At 19, Rickey Gates dropped out of college and headed on a road trip to South America. It was a trip that would kick-start a life of adventure and travel.
Over a decade later and now a sponsored trail runner - Rickey's love for the road has not diminished one bit.
"On the Road" shares Rickey's thoughts and philosophy on the life he has chosen as he road trips from Aspen Colorado to San Francisco in search of wild lands and some of the best trails in the USA.
“Start the race full of fears but hold nothing back”
Back together again after Sundown Ultramarathon 2013 CP5 to CP1 (10km)
Kirk Wadsworth gave me a sign to pace together for the second loop.
There’s no point staying longer at CP5 in the hot sun. I refilled by coca cola and water, wet my hair with iced cold sponge and off we went running in the hot sun.
It’s only 11:30ish, but the sun was merciless hot.
I tried to keep up with Kirk pace, slowly but surely I was slowing down. I let Kirk go with his own pace.
It’s more walking than running in the second part for me. More than an hour later I reached CP1 for the second time that day.
I quickly top up water and ate more watermelons, the bananas served here was somewhat greenish in color, giving the impression that it’s still not ripe to eat. I’m not taking chances of getting stomach ache later on, so I left the bananas untouched.
Distance Covered: 10km
Accumulative Distance: 60km
Time Taken: 1:27 (1:06 pm)
Accumulative Time: 8:06
CP1 to CP2 (10km)
It’s getting much hotter now, but I had worse at Craze Ultra in Singapore previously. This is nothing compared to the two days of sun i endured during that 100 mile race.
I need to complete a loop before attacking the “Frodo Hill”, as I was ascending the trail I bumped into Laslo. He said run faster “Razif”, nice to exchange motivation here. He was looking good and running strong, Kirk then followed his lead.
As I was about to complete the loop and descending towards the WS, I finally met Cikgu Mat. I was surprised coz i thought he was in front. He said that he took longer breaks at CP5.
As I returned back to the Water Station, I saw Cikgu Syed and Nik Nasrallah taking a break there. KA Junior would later arrived at the WS. We chat a bit before a made my move toward the Frodo hill.
I was painfully slow on the hill this time around, a runner from China overtook me on the hill. He was only wearing a sandal, I couldn’t imagine the blisters he would accumulate at the end of this race.
Coming down from the Frodo hill, I had a nasty cramps attack on my right calves. It left me paralysed sitting down between those rocks. I was all alone, no runners insight. It took me a good 10 minutes sitting down in an awkward position before the cramp finally went away. Silly of me, I forgot again to consume salts pills…urghh stupid mistakes!
Due to the heat, I couldn’t eat properly. In other word, i had no appetite to eat, too tired to care – my mind was dead tired due to the sun.
I continued on walking and running soon after that nasty cramps, I looked back and saw a runner and Cikgu Mat in the horizon.
Finally the runner arrived at my side, she look strong. Her name was Lindui from Netherland, she said it was her first 100km. We paced together after that till the next CP. She was worried about not making it in time to finish the race. Based on my experiences running Ultra, I said we would finish within 16 hours if we keep on moving forward.
Still the sun still up there burning us runners, we reached the next CP/WS which located under row of trees more than 2 hours later.
Rejoice, I found Gatorade in my drop bag.
Distance Covered: 10km
Accumulative Distance: 70km
Time Taken: 2:28 (3:34 pm)
Accumulative Time: 10:34
CP2 to CP4 (21km)
I was getting weaker now, I had nothing but endless sugary liquid fuel – Coca Cola, 3 gels and 2 Cliff Bar. I couldn’t eat more food, kept on vomiting – a really bad day for me at the “office”.
Lindui and two other runners was ahead of me, gosh these runners they still have legs to run. I know at the time that I really need to dig deep and depend on my past Ultra experiences to get me through this one hot race.
More sands got into my shoes, i had to stop to get the sands out from my shoes. It’s freaking annoying.
Finally, I reached the tarmac going downhill to CP3. Now it’s the opportunity to make lost time while ascending the previous trail, I ran all the way downhill to the CP3. Lindui and the others runners was about to leave the CP/WS when i arrived.
The cut-off at CP3 was at 8pm, i’m pretty glad to reach here around 5ish pm.
Now, it’s another 2km loop before going into the dreaded jungle maze afterwards.
I met Laszlo and Kirk again here, as I was running into the loop. They was about to finished the loop and will be going into the jungle maze. Kirk said to me “it was brutal loop mate”, I replied “well then I better make move now”.
I high fived these guys before running into the trail loop.
My feet was hurting more now, thankfully my knees was behaving good all day. The sun was having a field day, shone its hot merciless ray from 8:30am till 6:15 pm, more than 10 hours pure agony running under the hot sun. More than an hour later, I painstakingly finished the loop.
I turn left to CP3, to top up my bottles and put on my bandanna and Petzl Headlamp. It will get dark soon.
I saw a runner sat down at CP3, his head was down. As soon as I arrived, he approached me. “Are you Thai runner?” he asked.
“No sir, I’m from Malaysia”, I replied.
He gave me his gel and Cliff Bar, he added “Here you need this, I’m finished here”.
I was stunned by his kindness, see more good Karma !
The sun and toughness of this new route beaten many strong runners that day, but I salute his spirit to challenge himself running 100km.
Trying to stay well hydrated and avoid heat stroke is another challenge in this race. My pee was yellow all the time, no matter how much I drank. After the race, I found out a runner was taken to the nearest Hospital after he suffered heatstroke during the race.
“Only 20km to go”, I said to myself.
My spirit was getting higher now, I quickly shake the runner’s hand and bid him farewell.
Off I went, running towards the jungle maze with my renewed energy and motivation.
Finally the sun is gone!
And finally I got back my mojo and can run faster now, no more heat!
It’s dark in the jungle, now I need the light from my Petzl Nao to shine me the way.
My feet was hurting more now, I was in a “dark” place emotionally.
In my mind, I opened a box and put all my pains inside the box and locked it. Then, I throw away the key!
I felt nothing, I felt numb, no more pain. Now I can focus on my running.
If you strong enough, you can trick your mind and chase away your pains.
As night goes on, I realised I was running alone in the dark trail. It’s better now, the air is cooler in the trail. I recited Zikr all the way in the dark jungle, it felt good to be running in the dark.
It’s just you and nature, amazingly I did not felt afraid running in the dark jungle. I embraced the trail, the hill, the jungle and my surroundings. I really feel that I belong in there somehow.
Funny thing though, it felt faster going into the trail for the second time. Maybe because of the darkness, my focus was only running forward. Sooner than I thought I was out of the trail, the park rangers on the motorbike was inside the trail helping me to light the dark trail. Thank you so much for taking care of me, i profusely thanks all of them.
Finally I reached the final CP/WS. There were many volunteers at this aid station at the time. I guess they already closed the other CP/WS.
Distance Covered: 21km
Accumulative Distance: 91km
Time Taken: 4:12 (7:46 pm)
Accumulative Time: 14:46
CP4 to Finish (9km)
Someone put a reflective green stick at the back of my hydration bag. It’s for my safety running at night. Thank you volunteers and park rangers.
Now it’s about 4km of tarmac before entering the trail head, I was getting emotional for this final stage.
I was in a mixed of emotions, elated because the 100km run is almost over and hurting because of the sun, trail, inability to eat more – but mostly due to the sun. But I determined to finish this run at all cost.
I ran all the way on the tarmac, there was a Thai wedding reception besides the road and I also remembered that I high fived more kids along the way.
Now I was walk-running in the last few km of sandy trail, it felt the longest time on this trail. I was careful to see all the non-reflective markers, I really don’t want to get lost at this final stage of the run.
