This the race that I first ran in HK. I was in good shape a year ago but still coping with the change of training in the HK weather. So this year my plan was basic, beat my time from last year and break 39:00 (last year did 39:04. Roberto gave me a ride. We had about 2k of walking, to registration, then to the course, then just 3k warm up. I stretched and had lots of potty time. I was concerned about my stomach because I had a royal stomach ache Friday afternoon/evening, that was mostly gone Saturday, but running hard can make latent problems roar. At the start there was an elite section, and a wall of runners behind that section. I had a bottle of cold water and Ali and I poured it down our backs to cool off. 29C, 65-70% humidity. Some light winds, but it is an out and back course. They let the walls behind us close in with 5 minutes to go, and I thought there were some high school girls usurping some space in front of Alison Chow and I (she is the top marathoner in HK, did 2:48 twice last year, and we train together). We were about four people back, so we swung around the edge and got a better position. It turns out those two girls were Taiwanese who had travelled for this race, and they took off fast! My goal was 3:55 pace going out, then a bit faster coming back. I had negative splitted this course by 18 seconds a couple of months back. Ali and I stuck together, and we were behind the two Taiwanese ladies. 1k - 3:49, the taiwanese ladies were about 10 seconds ahead!, with the lead pack of guys 2k 3:51, I am running with Ali, trying to run smart, figuring if those ladies are that fast then I can't keep up anyway, and if they made a mistake they will come back to us. 3k - 3:55, I am not feeling that great, but plugging along, Frankie (one of Ali's pacing friends) kind of hanging onto Ali, so in 4th place, in the third K we see coach Paul who cheers us on. Water stop in this k, drank some and the rest down my back. 4k - 3:50, we catch one of the Taiwanese girls at the end of the 4th k or in the 5th k 5-6k 7:49, I forget to get the 5k mark because it is a 180 turn around and I guess that is just not an obvious enough place to hit a lap split. Lame. But if I say the 5th k was 3:55, then my first 5k would be 19:22 (adding two seconds for truncated splits). I can start to see the #1 girl ahead, she is probably 25-30 seconds ahead at the turn around, perhaps 25 seconds at 6k. 7k -3:55, I know I need to move to catch this #1 girl and that this k is the place to do it, but obviously my split is not exactly eye of the tiger, she is about 20-25 sec ahead with 3k to go 8k - 3:52, I am making up a little ground 9k - 3:51, at this point I know I won't catch her, but don't want to get passed and want to break 39 minutes 10k - 3:43, I start this k fast, kicking but at 500m I am a bit demoralized and tired, so I think I checked out from 500m to 300m, then picked it up again. Total time (official) 38:39. The course record was 38:23, and the Taiwanese girl came in 19 sec ahead of me at 28:20, so she got $4000hkd bonus and more prize money (obviously) than me. I had a chat with coach afterward and he made me promise to go with anyone who I race with, even Paula Radcliffe should she decide to run the AVOHK 5k series :D I should have stayed closer in touch, but with the heat I didn't want to blow up. So I met my time goal, but failed to race this race in the smartest way. Some lessons we get to relearn over and over. I am happy, though to be 25 sec better in this race than last year. I hope I can keep it up. After a short break, Ali (who came in third 50 sec behind me) and I did another 2k tempo, 4:02 ave pace, then 5k easy, then I ran to get my bag. So almost 21k today.
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