One year ago, I decided that I will give trail running a try. Mind you, myself in 2024 was not really a runner. My tempo pace was freakin’ 11’/km! I also cramped running a 1h15m 7K race lol. However, in order to suffer less when hiking, I think I need to get fitter. So, I started running. And what is better than giving yourself a target, an anchor, so you can measure your progress? Yes, a race! Siksorogo was surely a very popular race, even when I was not a trail runner back then, I already heard the name. I checked the details of the race and saw that it’s around 15km with elevation gain of around 1000m and 6h cutoff time. Seems like a realistic target for me. So, I vowed to myself that in 2025 I will be fit enough to complete this race.
Looking Back a Bit
Now, let’s fast forward to late 2025. Actually Siksorogo 15K was not my first ITRA 1 race. In July, I give Mantra116 17K an attempt. It’s an intimidating race, 17km with 1000m elevation gain, 5h cutoff time, and tricky (goddamn macadam!) trail. Definitely way beyond my current capability when I registered for it in January 2025. Well, it’s not a surprise that I DNF’d the race. I missed the cutoff time by around 35 minutes, arriving at the finish line with my stomach hurt and my energy drained (curse you, dinding ratapan Kaliandra!). Since Mantra 17K has 5h cutoff time, I set this time as my goal time for Siksorogo. I think, if I can’t make this target time, then I’m not ready for ITRA 1 level yet.
In between, I also ran in ITB Ultra. Well, not the entire 180km by myself. I’m not in that level yet. I participated in the 16-person relay. My segment is between Cipatat and Situ Ciburuy. The segment that some might call “hell”, since it has over 320M D+ in just 11.5KM. Not to mention I’ll be running during the night, and in that area, the traffic doesn’t die down just because the sun is already set. In that race, I just did what I can do the best, powerwalking the incline. This is actually my first time “running” a road race with very significant climb. To be honest, it was quite fun. This race (and the training for it) kinda makes me like road climb. I started deliberately looking for some incline during my easy run too lol.
Brewing Storm
Several weeks later, I also ran a 5K race. This time, I want to try to break my PB from 2024. My PB was around 47m50s. The race selection was not really ideal, though. I picked a very crowded charity event where for the first KM I can barely move faster than my easy pace. In the end, I need to push hard during my last 3KM. I broke my PB by more than a minute. I also broke my 1KM, 1 mile, and 3KM PB, so I think something went really wrong there. Do you know what also broke? My foot lol. This is where I realized maybe my shoes (Hoka Mach 6) are not the best fit for me. That shoes feels amazing, but the fit is just… not right for my feet.
Well, sucks. I need to go to physiotherapy, but Siksorogo peak training week is coming close. I can’t even run for 10 minutes without my inner foot aching. However, I will risk DNS if I keep pushing, so I decided to stop for a while until running feels bearable again.
Two weeks after that, I decided to train again. My mileage? 25KM with around 800M elevation gain. That isn’t a lot of mileage for preparing this kind of race, but better than nothing. My longest run during that week was 12KM with 700M elevation gain. The usual route. Pak Tatang - Foothill - Mula Pancar - Paniisan (via “jalur pelari songong”) - Paniisan - Pasir Ipis - back to Mula Pancar - Leuwi Pangaduan - Pak Tatang again. This has a bit of rolling road segment too since I know that at the end of Siksorogo 15K route I’d have to deal with some road segment (and I know how hard can a rolling road segment be – just take a look at Mantra route lol). So far, this is fine.
The next week, the last training week before Siksorogo. My plan originally was to do a 27KM week, with the longest run be 13KM with 800M elevation gain. However, I feel a shard pain in my heel that seems to not go away during that run – mind you, the planned 800M EG has 500M D+ in its first 2KM lol. I cut the run short with just 8KM and 600M EG. Better be a bit undetrained than risk DNS.
Race Week
Due to that pain, I actually skipped any of my taper/shakeout run. Some overtime in my work also doesn’t really help with that. It’s just that my priority is getting myself fit enough to be in the start line. The last thing I want is to be sick on race day (like what happens during this year Bogor City Trail lol).
As usual, though, before every important race I will cook some numbers in Excel. I already know what is my pace for certain gradient and how the effort will looks like, so I can calculate the time estimate for each segment of the race. I padded the time estimate a bit to anticipate for the traffic jam and the pain in my heel. I also planned the nutrition for each segment of the race. Calculated the calories and salt intake (+their timing) during the race too. I don’t want to bonk or get some cramps during the race. The calculation is based on my experience during training (and this is why you should simulate your race strategy too during training!)
