Rachel Runs

Rachel Runs...River Jungle Marathon

by Rachel Joseph

myself a little walk which I never do as I knew what the result would be. I thought, This feels GOOOOOOD! So, all I could manage to do was run-a-bit-walk-a-bit for the next 7km to the finish line. The road was lined with the type of long grass which feels so soft. I was letting my fingers run through it and really enjoying the sensation when KK, a guy who used to run with my old training partner Sandy, ran past me and said, Smell the flowers. I welled up as he had captured just how I was feeling. I didnt need to race to the finish line when my body was blatantly refusing and, look where I was! I just had to enjoy the moment. I caught up with him again later to have a chat and that was probably the best bit about bowing out. I chatted to other runners and caught up with friends I hadnt seen since the last race! A guy called Shine who is normally much speedier than me, was struggling with knee pain. I asked him how he was doing and he was completely unperturbed telling me, Thats just life. It made me realise that we all have off days. About 1km from the end, a girl asked me how I was doing and I gave her the rather dramatic response, I feel like Im falling apart! I bet she wished she hadnt asked! I managed to hold all my faculties together and even break into a run for the finish line where I received a heros welcome and my impressive medal and t-shirt. I chatted to some friends then headed back to the car for my flask of tea! So, once again I fail at being a super athlete but succeed in having a fun day out! The Marathon Shop are organising a second marathon called the Island Ocean Marathon. This will hopefully take place in April 2013 although the location is still top secret! Participant numbers will be capped at 1000 entries. Despite vowing I was only going to do half marathons now for the sake of my joints, I think Ill find it difficult to avoid signing up for this one as its River Jungle sister is such an unprecedented feel good event.

his is the second time I have run this beautiful boutique marathon, which has been held annually over the past three years. The date had changed slightly from the previous year which meant that I had only been back from the UK for 4 days and was heavily jet lagged. I think I had maybe 45 minutes sleep before I had to get up, get ready and drive to Pekan Batu 18, Hulu Langat!
This year there were 412 participants, compared to 389 last year and 51 in the first year, so word is slowly spreading. Having fewer participants and being off the beaten track does make you feel less like you are just a bib number! The facilities are great and you see the guys from The Marathon Shop who organise this run, driving around in VW rescue cars (they are sponsors). As well as the usual water, sports drinks, energy gels and deep heat sprays, runners were offered a young coconut to drink at one of the water stations and home-made sour plum ice lollies at another. They were salty, but sweet, and absolutely the right thing at the right time! There is a saying to remember when running marathons. At the start dont be an idiot and at the end dont be a wimp. I think it definitely sums up

my performance on this run though! I was sleep deprived, jet lagged and had done all my training in cool, flat Northumberland. A couple of months previously, I had recorded my best time to date at the KL Marathon so my strategy for this one was really just lets get round! I considered not running but I had offered a friend a lift, I really enjoyed it last year and had received the coolest medal and T-shirt I ever got from a run so I didnt want to miss out on scoring another one! I set off strong thinking, lets get this done with and back to bed forthwith! It was dark and due to the rural area, we all had head torches on. I always have a bit of a moment at the start of running events when the crowd surges away as one. Running is often a solitary, yet powerful activity so to feel all those individuals pooling their energy together is exhilarating. There are 2 u turns on this run, I guess to get the distance to 26.2 miles, but I find them absolutely soul destroying and think they should be banned. The first one wasnt too bad as it was still dark and not very long but the one at 25k is really awkward as its light and you have to say hi to all the people you are passing which is pretty distracting for the solitary runner such as yours truly! Anyway, the crowd thins out as everyone

finds their groove and Im starting to enjoy myself, remembering why I LOVE running so much. Ive got my ear goggles on and Im listening to Bob Dylan sing when your rooster crows at the break of dawn when a pre-dawn rooster does just that! We run past the mosque and hear the first call to prayer. Both are sounds that give me tingles up the back of my neck and fix me to my location and the moment (not Bob, with him I could be anywhere)! Im going great guns as the morning light starts to eke in. I approach the big hill known as the Spirit Breaker, a climb of 800m over a 3km distance. Last year I had to walk up this but I was feeling strong and so maintained a slow jog all the way up. The other side leads down to the breathtakingly serene vista of the reservoir and the depressing u-turn I mentioned earlier. I got to the 25km point, a little over half way and just thought, Im done. I had been keeping hydrated and kept taking the energy gels but I had reached the bottom of my energy reserves. I managed to keep plodding for the next 10km, feeling like I was running on fumes. I didnt really ache, I just felt that my whole body was tired and I wanted to sleep. Its the only time on a run where the soles of my feet were feeling sore and I think I must have been slapping them off the road all wrong. At 35km I permitted

Photographs by Tey Eng Tiong