I want to start by saying that, I have never been so glad to finish a race as I was last Saturday! (I actually say that after every race, but I really meant it with this one). It was gruelling! The course was tough and hilly and went from sea level to mountaintop and the worst part was it didn’t finish when it was supposed to! The start was in the dark at 6.30am at the Sai Kung Country Park. At about the 5km mark when we had climbed our first Mountain (might have been a big hill but I’m taking artistic license here and referring to all the hills as mountains), the sun was rising over the ocean and it was breathtaking. At this point I was feeling great, loving that I was on the trail at sunrise and enjoying the camaraderie of my fellow runners…we could all still talk at this point! After taking a quick photo I continued down and up another few mountains. At the half way mark I was still feeling good and gave myself a pat on the back for what I had achieved so far. I had been running almost four hours at this point and I honestly thought the second half would be easier – big mistake! The second half started with a nice flattish trail and some road running then looped back onto the trail and straight up another mountain. It was slow going from then on in and all I could do was put my head down and soldier on.
At around the 42km mark I came across a young woman collapsed on the trail. I knelt down beside her and asked a few questions to try to work out if she had fallen or was not feeling well. Her answers were faint and mumbled and I was really concerned. I felt her pulse, which was strong, and gave her one of my glucose chews to suck on to get some energy into her system. Another runner alerted one of the volunteers who then contacted the first aid team. A few runners and I waited with the girl until a first aid person arrived and then two lovely male runners physically picked her up and carried her back to the previous checkpoint where she could receive proper medical attention. I heard later that she was dehydrated but was feeling much better after treatment.
There is not doubt this kind of endurance event puts stress on your body. Proper training and preparation is essential as you never know how long you will be on the trails or what the weather will throw at you. While February is winter in Hong Kong, it was an unseasonably warm day of around 25 degrees with high humidity. It was great to see my fellow runners rally around and forget about their own times in order to make sure the young woman got the help she needed.
I started back on the trail and finally reached the last Checkpoint, where my trusty Garmin watch was showing I had already run 48kms, I was pretty relieved to have only 2kms to go. Imagine my surprise (shock, horror) when dead ahead of me was a big sign saying “Great work, only 7.5kms to go”. I looked at my watch to check I hadn’t hallucinated (perhaps I was also dehydrated) and saw that it was still showing 48kms, surely that can’t be right, but it was. I watched in dismay as tired runners grabbed a banana and then turned to head up the stairs I had just come down. Not only did I have another 7.5kms to go, I had to retrace the course I had just done and it was straight uphill. This is where that mental challenge began in earnest. My first thought was that I couldn’t do it, I should pull out. My goal had been to do 5 marathons in 5 months before May and technically, at 48kms, I had completed a marathon. The next thought I had was how could I write this blog post and admit that I had pulled out of a race before the finish. I would be letting everyone down but more importantly I would be letting myself down. I took a deep breath, grabbed a banana and turned very slowly to face the remainder of the trail.
Those last 7.5kms really drove home to me how incredible the human body is. Mental determination got me moving, and years of doing long distance events held me in good stead. I dug deep and even managed to run some of the downhill’s (which resulted in me falling flat on my face) and passed three people. When I finally reached the road at the 44km mark my wonderful husband was waiting for me. He had run the 22km course and finished in a very respectable 4.5 hours. He had been waiting 5.5 hours for me to finish the race and bought me 3 cups of tea that all went cold! Together we ran the last 1km and 10 hours after I started the race I finally crossed the finish line.
I am happy to report after suspecting I wouldn’t be able to move for a week, I was feeling pretty good the next day and was able to go out for a slow walk with my husband. I have learnt from experience that sitting and not moving is the worst thing you can do.
One of the most wonderful results of me setting this goal for myself is that I have inspired one of my close friends to do something similar. She is turning 60 this year and has set herself the challenge of doing six hikes (all above 20 miles) in six months before her birthday. The last one will be a six-day trek of around 80 miles in total. She has already started her training and got five of the six hikes locked in. Now she has inspired me!
Next week we are off to Bhutan to complete marathon number three. Bhutan is known as the Kingdom of happiness so I’m sure we are going to have a wonderful time.