I compiled and summarized the numbers for the race plan cheatsheet. At first I’m thinking about printing the cheatsheet, but later I decided to just make it my lockscreen wallpaper. I simplified the numbers to make it easier to read. With the race plan set, all I need to do is to follow them. No more preparation to be made.
I headed to Solo on Friday night, right after work. As expected I can see some trail runner riding the same train (how do I know? Just glance at their totebags or shoes lol). Get my rented motorcycle in the morning and directly headed to Tawangmangu. The route is nice and scenic, and it’s easy enough I can rawdog the ride without Google Maps, I just need to rely on street sign (and a general sense of direction). I arrived at my homestay at around 10AM, and immediately go to Sekipan to collect my race pack. Not unexpectedly, rain starts to pour down. Fortunately I bring my rain coat with me, but this became a preview of how the weather will goes on the race day. Who says the weather is unpredictable? It’s only unpredictable if you never see any weather forecast lol. It’s going to rain during midday, so you better prepare for it. Unless you can finish before 10AM I guess; in that case, congratulations!
Since it’s cold, after I collected my race pack, I ride a bit around Tawangmangu to find some interesting place to eat lunch. I stopped at a food stall near my hotel that sells rabbit satay and noodle soup (finally, some warm food!).
There isn’t much thing I need to do left, so after that I just go back to my homestay and rest. One thing I observe is that actually there are still a lot of vacant room in Tawangmangu. They are just not listed anywhere in the internet, you either call them (I found the phone number for my homestay via Google Street View) or look around directly. No need paying for highly inflated room price in online booking site lol. Obviously, all those villas in 500m radius of Sekipan is fully booked by the race week, but if you’re willing to walk a bit (or drive for 5-10 minutes), it’s not hard to get a vacant room.
On the race day, I woke up at around 4.30AM. Not highly unusual time. A bit late compared to what I usually did for my weekend trail long run, in fact. I ensure I finished the (literal) shitty matter, took a light breakfast, and then head to Sekipan.
It’s still a bit early when I arrived at Sekipan, so I get in a relatively front of the queue. The song “Conquest of Paradise” by Vangelis is playing in the background. The aura in the race area is a bit mythical. I already hear that song countless time, but here, it feels different. It give me a huge goosebump. This is what I’ve been working on this year, I say to myself.
Well, I entered the start line with a bit more than one hour left until the race started. I just read manga on my phone to kill some time (and to calm myself down a bit).
Then, the race started. I started my specially-crafted playlist. The opening, COMPASS by DOLLCHESTRA. An early spark to a possibly 5 hours long race.
The first 5KM is a bit annoying. Macadam road is not the best for my heel and ankle condition, so I started a bit more conservative here. As expected, there are some traffic jam here. Some part of the trails are covered by calf-deep pond, and I dont want to get my socks wet either in the first KM. I keep my pace slow and steady here, avoiding any unnecessary wetness.
After the first water station at KM 5.5, the route goes into the most fun part: the climb! I keep saying to myself: “just keep moving, do not stop, keep moving” again and again. Yume Wazurai, Kozue version starts playing. I keep pushing myself. Slow, but steady. The crowd actually makes a perfect rhythm for the pace. It’s not too fast, and not too slow (though if I’m willing to pass some runners, maybe I can go faster).
The route up is actually quite enjoyable. Nothing too steep, and it’s either clay, dirt, or grass, so it feels soft on my injured heel. I don’t really took a lot of photo throughout the race (since I’m in focus mode most of the time), but the view is actually really nice.
The highest point on the 15K route is summit of Bukit Mitis, at around KM11. Throughout the last big climb, I keep seeing runners left and right stopping to either spray some painkiller on their calf/hamstring or need to rest due to cramps. I just keep moving. Slowly, but steadily. Just keep moving, do not stop. I arrived at the summit in around 3 hours and 35 minutes, 25 minutes faster than my race plan. That’s nice, I guess.
