Hong Kong marathon

The maraton race I ran in Hong Kong last weekend has been on my bucketlist for many years and in October I signed up for a spot and was lucky to get one. Either you can qualify by time or you can get one from a draw. It is an AIMS gold label race attracting 73 000 runners in the marathon, halfmarathon and 10K disciplines. I thought it would be a great marathon since the city is great but it was above my expectations. The track was brilliant. Quite tough but brilliant. You were running at highway ramps and the views were stunning. At one side there were mountains, and the other one condos, waters, or the huge container harbour. We had to run through a whole bunch of tunnels and all together it felt like taking part in a video game. The one and only negative part was that there were no spectators along the course, but it was so crowded with runners so it didn’t matter too much. In total it was great race that I strongly recommend every marathon collector out there to take part in.

My marathon story

My marathon story from HKG was less than an enjoyable one. I got the worst time ever in my 18th marathon run history. But I knew it already a couple of days ago when I got sick with a bad cough that this marathon would not be a race to perform great results in. If it was not in HKG and I wanted to run this race so long I would considered done my first DNS. I know very well what can happen if you go training when you are sick but I decided to do it this time.

When I woke up at 5 am I felt less than good after way too little sleep two nights in a row, way to much coughing, yesterday’s hiking tour and bad eating like I always do when I run races are abroad. It was absolutely my own fault that this marathon was a fight from the first to the last meter.

On the way from the hotel to the MRT I tried to run a little, the legs felt kind of okey but my cough was worse so I knew this would be a challenge beyond the distance. The start was at Tsui Tshai Tsim and at 6:35 am it was time to take off. There were only two starting blocks, marathon run 1 and marathon run 2 so it was pretty crowded in the beginning before everyone got into their pace. I already knew after a few kilometers that I would not be able to run the whole race today so I decided to run to 30K and then I was allowed to walk as much as I wanted if I managed to do that in less than three hours. I made it with two minutes margin and at that point I was at least a bit happy for a few minutes but walking on a run is never fun so I was not really glad the remaining 12K. Or 14,5K which today’s marathon turned out to be.

Usually I get two energy gels at a marathon run but they seemed to be impossible to find in HKG so I had zero energy with me to the start and I wished for some eatable snacks during the road. But of course they had not. The only eats they provided was an asian sports drink that I didn’t dare to try, chocolate and banana which are two of the foods I hate the most. So I drank only water during the race. Not recommended. My energy was all out after I finished my 30K mission. Walking the last part was a mental break down. It was absolutely terrible. My brain wanted to run but my body said no! Stop! every time I tried. I wanted to quit but I wanted to finish since I hate giving up.

Of course I finished the race but I felt everything else than happy of the 42+K that I have transported myself. I was pissed and dissatisfied.

When I came back to the hotel I spent the afternoon at the pool. I was still sick, didn’t feel that good but luckily not worse than before the run. As said before I run marathons for the sake of my own but it does not really matter. I still wanna do my best and the best of myself at HKG marathon was everything else than good.

Now a few days after the worst marathon in my life I can tell that I am so ready for taking on the marathon distance in not too long again. Probably in April. I just have to find a race that suits my calendar and then I hope being able to run better than the worst marathon race I ever finished. Any recommendations for good marathons in April?

/ Pernilla that look forward to new marathon challenges