Having done the Trail Walker several times, the MacLehose Trail brings back several memories. So, today, we hit Mac 1, 2 and 3 today after a long time!

Teammates running on Mac 1

East Dam (Mac 1)

- Started at 0738 at Pak Tam Chung (yes, that early!)
- Completed Mac 1 (about 10Km) in 53 minutes
- Mac 1 to Sai Wan pavilion (To Fu time) took 51 minutes
- Sai Wan Pavilion to end of Mac 2 took 1 hour
- So the full Mac 2 took 1 hours 51 minutes
- Mac 3 (I did this alone) took 1 hour 27 minutes

(wait times and snack times not included)

Pace was controlled. Did not exceed 13Kmh and did it in a nice and relaxed fashion. No huffing and puffing. The Heart Rate Monitor became a stomach rate monitor when it got loose and fell to the stomach from the heart! So, 220BPM Garmin reading is an anomaly.

Total: 33.381 km in 5h 00m 30s at an average of 6.67 km/h

GPX

• Maclehose Stage 1,2 + Sharp Peak (4)
• Walk report! (0)
• Trail running, Mac 5,6,7,8 (0)
• The great Mac 3,4 and 5 (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)

Tags: Maclehose 1, Maclehose 2, Maclehose 3, Sai Kung

Started very early (0730 HKT) at the Peak. Actually, let me rephrase. Should have started very early (0730 HKT) at the Peak but unfortunately, I overestimated the speed of the minibus (Number 1 from Central). It’s bloody slow and stops at every nuke and corner. So ended up being 7 minutes late. We started at 0737 on a HK Trail stages 1-4 run.

I have a feeling I made a wrong turn somewhere and had to retrace. But, my Garmin lost power (forgot to charge) so can’t really check.

Finished at 1012 HKT (something like 2 hrs 30 mins) stages 1 to 4 (25Km or so).

But, I needed a healthier dose of greenery. The problem with HK trail is that most of it is concrete and you don’t get the feeling of escaping from the city. I needed to escape from the city. I had the usual choices – Plover Cove and Sharp Peak. Not willing to spend 2 hours more on commute, I settled on Sai Kung.

Planned a precision hike/run starting 1235 HKT (Pak Tam Au). 1335 (Sharp Peak). 1340 (depart Sharp Peak). 1440 Sai Wan. 1545 finish in Pak Tam Chung.

Execution was precise. Finished at 1545 at Pak Tam Chung.

Sharp Peak was amazing as usual. There was this point where the clouds covered the body of the mountain and left the summit untouched. It looked like a summit in heaven was popping out of nowhere. No pics I am afraid. Couldn’t fit my bulky camera in my new hiking bag but planning to buy something small and cheap soon.

Total: about 45Kms

No maps or GPS I am afraid.

• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)
• Running/Hiking – Sai Kung circuit (0)

Tags: Hong Kong Trail, Pak Tam Au, Sai Kung, Sharp peak

The full set of pictures are here.

In order to celebrate the purchase of my new hiking shoes, it was time to visit Sharp Peak again. Or rather, it was time to sneak up on Sharp Peak by climbing it from its rear. (yes, hikers can be a little perverted).

So, joined the Meetup group on a classic Sai Kung Loop hike with the intention of climbing up Sharp Peak from the North. South would be the usual way from Mac 2. After that, the plan was to have lunch at Ham Tin and then climb Mosquito Hill (Dai Man Shaan) before returning to Mac 2.

Now, here’s the step-by-step guide to climbing Sharp Peak from its rear.

a) Go to Wong Shek pier (but 94 from Sai Kung bus station)
b) Take a ferry to Ko Lau Wan (infrequent and it cost HKD 14 each)

Group gathering at Wong Shek pier

That’s Ko Lau Wan

Leaving Wong Shek Pier

c) Once you reach Ko Lau Wan, follow the water pipes all the way to the Ko Lau Wan beach! There’s this huge stretch of water pipe from the pier to the beach

Approaching Ko Lau Wan

Looks like some fisherman made a prize catch!

