I have said this many times before and I will say it again – KOTH isn’t for the faint of heart. Finishing a full marathon is by itself an accomplishment for an amateur athlete like me!
After paying a 20 bucker fine for a forgotten bib last time, I made sure I carried one this time! Also did my homework – carb loading the previous night, about 8 hour solid sleep and plenty of training over the past couple of weeks. During the recci of this trail, it took us 5 hrs 30 mins to finish.
Everything was going according to plan – slow on the uphills, fast downhills and jogging on flats, up until I reached the Twins. The temperature was quite hot and I think I got smacked by the sun. Also, I filled my water bottle with some electrolyte drink instead of pure water and that had a reverse effect – making me thirsty yet retaining the water. Also, I was wearing a black tee shirt as a gentleman before the climb to the Twins pointed out! All this slowed me down quite a bit and I was developing stomach cramps when trying to accelerate, perhaps because of the accumulation of fluids in my stomach. I tried watering the plants but that didn’t help much!
I had to walk fast instead of jogging from there on. That had a negative effect on the time. Overall though, all things considered, there is a lot of improvement but this isn’t too bad, at least I finished and I know I could have gone farther as well.
Actual time taken: 30.5Km (4 hours 52 minutes) – My personal target was 5 hours and a top 15 ranking in my category
Ranking: 21 in my category, 56 overall (not too happy with this)
Lessons learnt:
(a) Go with salt tablets (b) get one of the British hats instead of a cap for a 360 degree protection against the sun (c) don’t wear black tee shirts (d) have to learn to hike/run formidably even during ultra hot weather
Needless to say, the fellow racers were just amazing! The winner finished in something like 3 hours 5 minutes! I think Hong Kong’s fittest participated and there were several professional athletes.
Tags: Hiking in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, KOTH
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Miranda Chan