I just stopped to get the checkpoint bracelet, took a quick photo, and then immediately attack the downhill. The downhill looks a bit scary on the map. It’s very steep drop, steeper than the climb. However, it was actually very enjoyable. Despite the gradient, the downhill route is actually very runnable if you have strong enough legs. It’s not very slippery and there are not many obstacles on the way. Surely far more enjoyable than that dreadful macadam on Mantra downhill (that I keep cursing along the way). Water station 2 is also not far from the summit. Nice, since I already run out of water ever since KM 10 lol. I know very well dehidration means the risk of cramping will skyrocket, so I refilled my flask here, took another bottle of isotonic, eat 1/3 of bananas, and then continue. As usual, after eating I always try to keep the pace easier to avoid any gut issues (like in Mantra). The route is a bit flat-ish after the water station, but then it still has some fun downhill section afterwards. Now, I just have less than 2.5KM left to go, with around 50 minutes before the sub 5 hour target. At around KM14, there is a small climb in which I feel nearly cramped, so I slow down my pace a bit. Sucks, but it’s also my mistake that I don’t bring extra water from WS1 knowing well it will took me more than 2.5 hours to go from WS1 to WS2.
The view is very stunning, though. I took a quick stop to take a photo of the view, and to calm down my legs a bit. My music player is playing Hajimari no Haneoto. A truly beautiful song, giving me courage to keep moving. The more I struggle and fight, the stronger I want to be. I can be. Towards the sky I chose.
The next downhill (and also the very last part of trail section in this race) is long but relatively flat. I saw some medic staff going uphill (and only several hours later after the race I learnt that someone passed away during the downhill segment, rest in peace – back then I thought it was to rescue someone who get hypothermia or cramps). The immediate part before exiting the trail, though, was very jammed. It’s a steep zig-zag segment that test your ankle pivotting strength, followed by a concrete stairs before exiting to village road. Once I reached the village road, I know the finish line is close. Very close. After some downhill asphalt road, I finally reached the last segment. The endurance road climb before the finish. I checked my watch, I still have around 15 minutes to cover less than 1KM in order to finish in under 5 hours. At first I thought I failed (especially since I can’t really push much anymore without risking cramps), but then I just keep moving. Steadily. The very last song playing before the finish line is Girls’ Legend U.
Don’t stop！ No,don’t stop ’til finish!!
(Wo oh oh)
Don’t stop！ No,don’t stop ’til finish!!
(Wo oh oh)
So I don’t stop. I don’t stop until I finish.
I finally crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 57 minutes. This is the most emotional race I’ve ever done so far. When I realized I managed to finish in under 5 hours, even under all those circumstances, I just burst into tears. I can’t help but cry in the finish line. This is what I’ve been working on this year. This is what I aspire to be last year. And this is what I am this year.
It was raining when I finished the race (as expected), but the parking area is 10 minutes walk away. I’m too lazy to put on my rain gear, so I just rawdog the rain lol. What is even more annoying is that the rain stopped as soon as I reach the parking area. Well, at least now I don’t need to worry about getting wet on the way back to my homestay.
Since I’m too lazy to grab my lunch in the race venue (it was very crowded!), my next mission is to find lunch. After driving a bit, I decided for some satay and chicken. It’s a nice protein replenish after working the hell out of my muscles.
Some Retrospect
I reviewed my race plan again after the race. I compared the split, and here is the result:
Start - WS1: 1 hour 18 minutes; this is slightly faster than what I planned, but not by much.
WS1 - Mitis summit: 2 hours 28 minutes; around 11 minutes faster than the plan. Nice time gain simply by keep moving steadily.
Mitis summit - WS3: 41 minutes; around 6 minutes faster than the plan, but mostly because I took way less time in WS2 than planned. Apparently just 4-5 minutes is way more than enough to refill and eat.
WS3 - finish: around 39 minutes; this is actually according to the plan.
So overall, the biggest time save is on the climb and being efficient at water station. I think the more you race the more accurate you can estimate this kind of things, especially on how much time you’d need in each water stations. I like going into a race with as little surprise as possible, so executing the plan nicely like this feels like a huge win for me. Especially since I can beat that sub 5 hours target that my plan says I can’t achieve.
Now, it’s time to rest a bit. My next race is in mid 2026, so I have plenty of time to learn from my mistake this year and built stronger physique for next year. I have done some stupid mistake this year, I have pushed myself too hard without the strength nor recovery to back it up. I can’t keep the planned program due to some stupid mistake. This can’t continue in 2026.
For 2026, I will dream bigger. And I need to put on real effort to back it up.