The volunteers and park rangers were inside the dark trail, helping runners getting to their final destination – the Finish Line.
Finally I reached the final kilometers of tarmac road going to Simalin, the finish line.
I was hungry, tired and had nothing left at that moment. Still I push on, run or rather slow jog all the way to finish line. I was singing to get my motivations up all the way from CP4, I guess I covered all the songs from Wings’ Hukum Karma and Teori Domino albums.
I don’t know what got into me, the final 2 km I was in tears. I was thinking about why I start running in the first place, thinking about my boys and how badly I misses them.
I ran this far only to get close to my boys, that’s my only reason running all this crazy distances.
At last, I could hear noises and bright light from the Finish line.
As I entered the final few meters to the finish line, the announcer said my name and country. That was a grand finish for me. A conclusion of a very long day, i was emotionally and physically drained.
I crossed the finish line in 16:13 at #33 as overall 100km finisher.
I got down to my knees and kiss the ground (sujud syukur), thanking god that kept me safe all day long. I didn’t fight the hills nor the route, I embraced all the experiences and challenges – especially the sun and making it an unforgettable chapter in my book of life.
I finish thankfully without injuries, just a small blisters due to the sand inside my socks. My Sense Ultra was a total lost after this race! My GPS watch recorded 102km, including 2km of getting lost in the trail.
In the past, I had Shine waiting for me at finish line for support. Now I had Cikgu Fath, Khairi Muin and the others waiting for me and other Malaysian runners at finish line. Thanks a million for your support guys!
Distance Covered: 9km
Accumulative Distance: 100km
Time Taken: 1:27 (9:13 pm)
Accumulative Time: 16:13
This was surely an unforgettable race for me, a tough one. I suffered multiple cramps attack throughout the race.
I had run TNF100km Singapore, Philippines, TNF HK and TNF Thai 2012. I never had multiple cramps like these and puking so many times that i lost count doesn't help either.
It was really a bad day for me to run a 100km race, I was beyond spent on the final 50km. I got nothing left but sheer determination and supports from fellow runners to get me through to the finishing line.
My highest congratulations to the organiser of TNF100 Thailand, Mr. Chaiyut and his staff. I personally thanked the Race Director, Roman after race for making this the toughest 100km trail race in Thailand – with 58% DNF rate you better respect the distance and the sun!
Roman have made a monster of 100km race, which i am happy to participate and proudly finish with my blood, sweats and tears.
With a broad smile on my face i leave the "The Land of Smiles" pleasantly tired. I hope to come back and repeat this enjoyable pain at TNF100 Thai 2015.
Gears used for the race:
TNF100 Thailand Statistics.
REGISTERED -161
STARTERS - 117
FINISHER - 49
DNF - 68
DNS - 44
49 finishers from 161 registered.
49 finisher from 117 starters. (Men 42, Women 7)
41.88% Finisher | 58.12% DNF Rate
2,400 elevation gain
100 km trail race
18 hours cut-off time
The toughest 100km in Thailand
Start: 5:00 am (Saturday, 8 Feb 2014)
Cut-off time: 11:00 pm (Saturday, 8 Feb 2014)
Finally i came back to TNF100 Thailand, after completing the inaugural 100km race in 2012 (Aphawa, Samut Songkram). Mr. Chaiyut Srivikorn, the big boss of TNF Thailand manage to convinced me to race after he promised a more challenging route this time. I complained after the first race that TNF100 Thai is too flat and quite easy. Oh me and my big mouth lol.
Pre Race
TNF100 Thailand relocated to its present route since 2013 in Pak Chong. This year the organiser change the route and added more elevations; 2,400+ elevation gain to be precise. Good enough to get 3 UTMB points from 2 points in the first year.
Race pack collection and briefing was done at Bonanza Resort.
