"卓越之路！My Run; My Leap!": A New Voyage Into The Ultra! (Maiden 100km Ultra Running)

Titi100 Ultra Marathon

-Organized by Ultra Running-

Event: Titi 100 Road Ultra Marathon
Date: 15th-February-2014 (Saturday)
Location: Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia
Signed-up Distance: 100km
Elevation Gain: 1,600meter
Available Event Distance: 100km & 50km

About Titi 100 Road Ultra Marathon 2014
1) Race Information
2014 ENROLMENT - In 2014, TITI 100KM Road Ultra Marathon ® will take place from 15 February 2014 to 16 February 2014. There are two categories in this event which are 50KM race and 100KM race. In order to manage the 2014 enrolment as fairly as possible, it will only be possible to register online. The registrations are managed by over-booking, which means that we accept more runners than there are places for, in order to allow for eventual annulations. There is, therefore, no waiting list.

2) Race Starting Time
15/2/2014 – 100KM – Saturday 4PM to Sunday 10AM
16/2/2014 – 50KM – Sunday 12AM to Sunday 9AM
(*due to time being we change our 100km category start time from 4pm instead of 6pm)

3) RACE COURSE CUT OFF
100KM – Finishing within 10 Hours 30min – GOLD AWARD
100KM – Finishing within cut off 18 Hours – Finishing
50KM – Finishing within 5 Hours – GOLD AWARD
50KM – Finishing within cut off 9 Hours – Finishing

4) RUNNER’S COMMITMENTS
By registering, each runner personally agrees to engage in the following:
1.I declare that I have read and understood the regulations and ethics of the race.
2.I understand the enrolment fee is non-refundable.
3.I understand and approve of the conditions of participation which figure in the regulations.
4.I agree to respect all items of the regulations.
5.I agree that I have completed at least a minimum of a few 10KM races in my running records.
6.I agree I am properly train for this race.
7.I agree to scrupulously respect and promote the ethic.
8.I agree that I have obtained an adequate Personal Medical Insurance coverage.
9.I agree that I will help and support other runners in difficulty during the race.
10.I agree to be aware of any medical condition which could concern me and, consequently relieve the organisation of any responsibility for any medical problem which may arise during the event due to any negligence on my part.
11.I have read and understood that in the case of a false declaration of qualifying points and medical condition, not conforming or untrue; the organisation reserves the right to cancel my registration without refunding the rights of engagement.

For more information:
http://titi100.blogspot.com/

Event Period: 15 -16 February 2014
Event Location: Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia.

Titi 100km Elevation Gains

Titi 50km Elevation Gains

2014 Titi100km-Ultra Marathon Participated Runners:
100km # of Participants: 152 runners (91 runners complete) - Cut-off time:18hrs
50km # of Participants: 280 runners (203 runners complete) - Cut-off time: 9hrs

Event Itinerary

Titi 100km Participants Results

Titi 50km Participants Results

My Maiden Ultra-100km Marathon

"Run for 100km for 18 hours.. Huh?" Why do you torture yourself with this. This was my first reaction when I heard of "Ultra-Marathon".

I first came to know of Ultra-Running or better known as "Ultra-Marathon" back in 2011 through a close buddy of mine Jeff Wong, who had completed twice in Singapore Sundown Ultra-100km Marathon in year 2011 & 2013. He had always encouraged me to go the ultra distance beyond 42.195km to experience the ultra sensation of agonizing torture in both physical & mental conditioning ("Masochistic" indeed.. Ahahah). Quoted from Jeff... "Its better to let you experience it yourself, than explaining to you; you'll only know the feelings once you runs it".

Jeff Wong

- Singapore Sundown Ultra-Marathon 2013 -

Here I was, signed up my maiden Ultra-Running in Titi100km Ultra-Marathon scheduled for 15th-February-2014 / Saturday @ 16:00 (PM) with a cut-off time of 18 hours due at 10:00 (AM) of 16th-February-2014/Sunday. I was in fear & in excitement of the ultra mileage I'm soon to set foot on and the nervousness of pushing the limit beyond my norms I am comfortable with. Now, there's only one way to find out the many curiosity of ultra running; that's to run it and fill up my curiosity myself.

My training was simple! Mostly in MetCon X which is a HiIT (High-Intensity-Interval-Training) training program and with merely some short distance running of 10km or less, in a total of a handfull over the period of 3 months. But i had completed a series of Quarter, Half & Full marathons over a period of 3 1/2 years back, to season & condition my legs for distance running. I owed my endurance & staminas conditioning to my beloved coaches of MetCon X (Coach Dann, William, Tom & Wan & all the coaches), for providing me a superbly great HiIT training since 2010; they not only prepares me for all of my maiden running & running lifestyle, but as well as my weight lost program & maintaining my health in physical fitness.

Just my plain 2 cents! Always RESPECT the distance! Give yourself an achieveable time frame in ultra-running preparation, with a prior clocked mileage of serious trainings & conditioning marathon runnings with recoveries over a period of at least 2 years. Voila! U'll finish the run.

