Hoka Torrent FKT50 - Muspo 2019 Trail Run Race Report

“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.”- Navy Seal_s

Hello again friends from the blogosphere! I’m here again for another trail run race report. I know it’s been quite a while so I hope this is gonna be worth your time :). The last ultra trail run race I did was 4 months back – the Cordillera Mountain Ultra which was challenging for me at my level. Not a pro and fast trail runner, I am just your girl who wants to safely finish every race I sign up 🙂

So this blog post is all about the 2nd ultra race I did this year, the Muspo 50km by Hoka, the brain child of a good trail runner friend Philip. This is this year’s first 50km edition as his first race last January 2019 was just a full marathon (42km) which I missed because I was preparing for my CMU race. As usual it was a last minute decision to sign up for the race – last day of the early bird rate promo (May). Thankfully we went back to trail running 2 weeks after resting from our race in Cordillera, so I was still good – training wise.

I signed up with my teammate and friend Pla and we made plans for the trainings we will do to prepare after signing up. We are not pros, we are just your average trail runners who simply want to conquer ourselves in each race and finish injury free. So April to June was more running, and weekends were reserved for training in the trails, climbing hills, running downhills, taking on muddy terrains, under the heat of the sun with some boxing and gym workout occasionally for cross-training.

TO VALENCIA CITY (BUKIDNON)

We got to Valencia Bukidnon Friday night and race day is still Sunday (3:00AM) so we still have plenty of time to rest and just relax before race day. Took the bus around 4:00PM and got to Valencia Bukidnon past 7 in the evening, raining! We were starving so we dropped by the bus stop for a quick dinner before proceeding to our home for the night.

Sharing some Saturday – pre race day photos. Race kit claiming and race briefing.

Saturday – waiting for check-in at GV Hotel Valencia before heading to race briefing and race kit claiming

Saturday Breakfast at Kambigan – love their food!! Very affordable too

Race Briefing – Pla and me helping out Raceyaya representative Celso Callo with timing chip claiming. Also in photo is Dianne who was hosting the race briefing (Pla, me, and Dianne all ran 50km). And Harold (in white), you look tired already dude. ahahhahaha!

RACE DAY

So finally race day! We woke up early and went to the race venue 2:30AM. Gun time was 3:00AM. Nerves were calm unlike my previous race where I was so tensed thinking of all the cutoff times and the difficulty of the route. This time, I was calm and was just having a good time interacting with friends and acquaintances while waiting for the race to start. It helped that we studied the route and we prepared for it.

Pla, Me, and Dianne before gun time! We finished sub 12! not bad given the difficulty of the route

200+ trail runners toed in the line for the 50km category. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and finally met some friends in facebook. 3:00AM and we were off!

The trail took us to hilly terrains of Mount Musuan of Maramag, Bukidnon and around the majestic Lake Apo of Valencia, Bukidnon. It has been raining for a week up until the night before race day so we expected muddy and slippery trails. It was definitely quite a challenge getting through those technical long downhill slippery trails and running through muddy terrains adding extra weight to our trail shoes slowing everyone down (well maybe except those elites who attacked the trails and lived to hoka’s tagline “It’s time to Fly”).

We started a bit slow and tried our best to race smart. I was pacing with Pla, my teammate and trail buddy. We were conscious with our Nutrition as we’ve learned from our previous ultra races how much we sucked at it compromising our performance (naks! lakas ka dai? 😀 ). Seriously, nutrition plays a huge part in long races, so it was a conscious effort to eat and stay hydrated.

The weather was great, cloudy and not too much heat so running through the route wasn’t that painful. The most challenging part for me were those loooong slippery downhill routes with almost nothing to hold on to! My weakness has always been those steep and technical downhills! I really take my time going through it and be as safe as I can. Goal was, finish the race with my butt clean! hahaha!

Arriving at KM 22 for breakfast! yey! Intermediate cutoff here too. Smiling because .. foooood! 😀 Thanks RD Philip for all the food in this AS. We fueled well for the next kms.

This is **Lake Apo** – borrowing this photo because I didn’t have my photo in this area. We just looked at this magical lake and said to ourselves, we are keeping this in our memory. In photo is Hoka Ambassador and elite trail runner **Noy Gentoleo**

Bridge – 30-ish km – This is the only time I took my phone out for photo! Thanks to Dianne for the idea. We were so quick also as we didn’t want to be caught by those behind us (hahaha! competitive? lol!). Seriously, we were just time conscious

They tagged the route as “baby trail”, I don’t really know what it meant, because definitely, that didn’t feel like it was a baby trail! 2400m total elevation and 53km+ total distance. It wasn’t a walk in the park but we definitely enjoyed the race. My personal best time for 50km ultra race by far. Finished it sub-12 hours and I am just happy crossing that finish line, injury free, still with a lot of energy, and oh! with a clean butt! hahaha! It was an awesome experience! Thank you to the organizing team especially to Philip and Jhayboy for putting so much effort in making this event happen. To all the marshals and volunteers, thank you so much for looking after us, for making sure we have something to fill our tummies in in every Aid Station. Special shoutout to that last AS (KM 45) for going the extra mile, for personally filling in my hydration bottle with water while I was eating. You guys were amazing! lablab!