A nice early start Saturday morning saw David and I lining up for the the first of my five marathons. The Greenpower run has been happening in January in Hong Kong for the past 24 years and encompasses all eight stages of the Hong Kong trail, starting at Victoria Peak (all my visitors to HK know this place well as I make them hike up here) and finishing in the beautiful Big Wave Bay… In other words, it goes from one end of Hong Kong Island to the other. As you would expect from the name, the run is the primary fund raiser for a group devoted to keeping this country clean and green. I have to confess to feeling a bit nervous, this was the first long run i had attempted since my hamstring injury in November and I had only done one short run in the past seven weeks. My aim for the race was to finish and not worry about the time.
It was a stunning day to be on the trails. The sun was out and it was a crisp 17 degrees. This time of year in HK can be cold and foggy, so the weather was a blessing and added to the excitement of the challenge ahead. I’m happy to say we both managed the first 25kms well and were feeling pleased with our progress at the half way mark. The second half started with a steep uphill, and when your legs are tired and a bit unconditioned, it was tough. As you can see by the photo below, David was not particularly happy with me at this point!!
The urge to take off and run the race at my normal pace was HUGE. I had to be mindful of my injury every step of the way and make sure i took it easy. Every time a runner passed me i literally had to hold myself back from not speeding up and over taking them with a smug smile (a couple of times David had to physically restrain me). It was an exercise in patience and perseverance. What it did allow me to do was take the time to appreciate the stunning views over this amazing Island.
One of the hard parts about taking the race slower than normal is that you end up spending a long time on the trails. At the eight hour mark, both David and I were feeling fatigued and just wanted to get to the finish line, but we still had Dragons back to tackle. We were both determined to finish in under 9 hours, so gave it one final push and came across the line at 8.57..phew!!
It was a long day but a very rewarding one. Im happy to report my hamstring pulled up well and i didn’t have too many aches and pains the next day. It was a great start to my five marathons challenge and a really nice event to do with David. Unfortunately he didn’t pull up quite as well as me from the run (You know how you walk after getting of a horse when you have never ridden before? Well thats pretty much how David was walking for a few days). However, credit were credit is due, he is always at my side when I do these events and is my number one supporter. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.
Completing this run was a big psychological boost for me. I am now really looking forward to the next one on the 18th Feb. In the meantime a few days rest and some massages will go down nicely.
