Race Report : Salomon X-Trail Run 2014

If I could use two words to describe the 12km Salomon X-Trail Run 2014 held on 21^st December 2014, it would be “Serious Mudplay”. 

It’s a race that’s fun, challenging and will definitely get your adrenaline pumping, but it’s not for the girly, dainty princess-type, certainly not for the cleanliness freaks out there and definitely not for someone with serious “get the dirt off me”-OCD types.

The event organizer this year was M5 and the race was mainly sponsored by World of Sports with Salomon as the brand name for the race.

I selected the Salomon X-Trail Run as my last race of the year simply because it was held in Mardi Maeps Agricultural Park – one of my favorite trails easily accessible from my home and because it was a relatively short distanced one (initially publicized as a 10km race) that would compliment nicely after my Full Marathon race in Macau.

Ever since doing a practice run with a group of friends at Mardi Maeps Agricultural Park, I had fallen in love with the trails there. Going up and down the hilly terrain and being greeted with wild, lovely views is an experience I will never miss despite the risk of bumping into a company of wild boars, not to mention panthers, wild cats and snakes as well.

Pssst… Did I mention that one evening, while KS and me were doing a practice run in Mardi, a wild boar suddenly charged out of nowhere not 5 feet from us and crashed into the bush at the opposite side of the trail, scaring the socks off KS  in the process? Hehehe.. I’ll save that story for another time.

This lovely place was also where I met the founder of Mardi Runners Malaysia running group : Mike Grover, one fine morning, running with his dog : Obama (yes, that’s the doggy’s name – no pun intended) and he invited me to join his running group who run regularly around the vicinity.

Fast forward to race day, I wasn’t feeling all that great that morning after succumbing to a serious bout of food poisoning and diarrhea 2 days prior to race day. I fell into a feverish sleep, woke up with a start and was feeling a bit light-headed, probably slightly dehydrated as well from all that purging. Thankfully the diarrhea had stopped the previous night otherwise I would have opted out of the race.

KS arrived to pick me up quite early, around 5am as the race was scheduled to flag off around 7:00am (for men) and 7:15am (for ladies). As Mardi was only a 20 min drive from home, I had plenty of time for a toilet break, some active stretches and warm-ups.

I found the race venue a bit poorly lit and rather dark compared to previous events held at the same venue. Wonder what happened to all the lights and why they weren’t switched on. We could barely make out where the start / finish line was.

Anyway, although it was dark, I still managed to spot Andrew with his new hairstyle from his silhouette. We chatted for a while followed by some photo-taking. The Food counter was serving Tau Foo Fa to runners before the Start. This was certainly a change from the standard PowerBar breakfast and I was a bit surprised but Andrew wanted something to warm his tummy and KS was hungry so I guess, it turned out to be a good thing.

With Andrew (left) and Khairi (right) before the race (Photo courtesy of Andrew)

With KS (left) and Andrew (right) (Photo courtesy of Andrew)

After a while, the crowd started to grow so I decided to head off to stand nearer to the Starting Line.

Here’s where I met Mike who had mentioned to me before that he had registered for this event but wasn’t sure if he would be running it yet as his leg injury hadn’t fully recovered. Well, wonder of wonders, he decided to turn up. But it was certainly a pleasure to see him and we chatted, exchanged race experiences, shoe advice and the usual talk that all runners do whilst waiting for the race to begin.

With Mike before the start of the race

The usual pep-talk and sharing of running experiences

We were admiring our shoes?!

It was really nice to meet two fantastic, top of the class runners : Michelle Looi and Amelia Musa at the starting line too.

With Top Runners Michelle Looi and Amelia Musa at the Starting Line

The race turnout was unexpectedly big and I saw a lot of faces I didn’t recognize at the scene. The male participants, of course, made up the main bulk of the crowd and you could still see them pouring out like a river from the starting line towards the hilly trails for a good 5 – 8 minutes after their category flagged off.

Imagine my surprise and everyone’s dismay when the MC announced that the race would start 15 minutes later due to lack of light in the trails and the road marshals had yet to give clearance that the trails were safe enough for the runners to be flagged off. Apparently, to quote the MC, the trails were “very muddy, slippery and dangerous”. But come on! What is a trail race without mud! I was expecting more slippery gore on the terrain especially after all that heavy rain we’ve been experiencing over the past few weeks.

And so we waited. I was in a relaxed mood, what with this being the last race of the year and all. This would actually be just my 3^rd official trail race and I was there to enjoy it.

In a relaxed mood before the race flag-off

Finally, the men flagged off at 7:15am. Unfortunately, we spotted some ladies who also started with the men! Oh well, they would be disqualified later (DQ) as the chip on the bib would tell all. So, there would be nothing to worry about.

Can you spot my cheeky face in the crowd at the start line?

I was surprised to see Mike standing at the sidelines instead of flagging off with the rest of the men. He told me that he was listening to his body and right then, his leg was telling him it was better not to run this race. Good decision he made.

