Jungle Ultra Blog - 28th May

I’ve just finished day 2 of the Jungle Ultra, I’m absolutely shattered.  Today was tough.  Yesterday (Race stage 1) was a race of two halves, the first 20k running through the cloud forest on tight single trails with some big climbs and steep descents.  By the second half of the day my legs were super tight and hips and knees pretty painful.  The jeep track second half was tough going, like purgatory.  My achilles held up and I was amped to have run my first marathon and the longest I had ever run!  Last night, was my first night in the hammock!  After I finally got in it, it was awesome to fall asleep swinging listening to the cloud forest – birds, insects, river and monkeys!

Today (Race stage 2) was tougher again.  Starting the day with heavy legs was a real mental hurdle to get over.  After 15k we dropped into the jungle for the first time….my worst nightmare.  It was horrible, 35 degrees c in the shade, 40 degrees in the sun and 99 percent humidity.  I constantly felt like someone was behind me as the jungle is alive with so many sounds, but I ran most of today on my own, a tough place to be in the jungle on my own.  But I moved up the order and came in amongst some of the faster racers.  I’m not competing against anyone, just myself, but it’s great to have had a good day.  Nic’s work has made such a difference as my achilles have lasted another of the toughest days!

Hi to everyone back home! Rich.

Race stage 1 Cloud 9:  5:37:00

Race stage 2 Amazon: 5:04:00

Overall time: 10:41:00

To see the full race schedule click here.

To view the Jungle Ultra race map and photos click here.