1) Kind of looking forward to this race to gauge current fitness level and see how I fare with other runners. Woke up race day and it was raining. Was a bit chilled with how I did things that morning. Did the usual, breakfast and stuff. While on my way out, the kids woke up and resumed sleeping in my room. So everybody was all nice and cozy tucked inside a warm blanket. For a while, I felt to do the same.
2) I was suppose to go out at 6 am knowing the race would start at 7:30 am which means I have an hour and a half to get to the venue. So I was quite relaxed and liked how that feel the last time I raced. But I finally got out at around 6:30. Waze showed I'd arrive at 7:15 which was ok. Then a few minutes later it revised its projection to 7:30 and about 10km to race venue it said 7:50. The traffic was pretty bad so I decided to park 1.5km away as a warm up and continue onto the course.
3) The goal was to race and I was pretty much ready to do so. But first, had to pee. So I got that done near some bushes (one of the advantages of trail running). I was carrying a bottle of gatorade, a gel and 3 salt pills for nutrition. So I went in and ran it like a race. But there wasn't any motivation to keep the intensity high. I just ran as hard as I could and was constantly stopped by bottlenecks formed around steep technical sections. Data showed I completely stopped for around 5 minutes at one section. On other sections I had to slow down but I probably needed a breather anyway.
4) When I finally finished, I got some water and went running another 1.5km to the car. Didn't wait around since I don't want to get stiff. Cheered some runners still on the course and even gave out my gatorade. Went home and everything started to hurt and sore. As expected.
5) As for the race, it was raining so it was a bit cool and helped with the run a bit. I didn't use any gel or salt, just on course nutrition (fruit & 100 plus) and my gatorade. Course was runnable and on some hills I didn't stop. So that was good. As for the course, it was muddy, so I was a bit slow/careful but on tarmac section I tried to make up the time. All in all, it was a good race and I think I ran quite ok.
6) I also learned the importance of getting logistical matters right and I'm glad I've booked a hotel for SCKLM to prevent stuff like this from happening again. Official result showed I'm about a good 20-30mins off the top 10 placings.
7) KOKK next and it's happening 2 weeks before SCKLM so probably gonna have to be wise about how I'd run that one to not compromise SCKLM.