The communal post boxes! Feel free to flick letters!

c.1) Now, turn the leadership over to the guy in the group who likes superheroes (especially Spiderman) or to someone you don’t like. This is because this guy will be destroying several spiderwebs paving the way for spider and web-free walking. I took on this role and destroyed several spider homes

The trail

Is it a plane? a bird? No it’s a spiderweb! A job for the groups’ Spiderman to clear

d) The hike to Sharp Peak from the beach ain’t easy. There’s a super climb, it was very slippery today when we did it and it requires good concentration, and some deft climbing! (400m)

No camera trick here – it’s really that steep!

As much as getting to Sharp Peak required some strong physical strength, admiring the view from there today demanded strong mental strength, i.e. imagination. One had to imagine the beautiful beaches, rolling greenery and the amazing landscape hundreds of meters below as one could hardly see what was 10m away! Visibility was bad!

Hey, but there was nature on the peak to admire!

Pretty lady bug

View going down

Mammoth jelly fish

So, after sneaking up on Sharp Peak from its rear, we headed down to Ham Tin for lunch.

Armed with a coke, some chilli+curry fried rice and more determination, it was time to attach the next hill for the day – Dai Man Shaan, i.e. Mosquito Hill.

All the bad Karma from the morning came back to haunt me – I am talking about destroying spiderwebs! Nature took its revenge on my sexy legs as pointy branches and shrubs left numerous scratches on my legs. This was bushwhacking incarnate. Adding to it, the slippery terrain (rain from yesterday), it was even tougher! Thanks to the fried rice though, had enough energy to attack (and enjoy) Dai Man Shaan as well.

Eventually, reached at Mac 2 at about 1810 and did a nice run to finish at Pak Tam Au.

Fantastic day out!

Map

• Hiking, 2009-10-03, Care Action (trial) (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)

Tags: Dai Man Shaan, Ham Tin, North Face, Sai Kung, Sharp peak

A little bit of a recap to begin with.

Saturday last week:
I was running down Sharp Peak at quite a fast pace and sadly, my attention shifted from the beauty of the trail to the beauty of a group of Asian women tourists climbing up Sharp Peak. And as the saying goes, “behind the fall of every hiker, there is a woman” [literally] (okay, fine, I changed the old adage around a little bit but you can see where this story is going). So, bang, my butt hit the ground and I pulled some muscle on the side of my knee. I have since been largely out of action.

Now, back to Saturday this week.
Had to definitely escape from the city, at least for a couple of hours, into the arms of nature. So, decided to head back to Sharp Peak! Albeit slowly. At a limiting pace of 8Km/h max.

As usual, started at Pak Tam Au at 1058 HKT and headed towards Sharp Peak. What should have normally taken 51 minutes ended up taking 1 hr 1 minute. Unloaded my heavy cargo there – a bulky Saturday edition of SCMP (does anyone really read Classified 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9???) and my book. Coincidentally, a few friends showed up at the summit sometime later. Did some yapping and a lot of reading and left after a nice, long 1 hr break. Of course, didn’t miss the opportunity to try and gather more Sharp Peak fans. (Readers are cordially invited to be a fan of Sharp Peak on Facebook here).

New fans

Ain’t she a beauty

Left after relaxing for a bit, heading towards Sai Wan. Could feel something on the left of the knee when attempting to increase speed beyond 8Km/h so kept speed more or less consistent.

Reached my Sai Wan chaanteng (restaurant) about an hour later. Now, I have to recommend the Lat Chiu Cheung (chilli sauce) in my Sai Wan hangout. Fantastic. Stopped for fried rice + tofu fa + tau cheung.

Left for Pak Tam Chung after lunch and what should have taken me 45 minutes took about 1.5 hrs as I was walking at 6.5Km/h instead of running at 13Km/h.

Verdict: Great day out. Can’t remember the last time I was this slow on a trail but a refreshing and relaxing change of pace. That said, can’t wait to fix the muscle and get back into trail running soon!

Picture on the way to Sai Wan

Pictures here. Tech stuff. The

Total: 19.926 km in 5h 02m 11s at an average of 3.96 km/h

GPX file.

• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)
• Running/Hiking – Sai Kung circuit (0)
• Maclehose Stage 1,2 + Sharp Peak (4)

Tags: Sai Kung, Sharp peak

Pictures from this hike are here.

Decided to escape into the world of running and hiking by doing a Mac 1, 2 run/hike at 0945 with my elite team.

The weather was perfect for a run. Misty, not hot and some gentle breeze. Mac 1 was a breeze to complete. It took me about 48 minutes of steady running.

Saw this sign after completing it.

3 hours??? My grandma can beat that! Wonder how the HK Government comes up with these estimated times for trails!! They probably have an octogenarian do it in the peak of summer and use that as benchmark!

Mac 2 was also good fun. Stopped at my usual Sai Wan shop for a nice Tofu Fa before hitting Ham Tin and the concrete path to Pak Tam Au.

I was so near my guesthouse (Sharp Peak summit) that I just had to take a detour to inspect my mansion. So I bid the group goodbye and headed over to the summit. Took about 23 mins.

After ensuring everything was safe and sound in my guesthouse, I ran back down. Saw a line of Japanese tourists on the way down. The lady at the back shouted something in Japanese and the entire line of tourists then moved one step to the right making way for me! Some of them bowed and shouted words of encouragement in Japanese as I passed them (hmmm… to come to think of it, maybe those weren’t words of encouragement but a joke of some sort! They were all laughing for some reason!) Anyway, felt good passing them!

Reached Pak Tam Au at around 1430. Completed the whole thing in 4 hrs 12 minutes, 28.41Km (6.6Km/h avg).

Tee shirt was completely soaked in sweat. Looked for a spare tee shirt in my bag but I remembered being too lazy to carry one. I had a book and a heavy camera instead! Doh!

By the time I reached the MTR in Choi Hung, the air conditioner in the mini bus had caused my tee shirt to smell of dry sweat. Boarded the MTR and looked around. I got several ‘this-guy-stinks-like-hell’ kind of stares from fellow passengers on the way from Choi Hung to Mong Kok. Some dude next to me was practicing some deep breathing exercise that I normally practice when I am forced to stand next to someone who smells of cigarette smoke. Trick is to turn the other way, take a deep breath, fill lungs with “clean” and un-smelly air, bring the neck back to normal position and then breath out slowly! This way you don’t breath the smelly air coming from the stinky person on one side of you. Well, as a teaser I moved 1 step closer to this guy but then decided, in the interest of fairness, to leave him alone! Besides, he looked way stronger than me!

I expected less stares on the train from Mong Kok to Central as I had cleverly anticipated those IFC type girls to wear all the perfume in the world thus mitigating my stink. But, unfortunately, I was stinking too much for any perfume to overcome. So, being the nice guy that I am, I got off one stop before and did a mild jog home.

Now for the hi-tech stuff.

Some analysis is here.

Total: 27.941 km in 4h 12m 53s at an average of 6.63 km/h

The GPX file

• Goin’ MacLehosing 1,2,3 (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)

Tags: Maclehose 1, Maclehose 2, Sai Kung, Sharp peak

I think I can safely (and proudly) claim to be the only hiker in Hong Kong who has been up on the summit of Sharp Peak more than anyone else within a span of 3 years. That’s at least around 150+ times (easily!) and in all kinds of weather. I have been on the summit during typhoons, black rainstorm warnings, heavy rain and thunder, etc, etc. Therefore, I strongly feel that if there is anyone who has a legitimate claim to owning Sharp Peak, it’s gotta be me! Maybe someday I should be mayor of Sharp Peak!

Anyway, set off today at 1128 HKT from Pak Tam Au in cold and wet weather. Having foolishly killed my beloved HTC Touch Pro phone last week due to hiking in the rain, I took enormous precautions this time. Call it an overkill but I had my new Touch Pro2 in a plastic container which was in turn placed in a zip lock cover and that in turn was wrapped in my water proof wind breaker. I was also wearing one of the 7-11 ponchos! Yup, as they say, once bitten twice shy or maybe in this case, once wet, twice dry!

