Bromo Trip 6 : Surabaya - Bromo Day 3, The Run

Check-in and Goody bag pick-up (on Saturday after our tour) :

We asked Pak Inem to drop us to Tosari Village because we wanted to check-in and pick up our goody-bag but Pak Inem insisted on waiting. He said that we already paid for the day and it was too far to go back to Baledono Village on foot.

So we went to the Tosari Field where everyone was around, people was setting up stages and booths, it was scheduled for Tengger Art Festival later in the afternoon but we had to cancel to go because Pak Inem wanted to send us back to the hotel and we haven't rested since 12am the previous night. We reached the registration booth, gave our printed copy and they gave us the goody bags consisted of Bromo Marathon t-shirts, a bottle of mineral water, several promo coupons and free lunch coupon for Sunday, everything in a white Bromo Marathon tote-bag.  

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Running Day :

Our running day started as early as 4am in the morning. The night before, we discussed with the innkeeper about our shuttle bus pick-up point. So it was confirmed that the bus will arrive roughly around 5am in front of Intan Homestay not quite far from our hotel. We waited for 4 more other runners and walked together to the pickup point. It was a 5-mins walk.

Tosari Village, where the running event was located is around 5-6km from Baledono Village - where we stayed. So soon after, we arrived to the location. It was still a bit early, the road was to be closed around 6am and our run was scheduled to start at 730am. So we waited awkwardly, pointing to random people - giving them names based on what they most resembled with :D

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Food/breakfast :

We both ate my brother's healthy energy bar consisted of kurma, nuts, oats and honey. It was the most decent stuff to be consumed before a run starts - because it was not too heavy for the stomach and it felt enough. But during half of the run, I did feel super hungry. I took a note on bringing extra energy bar for after run. Anyone interested in buying energy bar, can definitely inform me.

The run :

Here is the rough map of our run that I did not bother to study before the run. Our 10-km run consisted of 50% of road trail and 50% of dirt trail. That means the first 5-km run was quite easy because we were all running down-hill on road trail. The weather was cold, the sun started shining, the view was magnificent - everything about the first 5-km is great. That's like a honeymoon phase.

And right after we arrived at KM5 and reached the checkpoint, things started to get tough. It was almost impossible to run because we were on a stony dirt trail that we needed to hike and it never stopped. There was almost no flat-land all throughout the final 5KM. If people wanted to stop, they need to stepped aside of the road, to in front of people's house road.

This was my longest time taken to finish 10km run. I've done dozen of 10km+ run, so I never thought this would be any different from all my runs and training. But it was, because I never trained for any trail-run + uphill run before. It was also a bit annoying because I run so many runs and I trained so many times for the past 5 years and I get this result =.=

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Mistakes :

• I didn't expect 10km trail run would be tough, but it was. So, padan muka.
• I didn't understand what elevation graph meant, so I never bothered before. Now I understand what it means to run on a mountain trail. Ha.
• I didn't wear any sun-block. The weather was cold all throughout the event so it didn't felt like I was exposed to the sun much. But I did, my skin is peeling since after the run.
• Should have bring another energy bar for post-run because feeling famished while running is a weird feeling.
• Never underestimate a run that you never run in.
• Lack of uphill training. 

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Summary :

The run was fun, challenging and exhausting. I forgot what it felt to feel like this. It is interesting to be running in a such a nice weather with great mountain view. I didn't regret trying out the 10K course at all, imagine if I did register for a half-marathon, on a hilly mountain. =.= 

For anyone who runs and wants challenge. I suggest Bromo Marathon 2017, it was worth my time and money spent! But don't forget to train for uphill and downhill run, because there were almost no flat tracks in Bromo :D

Am I going to enter the run again? 

Probably not soon. If I do run at Bromo again, I make sure I train properly and ready to enter a half-marathon on a Bromo trail run.

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Post-run :

We slept in for a few hours after the run. The muscle pain were a normal pain along the legs, knee and ankle. No injuries noted.

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