Vietnam Mountain Marathon 2019 🇻🇳 – The Ride….

So I woke up on race day feeling pretty freekin good. Considering 3 weeks ago I was ready to DNS!

I’d managed to sleep most of the night- whereas if this race would of been a 9am start, I most probably wouldn’t have slept ha! I was relaxed but my shoulders neck and back were in agony- on the flip side though the hamstring tendon injury was 99.9% gone – it wasn’t worrying me.

I went for abit of breakfast- but no cofffee. Registration opened at 10am & the plan was to get my bib and then come back to the hotel and try and sleep abit longer if I could? So no coffee!

The day before I’d had an email off the organisers saying I was a contender and could I please attend the expo at 5pm for a Q&A session with the contenders. It also said that they would be putting trackers on us. Grinning to myself but feeling nervous at the same time about being on stage I couldn’t help but feel like abit of a target. If there was no pressure before, then there is now I thought!!

So the plan was:

Eat breakfast, collect my race bib at the expo, stretch and roll, relax and try to sleep, then go back to the expo for 4.45pm and then come back to the hotel and start getting ready for the shuttle bus at 7.30 back at the expo!!! (tallying up 5 miles of walking before the race had even began, as it was a 1 Mile out & 1 mile back trip from the hotel to the expo- so a 2 mile round trip each time).

So off I tottered to the expo, I thought I’d be the only one there at 10.05 to get my bib- major error… I had to queue for 1 hour! My back was killing and I started to get a headache. Mid queue a Vietnamese lad came over and said “your one of the foreign contenders, can I have a picture with you please” I felt like a giant as I put my arm around him. I could feel my face going red after he said goodbye and people were staring.

I got my bib I had a quick walk around the stalls then walked back to my room to do some last minute faffing. I knew I was getting a free duffel bag off decathlon in my race pack so I used that as my drop bag. Upon getting back at the hotel I put my nutrition, poles, towel and a change of clothes in my new bag for during/after the race.

So the race course is a figure of 8. The centre of 8 is the start/finish point and we cross over it at mile 22 so I’d decided to run the first half with a pack of shots and a chia charge on me and then when I hit mile 22 grab my poles and the rest of my food. Common sense right?!

So everything was lined up on the bed now and packed, I could relax. I put Netflix on and within an hour Id started to nod off. But I was awake again by 2pm…I’d had about 1.5 hours. I can’t force a sleep so that was that. I troffed a chia charge and carried on watching TV. My headache was quite bad now- I never get headaches. I’d took myself off Facebook and insta for about 36 hours as I was wasting too much time flicking between the 2 like every 10 minutes- it’s really bad! It’s not even like I had better stuff to do, I find it’s just not good for my brain it keeps it constantly ticking so by removing them off the front of my phone it allows me to mentally think of other stuff or subconsciously give my brain a rest.

4pm soon came so I got dressed again and walked back to the expo. I bumped into a guy who I’d been talking to online called Rob West, it turns out he’s a contender too but he’s in the 70k event. So I heard my name called out and I sheepishly walked up on stage and took a seat while the other 4 people made there way up.

They asked me how I thought this Race would be in comparison to the Beacons Way Ultra…my reply was along the lines of , there 2 different races really- the distance and then the climate, but I was excited to get out on the course and have some fun. I was really nervous but I didn’t get my words muddled up or my mind go blank which is what normally happens ha! My head felt like it was splitting now. I think it was just tension? Who knows? But after that I fired off back to the hotel via the coffee shop for a double espresso ha and started to get ready! As I was getting changed my headache slowly subsided. Strange!

I was back at the square in Sapa for 7.25pm and jumped straight on one of the many shuttle buses! The start was a 1hour bumpy bus ride away at “Topas Ecolodge”.

I sat at the back & downloaded Facebook and Instagram again to pass time on the coach. When we got to Topas I got my tracker fitted, dropped my drop bag and asked the lady if she could keep it right there at the front near the marble pillar- no probs she said. There was about 200+ bags there.

So there was 200+ excited runners, shoulder to shoulder at the start, it was a great atmosphere everyone was shouting and clapping and cheering – there was about 10 cameramen in front of the start line snapping away – I kept myself on the second tier. No point pushing to the front I though- I’m not sprinting off at 5k pace like the rest. We were counted off down from 10 and before you know it we were all on our way, off into the red hot night. I think it was about 27deg but quite humid!

