First HK race.  Met Roberto outside of MTR station, and he graciously gave me a ride to and from the race.  The race was up a hill to a reservoir, but was mainly flat for the actual course. Update on weather:  83F, 82% humidity.  They didn't start the race til 8:15, it would have been a bit better weather if it had been 6:15, but they are not early risers here.  Because of weather, little warm up was needed and advised.  Roberto introduced me to many runners, many of them expats.  The guy runners were quite good, and I met several of the top runners.  Plan was to start at 6:10 pace and see if I could hold it. 6:10 would give me the course record and some more shoe vouchers.  there were a couple of thousand runners from looks of it, and the trail was fairly narrow (about the width of the provo river trail) so many guys started quickly.  I didn't see any ladies around me, but the course had a 180 at 5k so I knew I'd be able to see the ladies at that time. Splits were 6:10, 6:11, 6:19, turn around, see #2 lady is maybe 20 seconds behind, So hot, and resigned to 6:20 pace, hoping to not crash and burn and embarrass myself. Rest of splits were 6:24 (trying to keep pace with a pack of men ahead of me), 6:13 (passed by 1 guy, pass three others), then 5:46 for .25.  The course director is meticulous with his course measurement, so it was probably right on 10k.  I just did some unideal swerving. My watch says 39:06, official time 39:04 (I stared at my watch for a bit before deciding to turn it off).  They put out a tape for me and I broke it!  my first tape break.  I think the next woman was a couple of minutes behind me.  

They let you double dip for prizes, so I got $1500HKD in vouchers from a mizuno shop (enough for 2-3 pairs of shoes), another pair of mizuno shoes from the race, a polaris watch and a cool trophy.  Everyone got tshirts. They had water along the race (3 times) but it wasn't enough for me, and they had water bottles at the finish, but no food, so note to self, bring your own after race replenishment!  Good race though for only about $15 entry fee.

I wish I could have gotten the course record, but I am happy I didn't unravel substantially and rallied a bit at the end.  A good start. 

Here's a highly hyperbolized article about me--haven't had a news article written about me in a news paper since high school, so I guess I shouldn't complain they confused being an Olympic hopeful with being an OTQ hopeful :D

 From the South China Morning post, 8/15/2011

"I had no idea just how organised and competitive road running was when I arrived here and I will certainly miss it when I leave." 

Everyone is making a big deal about me not having a live in maid.  They cost about $7,000 per year, and with tuition and travel expenses, not sure it's important enough to get one.  It will take a couple of months to figure out exactly how much it really costs to live here. 

Met Roberto for an easy 60 min run.  My watch was off for about 2 miles in the middle so I have an approx ave pace of 7:45. We started off faster, but Roberto claimed I was breathing hard so we backed off.  Good idea since I have several hard runs ahead of me this week.  Also claims I am shuffler.  I might be, but it makes me laugh to have the truth handed to me like that.  Next thing he'll tell me I need to lose a couple of pounds (I know I do) :D.  

Got JJ set up at a Christian International School.  Hopefully that will be a good place for him until he gets into the school system we really want.  Currently waiting for groceries to be delivered. 

AM: Met Roberto. Converted my 2x2 mile workout to 2 x 3k workout, to get with the metric program.  so 2 x 3k at 10k pace.  Roberto said that was 3:45 when I said I wanted to go 6:05-6:10, but I realized partway through the workout that 3:45 is 6:00 pace.  Anyway, warmed up 4.62 in about 7:36 ave pace.  first 3k was 11:11, or 3:44 ave pace. Rest between was 1.5k, but also potty break. second 3k was 11:09, or 3:43 ave.  It felt hard but not killer.  Rushed home to get my son to his assessment for West Island School.  This school is so freaking awesome.  It is a big campus, like a community college.  It has four wings and is 11 stories tall.  More important than its way cool building is the educational opportunities he'll get here.  He gets a laptop the first day, and the first week the kids do an intensive computer project, so that they all get used to their new computers.  He will be learning Putunghua (Mandarin) and Spanish.  Anyway, I am very excited for him.

PM: got my university gym card, so hit the treadmill.  5 miles at 8mm pace.  Felt dizzy and sick in the first half, then got a drink of water and perked up in the second half.  Have done part of my core workout and will do the rest tonight. 

