Gunung Belumut

I did this Mountain Race one week after the KL marathon. Initially, was skeptical about my recovery although my legs seem fine by Sat ( And i still went to do 10.5km with 5kg load at Mac in the morning).

Met Chin in the morning and shard a cab to Woodlands Chkpoint. 30minutes later, we were on our way, walking across the Causeway to the Malaysia Chkpoint. Boarded our bus in JB and ate the porridge bought by Steven ( i actually asked for teh...). Had a short nap and 1.5hours later, we were almost near our destination.

This was my first visit to Malaysia Nature Reserve Park and it was refreshing, not realising what was expected to come. Kelvin, Camper's Corner gave us a short brief and it was time to go. William, Kim Hong and Alvin set the pace super fast and within few minutes, they were literally out of sight. I stayed at 4th place, not wanting to push too hard and early. The trail was wet, muddy, lots of exposed roots, hanging branches etc. In my opinion, it was rather harsh environment compared to our friendly Macritchie and BT. Caught William halfway point and we were together for the vertical climbs. By then, could feel my legs are telling me that they were tired. Had to slower the pace and by then Danzel had catched up. I tried to pace him behind and used him as my motivating factor to keep going.

Reached the summit in 1:27 hours. Was told after the race that the one way route was only 5km. This is the longest timing i have done for 5km run, or rather uphill run.

I knew my descent are usually better in terms of reading the trails. By then, i could feel my legs are getting tight and i hope that it would not give way during the descend. I maintained my pace and I used that as my advantage to move down the mountain. By midway, i have caught up with Danzel who was having some problems with his quads. I told him to follow closely behind me but he couldn't and asked me to go ahead. I pushed the pace slighter faster since it was downhill. I was surprised that all the while, my legs were still holding in place. After running downhill for almost an hour, i could hear the sound of the waterfall and i knew that the finish line was close.

Was so relieved to see the flight of stairs and concrete pavement. i cruised in and finished 4th with a time of 2:27 hours. Never mind the time or even the placing, i was glad to finish in one piece, although i had few minor cuts on my leg. The cooling water at the waterfall was a good treat to the tired legs.

We waited for the rest of non-competitors and had our dinner at Kluang town. Traffic at both Causeways were ok and we reached Singapore before 11pm. Thank God i had 2 days of rest.