It took me 3 1/2 year to make my 1st attempt in ultra-running and the experience was inexplicable.

Wanna know how it's like to run an ultra?

Let's Run Through the Viewfinder

Before The Ultra!

Photo by Rozinah Ahmad

100km runners walking towards the flag-off area

Capt. Ashe (Middle)

Captain of TPRC (Terence Poon Running Club)

Titi-100km Ultra Flagged-Off

- Let's Roll!-

Titi Ultra Road Marker @ 45km mark

"6km more to go"

Photo by Rozinah Ahmad @ KM-94

where she asked me to raise 6 for this photo shot.

A motivating final 6km to go on.

-This was my longest & agonizing 6km in 2 hours-

95km completed!

5 more clicks to go

Photo with Jin Choong of MetCon X!

MetCon X wuz 'ere!

How I feels about Ultra-Running

I felt like SHIT while running it, Ahahahah! Frankly it's torturing both mentally & physically, my mind played tonnes of tricks on me all the time throughout the whole course; as the time & mileage passes I kept asking myself the same question "What am I doing here?", then my mind went BLANK on me.

This I think many of us faces the same tormentations in all our runs, asking the very same question to ourself with just a blank mind. U've gotta RUN IT to FEEL IT!

Exhaustions & Muscle fatigues

I was extremely exhausted from running and my muscles fatigues were immense, the pain from the shoulder down and onto my leg joints was unbearable; from locking my core to abosorbing the bouncing impact, my legs muscles were all filled with "Lactic Acid" that I had to stretch often throughout the 2nd half of the course to flushed out the acid.

I ran with a mid-foot approach of lifting my knee instead of my regular fore-foot stride, this helped a whole lot and I was glad to have completed the course without any cramps.

Body hydrations & Foods
I was hungry, I was craving for "HOT & SPICY TOMYAM SOUP" so bad that I was salivating in the tomyam craves.

My body was so exhausted physically & mentally that I only managed to take 2 power gel & a couple of pinch of salt, while most of the time I replenish my body with sandwiches, chips & candies available at the check-points.

I carbo loaded at mid-course checkpoint (CP 5 @ KM48), with 2 full plates of fried rice & a cup of instant noodles; with all this intake my body just totally absorbed it.

There were plenty of chilled bottled water at checkpoints to refill my 2L hydration pack for the road, I was drinking up to approximately 13 litres of water throughout the course.

Race against time

Planning is always different than the actual implementation, you might fall short in unforseen circumstances.

I pushed myself to reach the 48km check point within my planned schedule of 6 hours, which is a third (1/3) of the 18 hours cut-off time; had a 30 mins break & gear refreshing and move on to my second half of the course.

What did my mind said
My mind refused to talk to me! Ahahaha..

There were times when my mind just had enough of these tortures and signaled me to bug-out.

With every parademic ambulances & cop patrols that passed by, I felt like "just hop on the paramedics ambulance and bug-out out". But I choosed to proceed on, for it's to painfull and exhausted to give up.

My whole course
The course location was in the countryside, which flagged-off from Hulu-Langat towards Titi.

Most of the time I was running alone in darkness due to the late afternoon flag-off with 10hours in darkness but under the moonlight & the firefly glows; and away from crowds & peoples along the path except the runners that were in this run.

I just have to keep my focus to stay the course to complete the course.

The Finale
Fear Not, there's no time for that now!

This kept me running, walking & marching..Oh Yeah, I was marching frequently from the 2nd half of the course onwards.

I just forgotten how to run, my Synaptic Neurons just weren't sending messages to my running legs, I had to march in the rythm of Left, Right, Left, Right to keep advancing towards the finishing line.

This is discouraging, this is demotivating.. I was like a baby learning to take my very first step in running.

Credits to Titi100 organizer
This was my first ultra-running and I'm gratefull & thankfull to the Titi100 organizers (Ultra Running) to organizing this first ever ultra running event in town (Kuala Lumpur).

Very well organized with good traffic controls, 10 check-points with more than enough hydrations & foods replenishments, volunteers were properly trained for their respective responsibilities in the checkpoints with scrupulous check-in of runners at each check-point and lastly patrols by cop & paramedic ambulances for the safety of all runners at a interval of 45 minutes in between.

Why I Ran
I ran with only an objective to discover my innerself better & to push myself beyond my limits. I wanted to understand my breaking point physically & mentally under stress and to excel properly beyond my breaking point while not over-exert to the point of injuries.

I came across a 100km finisher who told me.. "Now you can wear the 100km finisher proudly among runners". Only a fool drown in their very own self-pride. HUMILITY!!! my fellow runners.

I enjoys the intellectual sharing & learning from & with runners of all walks of life to shed life onto each others' journey. This my friend is precious as we Inspired in the aspiration of what we can explore beyond our wildest imagination.