Very soon it was the ladies’ turn to be flagged off at 7:30am.

And we were off! Go, go, go!
That's Maggie (a seasoned veteran runner) with the white cap and red Salomon top.
Yours truly was conservatively running behind Michelle.
(photo courtesy of Vivien Tay)

The race course took us diagonally across the Gate 2 car park, straight into the trails and smack directly into mud. I went out at a cautious pace without over-taxing myself.

Running up slopes encountered right after the start of the race.
Check out the awesome background scenery!
(photo courtesy of Raymond Ng)

By the 2^nd km, runners had already encountered muddy terrain and everywhere we planted our feet, it would sink in a couple of inches deep and mud as thick as a few cm would encrust our shoes, fly in the air, splatter our feet, clothes, hair and … well, just forget about staying clean.

There were puddles along the trail too and we just splashed straight through them like kids playing with water. I was having too much fun.

But the biggest challenge was going up and coming down 45 degree hills that resembled a river of mud. It was very slippery and admittedly, kind of treacherous sometimes, that you would slide backwards or forwards a few steps depending on whether you were ascending a steep slope or descending another scarily steep slope. No shoe with good grip would save you from sliding or slipping here. 

A map of the race course we ran that day shared on the Trail Runners Group Facebook page

There were some slopes where there was no visible natural footing to plant your feet on the ascent. It made ascending or descending Mount Kinabalu via the Timpohon Way look like child’s play to me in comparison. 

It was also “slippery-slide-slide” all the way for some descents. I had to grab the branches of some nearby shrubs to break my descent and keep my balance, thus cutting my hands in the process. To add to the challenge, we female participants had to weave ourselves through a massive wall of slower male runners while trying to avoid crashing into them during the slippery, muddy descents.

Adrenaline still charging, I didn’t feel the sting of torn flesh, but I do remember encountering a couple of male runners who were practically wailing like babies wondering how they were going to descend a couple of the meaner-looking slopes. Just do it guys, trust me, it won’t kill you!

I later found out that a photographer also slipped and fell on those muddy slopes and the poor camera also had some mud on it but fortunately both were alright! Kudos to the photographers who came out to take those shots of us!

Now, already being a clumsy glutz in ordinary circumstances, I naturally fell on those gloriously muddy slopes, not just once but a couple of times, once on my butt and once on my side. So now you know why I looked so grubby in the end. Although I didn’t get a chance to ask his name, I would like to say thank you to the male runner who helped me up when I got stuck in the mud on one of those falls up a slope.

At the 4^th km, I got accidentally smacked straight in the face while on the ascent up a muddy hill. The smack came from a male runner who was about to lose his balance and was desperately flailing his muddy hands, grabbing at anything which could stabilize himself, including .. Yes, you guessed right - the mud.

The blow hit me square in the face - on my forehead, nose, cheeks and mouth. I had mud over a huge part of my face which I just swiped away with my sweat band and carried on with my ascent. Thankfully, no mud entered my eyes and I didn't suffer any bleeding in the nose or mouth nor did I lose any teeth. However, I did eat quite a bit of mud for breakfast, got some grit between my teeth and it did knock some wind out of my sails.

Correction! The blow knocked a lot of wind out of me, so much so that I felt thrown off balance and dizzy. Running from the 4^th to 5^th km at an even pace felt like a huge chore and suddenly right after the 5^th km mark, I started to hear that all too familiar thumping of my heart in my ears!

Oh no! I started to wonder whether I was going to repeat the Macau Marathon fiasco all over again. My right fat pad heel injury also chose to flare up at this point and started to send sharp shooting pain all the way up my right foot with each step I took.

I slowed to a trot and I honestly wondered at that point, whether I would ever get to the Finish Line.

I also realized that I probably hadn’t fully recovered from my bad race in Macau yet. A two-week period was probably still too short a time for me to recover for the next race. I am normally am not insane enough to do immediate back-to-back races but I thought that a 2-week space apart would be fine. I was wrong, at least where judging my body recovery time was concerned.

Trying not to collapse midway thru the race. (Photo courtesy of Andrew)

That’s when I bumped into Andrew who was enjoying his leisurely last race of the year. I remember faintly mumbling to him that I really didn’t feel like running anymore. He encouraged me to start running again. “Go Julia, come on!”, he said.

However, I was still feeling weird so I stopped and walked instead. I told myself at that point, that I would just walk to the Finish Line. After all, it’s not worth it to tax myself like this when I was feeling strange. This time, I would listen to my body.

“Just keep going”, I told myself. “Walking is fine but just keep going, don’t ever give up no matter how hard and how long it takes!” I also knew KS would be waiting worriedly at the Finish Line for me and I didn’t want him to worry. Many runners passed me but I beyond caring at that point, so I just kept walking steadily on.

Caught walking up one of the steep slopes
(Photo courtesy of Foo from TPRC)

The walk lasted until about the 7^th km, and by that time I reckoned I had lost whatever headway that I had made at the start costing me around 10 – 15 minutes, I guess. I walked a little bit more, testing the waters and found that I felt alright enough to continue running again at a controlled pace. Andrew’s words kept ringing in my ears, “Go Julia! Go Julia!”.

