This race was at Discovery Bay on Lantau Island. Discovery Bay is pretty much a gated community for wealthy expat bankers. It's not a gated community in that there's no gate and anyone can visit, but it is a gated community in that everything looks manicured, expensive, and artificial.
The cafés and restaurants and apartment buildings all reminded me of Whistler...built all at once in a methodical and precise fashion to achieve a certain feel and aesthetic. Discovery Bay is one of three communities in the world that doesn't allow cars, so people drive golf carts around. There are golf cart parking lots full of golf carts and golf cart sized parking spaces.
If you lived at Discovery Bay and then retired to Florida, you could do so without a major lifestyle change. I didn't see very many people with white sailing shoes though, so maybe you'd have to buy a few pairs before you moved down to the American south.
Since there are no cars, the ferry service from Central (the main financial district of Hong Kong) to Discover Bay is incredible. When I looked at the schedule, I noticed that the ferries are running every fifteen to twenty minutes, all day and all night. From 5:00am to 6:15 there is no service, but any other time you can be sure to get a ferry. A very solid ferry schedule! The ferry takes about half an hour.
Anyway, the race had the standard sections that I'm quite used to by now...a steep hill climb, some swimming, some steep descending, and some river gorge rock scrambling. This course was laid out to my advantage, with the river gorge and the steep ascending and descending happening in the first half. The second half of the race was standard cross-country running over fun and familiar terrain.
Last race I tanked early, and struggled to survive from the twenty-minute mark on. Because I didn't want to do that again, I focused my training since then around staying strong, loose and relaxed through the first bits of my workouts, making sure not to bonk. I hoped I'd be able to hold back in the race, and pace myself better than two weeks ago.
At the start line, I saw two people that I thought I should beat...one was wearing a brand new pair of bright red trail running shoes, and one guy had red hair. I wanted the beat the red haired guy because I beat him by a lot in my second race, and he got the better of me last race. I wanted to beat the guy in the red shoes because he looked my age, and looked pretty ambitious. I also wanted to beat him because he looked like a rookie to the series, and I fancied myself the wily veteran who knew what to expect from the course.
I started well, trying to hold back a bit and not let the excitement of the race spur me on too fast. We started through the Discovery Bay plaza, than ran down the local beach for a few hundred meters. I was in a good position after the beach section as I recognized some of the runners I am usually running with around me. Last week I recognized those around me as the really fast guys, so this week was an improvement. Red Shoes was in front of me, and Red Hair was somewhere behind me.
The river gorge section was pretty close to the start of the race, and I did well in there. Only one runner passed me, and that was Red Shoes. I kept a solid effort level, and was happy to finish it without feeling mentally or physically burned out. I maintained my position as well, except for that one pass by Red Shoes. The rocks were fairly dry at the start, so my grip was good. We had to wade through some knee deep water a few times before the section was over, but it seemed less intense than last race.
We had a very long hill climb next, to the top of a 400ish metre (1300ish feet) mountain. For comparison, Mont-Sainte-Anne's vertical is 2050 feet...so we were slogging up a steep mountain that was just a bit smaller than the whole of Mont-Sainte-Anne. It was definitely a walk, and even that was tough. When we reached the top, we started on our way back down, and it was tough keeping control down the really steep grade. I got a bit frustrated at this point, because for the first 45 minutes of the race, there was little quality running happening...we were either going straight up, or straight down.
On the way up the mountain, I passed Red Shoes, paying him back for besting me in the river gorge. Soon though, both Red Shoes and Red Hair passed me. Red Hair continued to pass others, and was soon quite a ways ahead, with three or four racers between us. We were a line of runners snaking over the trail, which was by this time well above the tree line. This made it easy to see the other runners and gauge distances. When Red Shoes passed me on the way up, I was able to keep him within about ten feet of me. I could tell he was tired, so I passed him in a run just before the crest, trying to break his moral.
On the way down the mountain, there was a line of about five or six of us, with Red Hair in the lead, bounding down the mountain. Red Shoes passed me back, and I was helpless to stop him.
At the bottom of the steep downhills, I saw a nice road section looming, with runners racing on it. I was excited to change gears and put it into cruise control, no longer having to worry about tumbling out of control down the mountain.
I didn't get to run the road section right away though...we would have to jump over the road's guard rail, make our way down to a small lake, and swim for about 15 or 20 strokes along the rocky shore. We'd then get out and run back up to the road again. There would be a water station just at the start of the road section.