For me it's like a school reunion, meeting back friends at race site. I met Laslo from Hungary after two years, we kept close contact through FB. Too bad that two times TNF women champion Katherine Welch couldn’t join us this year. Get well soon Katherine, we'll missed you.
Laslo offered me to stay at his house in Budapest after I competed my Italian Ultra in the future. Thanks Laslo, I hope to see you soon in Budapest. Take me trail running around your town eh buddy.
There more Malaysian runners at TNF Thai this year, which I believe is good for development of Ultra running/trail running in Malaysia.
I had chat with Chaiyut before the briefing, he said about 2,500 runners from all categories from 21 countries are participating this year. 117 are solo 100km runners. Ultra running is beginning to blossom in Thailand, I’m happy to be part of the pioneers running the inaugural race and seeing how big it get now. Amazing!
Chaiyut said that his wife ask him to look after me during the race, which caught me by surprise. He added further that his wife is a keen follower of my running career. All I can say is ขอขอบคุณคุณ, thank you for your support.
With Mr. Chaiyut (left); with last year winner Sanya from Thailand and Laslo my Hungarian friend.
With Team Malaysia at TNF100 Thailand.
The Race
Start to CP1 (10km)
Whenever I travel for a race, especially an Ultra race. I make sure I come early and had plenty of sleep and rest. To be the best shape for Ultra race, sleep is no. 1 before food. You need to focus on the Ultra game ahead, studied the route map and elevation profile.
I really don’t understand how people can relax and spend a day before the race shopping or sightseeing….in Bangkok! 200km from PakChong. For me you need to respect the distance, you can fake 42km finish but you could NEVER fake 100km finish - you need to pour your heart into it.
There’s no real fame in Ultra running. Runners do it, days in and days out because of true passion, because they’re happy doing it, they loved the game so much that it hurt if they can’t run due to injury.
Come race morning, I was feeling good, I had two nights of good sleeps. Blessed!
Toe the start line at TNF100 Thailand. Vlad Ixel from Australia (in blue shirt) would later break course record and win the race in blistering 8:35 hours.
It was cool weather at the start of the race 5:00 am, but i got a feeling that this would be a very hot race under the sun later on. All I need to do is to complete this under 18 hours cut off time, sound easy at the time. But in Ultra running, things would be changing from time to time, from bad to worse to better, like a wheel of life.
It was a fast start by the elites, I was trying to hold my pace down so hard at the time. I remembered, coz it was a chilly morning and the first 1km was on tarmac. I hold my pace and let other fast runners pass me by, then after 1km the 6th runner overtook me and he look familiar with a Malaysian flag neatly tucked behind his hydration bag.
It was Cikgu Mat from Pekan, Pahang. I looked at GPS watch and horrified when it showed 4:30 pace. I tried to shout at him to slow down, but too late! He zoomed past me like he was running the 10km. I thought to myself, I need to slow down this stupid fast pace, I really need to spread my energy throughout this 100km race. Soon after, we hit the trails and the first incline. I slowed down automatically, it was dark and though I had my headlamp, I really need to be careful not get my leg sprain at this early stages.
More runners overtook me in the dark.
I followed these group of Caucasian runners into the trail, the inclines are getting higher. Wow I said to myself, the organiser really put an effort this time around. I saw a stone marked with “X” at the time and ran past it, it didn’t occur at that time we’re running of course. 5 minutes later, the front group stopped – they couldn’t find the route markers! Shit! I’m screwed at this early stage of the race. I felt so disappointed after running the leading packs only to get lost!
Game face on, the race is about to start.
These runners talk in different language, it’s not English though! Finally it hit me that these guys are from Italy. One of them gave order to turn back, and try to find the real route. In the dark that would be difficult. Apparently the route markers are not reflective to light, so you really need to watch them closely.
Finally we found our way back, and there’s a row of lights. Now the trail is flooded with runners, again I felt disappointed after making a good running start.
