Hong Kong Mountain Race

I am reminded again that trail running is not my strength - or at least reminded that racing down rocky stair steps is not my strength.

I had heard that the 14-kilometer Lantau Mountain Marathon in Hong Kong had an interesting climb followed by a nice flat trail section and I had gathered a group of teammates for the event.

The initial 4.5k climb up the rocky mountain trail went fine　- I started slowly and then passed dozens of runners on the narrow trail. The view was fantastic and I felt I was moving into good position. But then we crested the hill and I struggled on the downhill as runner after runner scampered around me. I was becoming a bit of a hindrance to the other runners with my slow, cautious side-stepping. Apparently I am just too caught up in self-preservation, and do not lean forward and let gravity carry me down. My only solace was the thought of opening it up on the final flat 7k and overtaking everyone.

However while the final 7k section proved to be relatively flat, it continued to be a narrow and rocky trail, and I could never really open up and simply "run". I had built up a lot of pent-up energy by this point and whenever we did hit a more open section, I burst into a sprint. I managed to overtake most of the runners who had passed me on the downhill, and finished 16th overall in 1:38:21, 3rd in my age group which was good for a HK$200 gift certificate.

My teammate from Tokyo, Fabrizio, was one of the runners who had blown past me on the downhill. I managed to catch up with him, and we were together with 2k remaining in the race when Fabrizio tripped on the treacherous trail and went down in a bloody heap. Poor Fabrizio staggered in 4 minutes behind me. Another teammate, Matthias, did the full 29k version of the course and fell several times plunging down the steep trail.

I felt vaguely responsible for my teammates' mishaps since I am the one that suggested this event - and this club definitely sits on the flat, fast, wide paved running surface side of the continuum. My friends that encouraged me to do the Lantau race on the other hand are trail runner purists who live to run in natural setting and uneven terrain, and who view urban running with scorn and disdain. I sit somewhere in between, and would prefer to do most of my running on mountain paths, but as I said at the beginning of this post, it was clear that when it comes to racing - plunging down rocky steps is not my strong suit.