I set off nice and easy fluctuating between 9/10min Mile pace. I felt like I was about middle of the pack in the first couple of miles along the tarmac road. We then hit abit of a descent, nothing major, abit of a trail with a rut in the middle of it…few rocks…bit of mud and suddenly everyone had the brakes on. I skeeted around all of the people in front of me, no effort and by the time we hit the tarmac again at the bottom I’d passed about 20/30 people. 10 of them passed me again by hammering it down the tarmac descent but when we got to the bottom we was rewarded with a little climb. I slowly jogged past them and didn’t see any of them again. I’d set my pace now & I was sticking with it. Another hour passed by alone. I was on a muddy single track in a jungle. Listening to the creatures of the night. It was really loud and vibrant. Crickets, grasshoppers, birds and god knows what else was in the forest- all giving it there best. That was an experience in itself listening to all that! There was thousands of baby frogs and toads too! I nearly stepped on a huge toad but I shrieked and jumped over it last second- it was HUGE! The baby frogs were jumping around on the trail all night in my headlamp ray.

Along this stretch I caught Franck up for a little while. It was steady climb and descent on a concrete road. We went into cp101 together and he pulled away after that. There was a big gap between 101 and cp 102- say about 13 miles. I told myself it’s ok to let him go- I had to run my own race. I was really relaxed to be honest- making little GoPro videos along the way & it had started to rain a little bit cooling me down.

Eventually I hit Cp102 & it was just a simple fill of soft flasks and off I went. Instantly greeted with a sharp, slippery climb. It was quite hard staying on your feet- no matter what trainer you wore. So the trails were dry, hard, mud much of the year but very hard and compacted almost like rock….until it rained! When it rained it turned into what I can only describe as like mud with abit of a sheen, abit polished so it was still hard in most places but really really slippy like wet rock! You could of worn a trainer with an extremely deep lug but the mud just wasnt soft enough on this section to let it penetrate! I was really glad I’d gone with the “Salomon sense pro 3s” they had the perfect amount of cushion for the concrete roads and a deep enough lug for the luscious grass pastures and soft mud later on in the course.

I made it out of the steep, slippery section by keeping my legs parted wide & shimmied myself up- using my hands too, to pull me up on the vegetation. After that there was a really steep concrete moped trail to the main road at the top I was starting to feel a little twinge of cramp. I necked some sweatsalt caps. I’v gone with the precision hydration salt capsules now over the satchets of precision hydration – they work the same, just less faff and weight, much better for racing! I could also see the 2 huge beams of light shining into the night now from Topas – they were like 2 light sabres. So I knew I was near cp103- the drop bag cp!

There was a nice warm welcome at cp103, lots of clapping and cheering – so same as before I checked in and filled my waters up- nothing was said apart from well done and good luck etc so I said thanks/goodbye & off I went to find my drop bag. I detoured off the course into Topas where I left it and it wasn’t there- they was all gone!!

There was a man there so I asked him where are the drop bags and he said “no drop bags” so I said “yes I have a drop bag it was here” he asked if I’m 100k so I said yeah and he pointed back down the road. So I’m sprinting back down the road now in a fluster to the cp, Franck passing me as I do so. Shit! He must have been on the other side of the road under shelter sorting his drop bag out and I didn’t see him before. When I got back I shouted are the drop bags here and they was like “yes what number” I couldn’t believe it!! It took about 3/4 more minutes to find my drop bag off the rack, I was absolutely raging by this point inside but still being polite and calm. Eventually it was found and I rapidly re loaded, took my poles and shot off into the night. That had cost me anywhere between 5 & 10 minutes I was livid! But shit happens hey. After the race I found out a similar thing happened to poor Tomohiro. He was top 3 and didn’t realise that point was the drop bag area. He had to do the full race on only banana and watermelon!

This next section was literally all trending up hill now for 20 miles. All the buses with the 70k runners on them passed me on this stretch of road- there must of been a dozen or so- they start at 3am and it was like 2.30am. That was my new aim, to try to not let any 70k runner catch me ha. I was still on my own and I was still running. It was pitch black. I think in the dark your senses heighten. I could smell different aromas all the way around the route. Smokey smells, woody smells, herbs & spices, damp sweet hay and even cannabis I thought I could smell at one point ha! Then I could hear all the insects really, really loud too & I saw a baby green snake on the black tarmac so I ran around it.

Then there was the dogs, most were chained up but they would growl & come for you. Some were stray or not chained up and they would try to come at you too! Most backed off when you pointed a pole in there direction but the braver ones you had to resort to picking a rock up off the floor and step in there direction. They aren’t stupid – they back right off! I never had to throw a rock though- I just had to keep my torch shone in there faces and my hand raised with the rock as I threat until I got far enough away. You need to be careful when there in a pack because when you have your back turned focusing on the ones barking there’s usually one really close to you behind!