Met Roberto for "75 min" run which turned into an 82 min run.  He took me on a hilly course that had us do a 1k steep hill, which seemed like it was 2k long, and he discovered how much I love hills.  Passed four tracks on the run as well as one monkey twice.  7:37 ave pace.  Not too hot but very humid = soaking wet shorts and yet another embarrassing ride on the metro-- "really, it's just sweat".

AM: Ran a track workout of two downward ladders: 1600, 1000, 800, 400, 200m, all with 200m rest between, 10K pace for the 1600, and dropping pace to mile pace by the 200m.  This workout was hard.  I had just gotten an email from my mother in law that she couldn't mail my Humira to me (apparently it is illegal, I accidentally left my three month's supply of Humira at her house instead of packing it last minute with my cold packs before the flight).  So I was demoralized from that.  My insurance might not cover it, they are debating it right now.  Welcome to socialized medicine. I have been a big proponent of socialized medicine, but one of the aspects tends to be some limits on coverage, so I am experiencing those limits firsthand.  They do not cover any psychological issues, which means they might not cover Mickie's ADHD, and they don't cover birth control (BYU didn't either).  Anyway. The track doesn't open until 6:45, so started the workout when it was too warm for comfort, 82-84F.  The run ended up being somewhat of a comedy of errors, since my mp3 player fell out one two fast bits, affecting my times and the second time it broke, and someone picked it up (I thought it was keifed but someone later came up to me and gave it to me, he kept it safe for me!).  Ok, I realize this post is a little stream of consciousness.  Sorry.  Warm up was sluggish. 3.39 miles in just under 30 min. Times were 6:01, 3:39 (stopped and picked up my mp3 player in this one), 2:49 (mp3 player fell off again, almost stop and pick it up, but think better of it), 1:19, 38, 5:56, 3:38, 2:50, 1:19, 35.  I was pretty upset about my second 1000 and 800, thought I should do better, but the times were in line with where I should be right now. 2.35 cool down.

PM:  core workout, then went to the Hong Kong Sports Institute, to meet the Olympic Track Coach, Paul Wright, who happens to be in my congregation, and to meet the lone female marathon Olympic hopeful: Alison (I will post her chinese name once I know it).  Did my recovery second run on the track there, some with Alison before she warmed up for her fartlek that evening.  5 miles in 41 min. 

During the day went out with the kids to pick up JJ's school uniform and to pick up shoes I won from the race last week.  I got a mizuno precision and a wave rider, and Benji got a pair of black shoes with bright orange edges.  It was way indulgent of me, because that was about a $60 investment in his shoes, and he is so unworthy, always beats up his shoes so bad.  We found a frozen yogurt shop!  Expensive but worth it.

Slept in til 6am.  Ran 7.7 in 7:40 ave pace. stretching and pt exercises at night.

Ran my long run at night.  Weird man.  But that meant easy run in the am. Celebrated that by sleeping in til 7am.  Wasn't too punishing since I tried to stay in the shade and only ran 4.5 miles (7:49 pace).

PM: Met Alison at the HKSI (Hong Kong Sports Institute).  We warmed up on the track for 4k, then took off onto the roads.  She had many many miles of marathon pace for her long run, so the plan was for her to go out 10k (marathon pace) and me go out 8k (easy pace), then we turn around, then she should catch me about when I need to pick it up (my run was 14-16 miles, with the last three miles fast finish).  She had some friends on bikes providing water support, and they helped me with my water bottle a couple of times, but I went miles without seeing them so also did some water fountains along the way.  I felt good and kept 7:15-7:30 pace for the middle miles. I looped back for her when she didn't catch me and eventually started my tempo heading for her, found her, and turned around.  She was struggling since she had a way hard workout (I couldn't do it).  I had her give me five and she responded with a good surge, but she was doing the typical (for me) moaning and I knew exactly how she was feeling.  She was going a bit slower than I wanted to go so I had to run my own pace.  My fast miles were: 6:38, 6:21, 6:19.  I was headed for a faster last mile, felt great, but felt the need for a potty so had to moderate my pace :D  I really appreciated meeting with her even though we didn't spend that much time together.  It was beneficial to know she was out there working hard at the same time I was out there, also that she was hunting me down, that is motivating.  16.3 miles for this run total.