Travel

River Jungle Marathon

by Rachel Joseph
were also maybe a dozen first-time marathoners in the crowd. The race started at 5:00am sharp. I aimed to finish this course in sub-4 hour time. My strategy was to run about the first 10km in 52 minutes and save some minutes for the hills. My estimate was that I would easily lose 2 minutes from the sub-4 hour average pace in the climb. That was a optimistic assumption. I trained on the treadmill for 5% gradient with the pace of 6:00min/km, and I found it very very difficult to maintain that kind of pace. I maintained a pace between 6:30min/km to 7:30min/km all the way without stopping or walking. The feel good factor came when I overtook a runner and then a cyclist who was off his bike and pushing it. From then on, I knew I had a good chance to dip below 4 hours. Instead of letting the hill break my spirit, I broke the hill. By that, I mean that I ran the grueling 3.5km uphill as smaller sections. If I could only see the road until the winding turn, then I would just focus on running to that. Then I would target the next section of uphill, and the next. Before long, I reached the top of the climb. At the summit, there was a water station and it was breaking dawn (not breaking spirit). Going downhill was not a good section for me because of the rough road surface and the impact to the barefoot soles and knees. I didnt gain back much time

in the downhill section. In fact, I was overtaken by a runner, who called out at me as barefoot runner. At the end of the downhill section, the road condition became even worse. I had to slow down to minimise the pain. Yes, the pain. It was painful when I stepped on sharp stones and rough road surfaces. A foreign runner overtook me before the U-turn at 24.3 km mark. This section of the course was the most beautiful with the scenery of the Semenyih Dam Reservoir and the backdrop of green mountains and blue sky. The road surface was becoming worse and worse. The last 12 km I stopped a few times, because of small sharp stones getting stuck in my soles. In the last few kms, I managed to pick up my pace a little bit and overtook the runner who overtook me earlier at the downhill section. At the finish, I was overwhelmed by emotion. It was a painful, painful run. But I had done it! All the way, 42km, without anything between my soles and the road. I stopped my timer at 3:57:18. I had a couple of bananas and some isotonic drinks, then did some stretching . I chatted with some volunteers. Some of them were amazed and jokingly asked if I had an iron plate under my soles. After that, I quickly took out my camera and started shooting photos for the runners maybe about 50-100m from the finish. I took photos for all the runners who finished after 4 hours 13 minutes (including Rachel). I snapped photos for runners even during the 1 hour downpour and waited until the last runners were in. The organiser has done very well with this event. Bravo to all the volunteers for the support. This was an event by runners, for runners. And if you love running, you would love to run the River Jungle Marathon.

he website claimed The River Jungle Marathon is one of the most beautiful marathon destinations in Malaysia. Located just 20-minutes from the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the marathon is set amidst a landscape like no other. On this full marathon route, you will experience a mix of Malaysias beautiful landscape bringing you through valleys, rivers, dams and mountains. We believe running should be fun; it shouldnt be all about how fast we can run.
The River Jungle Marathon is not a race. There is no big prize money at the finish line. Its simply for runners who find joy of just being able to run! Its a run that attracts runners from all walks of life. So we recommend for you to bring a notepad and exchange numbers! This year however, we intend to have a photography contest. So, be prepared to whip out your camera and bring it along for the run!. This sounded like a perfect day out to me and despite not having time to train and it clashing with other running commitments I felt I had to give it a go. It was my best marathon experience to date, friendly, relaxed, well organised. I was going to write all about it but then I read the following article and thought id give someone else the chance. This is only the second year of this boutique marathon, the first year only had 51 participants.

My maiden barefoot Full Marathon - River Jungle Marathon 2011 by CP Tan I never thought that I would run a full marathon barefoot when I started running 3 years ago. Well, I did it, and it was one of the best marathons that I have run. I registered late because I wasnt sure I would have time to train. However, I had read good reviews about this run and I thought it would be an experience for me. The course is situated near Pekan Batu 18, Hulu Langat, about 30km from KL. Unlike the name suggests, it was not a trail or off-road run but a road race on asphalt. The route takes you through beautiful scenery: villages, jungle, hill, river, lake. It was unlike any marathon that I ran before, all of which had the background of concrete jungle and busy roads. I did a survey of the route one week before. There is this grueling 5%-gradient 3.5km uphill climb that has the nickname Spirit Breaker. After I saw it, I knew I was up against the most challenging course. For many days to come, the uphill climb was etched in my mind and I was trying to figure out how to tackle it. Fast forward to the race day, I arrived early and heard the race director, James Wong briefing his 60-person-strong volunteer team. I met some familiar faces (and many more unknown faces). It was announced that about 370 runners registered and there were many foreign runners, mostly from Singapore. There

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ABWM December 2011

www.abwm.com.my

www.abwm.com.my

ABWM December 2011

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