The River Jungle Marathon 2014

Venue: Lot 1625, Jalan Sungai Tekali, Hulu Langat Batu 14, 43100 Selangor

Date: 7th September 2014

Time: 5.00am

Distance: 42.195km


The River Jungle Marathon 2014 was my first full marathon, and my objective was just to complete it with a smile on my face without bothering about the finishing time. Despite the name, this was a road run and no trail running was involved. This was a non-competitive marathon, so there's no cut-off time. Every participant who crossed the finish line received a finisher medal regardless of how long it took. 

To prepare for my full marathon debut, I followed the personalised training plan from the My Asics web app for 4 months since May 2014. My strategy for completing this marathon is instead of letting the 42.195km break me, I'll break the 42.195 km. By that, I mean breaking the marathon into smaller sections. There were 13 drink stations throughout the course with the average distance of 3km between each of them. My plan was to only focus on getting to the next drink station and not to think about the remaining distance to the finish line because it can be very demoralising.

I only had 2 hours of sleep before the marathon possibly due to pre-race jitters. I got up at 3.15am and started to get ready. I left my house at 4am and reached the venue 22 minutes later. My friend, Marc was already waiting for me. I ate my PowerBar and after chatting with Marc for a short while, we did some stretching together. At 5am sharp, we were flagged off!

I ran with Marc and we were pacing at about 7:15/km. Since this was a non-competitive run, we treated this as another LSD (long slow distance). After passing the Batu 18 police station, we turned right onto Jalan Sungai Lui. This is a narrow kampung road with mostly jungles on both sides. I could hear the sound of a river trickling on our right, but it was too dark to see anything.

After approximately 9km, Marc's  right knee started to hurt and he slowed down his pace. He told me he may not be able to complete the marathon and planned to stop after 20km to avoid any serious injuries. I took my first energy gel at the KM 11 drink station. At the KM 17 drink station, I stopped to use the portable toilet and Marc overtook me. After using the toilet, I picked up my pace and after about 1.5km, I caught up with Marc. At this point, he was really struggling and had to stop to walk several times. I stayed with him and gave him encouragement that the next drink station is not far ahead.

Once we reached the KM 20 drink station, I took my second energy gel. Marc said he will flag down the next support vehicle he sees to head back to the starting line. We parted ways and I continued on my own. The next section was a very steep uphill climb. It was really tough but the view was amazing. Eventually I had to walk the last few hundred meters towards the top in order to conserve energy. At the top of hill climb was the KM 23 drink station which also served durians! I did a u-turn and head back downhill. On the way down, I was surprised to see Marc going uphill on the opposite side. We high-fived each other and then went our separate ways. I found out after run that Marc finally managed to find a support vehicle at the KM 29 drink station.

I had a banana at the KM 26 drink station and continued on to Jalan Sungai Lalang. I started to pick up my pace and overtook a few other runners. As I reached the KM 29 drink station, both my knees started to hurt. I took my third energy gel at the KM 32 drink station and enjoyed a refreshing coconut drink.

After leaving the KM 32 drink station, I met Fedoh, a fellow runner and we ran together. We turned right onto Jalan Sungai Tekali and soon we came across another steep uphill climb. I only managed to run halfway up and had to walk the rest of the way, but was so glad to see the KM 35 drink station when we finally reached the top of the hill. The last 2km was tough because my ankles started to hurt as well and the weather was getting scorching hot. We ran together until the final stretch and I crossed the finish line with the time of 5:23:40. I did it! I completed my maiden full marathon!

Overall, I really enjoyed the The River Jungle Marathon 2014. The hills were tough, but the sights were simply amazing. The route took participants through the scenic kampungs (villages) of Hulu Langat, past rivers, jungles and hills. This run was literally a breath of fresh air compared to other marathons which are held in cities or other urban areas. The River Jungle Marathon is also a great platform for beginners to try out the full marathon distance since there is no cut-off time. Kudos to the organiser for such a great run. I will definitely join again next year.