I passed Red Hair just before the swim started, as his shoe lace came untied and I took advantage of this as he stopped to do it up. Once in the water, Red Shoes was directly in front of me, and I pulled myself out of the water in the same position. He got out of the water and ran onto the road, but stopped at the water station, while I trucked right through like it was a yellow light on the way to a U2 concert.
The water stations aren't what I'm used to...they offer full bottles of water, and you don't have the option to carry it for even a few metres before dropping it. The volunteers are always yelling that you can't take the water with you. If you want to get water, you must stop, crack the cap, chug as fast as your can, throw the bottle into the garbage, and then start racing again. I lost two places in the first race by stopping for water, so since then I have opted to save my drinking for after the race. This was a good plan here, as Red Shoes stopped for water and I passed him.
After the swimming section, it was ideal terrain for me...mostly trail running, with some ups and downs. I didn't mind, because unlike earlier in the race, they were not the kinds of descents that had my toes trying to break through the front of my shoes. The ascents were also run-able, and not like the previous leg burners that made us walk. This new type of terrain was familiar to me, and I began to feel fast and nimble on it.
I concentrated hard and really tried to bring my speed up a notch, knowing the terrain was more what I was used to. I felt good and felt like I was bounding down the trail instead of suffering through it, so I knew I had paced myself better than last race. I slowly picked off one runner at a time, and soon I had overtaken almost all the runners that were between Red Hair and myself on the way up and down the mountain.
I figured the race had only about twenty minutes left, if I was going to finish it in an hour and half, which would be similar to my times in the previous races. In this late stage, I was running all by myself. I concentrated on not looking back, and trying to stay fast. Both Red Shoes and Red Hair were behind me, but I didn't hear anyone's footsteps approaching and wanted to keep it that way.
The race course wound its way back down to sea level, and after only a few hundred metres of tough coast-line running, the finish was visible. The last bits of the course wound through the Discovery Bay development for a bit, and then would finish in the central plaza where we started. I got a bit lost, as the course was poorly marked through the maze of uniform buildings, manicured cul-de-sacs and golf cart parking spaces. Red Hair suddenly appeared behind me, and we both found our way and headed for the plaza.
We had an epic battle to the finish line, whipping the spectators into a frenzy! I was yelling a bit in the last hundred metres as we ran in tandem to the finish. I was spurring him on to try and get there first, and also using this to get myself to try and beat him. I don't know why I yell and get all excited at the end of races, but I do. We were giving something to the fans, and it was definitely fun. I could hear Carol cheering louder than anyone else, so that fun too.
The final stages of the battle saw us come down the final stretch stride for stride, both straining equally for the tape (except there was no tape). As we crossed the line, I would have to say the finish was too close to call. In the end, I tied with Red Hair and beat Red Shoes by less than a minute. Looks like he shouldn't have stopped for water, and Red Hair should have tied his shoes more tightly!
Carol was busy cheering me on, so there are no pictures of the photo finish. Here's me afterwards though, lingering around the finish line.
Here, I seem to be complaining about something in my head...probably the poor set-up and organization of the on-course water checkpoints. I stock up on water at the finish where I don't mind being stationary while drinking it.
It was a great race, and I stuck to my plan of not tanking too early. I kept my form and my speed for the whole race, and finished strong. I saw some familiar runners finish after me, so it may have been my best race placing-wise. Carol said I may have got top twenty, so I'll be super happy if I placed 19th!
I have wanted a top twenty finish, so we'll see what happens when the results are published. I'm a bit worried though...maybe I had a worse finish than I thought. It's hard to know. Regardless of the results, this race was my best for pacing and staying focused on racing and not getting mentally defeated by the course.
The award ceremonies followed the race, and everyone who placed in the five men's categories beat me (except maybe two runners), and so did two women. So, that means that about fifteen runners beat me for sure. Usually I get 8th or 9th in my category, so it'll be interesting to see if I can pull off a 19th place...I'll have to place 5th in my category to have a chance at a Top 19 finish. I think the chances are slim.
Sometimes I think I was faster this race than all the other races, but other times I wonder why I had energy to kick it home at the end like I did. Maybe I was faster, maybe I was slower. I just don't know.
It was my best race enjoyment-wise for sure, and I'm happy to end the race series on this positive note. I'll post the results when they're published, and will be happy with my race even if I don't place as high as I'd like.
Apparently the race organizers are working on posting pictures from all the races, so I may be able to post them here at some point as well. Hopefully there'll be one from the finish...stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment