hurt alot. I could get a high fever due to not breastfeed more than 24 hours.

This race is important to me. My first 100k. But its not worth the risk.

So I surrendered my race bib.

Guess, I made the right decision. Saw a big group of runners also quit the race. Rain poured heavily all the way back to strating point. Kami balik naik lori Bomba.

Mamoru already waited for me at Tanah Rata. He quickly covered me with his jacket. I was shiverring like crazy. Balik hotel terus mandi air panas. Aleesya already craving for her supermilk.. haha.

Cultra 100km 2017. Mission failed. Guess, I will be seeing u again next year. InsyaAllah.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wise and hard decision. You are strong. We know and you know you Will come back for cultra stronger.

diyanadedeqz said...

Hi,

Mmg follow your blog,sbb kagum semangat you training n race.

It's ok. i've been there to cheer for my husband. Dia pun masuk 100k. nampak ur husband kat padang permainan ptg jumaat. masa tu u tgh amik race pack kot. I said to my husband, kalau jumpa u nak tegur. tapi tak dapat jumpa.

My husband said dia ada terserempak u masa dia turn back lps cp7. Indeed it is a tought race. My husband nyaris nak pull out at Robinson Fall at km 83.1. He said ankle dia injurt. but then he said nak proceed. from target 20hrs, jadi 26hrs. dia sampai kat finishing line jalan terhincut2. But overall, he said he just lucky enuf terlepas hujan at ladang teh.. better kene hujan at berembun..u da buat keputusan yang betul. Insya allah, u will complete ur 1st 100km some other time.

Keep up the good spirit.