More good news after the Climbathon

Over the weekend Jason, Fang and I went to Kota Kinabalu for a short trip. Jason and I are participating in the Kinabalu climbathon. Fang just want to get some time off after an intensive 10 days of work at the Sun Festival. I think she got the break that she wants. Other than the race itself, we spend time eating and napping. Since we're at the basecamp, there is really nothing much to do. We wanted to go to the Cabbage Festival. This is the first time in my life I heard of such festival. Unfortunately, the weather came in around 2pm and stared pouring. The rain persisted for the next 4 hours. I wonder what do they do with the cabbage then?

Anyway, we went back to KK after the race. The plan is this- After breakfast (on the next day), we'll proceed to a cafe to read our bible. Halfway thru, I'll excuse myself from Jason and Fang for a prayer walk so that they can have time on their own. As you'd have guess, Murphy's law sets in. "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.". Fang wants to go back to the room to do her own thing. For a moment, I was panicking inside (I think Jason also). Jason had to almost forced her to join us at Rainforest Cafe, which she agreed to go for a while.

After placing order for our coffee. I had to visit the toilet. When I got back tho the table, Jason ask if I could excuse them for a moment. I bounce off my seat and sat at another corner with my bible and coffee.

So on that morning, in the land of Sabah Malaysia Borneo, Fang said "YES" to be Jason's girlfriend. There is no photograph but you can take my word for it. I am the only witness though.

24hrs after Jason and Fang had gone steady, it dawned on me that God has just answered another prayer.

If you know Fang, you would have agree that she is such a sweet and likable girl. In the past, we often wonder who would be that lucky person to be her boyfriend. Dionne, Raymond and I often talk about it.

On the other hand, Jason is a great friend of mine. Being his buddy, it's been my desire to see him get attached to the person he likes.

Back then when we got to hear that they are interested in each other, those of us who are closed to them got very excited. Now when I look back at the past few month, I am amazed at God's hand in leading them to each other.May God bless this relation.

Congratulation my dear friend Jason and Fang.

Kinabalu Climbathon

I've just participated in the Kinabalu Climbathon. Deemed as the world’s toughest mountain race. Check out the route For the record, I didn't meet the qualifying timing i.e., I did not complete the race.

For those who have not been to Gunung Kinabalu, it is located at Sabah, Borneo Malaysia. A typical itinerary is to trek 6km up to Laban Rata at 3,261m. Time taken to get from Kinabalu Basecamp to Laban Rata range from 4-10hours, depending on the fitness of the individual. Day 2 starts at 0300hrs to trek up to the summit in the dark at 4,096m to catch the sunrise at 0600hrs.

Kinabalu climbathon starts at the 0km marker. Participants are treated to 9km of continuous uphill to the summit and backtrack to the 0km marker. After passing the 0km marker is another 3km to the ending point. Bringing a total of 21km of arduous mountain running.

It started early for the runners on the race day Jason and I got up at 0400hrs to get ready for the pick up from our lodge at D’Villa to Kinabalu National Park. At the National Park, we waited at the restaurant for a second transfer to the starting point very near to the 0km marker. We chatted with other runners who are from UK. Most of them fly into Sabah just to do this run. It seems to me that most of them are pretty serious about this run. I felt I’ve taken for granted in my training. I would have trained really hard if I’ve had signed up for a run in the Alps.

Race kick off time is 0700hrs. At 0600hrs, runners and supporters are gathered around the starting point. It’s not like the Singapore SC marathon where there are 20,000 participants. For the men’s open category, the estimate no. of participant are no more than 150. The sun has just risen and temperature is approximately 10 degree Celsius. I reluctantly remove my track pants and fleece jacket. Now I am dressed in my running shorts and sleeveless quick dry T-shirt. I can be chilly even with the slightest wind. Jason and I went for a short jog to keep ourselves warm.

I met Joanne Soo. She couldn’t recognize me because we only spoke once on the steps of Dairy Farm. Back then she was still training for Everest. But I recognize her of course, she and the Everest Women team made it up to the Everest summit this year.

Joanna was one of the supporters from the group of Singapore who trained together for the climbathon. Armed with a SLR, she was busy snapping photos of the Singaporeans. She took part in the race for the woman’s open yesterday. I learned from her that it’s going to be a hard run. We took a group photo and she went off to snap away.

I spotted a guy in socks and sandals. One of these sandals had a broken buckle. I wonder if he know what he’d signed up for.

Race kick off at 0700hrs sharp. 3 mins into the gentle slope and I was panting. Back in Singapore I was running at sea level while the race start at 1866mt. My first reminder of how tough and ill prepared.

My heart rate was constantly at a high of 75% and above. It wasn’t long before the pain in my feet gets worst and I was struggling to run, I had to settle for a brisk walk whenever my legs and lung cooperate. At appropriate interval, I’ll encourage myself with Gatorade in my handheld water bottle.

By 0915hrs, I arrived at Laban Rata. I was hoping for a great view. Unfortunately, it was obscure by clouds. I saw Jason turning back and decided to follow suit. There is no chance I can run 3km and ascend 700mt to get to the Summit in 15mins. I also have to consider the injury in my feet. I don’t want to push too hard and aggravate the pain in my feet.

So that was pretty much my experience for my first Kinabalu Climbathon. I consider myself doing poor this time. But I enjoy myself very much; the lure of the mountain and the challenge compels me to come back with Jason next year. Our goal is to get Malaysia toughest wristband on the summit of Gunung Kinabalu.

Now I have to put in effort to research on training for Kinabalu Climbathon and stay committed to the training.

Pre-Kinabalu Climbathon

This coming weekend I am going to do the Kinabalu Climbathon with Jason. I know that the chances of meeting the qualifying timing is extremely slim. But I am still looking forward to the trip to Kota Kinabalu. I am not a race-to-win person. I mostly join races because of the company. So this race is no exception.

Also on the same weekend, some of my buddies are participating in the Northface 100 race. I hope they can make good timing at the race. If next year the NF100 and Kinabalu climbathon falls on a different date, I'll reg for both of them. Need plenty of reasons to get into training mood. Next year, my goal is to meet the qualifying time for Kinabalu. I'll treat this year's as a trial.