Running Trails Nuang

On the way down...


It's pretty wet at the top.... with mud pools and slippery rocks and roots...

Since the last nuang trail run had so much fun elements in it, my younger bro and I hit the trails up Mt Nuang again. This time, I came prepared with a new pair of MudRoc 290 inov-8 shoes, and also a camelback Sierra bag. The shoes cost rm 400.00 from Nomad, but I found it very good when running on muddy and slippery slopes, and also rocks. As for the bag, it had a 2-liter capacity water storage, and so this could free up the hands from carrying water bottle.

I had also trained up running a hill nearby Cheras with a vertical height 185 meters, and that was real fun too. Since running trails, I found out that it's more enjoyable, and dangerous as well. You could be pushing fast, but any lapse in concentration can end up badly. However, said that, it's truly addictive to blast downhills at high speed. If road running is as addictive as getting a nice warm cup of coffee, hills trail running is like marijuana or heroin.

As usual, my bro was ahead of me, while i slugged along uphill. But with better grip with the new shoes, it was easier to run, and not much slip ups.

But, as we started the almost 50 degrees hike, the muddy terrain proved to be a bit harder, even for my shoes. Not much we could do but slowing down. There are times that even the mud give away.

And there's another worrying issue. There are times I could hardly catch my breath going up. Not much breath means slower pace. I come to realization, that I will have to train very hard on uphills if I were to even join Kinabalu Climbathon.

Soon, we reached the top after 2.5 hours. The wind was cold and strong. And the whole place had a dampness feeling all around. Had some powerbars and drinks, and then soon we were heading down. As we finally reach the wide tar road, I realized we still got half an hour before 5 hours. So we quickly ran, and as usual my bro ran so far ahead, he beat me to the finish line. His time was less than 5 hours, but mine was 5:03

The fun was worth it. But I am pretty sure our timing can improve if we had run more.