HK Half Marathon 2006

The alarm rang at 5.45am... It's too cosy to leave the bed... could feel the soreness of my legs.. haha have been touring around HK since my arrival on friday nite.. This is my 1st trip to HK.. have been planning for this trip since last Nov.. In our group, we have Kumaran, Lee, Wong and Derrick.. we met up with Alan, Ricci and his family too...

Today is the race day! Finally gonna drag out of bed to prepare... Ong is all ready to go.. lucky i got my gear ready last nite.. quickly changed and went down to meet up with the rest at the lobby.. I am doing the half and the guys are gg for full.. due to the cold weather... the shorter the race, the earlier is the start time.. half is at 7.30am and full is at 8.15am.. the start pt is abt 300m from our hotel... Ong walked me to the start pt 1st.. the crowd was really huge! and they even have lion dance!


I was all alone after Ong went back to the hotel to join the rest.. I did by warm up and glad to have my gloves with me.. think the weather is ard 15-17 degs... soon all the enthu runners stand in place for the race to start... Once the bang was fired, everyone cheered and ran on!

I did my easy pace and enjoyed the morning scenery... very soon I reached the bridge and tot it was the mist.. later after the race then realise it was actually the haze and mmany ppl were affected by it.. there are water/isotonic stations at every 2km... there are 2 sides of the bridge and at ard 5km, i saw the elites running back at the opposite sides.. haha my very 1st thought was when is my turn to Uturn? the pt is abt 8km... there were quite a no of ups and downs along the way.. but half is considered mild slopes as compared to full.. which is up up up and a slight down then up again.. i tried taking my gloves off for a while as my palms are wet.. but once i took off, i felt cold.. and quickly wore it back.. haha

finally the U turn is ahead! my chip was sensed.. i had a quick drink at next water pt... ard 11km mark, i saw the official timing car and the full marathon elites speeding at a very fast pace.. it's oni abt 16 mins and they have completed 5km.. wow!! i looked out for the guys.. but din get to see any of them..

everything was gg on smoothly until ard 13km near teh Olympic Shopping center... my left vision blurred and something flipped up... the screw on my left glass was gone!! i stopped and managed to put back in place without the screw.. oh no i still got 8km to go.. was panic for a while but the run must go on! the glass came off in every 1km plus and it was quite annoying as i have to stop each time to fix.. good in the sense tt it kept me occupied on how to prevent it from coming off.. haha...

Soon i reached the undergrd tunnel to HK island.. could feel a very strong wind blowing as I ran downwards.. cos it is an underbridge.. so could feel abit of pressure when i was running inside.... everyone was screaming and shouting and echos filled up the whole tunnel.. saw the 16km marker.. 5 more to go.. once out of the bridge, it is up again in a curving road... and thinking the down slope is just ahead.. i sped up alittle.. but to my amaze.. i have to run up to the expressway and best thing.. the water point is at the peak of the slope.. haha... the route at HK island was not so easy.. cos u nv know expect there are so many ups and down! just one km from the ending pt.. u have to cross the last barrier.. a steep highway! haha i made my best pose at the finishing pt.. my timing was 2hr12 mins.. slower than my SBAHM... quite contented to complete.. as haven been training much for the run.. collected my goodie bag, return my chip and took MTR back to the hotel to shower 1st.. then train back to the ending pt to take finishing pics for the guys!


All of them did great for their full marathon!


Derrick bdae was just after the run! so we did a small celebration for him at the hotel after a long day of traveling b4 balek kampong.. :D

Distance covered: 21.195km __ Timing: 2:12

Esplanade-Marina-Keppel

05.02.2006

I almost couldn't get up today.. had a great time at the Yean's place.. CNY BBQ gathering.. i dragged myself out of bed and did a quick washup before gg to Ong's place..

Today's route is Club-Tiong Bahru Park- Esplanade- Keppel-Club.. We started at ard 7.30am.. I reached Esplanade in abt 40mins.. i din proceed to the 2nd toilet of Marina Promenade.. Some of us proceed towards Marina direction.. we were stopped by police roadblk at Fullerton.. a fight took place earlier this morning.. there were shattered glass pieces, keys, belt, blood at the scene... Ong and I stopped for a drink at clifford pier.. i decided to head back to club 1st.. Ong waited for the rest at the entrance to marina south...

Distance covered: 14km

CNY Celebration run n dinner

02.02.06

Today we did a short run ard MF cos of the CNY celebration dinner.. Cm, Adam, Divey and I went up from Morse route.. while the rest ran up from Kampong Bahru.. we ran all the way to the steepest slope and met up with the front runners as we proceed to the U turn pt..

We ran back the same route down to Morse route n CM told me he gg back from Henderson road... all of us did a shiok cool down n then proceed to the main event of the day.. CNY Makan session.. haha



Distance covered: 9km

Labrador - Mt Faber

26.01.2006

Shortly after we start, we are split into 3 groups.. the frontiers, the middle n me the backers.. haha.. As i was running down the slope, Ong was on the way out of Labrador.. I did 1 round in the park and exit by the steep slope....

At the junction of Labrador entrance, I was still thinking if i shld go up Mt Faber.. as the red man was still on.. i decided to carry on running without crossing the road 1st.. the traffic was not in favour until Morse road.. haha so destined tt i must do the hill... i went up from Morse road instead of Kampong Bahru.. halfway up the slope, I saw Ong followed by Wong and Alan.. I did 1 loop n met up with Alan n Francis.. we went back to the club together and caught up with Andre..

Distance covered: 12km __ Timing: 1:21:42

Track works at Queenstown

24.01.2006

I took abt 25 mins to reach Queenstown stadium.. was feeling abit out of breathe.. had a short rest b4 Ong started on today's session of 6, 5, 4, 2 and 1 by 400m sets..

1st set: 5 rds- 10:36:29

4th set: 2 rds- 3:42:77

Last set: 1 rd- 1:40:93

I felt breathless on the way back to the club.. I had not done tracks for quite sometime.. and felt very painful at my ribs.. i slow walk a jog back to the club with Ong..