Day 1 -
I arrived 1 day before the race in Lombok and its a long way drive from the airport to Senaru and it took about 4 hours. Im staying at Achita Homestay and it is nearby the starting point of the race. I had my 1st night sleeping with bed bugs, it was terrible. all over the bed was full with it and i have to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag. Lesson learned, always checked your bed for bed bugs.
Bed bugs heaven BLACK LISTED
Day 2 - Race Pack Collection
The only place mentioned in the email for race pack collection was in Senaru and no exact location. So at 9 am, i started walking to find this place. Luckily meet a few people that lead me to correct place for the race pack collection. It was already full of people, the place was very crowded plus it is a restaurant where the people from the lodge were eating. The organizer should find a proper place to accommodate all the runner, such as building a tent. I saw a big space in front of the tourism information center and they should do it there. After almost 1 hour waiting in the line, i get my race pack which contain bib number, event vest and timing chip. After a quick lunch i slept for 4 hours before the race. I had my dinner around 7pm and do a final check for the mandatory equipment.
Day 3 - 00:00 hrs Race day
I arrived at the starting point at 11.30PM and the starting line was packed. You can see many of them is non-runner and all the runner is standing at the side. After the opening ceremony with a dance performance, we are flag off at 12 am. I ran as fast as i can to be in front of the pack. I reach the 1st check point in 1hr 15min which is 15min faster than i expected. The route from WS1 to W2 is quite challenging, we have to ascend 1000m with a sandy/dusty trail. It was a very suffocating journey since i didn't bring my buff. I reach the WS2 in 3hrs 30min and from WS2 to WS3 is a 3km very steep downhill to the lake took me about 30min. We begin to climb another 600m to WS4 Pelawangan Sembalun which took me about 2hrs and i got lost 2 times. I manage to reach the WS4 just before sunrise.
The view was just amazing, you can see the sun coming out from the cloud. So i sat for a while and chatting with a girl from Germany. While watching the sunrise, i refuel my stomach with a cracker and a gardenia bun before final push to the summit.
The sun is finally up, i started walking to the summit which is closer than it looks from the WS4. About 5.8KM from the WS4. From the start it is a bit struggle to walk up the volcano ash because you will keep sliding down. It is very frustrating 2 step in front and you will slide 1 step back. The real challenge is 1km from the summit, its a loose gravel surface which makes walking without a trekking pole is almost impossible and i end up walking with my feet and hand for some distance. Finally i reach the summit just before the cut off time and its worth a climb. The view from the summit is beautiful. I stay at the summit about 20min to take some picture and rest a bit.
But 1st let me take a #SELFIE
We crawl together to the summit, thanks for the support guys. i don't know if i can make it to the summit alone.
Running down on those loose gravel is so much fun than climbing up. I bet you can ski or snowboard your way down from the summit if you have one. I take my time going down, take a couple of picture and just enjoy the view. I was out off water by the time i came down from the summit and when i arrived at WS4 there is no water and food available. So, i waited for the water for almost 2 hrs and then i decided to go down to the next water station to look for water. Its is very frustrating when i arrived at WS6 there is not enough water. So i decided to drop out from the race instead of finishing the race without any water. We need to walk another 2h 30m to the pick up point after drop out, luckily its only downhill all the way. Its a very tough race course after all, will i be back next year?.. will see about that.
1hr ride back to Senaru
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