I thought I was finally safe in the correct trail then, but somehow I managed to get lost again. I followed different group this time, all of them got lost. Then a runner shouted to us and asked to follow him into the real route.
I was getting edgy and mad at the time. I stopped, took out my water bottle and drank it…very slowly. I really need to recompose myself and run a bit slower, slow is good – especially in the dark.
After a while, I joined the others and continued running. My motivation was at all-time low at the time, but i owned my mistakes and moved on.
As in life, it's not how many times you fall down, it's how many times you get back up, and that’s what count!
Finally I reached the first Check Point – CP1
Distance Covered: 10km
Accumulative Distance: 10km
Time Taken: 1:03 (6:03 am)
Accumulative Time: 1:03
CP1 to CP2 (10km)
It’s getting brighter now, a lot of runners and activities around CP1.
After crossing the timing mat, I stopped at the WS and look for my drop bag. Time to refill my fuel – Coca Cola and water.
Here we need to do a loop before continue climbing the “Lord of The Rings” hills.
It’s still a cooling run, one could see smog coming out while running.
No problem so far, energy level is still good. Motivation recovered.
I fast hike all the way on the Frodo Hills, I don’t want to risk injury running the though the stones, I fast hike is good enough for me to overtook few runners in front.
After that, it’s downhill and a run though some dusty trail. It was a hot weather around these parts. I could see it haven’t rain in a long time here.
I overtook Cikgu Syed here and went looking for Cikgu Mat, where is this guy?
The dusty trail reminded me so much of Leadville trail. So you do not need to go Colorado to enjoy Leadville dusty trail, you can save money and run the TNF100 Thailand.
I paced with Kirk Wadsworth from UK here, he is a former Army and now a teacher at International school in Bangkok.
Then I bumped into Siow Ping from Hong Kong. She was doing the 50km race. I met her last Dec at TNF HK, she asked me whether I finished that brutal race.
I said yes.
She said “congratulations”, coz as a 100km finisher of that race; she knows how brutal the race was.
I replied “I finished at Tai Mo Shan”.
Then we both laugh, she said many strong runners DNF at Tai Mo Shan. It was a good tough race but bad weather marred it for most of us.
Now I had two pacers for the run.
CP2 was located under some trees.
They serve water, sport drink (air sirap), watermelons, banana and the most important thing – the ice cold sponge.
Distance Covered: 10km
Accumulative Distance: 20km
Time Taken: 1:33 (7:36 am)
Accumulative Time: 2:36
CP2 to CP4 (21km)
After CP2, we ran past a village and what happened next was the highlight of the run.
As we arrived at a road junction, we saw a row of school children neatly in their school uniforms waving Thai flag and waving at us. Supporting us runner!
I slow down my pace, ran near them and high fived all of them. That lift up my spirit tremendously, it got me thinking about my two boys. I really missed them, I felt like I was high fived my own kids.
It getting hotter now, the sun is relentless.
As we go out from the trail, the long tarmac greeted us. It’s all downhill to CP3.
I checked my GPS watch and it says 28km, under distance?
No not really, coz after the WS at CP3 we need to do another 2km loop.
CP3. Drink more water, it’s a bloody hot day. (Photo: Nik Nasrallah).
It was one bloody long loop, after that we’re directed into another long loop into the jungle. It’s getting hotter now, I felt a cramp coming on my right calve…damn! I forgot to take Salt pills, probably much too late now. I took three pills in hoping the cramps would go away, it didn’t. It loyally stayed with me all the way till finish line.
In hotter conditions, I’m losing salt faster and I need to replace that lost salt immediately; which I failed to do.
After 30km, my legs were betraying me. I trashed my legs pretty bad, it no longer had the strong run as before. I guess I haven’t recovered from my high mileage week I covered a week before, 256km accumulated mileage (100km running and 156km cycling). I only had a week to properly train and pick up the mileage, note to myself – I need two weeks for taper!
