“Don't envy my smile, it took a lot of tears to earn it.
Don't envy my love, it took a lot of pain to grow it.
Don't envy my life, I've gone through so much to appreciate it.”
A7 (Kodomo-No-Kuni, Alt. 923) to W1 (Awakura, Alt. 604)– 14.4 km
The route from A7 to W1 is a downhill on tarmac road, it was closed on race day. Normally, this would be my favourite stretch on tarmac to run downhill where i can gain lost time. Not this time, I was still reeling from lack of sleep. I was running slowly then reduce to walking, then jog when I felt better.
My feet was hurting, I stopped and loosen up the shoes laces. It felt better after that, I guess my feet swollen bigger due to endless pounding on the road and trail for the past countless hours.
I found Alain at the middle of the route, he said that the winner already finished the race in 19 hours’ time. It was along walk with Alain, we spend the time chatting to keep our spirit up.
I pace Alain until we reached W1, it’s a very small AS with water only, we found many runner took a breather an sit down around this middle of the road area.
I didn’t stay long, after short toilet break I was on my way to A8. Alain was already gone.
Distance Covered: 14.4km
Accumulative Distance: 94.9km
Time Taken: 3:02 hrs
Accumulative Time: 20:10 hrs
Cut-off time: None
Time of the day: 11:10 am (Saturday)
W1 (Awakura, Alt. 604) to A8 (Nishi-Fuji, Alt. 520)- 9.5 km
This part of the route was running or rather walking rolling small hills under power lines. I really don’t like these part of the route, it’s really boring and nothing to see; which made me want to quickly reach A8.
I found my new friend, Yasutami Takishita dressed in the latest Salomon blue gears around these part. We decided to pace together until A8.
It was the longest A8, I swear!
My feet was hurting, my back and shoulders was screaming due to heavy bag pack full of mandatory items, my quads was destroyed due to excessive climbing those nasty steep uphill mountains. For the first time in the race, I felt like I could NOT go on – DNF was imminent.
UTMF is a demanding course, it bring out the best of you when you’re knocked down in dark places during the race. When the mountains calls you for a challenge, you better answer.
I was so scared of my physical conditions, I felt with my current condition I wouldn’t make it past the Tenshi Mountains. What scared me most was I might easily give up when it all mattered
I was breaking down, my soul broke somewhere around here. I was breaching the threshold of pains - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
I didn’t realised it, but as I was running nearing A8 compound (Junior High School), I found myself with teary eyes. I was openly crying and running towards A8, it was around 2pm in afternoon. There were more people here, supporter and families. When they saw me with my conditions, they clapped, acknowledging my effort and gave me encouragements. I didn’t need to understand the Japanese language, whatever these kind people said goes directly to my heart and lifted my soul. Arigato Japan!
Upon reaching A8, I knew I had to stop and recuperated.
I found Alain, sitting down on a bench eating his food inside a tent. I told him, I need to stop for a while and lie down.
I have a lot of time here, almost 4 hours buffer time. I ate a little food and water, afterwards I told a volunteer that I need to rest, lie down and sleep a bit. I followed him into a school building, it’s the gym area.
There’s a lot of runners here and a lot of mattress on the gym floor. It’s quiet here, there people sleeping on the mattress, some look worse than others.
I consulted the doctor inside the gym that I have a headache and need to rest. He immediately gave me a sleeping bag and later gave me liquid ORS – he feels that I might suffered from dehydration.
Immediately after drinking that liquid ORS, I put away by heavy bag pack and lie down inside the sleeping back. I use my buff to cover my eyes, immediately I was gone into deep sleep.
Distance Covered: 9.5km
Accumulative Distance: 104.4km
Time Taken: 2:08 hrs
Accumulative Time: 22:08 hrs
Cut-off time: 4:00 pm (Saturday)
Time of the day: 1:18 pm (Saturday)
Time spent in aid station: 1:08 hrs
A8 (Nishi-Fuji, Alt. 520) to A9 (Fumoto, Alt. 818) - 18.9 km
20 minutes later I woken up feeling much better, the head ache was gone. I graciously thanked the doctor and left the gym to continue my UTMF adventure. Alain was long gone by now.
