Rebook 15K run on Jan 22, 2006

I have done Rebook 15K run this morning in Sai Kung. This is a big challenge for me. I have never done such a "long" distance before. This is sort of a trial for my Standard Chartered Half Marathon run on 2/12. Even before the race, I was still worried that I could not run for the whole route. I may need to walk a bit. The starting point was at Pak Tam Chung. The route can be found from http://www.hkaaa.com/hkaaa/event/event/Reebok04/reebok_index.htm
. 2 Adrians were there. Adrian Cheung (my colleague and my trailwalker and running buddy), Adrian Ho (my coursemate in HKU) and Vins (my senior HKU fellow). The weather was cold today. It was 13C. But I got a feeling that it was below that in Sai Kung. It was definitely colder than what I experienced in Lantau 2 weeks ago or StandChart Run last year.

When I registered for this run, we need to fill in how long we expect we could finish the race. As different timing would have different starting section. Of course, the fastest group starts towards the front. I actually picked the slowest section :P 1 hour 46 mins or above! Even though it was not a cross-country route, there was quite a bit of up and downslope on concrete road. When it started, oh my god!.... it was upslope for about 2.5km . Damn! What am I doing here? That's what I was asking myself when I just started. Adrian Cheung ran pass me even though he started later than I do. He went to toilet when the race started. I saw few people walking already.. Shall I follow them? I have been struggling even it just started. How can I finish it?! My little Angel won. I continued to run even though I ran very slow on upslope. I found myself run faster on flat road and downslope. So I tried my best to run pass people. But if it's upslope, people passed me again. I saw Adrian Ho running back. But I still didn't know where the turning point was. I then saw Vins running back. Oh.. a group of people stopped in front of me. A young guy fell down. Oh no! His face turned black and his tongue came out. Eyes were half open. He really looked very serious. People asked us to continue to run. Some helpers came and took care of him. I then saw Adrian Cheung. I knew that the turning point was not too far away. Then, I saw a small ambulance drive to that runner. Gosh! he was not breathing.. no heart rate. Those guys said, "Call the big ambulance immediately!!" Um..

I didn't stop. I continued to run. oh no! Upslope again.. People cheered us, "Keep it going! not much upslope from here now!" Yes! no more please! It was really freezing!! Even though I was running, I still felt cold on my arms. I was wearing short and short sleeves top. I had problem to move my arms and carry a cup of water at the water stop!!

Oh yes! I saw the finishing point not far away from me!! I speed myself up. I ran like I was running a 100m race!! VERY FAST! I passed at least 4 men at the last 50m. A guy must think that how could have a girl pass him by! He ran and raced with me in the last 5m. I guess we arrived at the same time!!

I finished at around 1 hour 40 to 41mins. I am quite satisfied about my result. Even though I was still very slow comparing with my friends. But I was faster than I expected and I could run for the whole route. But I got muscle pain on my hamstring. Hope I wasn't hurt again!

K.O.T.H. as of Jan 8, 2006

I did King of the Hills (K.O.T.H.) in Lantau Island today. The detail can be found from http://www.seyonasia.com/koth/lt.html. I was doing the half marathon.. 14KM long. It was so cold today! 11C... Why I joined this race? Adrian asked me to do so. He is another guy who is addicted to this kind of race after trailwalker.

I arrived at pier at 8:15am for ferry to Mui Wo. Wow.. so many people joined this race. Most of them were strong Gwei Lo and Gwei Paul. It took us 30 mins to Mui Wo. Then, we took bus to the starting point. We saw many Bloomberg people there. Amanda, Phil and Sandy .. together with Adrian and I. We are healthy folks!! hahhaa..

Full marathon runners started at 10am. We, half marathon runners started at 10:15am. Once it started, we need to walk up to the hills. People were much faster than those in trailwalker. I am the slowest batch. I can't see Amanda, Phil and Sandy once it started. Adrian was always good in uphills. I can't see him in 15 mins. It took me about an hour to the top of the hills. Few people did very slow in downhills. I know they had knee problem.

Between CP1 and CP2, I was following a Chinese girl. She asked me to run over her. I said.. " that's all I can do!". It is better I am behind you!.. :) Then, we started to talk. She is from ADM Capital. Company sponsored them to do it. After CP2, it will be pretty flat. I can start to run faster now. I have done running training in the past few weeks. It does help! Even though I am quite tired, I can still run. I started to catch up some people. I almost fell down couple of times but luckily I didn't. Some guys carrying big backpacks walked from our finishing point. I guess they just finished camping. They cheered us and said, "Keep it going.. not many people were in front of you!" hahaa.. I said, "Yeah.. not that much! 300 people only! " :) Then, he said, "Nah.. I didnt see that many!"... hahaha. Liar! but thanks for that.

I finally finished it in 2 hours 41 mins. It is what I expected. Adrian finished it in 2 hours 21 mins. He is very satisfied what he did. I am ok with mine. If I didnt run that fast at the last stage of trail. I couldn't finish it less than 2 horus 45 mins. I actually picked a pink color T-shirt girl as my target to catch at the last stage of the trail. I finally ran over her. I definitely need more more training on uphills and downhills.

You know what I didnt have a chance to see view this time. People were really fast. No time to enjoy the view and I forgot to bring my camera again!

What's my next race? Reebok 15K on Jan 22. more training is needed. I have never done 15K run before.