From the 7^th  km until the 8^th km mark, I decided to do a run-walk, run-walk strategy afraid that I would get vertigo again and faint in the trails. Just keep going, I told myself over and over.

I was cautious but the dizzy feeling did not come back so it felt safe to up the pace a little and resume running continuously.

My 2^nd wind came when I was close to the 9^th km mark and from then onwards, right until the finish line, everything happened in a daze as it usually does whenever my 2^nd wind takes over my body and I am in the zone, feeling oneness with the wind, the sky, the air, where I see no one, hear no one and feel nothing, focusing on only one thing and that is to get to the Finish Line as quickly as possible.

And so, I upped the tempo with surprising ease and when the home run came into sight, I shouted to myself : “NOW!” and I charged out of the bush onto the car park towards the Finish Line like a mad bull at a 3:45 min pace, passing everything in a blur and not able to see the ground at all. I didn’t realize that KS was doing a video recording of my mad, final leg kick towards the Finish until he showed it to me later by posting it onto my Facebook timeline. Priceless moments! Thanks dear!

All that intense speed work I did had paid off in the end I guess, and the reward came in the form of a 3^rd place position in the Women Veteran category. Frankly speaking, I did not hope to get into the Top 7 at all, especially after all that walking. For the record, this is the first time I have ever slowed to a walk in a race. I don’t mean that there is anything shameful about walking in a race at all, it’s just that I have never done it before.

Moments after crossing the Finish Line
(photo courtesy of Vivien Tay)

My timing was nothing to shout about, a poorly executed 1 hour 20 min 17 sec for a 12km trail run by my own standards. But I am grateful that I am in once piece, still alive and kicking, save for a few bruises, scratches on my fingers, butt, upper / lower thighs and still some taste of mud in my mouth no matter how many times I washed it.

With KS my #1 supporter after the race.

With Andrew after the race

Happy to see Mike had also changed into the Mardi Runners Malaysia T-shirt with the logo he had designed and printed for each member of the group. Mardi Runners rock!

Posing with an over-sized Salomon shoe

Yeah, look at all that grub! My butt was feeling sore and the cuts on the flesh started to throb, now that the race was over.

A bowl of hot Tau Foo Fa is always welcome after a grueling race

Overall, this is by far, the most grueling and challenging race I have ever done. Despite it being a shorter distance at 12km, I had DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) the next day. However, I didn’t suffer any DOMS at all when I ran my previous 42km at a higher speed. Perhaps the DOMS could be partly from my falls as well. Never mind. My Pilates guru, Adrian, calls it “Welcome Pain” and it’s my muscles thanking me for a good workout because they will grow stronger afterwards.

Finally cleaned myself up in time for the prize-giving. They gave us their sponsored t-shirts to wear for the ceremony.

I would say the event was well organized. There were marshals at every turn and bright red arrows to guide you the right way so you would never get lost. There were ample water stations along the race course (I counted about 4 of them, could be more) and plenty of water, tau foo fa, Nestle Fitnesse Cereal and bananas at the Finishing Area.

Congrats to Michelle who won 2nd place in Women Veteran category and Congrats to Amelia for being the Champion in the Women Open category! Cheers to girl power!

Top winners in each category posing for the camera. I think some had departed for home.

The prize-giving was executed fairly quickly too, something all podium winners deeply appreciate because it means an early return home to rest!

Special thanks to my dear KS for sacrificing his time and sleep to wake up early on a Sunday morning to accompany me to the race and see to everything I needed as well as eagerly snapping photos. I honestly don’t know what I would do without you!

Mike also deserves my deepest thanks for waiting patiently for me at the Finish Line although he DNS (Did Not Start) the race. Hope I did Mardi Runners Malaysia group proud.

I am deeply grateful to my favorite Viking – Andrew for the midway encouragement to run again. Honestly, if you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have heard “that voice” in my head and found the courage to run again! I was so afraid of fainting in the trails! Thanks lots! And luckily you didn’t bring a rotan to whip me into action! Side sniggers...

A big thank you to the sponsors, organizers and of course, the wonderful volunteers of this event! You guys and girls rock!

Nice Trophy and Medal

My prize... A Cash Voucher of Salomon products worth RM600

Overall, it was a fun and fantastic race event except that perhaps the organizers should consider letting male and female runners to start together instead of staggered flag-offs so that the faster female runners wouldn’t be blocked by slower male runners.

Well, I’ve added another enriching experience to my running history. Now it’s time for a good long rest, to heal my fat pad injury, recover from my fall and mild dehydration, and enjoy my prize! 

Post-race recover at 103 Coffee Workshop, Sri Petaling

But before that, I needed to accompany an excited KS to the inaugural 1600 Panda MY exhibition at Dataran Merdeka in return for his sacrifice that morning.