Sorry for the long post, please skim as you deem necessary :D. Nothing like a half marathon to get you to back in the game. This is pretty similar to my St. George 1/2 last January, a bit out of shape for both, but the course for the Mizuno race today is certified (so definitely not short like the St. G might have been) and much, much, much hillier. I came into this thinking there were a couple of girls that could beat me, but I'd try to hang with them and push it in the second half, where there was supposedly some flat. This is the premier half in HK, and the most competitive (perhaps equal with Standard Chartered half, which I will be running in a month). I thought I would be 1:23-1:25, with breaking 1:23 only as an A goal, or if the course was short (but was certified so no real chance of that). It turns out one lady wasn't there, but Yui Kit Ching was there, and she's broken 37 in the 10k recently so she's running really strong. I wanted to let her lead the first 5k-10k. After 3k warm up, stretching, strides and four bathroom breaks we started. The course starts with a steep tall hill then some down hill in the first 1k. Yui starts ahead of me, but halfway up the hill I pass her (couldn't help it? Is that a good defense, probably not). The first k is net uphill, first k was 4:07. The first 5k is net uphill, but rolling. This has alot of the same hills from my Green 1/2 Marathon in October, but isn't quite as difficult as that race, probably 30-60 seconds faster of a race? I hoped to hold onto 3:56 pace overall and dip under 1:23. 5k - 20:22, 4:04 pace, The first 5k is net uphill, but rolling. In the lead the whole time, lots of guys around, so happy to have the company and to be pushed. 10k - 39:15, 18:53, 3:47, net downhill but rolly. Trading spaces with lots of guys, still lead female, but expecting her at any time. Have a turn around at about 7.5k and see Yui is perhap 10 seconds behind. A guy with a foaming armpit was ahead of me for a bit before I passed him. Just one armpit was foaming. I was wondering if it was some type of anti-chafing product or if he forgot to rinse the pit and the sweat was causing some foaming. Passing the time with speculation, have my sights on man with tight arms and high head 15k - 58:53, 19:38, 3:56 pace, rolling, had the steep downhill (inverse of first k), some flat then an uphill to a reservoir dam we run on for 2k, that part is perfectly flat and the 15k mark is right in the middle of the dam. On the other side is some island which has an out and back flatish(?) road. right on the pace that I wanted, but not sure I can sustain, will have a turn around at 17.5 to see where Yui is. 20k - 1:18:57, 20:03, 4:01/k, a bit on the slowing. This was out and back from the middle of the reservoir dam to island to turn around, and back to middle of dam. I thought this was going to be flat, and the 2k on the dam was, but the road on the island was rolly. Glad I didn't know about this beforehand. Was strong on the way out, saw Yui was perhaps 20 sec back, but still 3.5k to go, so am running scared. 1.1k to finish, 3:36 pace, was about 3:47 in the first 500m, didn't want to lose the race at the end, passed one guy, then decided I better pass tight arms-high head guy AGAIN (why did I ever let him repass me anyway?, you can see a picture of him on facebook http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=200021433425516&set=t.100000309753355&type=1&theater, and I am definitely not shuffling in this picture), and saw 1:23 was closing in but knew I could get under so picked it up to the end. Won $2400 hkd in Mizuno gc (about $310 usd), a mizuno bag, the biggest trophy I have ever won, so big I have to modify my trophy case to make one shelf a tall shelf, an mp3 player. One funny thing is both times they had me up for the awards they played on the sound system "We are the champions" and not just for 10 seconds either. It is pretty cheesy but also fun to have such a big deal be made of things here. There is an Osaka marathon trip offered to the overall winners, but the rules state you have to live in HK for three years, so when one of the organizers congratulated me on being able to go to Osaka, I said I would be thrilled to go, but don't qualify per their rules. He said they would have to take a look at it, so maybe 20% chance of a Japan trip (Oct 2012), that would be awesome.
| 