NorthFace 100

Just realize that I haven't touch my blog for a year!!

I didn't sign up for the North Face because I have signed up for the Craze Ultra.  I thought that I would got many blister and will take weeks to recover and will no way be able to participate in North Face.  However, I DNF out of Craze Ultra at around 86km with only 3 blisters.  The blisters recover in about a week.  I end up thinking about getting a bib for the North Face.

It happened on the North Face 100 Facebook page, Jason wants to let go his 50km slot. I PMed him but did not get any reply until the Thursday night before the race. I wasn't mentally prepared but with the training done for the Craze Ultra, I should be fine with it.

The race started at 6:45am at McRitchie.  As I planned to walk all the way for the 50km. The start is alright and I settle on a 9min pace in the first few km. The route follows the Northern trail of McRitchie, then into Rifle Range Link, Durian Loop and on the KTM track at Bukit Timah, Zheng Hua Park,and then Gangsa track.  I am keeping around 10 mins pace.  There is a loop in Mandai before crossing the Mandai Road.  I almost sprain my right ankle at around 21km.  Luckily, the ankle is strong enought to survive it.

When I arrive at the Lor Asrama, the supporter at first doesn't want to fill up my water bag. I have to confront them before they are willing to put around 500ml into it. The Lor Asrama section is shorter than last time, only about 7.5km.  The Hill 265 is still there.  When I climb up the hill, I have to apply a lot of force and it cause my quad to cramp.  After a quick muscle rub, I am able to continue but have to be careful about it.

My overall timing is right on schedule but will have to slow down on any steep slope. The distance marker of 30km is clearly short, it was only 29km on my Garmin. At 35km, my Garmin suddenly turn off by itself.  I turn it back on but it wouldn't sync with the satellite since I was in a section under the shade.  It takes about 4km until it got the satellite signals.  The sun also ease off at about 1pm, giving overcast sky and help to make the walk easier.  At about 40km, I started to have some hot spot on the bottom of my right foot, I have to slow down and change the way I walk. And I have cramp on both thigh on the stretch about 3km from the finish line.  I hang on and finish at about 8 hr 23 mins gun time.

In comparing with my timing in 2010, it is 22mins faster, but the overall distance seems to be 48km only.  I cannot 100% confirm the distance as I lost about 4km of GPS data.  It is a very nice work out for the day.