I ate more food at the tent outside the school compound. After I top up my water, I was ready to go. But before entering Tenshi Mountains, I was stopped at mandatory bag check counter.
First they weighted my bag pack, it was almost 3.5kg. No wonder my shoulders and back hurts due carrying all those mandatory items.
I was given green light after I showed them:-
· Detailed course map - all 18 maps of the UTMF course (I stored inside my smart phone).
· Mobile phone
· Water proof jacket
· Head light
· Survival blanket
I thought that was it, now time for face off with a monster called “Tenshi”, but I was dead wrong. As I was about to step into the trail, I was stopped with 3 other Japanese runners by Dr. Fukuda (UTMF Race Committee Director).
We going to test you now, the Doctor said. He asked all of us to squat and get up quickly! I knew I was a goner then, my quads was thrashed – no way could I perform this test.
I was surprised when I could get up the same time as the other three guys, more surprise came when the Dr. Fukuda asked us to repeat the test for the second time. And we passed with flying colours.
Oh my, that quick rest and power nap did the trick. I faith was restored back – I feel that I could finish UTMF after all. My quads and feet felt great and refreshed.
Another turn of event came next.
The four of us listen to Dr. Fukuda talked…in Japanese. Then he looked at me and said in English “Tenshi Mountains is very difficult! If you cannot passed Tenshi Mountains, you must come down back here on your own. We’re not going to look for you”, he said firmly. Immediately he shook all of hands firmly and wish us good luck.
At that point, my confidence gone like a smoke. I was asking myself with many questions – how tough is tough this Tenshi Mountains I wonder. I found these answers soon enough.
The distance between A8 to A9 is about 19km, inside Tenshi Mountains there are about seven mountains with the four highest peak (Tenshigatake 1330m, Chojagatake 1336m, Kumamoriyama 1575m and Yukimidake 1605m).
I pace with another Japanese runner - Arakawa Shoichi. It’s about 2km on the tarmac before we arrived at the trail head of Tenshi Mountains. There was a gate with Japanese writings on it, I asked my new friend for translation. He said “WELCOME TO HELL”, sorry I asked.
See my scared face upon entering Tenshi Mountains.
It was really a steep uphell going towards Mt. Tenshigatake (1330m), I had to stop many times and had to use only front part of my shoes for climbing those nasty hills.
A running TV crew soon overtook us, there’s a cameraman and a host. I knew the host, I met him at Leadville last year. It’s Ayako friend – Hirofumi Ono, an accomplished Ultra runner (UTMB finisher), my gosh he got a bib – it mean that he ran with us from the start !
He asked me how do I feel so far? I said, I smiled and said “I wanna cry”; which I did earlier of course.
Finally, after what felt like eternity, I reached the summit of Tenshigatake (1330m). I asked whether six more mountain are steep like this to Arakawa. He said this is the steepest, the rest would be “easier”. Somehow I doubt what he said haha, but it’s not far from the truth. The rest six mountains although steep, it’s pale in comparison with the first one.
I felt tired and started to feel sleepy, damn! Not again. I decided to rest a bit at one of the volunteer’s mini station. There’s no AS along Tenshi Mountains – I been warned earlier; I took more water before Tenshi (3 bottles).
There’s an open tent at the area and I found a runner was waking up from his rest. I asked permission from the volunteers to rest and he said ok. I lie down for the second time and felt great, took very short power nap there. After 10 minutes, I got up and continue with my race. It’s beginning to get dark at half way of Tenshi Mountains.
Finally it’s dark, I put on my headlight, try to conserve the battery by setting it to lowest lumen. The are many runners inside the trail, although many UTMF runner were cut off at A7 Kodomo-No-Kuni, STY runners are now joining us in the narrow trail inside Tenshi. There are many more steep hills and mountains I encountered, some parts needed the use of available rope to pull me towards the summit.
Nearing the end, after the final summit, my headlight battery went out. I took out hand held torch light, it’s was dim light thus making it difficult to see the trail, rookie mistake – forgot to replace fresh batteries. I just followed the runners in front of me, finally we reached the descent part. The ground of these part of the trail are like volcanic ashes, thankfully I wore gaiter around my shoes.
