Bromo Trip 1.0 : Bromo Marathon 2016, Surabaya - Pre Planning Part 1

This is a scheduled post written starting on June 2016 :

We registered for Bromo Marathon 2016 !

The event is on the 4th of September 2016, and we've been planning for about a month before we decided on registering for the event - *to make some budget planning, route planning, places to stay and all. 

Registration :

There are 2 reasons why we chose the event :

• The location - Af asked me to go to Bromo before, but seeing that it's not really a 'touristy' place, and it took several hours to explore and hike on the mountain and we probably need a guide and we will be the only 2 people and we are awkward with everything and I think too much after watching Everest - so I decided that we won't be going to such places without a proper plan. I'm not adventurous, I know that and I get anxious easily. So, the event took place at a place that we both want to go, and on those days, there will be a lot of people : tourists, runners, local people, polices, volunteers - and so I saw a great chance along with security. So I pointed out the plan to Af, and he agreed :D 
• Running event - I love to run. Who wouldn't want to join a running event alongside the Bromo Mountain ? Run, hillside, nice environment, Bromo = yes. 

The registration was fairly easy, just fill in the digital form from their website and pay using a credit/debit card. There are only 10km, 21km and 42km categories : it would be unfair to ask Af to train for more than what he agreed for *because he hates running and he runs because I always ask people to run :D , so we chose the 10km run instead. For this, we have time to enjoy the environment and just have fun. 

The registration fees : 500,000 IDR x 2
Shuttle bus Tosari > Surabaya : 175,000 IDR (one day after the event) x 2
Total : 1,350,000 IDR

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Flights :

We've been eyeing the ticket price for the Airasia flight tickets for awhile, it was around RM400+ for each person - return ticket to Surabaya. Suddenly there was the "AirAsia Big Promo" that offered for only RM 400 for 2! It was half the original price. But unfortunately we missed the big AirAsia promo just one day before we can really buy it.

We bought the tickets in the middle of July, when they gave out 20% on all tickets :

This include : 
2 return tickets from Kul - Surabaya (Airasia), seat replacements, insurance, payment fees.
Total : RM 980.88 - RM 490.44 per person

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Accommodation :

There were so many nice places in Surabaya so it was quite easy to find decent place to stay there. But it was quite hard to find places to stay in Bromo - also much more expensive than in the city. We already booked our stays in Surabaya using Airbnb early in August but we took some time finding a place to stay on the weekends in Bromo.

Finally we decided to book a hotel through Agoda - because all places are fully booked through Airbnb for the running event and the homestays through Bromoku uses bank transfer method to book. We had no other choice but to book for a 1-star hotel.

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Training :

I did some online research and found out about their running path - there will be more hills than all the runs I entered. I never really trained for hill running, as Murakami mentioned before; that other than long-distance run, he is quite good with uphill runs :F So even though I ran 10km so many times by now, running uphill for 10km won't be the same if I never trained for that. 

For this training :

• I added more 'Incline' stages on tread-mill and stationary bike.
• We hiked the Bukit Nanas Hill - the hundreds and hundreds of steps. 
• We ran at our 14-floors parking lot several times a week before berbuka during Ramadhan. 
• We started running in the hilly park in Bukit Jalil on the weekends.
• I tried 30-days squatting challenge but my left knee got injured on the last day - it has been almost a month and it is still not fully healed :/

This would be our running track :

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Book :

I chose to bring "What I Talk About when I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami for the trip. Bagi semangat pelari sikit.