By then it’s more run-walk-run strategy, walk all the inclines and jog downhill; as Scott Jurek used to say – free speed goin downhill.
By the time I reached the steepest inclines, my energy we almost gone zapped by the scorching sun. Here I found a Japanese runner, sat down on the ground.
I asked him whether he’s okay. He asked water from me coz he ran out of water, in the middle of scorching sun; that is a big problem during an Ultra race.
So I gave him my water bottle, he seem quite surprise with my generosity. He thanked me profusely for my kindness. He understand completely his predicament, we are all in a race and all of us need all the water that could hold. If a runner won’t share his water, it’s because he need to take care his safety first. I guess I believe in good karma, good deed today would be repaid in full in another day.
After CP3 with Nik, Siow Ping, Kirk Wadworth (blue shirt) and Dan Betts (yellow shirt).
From CP3 I had Dan Betts, another teacher from USA, teaching in an International School in Bangkok. He completed this race last year within 12 hours, he said last year route was easier and the heat was more bearable than today’s 35-40 Celsius.
We would be tied up like rubber band, he would overtook me on the inclines before I overtook him back on the downhill.
I lost Dan for quite some time in that jungle, he was somewhere in front of me.
I finally found Dan, he was sitting down under a shade of a tree. He said the sun was too much for him. Sadly, that was the last I saw of him. Looking at the result later, he DNF at 50km. It showed how tough this year edition of TNF Thai compared to the previous year, yeah me and big mouth.
Two other runners and I almost took the wrong way after that, when Kirk Wadsworth the runner I paced earlier shouted at us, hey guys this way! He said showing the marker, I thanked Kirk for his deed. See good Karma!
We arrived at CP4 (41km) exhausted and dehydrated. I drank plenty at the WS, top up my bottles, wet my hair with ice cold sponge, top up my coke from my drop bag and out of there in 10 minutes.
Distance Covered: 21km
Accumulative Distance: 41km
Time Taken: 2:57 (10:33 am)
Accumulative Time: 5:33
CP4 to CP5 (9km)
I stopped by the roadside after CP4, there were sands inside my sock and it started to rub between my toes. When I took out my shoes and my socks, after clearing out the sands – it is confirmed I got nasty blister between my toes. Its annoying uncomfortable having to run with these blisters. It still small though, not my priority sight now. Put on my shoes and continued running.
It’s all back on tarmac now, for about 3km. After the brief stop at CP4, I had a renewed energy, so I ran all the way on the tarmac till I reached a junction going into a trail. It was a sandy and dusty trail, another note to myself – I need to bring gaiter for next year.
It was blazing hotter now, after cleared the trail we’re back on tarmac road for 2km all the way to Simalin (the start/finish point), I had Kirk running besides me now. I noticed he gave out encouragement to every runner he passed – you can do this! He said to every one of them.
Finally we reached the CP5, I completed the first loop (50km) in 6:39 hours. Over 9 minutes for my target 13:30 hours finish time. It was so hot at 11:39 am, I really don’t know how I can run the next 50km in this heat.
To my surprise, the WS at CP5 is as small as the other WS. I was expecting a shade under a tent at 50km, solid food like rice or phad thai. They only serve bananas and Watermelons like the other WS. I was quite hungry at the time, a bowl of rice would be so great for lunch – instead I had Cliff Bar for lunch. This would definitely a challenge to finish this race, so far my trip to Thailand is really worth it. The heat from the sun was the biggest challenge that day, I was lingering at WS whether I should continue or not……
TBC
Distance Covered: 9km
Accumulative Distance: 50km
Time Taken: 1:06 (11:39 am)
Accumulative Time: 6:39
Another Ultra Marathon in the bag.
TNF100 Thailand completed in 16:13:24
It was a tough race, a very long day under the sun.
Proud finisher of (2 times) TNF100 Thailand 100km Trail race (2012 & 2014).
Race report coming soon.