Run Up Genting Highlands

I've been dreaming of running up, and today is the day to do it. I drove from Cheras to Genting Sempah, and parked there. It was a nice chilly morning. I have the foggiest idea how tough it would be, and how far is the distance. The only information I got is the distance from Genting Sempah to Genting Highlands is about 20km. I have only drove up genting once. From Google Earth, Genting Sempah at 561 meters. Genting highlands is at 1700 meters. That means an estimate uphill climb of 1139 meters.


Genting Sempah parking lot...

For breakfast, I had 2 bananas and water. That's it. I brought along a powerbar, just in case.


First police station...

I started running at 7:30am. And already at the start, the path is hilly. After Genting Sempah, there's a police checkout point. I was wondering if they allow runners on the road. But seems like they don't mind. The initial few kms is all hard uphill climb. When I looked back, at the hills below, it's amazing how steep the roads were.

It's all uphill from here...

Direction is easy to spot on...

As I ran up, Genting Highlands appeared over the hills, and it was a breathtaking sight. I have ran lots of hills, but never on a mountain. The view gave me some ideas on how hard the challenge would be.


There's 15km more....

Genting highlands on top...

However, after that, there's some relieve as the road dips downhill. Soon, I reached Hotel Seri Malaysia. I could see lots of buses around here. So, after that, I head for Genting Highlands path. But there's another police checkpoint. Fortunately they don't seem to mind.


Hotel Seri Malaysia....

Second police checkpoint...

After this point, the path started to get steeper. I try to sustain my pace, although slowly, but still running. Suddenly, a bus slows down. A man appeared at the door, asked me if I am going up, and probably wanting to offer a ride. I smiled and just made a refuse gesture. Was too tired to talk.


The hills are like #$&^%#

As cars, vans passed by, some gave a look. A few cheered me on. Maybe if I got cheered all the way...the run would have been faster.


It's all green around here...

There's some part of the road, that's just too steep. Almost 45 degrees. And on average...I am running on 20-30 degrees inclination.


Where are the cabel cars?


Still going up...

Damn steep road...and it's all the way up..

Soon, genting highlands came nearer onto view. I was excited. As I was reaching the top...I had to slow down a bit. Sometimes I had to walked a bit. The nice thing about the path is that, there's distance markers. So you know how far yet to reach the top. For the last 200 meters, I revved up my legs, and made a final run. Funny how you get more energy when approaching the finishing line. My time was 2:43:06. And the distance is estimated at 20k from genting sempah.


Approaching genting highlands...elated for awhile...

Another steep bend...my legs are killing me..

Nearer....

Almost...only 0.7km left...


How they built stuff here?...

It was misty all around. And a bit colder, but not really that cold. I was expecting it to be colder, but was surprised it was not so bad. I had some chicken porridge and iced milo at MacD, for refuelling. Did some walk around genting just for sight seeing.


Genting highlands is not cold...probably global warming..

The clouds and genting are one...

Genting is not genting if not for this picture...

At 12:00, I started to run back genting sempah. It was probably the nicest run, as I did not need to make the effort of going uphill. It's all downhill from here. And the mist surrounding the air made me felt as though I am running in the sky. Sort of..


Got to go back...where's KL?

Running in the mist...notice it's only like 10 meters visibility..

Mist hugging the hills...

Chin Swee temple...looks majestic in this one...A flying dragon would be nice...

Still a long way down..

It's a crazy steep bend....

Soon, I reached Hotel Seri Malaysia...but then needed to run another 10k back to Genting Sempah. There's some uphill here...so I had to walk part of the uphill. It's just too much to go up again after Genting Highlands. As I ran down, I realized, the climb is very steeper than I had thought. You could see the road below, which is like 100 meters down.


Still going down...

I reached Genting Sempah at around 2pm plus. Just glad to reached back safely. Total distance covered is 40km.


Finally back to Genting Sempah...