November 25th, 2012 – Nature’s trail discovery run, half marathon – Tanay (Philippines)

That was amazing. Easy said after 24 hours of rest, but that was quite an experience. Trail-running to the max! And much tougher than I expected. Climbing, going through water, a cave, it was all there. It wasn’t about winning or a good time today.
Trail-running in the Philippines, what to expect…. The location was a bit far-off, so it took me a taxi, a bus and a tricycle to get there. Well, to my hotel. On race day I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning, and I had a tricycle-driver (kind of motor-taxi) promised me 4 times he would pick me up at 4am. I offered him to pay 5 times more than normal. But, surprise, surprise, he wasn’t there. Luckily there was a man who called me another one. I arrived at 4:45 at the starting-area.
This was only my 2nd trail-run, after the beautiful Dutch Sallandtrail, but it was a totally different one.
Starting time was 5:30, and it was already getting light. Advantage: better views on the spectaculair scenery. Disadvantage: the bright sun at the end of the race.
The first kilometer went in more than 8 minutes, due to altitude. I still thought this would be one of the slowest kilometers. Silly me! The first few kilometers we could run for most parts, some descending, some ascending, never more than 100 meters flat, and very few parts of them. We passed some villages (a couple of houses) where the local people cheered on us and helped with the water posts. Enough of those, thank god!
Then we went into a cave for a few 100 meters (bring your flashlights) with some very small passages to crawl through. No running allowed, not possible either. We left the cage after about 5 kilometers in the run, the toughest part was about to start. We arrived at a small river. Worst of all, we had to cross it a few times. Jumping from slippery stone to stone. And later on – even crossing a part through the water. Not more than about 30 centimeters, but enough to make your shoes soaking wet. This was not my favourite part. Nor was the climbing on the side of the water, which I found dangerous (must be the age). I used a tactic which I would use more often that day, only look for 1 meter in front of you and to the side, and don’t imagine what would happen if you would slip or fall. Actually, don’t think at all!
The river was only a couple of hundred meters, but I was glad I passed it. Next: climbing! And I don’t mean a road up a mountain, but a small (most of the times not more than 50cm) path with rocks to put your feet on. Where possible you could use trees to pull yourself or keep in position. The next 3 kilometers took exactly an hour! The ascend was tough and already a little slippery. I didn’t have trail-running shoes, luckily I had the most slippery shoes in the world 🙁 Finally we reached the top, where we got an orange “necklace” as proof we made it to the top. Then the descend. Wow! Ascending may be tough, but the descend was pretty dangerous with my shoes. I slipped a couple of times, luckily only some scratches and a bit bleeding knee, nothing serious. But the climb, and most of all the descend… couldn’t almost do it, slipping all the time. My slow pace forced me to let many people passing me. Too bad, cause in the running part I was pretty good today. Not much running but no problem, time&pace were not important today.The last 6 kilometers were a bit of everything. The sun also started to play a role. There was some more small climbing, never a dull moment. We had to avoid cats, dogs, chickens, goats, never seen that in a Dutch race.
Finally the finish was there at the beautiful Daranak waterfalls. Happily I crossed the finish line after 3 hours and 21 minutes. It took me longer then my slowest full marathon, and it was the longest race (in time) I’ve ever done. What a race! After the finish we were taken good care of. Banana’s, water, a medal and a finisher shirt was our reward. As well as a common breakfast, although I missed that, had to go early.
My Garmin stated only 19 kilometers, but it might be wrong, because of the climbing. However, that was no problem in Croatia. When I’m home I can check all the data from my watch, and I’m curious to know how much the altitude was.
Last week I had some critics about the organisation, not today. It was spotless. Well done guys! It was absolutely amazing. Well organized!