January 15, 2012 – 12:16 am
Second race of the year down and second podium - this time first place in the corporation/organisation category of the Green Power 50K, together with Team of Paris teammates Sandro and Mathieu.
I think the three of us complemented each other well; Sandro is fantastic uphill and pulled me up Jardine’s Lookout and Mount Butler; Mat is just a solid, steady runner who is ever-willing to go up front and lead the group out. As for me, I’m good on tarmac and concrete, be in flat, uphill or downhill - not Sandro’s or Mat’s preferred surface. For the non-technical HK Trail, I think our skills matched perfectly.
January 14, 2012 – 10:53 pm
A special occasion called for special measures - I bought a mixer, electronic scale and all sorts of baking stuff and whipped up chocolate cupcakes for the surprise birthday party.
I have known Joy since we were primary one - we sat next to each other on the first day of school. By God’s grace we met again after both of us relocated to HK, some 11 years after we last saw each other.
January 12, 2012 – 9:11 am
This ain’t about speed, but what my church congregation is doing for 21 days till next Sunday. While there are people going on a water-only fast, others are giving up pleasures of life (or at least what’s pleasurable to them) such as caffeine, fast food, meat, alcohol, Facebook,… Every morning, the congregation is encouraged to meet in church at 7am for an hour of early morning prayer.
I have to admit I skipped the entire first week last week. I wouldn’t say I’m the most religious person but I am trying to strengthen my faith. However with 7am swims daily or long runs to do, I didn’t show up. But then my conscience got the better of me and this week I’ve been every day so far. I am missing the pool time, but other than that I think starting the day with an hour focused on God really sets a positive and encouraging mood for the rest of the day.
Anyway, to make up for the missed swim seshs I try to swim alone in the arvo…. and in the last two days I’ve also been running to church instead of catching a HK$30 cab. I guess you could call it a win-win situation!
January 8, 2012 – 4:08 pm
Apart from getting bit lost and running extra and losing time, I thought it was a great race!
The time is slow for a 38k race not only because of the elevation gain, but also a few technical sections and many kilometres of bashing through foliage. My shins are seriously scratched up from the thorny bushes, and my top kept getting stuck in branches and thorny creepers. And because there were lots of bits where you’d look down and all you see is foliage and not your feet or legs for that matter, I bashed my left knee into something hard (either a trunk or a rock).
Fun fun fun! Looking forward to the third and fourth legs in Lantau and HK respectively.
And the lovely map and stats are here: