Trip Report
Hong Kong
03- 06 – 03- 09/98
China Coast Marathon
Hong Kong
Sun, Mar 8/98
Marathon # 124 – Country # 8 – Continent # 6
3:46:39
This race was the 2nd leg of our trip to
Africa and Asia. And this will be a short report since I don’t remember much
about the race except for the stress I was under!
The Sports Manager and I routed through Hong Kong on the
way home from Africa so that I could complete my 6th continent in my
quest to run all seven continents. Since we had visited HK before we weren’t
interested in spending more than a few days to run the race.
I picked up my race packet on Sat, the day before the race,
and spent a lot of time talking with race officials about the logistics of the
race because I had a problem! There had been sparse info on the race and I had
made a ‘potential’ error in my logistics planning. I had assumed that I
could/would finish the race under 3:30 and if necessary could probably push myself
to finish under 3:15? The race started at 8 am on Sun so I had booked a flight
out of HK at 1 pm on Sun. In those days 1 ½ hours was plenty of time to check
in, go through security and board a plane. It would be tight but I was
Executive Platinum on AA and always received special and fast service when
flying AA!
However I wasn’t expecting the marathon course to be on
the northern outskirts of the city and I didn’t know that it was a tough and
hilly course! Now I had to take a taxi to the start line and more importantly
after the race I would have to grab a taxi immediately after crossing the
finish line, rush to the airport and check in. Hopefully I would have time for
a quick shower in the AA Executive Lounge – or my colleagues on the flight
would not be happy! To help speed up the process we decided that Nicole would
go to the airport early and check us both in - you could do that in those days!
The local runners and race volunteers cautioned me that the course was very
tough and I shouldn’t expect to finish under 4 hours! If I took 4 hours I would
not make our flight!
The marathon course was a half-marathon loop in Sai Kung
Country Park around the High Island Reservoir. It was scenic but indeed very
hilly! I reached 10Km in 52:21 and a (5 K) split of 25:53. I was close to a
3:30 marathon pace. I could not slow down! I passed 20 Km in 1:44:24 and a
(10K) split of 52:13. I was holding a consistent pace but it was not fast
enough to finish under 3:30? I don’t know if the pressure/stress caused me to
slow down (I think it was the 2nd loop of constant hills) but when I
reached 35 Km in 3:07:49 and a (10K) split of 26:19 I knew I was NOT going to
finish under 3:30 and that it would be tight to catch my flight! I crossed the
finish line in 3:46:39 – grabbed a finisher’s medal and rushed to the entrance
of the Park to catch a taxi. Luck was with me and I got a taxi right away and
asked him to take me to the airport – FAST! When I arrived at the airport Nicole
had already checked us in and had our boarding passes so we rushed through
security. Heck – I even had time for a quick shower. We boarded the plane 10
minutes before departure time. Remember in those days - they didn’t close the
aircraft doors until it was ready to depart.
Shortly after we settled into our roomy seats In Business
Class my legs started to tighten up. In hindsight I now realize how foolish I
was to do such nonsense! Run a tough race and then immediately jump on a plane
for a 12 hour flight? I am amazed that I didn’t suffer DVT more often?
When I finished I was a wee bit disappointed in my
performance and that I couldn’t break 3:30 until I discovered a few days later
that I had won 1st place in my AG (Vets 50+) and beat the female winner of the race by 1 min. All the times were slow
so my finish time of 3:46 was actually very good!
And more importantly I had finished Marathon # 124 –
Country # 7 – Continent #6. Only one more continent to go!
Stay tuned!
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