It’s so steep that I just can’t believe how anyone could run down here, unless you’re willing to slide your bum going down. I just took me sweet time and cautiously go down from tree to tree as my point of braking. No use of risking getting a broken feet here.
Finally I made my way down after hours on end inside the belly of Tenshi. It took me – 7:28 hours since I last squat infront of Dr. Fukuda. I felt relief, glad that I conquered the mother of the UTMF- Tenshi Mountains.
Arriving at lower altitude I felt sudden cold, it was quite warm inside Tenshi. My Garmin decided to die on me after Tenshi. I jogged towards A8, looking forward for hot soup and red bean buns.
There were many runners crowding A8, took a bowl of soup and couple of buns. Found Alain here, he’s been here for a while. I was taken aback when he said he wanted to DNF here, he said he was tired, unable to consume calories and had enough.
Try to picture this funny part. I tried to convince Alain to run with me in the next section, but I guess with my condition shivering with cold and shaking uncontrollable – it’s hard to convince anyone.
He added that next part will be also hard, especially during the night. Now I had second thought..ha ha. Thanks Alain! Sadly, that was the last time I saw Alain in the race. Met him few days later at Tokyo having coffee with Bud.
It was so damn cold at A9, as it was an open hall with roof but no walls. I put on another layer of shirt and put on waterproof pants for extra warm. I put on fresh batteries for my Petzl Nao and ready to go.
I saw Tony coming in as I was coming out, bid him good luck and hope to see him soon. A9 was crowded with runners, supporters and families.
Distance Covered: 18.9km
Accumulative Distance: 123.3km
Time Taken: 8:37hrs
Accumulative Time: 30:55 hrs
Cut-off time: 11:00 pm (Saturday)
Time of the day: 9:55 pm (Saturday)
Time spent in aid station: 43 mins
A9 (Fumoto, Alt. 818) to A10 (Motosuko, Alt. 907) – 15.3 km
As I go out, I saw this runner – a Japanese girl crying and her family did their best to motivate her. Finally the girl stopped crying and continue running out to the dark cold trail.
Few meters after that my headlight died on me! Damn! I’m out of light, the hand held torchlight was also out! No use of continuing running in the dark, to dangerous. I ran back to the A9 and decided to stop in front of the family of that Japanese girl. I held out my headlamp to her father (I assume) and asked him to help me. Well I was desperate, I was willing to try anything.
He gave the headlight a strong shake and voila the headlamp was magically shine its light. Arigato I said to the guy and gave him a quick nod. Thankfully, I was about to join Alain back in DNF land just then. “Just don’t give up”, I remembered Robert said in my head.
I continue back running towards the dark trail, I was surprised when the Japanese girl return back passed me crying uncontrollably.
Oh NO! That was a heart-breaking thing to see. I guess it was too much for the girl, mentally she’s gone. Well most of us felt the same way in some part of the race.
It was flat trail for few km before we entered into the mountain trail, to the summit is the majestic Mt. Ryugatake (1485m). In day time, we could see Mt. Fuji at the background on top of its summit. Bud said after the race that these part of the trail is called “suicide forest”, according to some - many took their life inside these forest. Oh, I better not thinking of dead people in the middle of cold dark mountain trail.
I was now sleepy again, I was reduced to zombie walk. I kept talking myself to stay awake, loudly! Many runners ran passed me, but this one runner stop to look at me as soon he passed me. It was Tony – “oi tunggu aku bro, aku ngantuk ni. Teman aku bro”.
It was Déjà vu, few weeks earlier – Tony and I did a 3:00 am run at Mt. Nuang as simulation to UTMF. Now it’s the real thing and Tony I here with me, thanks bro for keeping me company.
We fast hiked up to summit, w e found many switch back trail going up and up…endless! Arghhh
There we many runners, tired and sleepy. Many of them decided to rest and sleep at the side of the trail with their emergency blanket – it was a sad scene to see. But their determination are inspirational.
Finally I could take it any longer, I was tired and too sleepy. I asked Tony to stop and guard me while I took a quick nap. It was quick alright, not even 2 minutes my body was cold. I thought to myself, if I continue sleeping now I’d be frozen dead tomorrow. Brrrrrr
I quickly get up and ask Tony to lead the way. Not even few meters of ascending, we arrived at the summit. Damn! It was near but yet so far.
Now it’s time to run, we ran all the way down through all the switch back and wooden stairs (reminded me of HK). At one point, Tony fell down all of the sudden. He lost his footing while stepping on ice on the trail. ICE! So you could imagine how cold it was. Tony was ok though, just a bit bruised.
When we arrived at the bottom, I thought the AS was near. We’re on this road or highway, it was still far the AS from the foot of the mountain. We’re panicking a bit because the cut off time was nearer, Tony said run faster, I didn’t have the time (my Garmin was being charged with my powerbank inside bag pack).
I ran or jog as fast that I could, then I walked…. I couldn’t run any longer. My leg getting weak, by now Tony was out of sight. Then I pushed myself jog again – walk – jog continues till I reached a bright area. It was near a lake, it was cold and there’s a lots of cars parked on each side of the road. I’m getting nearer, but by then I’ve decided to DNF. I could not imagine how to continue running, my mind and body went bonk. I walked all the way to the AS, my head hang low – sign of defeat.
As I make way inside A9 (some sort of cabin near the wood), an official informed me that I had less than 10 minutes to go out (check-out) before they close this AS. I didn’t care anymore, I had enough, I legs gone jelly weak.
Jeff Ooi was on his way out when I came in – I was surprised, I thought he’d long gone by now.
I look for a chair and buried my face inside my palms. I was devastated. I took a long look at my kid’s photo – I said quietly to myself “I’m sorry to disappoint you guys again. All I ever wanted is to make you proud – I don’t want to be a loser dad”. It was an emotional roller coaster ride this past two days, UTMF took a lot from you and now demand more of you.
The questions is, are you willing and able to give more?
I felt a warm liquid rolling down my cheeks, another teary scene to end my virgin adventure in Japan. Then I flicked the photo to see the cut off time and elevation profile at the back of the photo.
What happened next was the turning point of my UTMF race.
I found out I have 6 hours to cover 19km from A9 to A10, six hours!
I could do that, with that piece of information, it lifted my spirit. I felt light and a surge of energy suddenly fills my being. I got up and went to the table that serve water and passed my bottles to the volunteer to fill it, I urged them to be hurry – I was panicking about the time now. Then, I asked the volunteer girl to warp up few red bean buns for take away. I took it thank them endlessly and made my made out of A10. My kids save my race that day.
Distance Covered: 15.3km
Accumulative Distance: 138.6km
Time Taken: 5:26 hrs
Accumulative Time: 36:21 hrs
Cut-off time: 3:30 am (Sunday)
Time of the day: 3:21 am (Sunday)
Time spent in aid station: 7 mins
A10 (Motosuko, Alt. 907) to A11 (Motosuko, Alt. 907) – 15.3 km
As I was walking up to the mountain trail, someone called for me. It was Tony, he was arranging his bag pack. I soon joined him, sat beside him and start eating my food. That was a close call, I said to Tony.
Walking out of A10 with my red bean buns. It was a cold night..brrrrr
Day break was soon upon us, ah nice it’s a brand new day. I like daylight, it give me strength. We found Jeff soon after, lying down resting on top of this steep hill.
The three of us now walk-run-jog together, finally Tony said he was sleepy – just about me getting warm up to run and stretch my legs. Tony stayed and support me last night when I was sleepy, now it’s my turn to return the favour. I decided not to run but walked with Tony, I’m getting restless at we haven’t arrived at summit of Mt. Nakanokurayama (1247 m). I set the pace for them to follow, fast hike and jog. Both Tony and Jeff follow suit, finally we reached the summit. Now it’s the easy part - downhill, we ran all the way down through the switch back trail.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, we felt relief – the AS should be near. I should have studied the map, it was still long 10km to the next AS. We reached this long and ascending highway, it getting warmer now as the sun out. I set the pace and run in front of the guys, I run and then walked sleepy, it’s more than 40 hours without sleep.
I asked a Japanese runner beside me for the time, it’s almost 9:00 am and still we have not seen the AS. I was worried and started running, all of the sudden Tony arrived besides me. He asked, “Where’s the hell is this AS”? I have no idea, we been walking for more two hours on this highway. I asked Tony, “where’s Jeff?”. At the back, he replied. Jeff injured his feet and uprooted his toenails, he can’t run but left with power walk.