This section was a combination of flooded broken roads (as it was raining heavy now but I was still well warm in my shorts and vest though and a headband, the band was just to keep sweat out my eyes not to keep me warm ha) and concrete trails with the odd bit of slippy trail leading to cat cat village. I was constantly looking in the distance searching for signs of any headtorches but there was nothing. I fell once too, pretty hard, luckily I didn’t hurt anything but I thought my watch strap was gonna snap, or a pole maybe? My watch was up near my elbow!

Just before cp1 there was a river crossing. With the heavy rain the river had really come up and was flowing strong! It was thigh deep, I was tripping back and forth, I couldn’t see where to put my feet & the current was threatening to rip my 1 foot from under me as I lifted the other to move forward but in the forward motion it would force me to keep crossing legs. The man was a local and knew the river well he held my arm and guided me over. Big thanks to this man- I’d of been ok but i might of got abit wet had I fell ha!

I got to cp1 and had some water melon and cracked on. More concrete road. Dawn was starting to break now and I could see the silhouettes of the mountains and the beautiful rice fields. The headtorch was off and put in my “Gecko” pack.

The rain had stopped and I was making my way through the rice terraces now balancing on the dry contours like a ballerina- when you made a mistake though and fell off every so often you was calf deep in slop ha!

I was feeling better now, I’d just spent 8 hours alone in pitch black focusing on nothing but a white torch beam concentrating on the floor making sure I didn’t trip. Now I could see the mountains and bits of cloud clinging to them and the amazing rice terraces all different shades of green. This is more like it!

The hill was getting steeper and steeper now & I knew we would be hitting a cp soon before the sharp climb up bull mountain. I was offered soup at the cp but declined. I felt fine & didn’t want to waste any time plus I had a few chia charge bars left in my pack!

Prior to the race I’d looked at the elevation profile & said to myself – from cp 103 to the highest point on the course- Bull Mountain (cp3) it’s literally a long steady climb of about 1500m over about 35k! Easy peasy I thought!! You do 700/800m climbs over 2/3 miles in an hour back home. So I’d covered 30k of this “easy peasy” climb and was completely shagged! It was not easy ha and the last 5k was to be even steeper and tougher. I don’t know if it was the heat earlier on? Or if I was tired in general, like iv done too much this year already, or the underfoot conditions? Maybe I was completely normal and it was just tough going? I ground my way to the top, I could see a blue VMM flag at the top! It was abit exposed and nippy up here now at 2200m so I filled my bottles at the unmanned cp3, collapsed my poles and started to make my way back down the other side! The views were absolutely amazing!! Well worth climbing for.

My whole outlook on the race changed at this point. This is what I’d came for! We was running in and above the clouds on a ridge line for a little while before starting the 50k undulating descent back to the finish!

The descent was nice and very runnable at first. It was like running on home fells, mud tracks in grass. Then they got steeper and slippy as!! It was a combination of that polished mud, slippy rock and sludge so you had to commit to keep going and picking up abit of dangerous speed- you had no choice though because if you hit the brakes you would just go from under yourself. You had to aim for a hard stand & use that to slow yourself down because if you got too carried away you’d end up with broke limbs or at worst a broken neck! I would anyway. It was really slippy and technical and my legs hadn’t cramped yet so I didn’t wanna start hammering it either. I’d 100% made the right choice on footwear going with the Salomon sense pro3s, anything less than the lug on these and I’d of been in trouble! I’d brought some Salomon sense ride 2s with me for speed, comfort and medium amount of grip had the course been bone dry! I was well covered with the 2 pair of shoes.

I heard a noise behind me and there was 2 70k runners on there way down it was “Mads Louring” in the lead- Id met him at meet the contenders they stayed behind me for a minute chatting- I was glad of the company, as the last person I’d ran with was frank at about 2am. Then we got off the slippery stuff back onto some steep concrete path and that was it they was off so we said our goodbyes!!

I passed through a few rural areas and small villages, crossed a few dodgy looking bamboo bridges & high 5ed a few kids.

I was jogging the flats and descents and hiking the climbs now. I was pretty chilled having fun and making clips on my go pro. I wanted to make some memories. I was entertaining myself by asking the tribe ladies there names and where do they come from before they could ask me! It tickled me everytime they said “I from here, Vietnam” haha!

I could hear a microphone in the distance now. Then I saw a crowd and a start line! I’d only gone and timed it so that I ran through the 21k runners moments before they set off!

