After Trailwalker

It is about a month after trailwalker. We don't need to do training on weekends anymore. I found I was bit of lonely! :) But I still do a lot of things in this month.

I did Nike 10K run a week after trailwalker. Well... it is expected that I didn't fully recovered. I couldn't run fast at all. But at least I finished it!

Today I did another hiking race.... careaction! It started at 9am. It was 30KM long. The route is from Pak Tam Chung to Sharp Hill, Cheung Tsui, Ham Tin, Sai Wan, then back to Pak Tam Chung. Even though it was only 30km long, it was a very tough route. We went there once during trailwalker training. We didn't do the whole route but we went to the toughest part last time. I expected that we finished it within 8 hours today. Adrian and I joined it. Adrian thought that we could finish it within 5 to 6 hours! .. NO WAY!! It is a very tough route. Section 3 of Maclehose trail is tough which has level 3 difficulties. This trail is level 5! We need to CLIMB and SLIDE. Adrian brought me working gloves! Thanks Adrian. They really helped a lot. I can climb and didn't need to worry.

You can find the most beautiful scene in Sai Kung at this route. The weather was very good today. We regreted that we didn't bring our camera.

I didn't bring my hiking stick this time. As this route required us to climb, it was not convenient if I had the stick. But it is the steepest hill in Sai Kung. I always had problem to walk down. I was scared. It was really steep. Adrian hold my hand to walk down. Thanks again Adrian. You are the strongest hiking stick in the world! Adrian told me how I can walk down the steep hill. I was starting to know how now. I could walk and run faster down the hill now. I almost overcame my scare of steep downhills.

Actually, I spent a lot of energy in the 1st 10K to 15K as we ran a bit and hills are really steep. I almost got cramped when I climbed up the hills.

Adrian and I started to feel hungry after CP2 at Cheung Tsui even though both of us have taken 2 powergels already. We almost reached CP3 Ham Tin. Aiya.. I stepped on a wrong step. I fell down. I got cramped on my left calf. Luckily, it wasn't serious. Adrian helped me to do a bit stretching. I could start again.

Oh yes! We finally arrived at Ham Tin. We can eat finally! I ordered On Kee Fried Rice. Adrian ordered Singaporean fried rice noodle. Wow.. it was all packed. It usually took us 30 mins there to have a lunch.. But it took 50 mins over there today.

After lunch, we continued again. The rest of the route were very easy. Adrian asked if we can finished it by 4pm. I said.. no way.. unless we ran very fast! I guess 4:30pm should be ok.

We walked and ran. I got tired knees. Even though I could keep my breathing good, I couldn't run too much.

Finally, we finished it at 4:10pm. We took 7hours 10mins to finish it. The registration process wasn't as good as the trailwalker one. They just marked it by hand. I saw that I should be at position 231 for female. Well.. it wasn't too bad. I am not sure how many female participants. But there are about 2000 particpants this year.

I actually saw some of the HKU alumni in this race. Thomas, Steve and Pauline.. Pauline is the superwoman! She got position 20. She finished the race within 4 hours plus.

Adrian and I were quite happy about our result. I know Adrian can actually walk faster but he is very nice to be my company.

Then, we said.. um... if we wanted to finish trailwalker next year with 24 hours, we really need to walk faster than what we did today.. haha.. yeah. both of us still wanted to do the trailwalker next year. And we said that this careaction hiking race was a good one. WE WILL BE BACK!! hhahaa.. we are addicted to this kind of race!

Well.. our next race will be on Jan 8. (even though I haven't applied yet).. it is king of the hill in Lantau. This is another tough route. We have to do more training..

Hippo, I am not sure if you would read this blog again. But thanks for your comment! You are right. I was telling myself I would not do the trailwalker again when I was doing section 8.. but now.. you can see that I am really enjoy it. Hope that I can do it again next year.

I will change my blog name here from Piggy's Trailwalker Blog to Piggy's Blog. I will continue to write all my feeling and experience of my training in hiking and running. Even though I am not a very good hiker or runner, I still enjoy the process and try my best to break my own record!