CM3 - Race Review

CM3 is the third distance in the CM6 race weekend, which takes place every year in Chiang Mai. The event is in its sixth year, with this being my fifth year running it. Having now completed CM3 (sorry, spoilers), I have now finished all the distances they have on offer except the title one: CM6.

However, this post is not about my fear of what I've got ahead of me next year. This post is about my experience running CM3. As previously mentioned CM3 is the third distance of the weekend, coming in at approximately 60km, with approximately 3,000m elevation gain. One of the reasons for the races popularity is the location of the start/finish point, which is only around twenty minutes from Chiang Mai making it significantly easier to get to than a lot of race locations. All of the CM races converge on what is known as 'HQ', the main aid station in the village of Khun Chang Khian just below Doi Pui peak. This village is quite well-known among Thai trail runners as a convenient noodle soup and coffee stop during training runs, however for this weekend it is taken over somewhat by the race.

Getting up to the village requires an elevation gain of approximately 1,000m over about 9.5km. The first couple of kilometres along the road from Chiang Mai Convention Centre to the beginning of the trail were, as usual, very runnable and make for a good warm up before the vert starts getting very real.

Once you have joined the trail it becomes a lot more fun. It is largely single track for the first

4 or 5km of trail, mostly uphill with a few runnable sections. Feeling surprisingly fresh, and being all too familiar with what was to come I am pretty happy with my efforts to keep jogging up most of the inclines, only switching to a power walk on the steeper sections. 'The wall' is another matter though. This short section certainly feels pretty vertical with plenty of mud to combine every step forward with a little slide backward. Thankfully this year was not the slippiest I have seen this section and I was able to make it up reasonably well. This was also a point when I was happy not to have poles. Watching other people trying to use them and remembering previous experiences made me think that actually, on technical sections like this, perhaps they hinder more than help.

Through HQ in a smidge over 2 hours (it doesn't seem to matter how fit I am, I always seem to do this section in about 2 hours) and onwards to Doi Pui. HQ had plenty of food, but I was feeling pretty strong at this point so grabbed some fruit for the road, knocked back a couple of cups of coke and did a not too shoddy job of running out of there. The climb up to Doi Pui is a bit of a b**ch to be honest. It is basically straight up for about 2-3km with at least three sections where you are certain you are at the summit before you look up and realise there's another climb. Luckily there are spectacular views. Unfortunately, this weekend there were no views at all due to the mist and cloud cover, as can be seen in the photo below. Oh well.

Beautiful views from Doi Pui's peak.

I still felt pretty strong on Doi Pui though. Granted, my heart was hammering away like the clappers, but my legs felt pretty fantastic. Coming off Doi Pui was a bit of leap into the unknown. The route was different from when I have done it in previous years and now there was a long section of single track trail to follow. To make one thing clear - I am a complete wimp at technical downhills. A proper wimp. It's not even funny. You wouldn't think I'd spent 34 or so years of my life on my feet when you see me picking my way down trails, having a panic attack every time my centre of balance shifts slightly. But this, this was something else. This was the perfect balance of being challenging and fun. I can't claim to have been the fastest down there that weekend, but I genuinely enjoyed it. I actually ran it all! And barely had to bounce off any trees. I call that a success.

Following this was a rather lovely section of rolling hills to the Water Station, and then more rolling hills towards the next Aid Station. These were a lot of fun. As a bit of an out and back I got to say hi to people, cheer people on and have fun chasing/being chased. These are some of the reasons racing is so fun, right?

Then came a long downhill section following mostly dirtroads, before an uphill to the Aid Station where I knew I needed a food stop. I was still feeling strong but had a feeling that wouldn't last. And I was really craving Mama noodles.

I was on such a roll at this point. I felt strong, my legs were loving this whole trail malarky and I really didn't want to stop. So I took my Mama noodles and ran. I knew I had a few kms downhill so I held the noodles out in front of me and just went for it. I did get quite a few bemused looks from other runners. The noodles were then eaten between heavy breaths on the uphill. Yum!

The fun downhill from Doi Pui.

Mostly uphill to the second Water Station, which I've managed to blank most details from in mind. At this point there was quite a mix of runners from different distances making it difficult to keep track of how I was getting on, but it was nice to talk to some people doing the longer races. Quick refill at the Water Station, a handful of snacks and I was on my way again, enjoying the long, easy downhill.

After a while the dirt road turned to cement which made keeping up a pace more difficult due to quite tired legs. Then the course started uphill again. This is where it started to go wrong. It turns out that, unbeknownst to me, the course had had to change slightly at the last minute adding some extra kms ontothe uphill. I think if I had known I would have dealt with it better, but the worry of thinking I'd gone wrong and being unsure, combined with the tiredness starting to kick in combined to create a massive trail sulk. Oops. Trail sulk aside it was a nice enough route. I just didn't appreciate it as I perhaps would have otherwise. That's on me guys. Trail sulks ruin views.

Stopped for rice at HQ because in my experience tiredness is often a sign of hunger on the trails. Had to force it down, but it did help almost immediately. Unfortunately I then slid on my ass as I was leaving so that dented my confidence somewhat. The final downhill is a nightmare. I have never done well on it, and I don't think I ever will. Any time I made up by my kickass legs earlier in the day was immediately lost by my slowass brain on the final few kms. Darkness and a storm hit what was already a fairly slippy single track trail. I just don't have the confidence to bounce down from one tree to another, so resorted to a lot of sliding on my bum. It took over 2 hours to do the final 10km. A word of warning for anyone doing this race - it's brilliantly well organised, fantastic routes, great views...but don't let yourself think, 'oh, it's only 10km downhill to the finish' as you leave HQ for the last time. That 10km is undoubtedly the toughest part of the race.

Muddy, wet river crossings to end the day.

Anyway, the race was over and with the exception of the final 15km (trail sulk and butt slide sections) I was very happy with both my effort and the experience. I will probably be back next year. I will probably sign up for the big one. Cos I'm a sucker for completing a collection. And an idiot.

Final time: 13:24:58, 14th woman, 8th in age group, 72nd overall (out of 240 finishers)