“Here we have a 100k runner coming through” that’s all I heard and then the whole crowd just parted and started cheering me on and clapping, whistling and high 5ing me, you name it, it was epic, il never ever forget it!

I couldn’t see my face but I’m assuming I must have looked extremely happy hahaha. I spoke to a few people after the race and they said they did the 21k and I was like “I ran through you guys” and they said “oh was that you, you was so smiley and happy”

This lifted me massively and I started to dig deep again here. The whole course was littered with people as there was now 100k, 70k, 40k & 21k races all running! I was passing a lot of the back 40k and 21k runners some of them were just walking and taking loads of pics. People behind me politely shouted to the people ahead “100k runner coming through” so they would let me past on the single file climbs. We even passed a few Cannabis plants. I was moving well again now but every so often I would hit a low and gas out, breathing heavily- then I realised what it was! The sun was out and it had started to warm up again!

I felt drained now but kept digging deep, slowly picking people off, they wasn’t in my race but it still motivated me to keep pushing. Eventually I came across Tomohiro, I asked him if he was ok, he was limping abit, but he said he was ok so I cracked on. I had to keep moving fast now in fear Tomohiro would catch me up.

I got to the top of the final climb, collapsing my poles and I could see Topas Ecologde now right down in the bottom of the valley! There was a 2 man band playing traditional Vietnamese music aswell- what a nice touch! I did a stupid dance as I ran past them- they probably thought what a nob ha!

My watch battery died! I was absolutely wounded! I knew there was only about 3 miles left though because it was on Mile 59 moments ago. Then there was a horrrible steep descent on a concrete road all the way to the bottom. When your legs are already shot and you have lots of sharp stones in the front of your shoes it sure makes you wince abit. My quads were on fire now but it didn’t hurt any less to walk so I let go and ran gritting my teeth, making sure I was still landing on my forefoot and not heel striking. I passed lots more 40 & 21k runners. Definitely just lost a few toenails I remember thinking!

“Nearly home” I kept saying out loud to the amusement of some people! I’d been saying this to myself for 2 hours now. Then I saw the 2k sign – I was highly relieved. When we hit the tarmac at the bottom I knew we was really close to the finish, it was ever so slightly up hill aswell but didn’t feel to bad to be running up after that sharp descent! At a nice steady pace now I was running along side a lady from the U.S. She was actually racing so she put some effort in and left me ha.

I could hear the crowds now cheering people in. A man diverted me off the tarmac onto a nice paved footpath which I recognise from the VMM trailer. I was on the final 100m stretch to the finish and it was downhill so I picked up some speed, passing all the nice flags representing the country’s of the runners.

What an amazing finish line and what an amazing buzz you get coming over it! I stopped a few metres over the line and had a medal put on me before being told I was 5th overall. I’d not quite managed the sub 15 which I thought was easily achievable but I wasn’t bothered as I’d found it abit tougher than expected. It was less technical than what I am used to, allowing you to run faster (if you was fast and I’m not ha) and the climbs were slippery, luring you in to falsely surmising your normal race times. But an amazing, brutally, beautiful, tough course though non the less!

I was really happy to find out id made top 10 as I had no idea of positions all the way around the course. I came home in 5th overall out of about 230 starters in 15hr 40mins. I can’t possibly be unhappy with that.

I had my pic took, said thanks and then found somewhere quiet for a minute. I collapsed in a heap on the floor- back against the wall & head in my hands, letting what had happened in the the last 16 hours slowly sink in.

My legs were pulseing & twitching, it felt so good to be sat down! I needed something cold to drink fast. So I slowly got up again & made my way over to the recovery radler station where they was serving a free finishers drink- it tasted amazing! I had 2 cups and felt tipsy ha.

I found my drop bag and grabbed a quick, much needed cold shower and got into some fresh clothes and flip flops. I felt a lot better after the shower. So I made my way to the food area with the other runners for some soup and bread & a chat!

What an experience it was & a very well organised race & beautiful route- but tough in its own right! I felt welcomed by the people and really well looked after too. I said them famous words “never again” but I’m already thinking should I go back one year and run a race in Borneo the week before aswell, who knows!?

Kit:

Montane Gecko vest

Montane Fang Shorts

Montane Chief

Montane soft flasks

Montane Fang Zip Tank Top

Montane minimums stretch ultra jacket (in pack)

Injinji lightweight mini crew socks

Salomon sense pro3 shoes

Raidlight compact carbon ultra evo poles

Petzl Myo headlamp

Gore headband

Here’s a link to the GoPro mini film I made:

https://gopro.com/v/vPMzE76Ze3evW

I forgot to film coming over the line ….