As the time goes on, there’s still no sign of A11. Now we all worried, Tony increased his pace and left me eating his dust again, my gosh this guy still have something in the tank. I pushed everything I had towards reaching the last AS. Now or never, it’s too damn late in the race to DNF…not now I said.
Finally I reached the final junction and turn right into the AS, I was drained – made it at 9:17 am. 13 mins before they close A11. I immediately fills my bottles with water and coke, took a bun and banana and sat down. A volunteer asked me whether I need anything, I passed him my collapsible cup and asked for coffee. He immediately run and fill my cup and bring it back to me in record time, thank you dude. “Anything else, I could get you”, he asked further. I’m okay for now. He reminded me anxiously that I need to cross the check in mat before cut off time. I said, we are waiting for our friend to arrive (Jeff).
Tony and I waited and waited, there’s no sign of Jeff. 3 minutes before cut off, we decided to cross the mat and wait for Jeff at the other side. We were disappointed when the digital clock showed 9:30 am and immediately the volunteers roll up the timing mat. There’s no Jeff, another casualty in a long list of DNF that day.
Distance Covered: 19km
Accumulative Distance: 157.6km
Time Taken: 5:56 hrs
Accumulative Time: 42:17 hrs
Cut-off time: 9:30 am (Sunday)
Time of the day: 9:17 am (Sunday)
Time spent in aid station: 13 mins
A11 (Motosuko, Alt. 907) to Finish (Kawaguchiko, Alt. 835) – 11.4 km
Now it’s the last stretch home, we could enjoy and take our time at this last section. We got 3:30 hours to cover 11.4 km (8.4km trail, 3km road).
We found the TV crew again, we stop for a while and posed for Yuma (Japanese photographer cum Ultra Runner). I was interviewed by them while running towards Kawaguchiko, these guys are fast runners – amazing.
There was this one guy playing Rocky tune thru his sax, again amazing support from the Japanese running community.
We ran a bit and walk most of the last segment of the race. Asked Tony to leave me and run at his own pace as his wife was waiting at the finish line. I really took my time here to reflect my experiences these past three days and nights running UTMF.
The final two mountains was nothing compared what we went through earlier, then the downhill comprises of stairs…oh no HK trail again.
Finally I reached the last 3km of the race, no more trail – just a flat road along the lake towards the finish line.
It was a dream finish by a world class event, as I arrived near the finish line with my “Jalur Gemilang”/Malaysian flag hoist up in the air, many people and supporters cheers for the runners and me. Shout of congratulations and “welcome back” echoed throughout those last few meters to the finish line.
I high fived all the people lined up left and right at that stretch towards the finish line. By now all the volunteers and earlier finishers (including the elites) all gathered at the finish line. It was a grand finish – a dream finish for me.
As I crossed the finish line with my Malaysian flag, I then kiss the ground and perform “sujud syukur” as symbol of gratitude for keeping me safe and without injury (just a small blisters).
I met Dr. Fukuda again, this time he was all smiles. He raised my right hand and congratulates my accomplishment before gave me warm hug. I'm humbled by this experience, Arigato Japan, it was a good memories. I joined the list of all time six UTMF finisher from Malaysia, a very short list indeed.
Thank you Mt.Fuji and Tenshi Mountain for teaching me the meaning of humility. Respect the mountains, after a good lesson it will show you the way out. Special thanks to Alain and Tony for the support during the race. I fulfilled my dream when I cross that finish line at Lake Kawaguchi that Sunday.169km, 105miles, 9,500m elevation gain. UTMF was definitely an epic race to last me a life time.
Distance Covered: 11.4km
Accumulative Distance: 169km
Time Taken: 3:15 hrs
Accumulative Time: 45:32 hrs
Cut-off time: 1:00 pm (Sunday)
Time of the day: 12:32 pm (Sunday)
UTMF finisher stats
1422 Starters
849 Finisher
Overall - 59.7%
Men - 69.5% (730)
Women - 55.0% (119)
DNF rate – 40.3%
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