I was mostly the only soul braving the cold and wet weather up until an intersection on Stage 2 where I saw some gwailo grandpa admiring the scenery with his 3 big dogs. Grandpa looked at me, unplugged his earphones, smiled broadly and exclaimed “Always good to see a French guy running!” He then burst into laughter! Reciprocating his loud laughter, I also went ha ha ha loudly until my brain tried to process what he had just said. Always good to see a French guy running????? What on Earth does that mean and why in the name of Zeus would he think I look French?! Well, I was pacing myself and had no time for any smalltalk with Grandpa. So, I bid him goodbye and continued my steady pace leaving that little mystery float in my head for a little while longer.

I reached that left turn to Sharp Peak on Mac Stage 2 in less than 25 minutes. The weather was getting quite gloomy but that didn’t deter me, the numero uno Sharp Peak fan. The climb was very scary. The wind was so strong that it made me lose my balance from time to time. Visibility was about 3 meters max and there was NO ONE around. Not a single soul. I could clearly hear the roar of the waves from the nearby seas as the winds lashed it with immense force. It was quite scary! For a second, I wished I could see more human beings like I was in Mong Kok or something. (Ok, fine, maybe not Mong Kok – that’s the other extreme and too much of a torture!!)

Anyway, I reached the summit in precisely 51 minutes after starting from Pak Tam Au. Pretty comfortable pace, nothing too heroic. Stayed on the summit for what was I think 2 minutes max! My hands were quite numb from the cold wind and I had to use all the force from both my hands to push the volume button on the Mp3 player!

The run back down to Stage 2 was equally cold and scary but once I reached Stage 2, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief and resume normal pace.

Reached Pak Tam Chung at close to 1400 HKT and finished with a nice run to catch a mini bus that had just arrived!

Stats: 19.4Km, 2 hours 42 minutes. Roughly 7.1 Km/hour. (Comfortable pace)

• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)
• Running/Hiking – Sai Kung circuit (0)
• Maclehose Stage 1,2 + Sharp Peak (4)

Tags: Sai Kung, Sharp peak

Photos here.

I beat my earlier record! Thanks to a change in running style actually. I slow down and shoot for endurance these days when I hear myself breathing too hard.

Started at 1056 HKT
Reached Sharp Peak at 1149HKT (53 minutes)

Left Sharp Peak at 1218 HKT (after inspecting my guest house over there)
Reached Sai Wan at 1307 HKT for a To Fu Fa
Left Sai Wan at 1318 HKT
Reached Pak Tam Chung at 1405 HKT

Got a bus at 1416 HKT

Beat my previous record but what I was most impressed with is that the whole run seemed effortless. I could easily run down the MTR stairs afterward and felt quite fresh as well! That’s the new goal now. Improve fitness and accomplish runs as effortlessly as possible.

• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)
• Running/Hiking – Sai Kung circuit (0)

Tags: Sai Kung, Sharp peak

Hong Kong’s weather is very temporary. Last week during Care Action, it was unexpectedly hot and that cost me a few minutes. Since then, it’s been pretty cold! I have been quite macho (going around wearing tees, shorts – you get the picture) so I ended up getting a wee bit of a cold which worsened last night. Improper sleep contributed as well (guy downstairs was making too much noise resulting in a disturbed sleep for me).

So, today morning, getting up at 0600 HKT wasn’t particularly pleasant but I did so anyway because chickening out is not my style and I don’t like being a slave to any cold/flu. Registered at 0830 HKT and there were quite a few people but certainly not as many as there were for Care Action.

Race started at 0900 HKT and I started running. My eyes were watery from the cold and I wasn’t able to build momentum. At that point, my body was begging my mind to consider stopping after 18KM (half marathon). I felt about 60% fit. The mind, wouldn’t hear any of that and instead, devised a plan to regain control of the situation. Speed was lowered and I maintained a slow, constant pace and synchronized leg movement with the Mp3 drum beats. I forced myself to bit a slice of a power bar every hour and have a few sips of water even 30 minutes.

Grandmas, grandpas were overtaking me. I felt humiliated but kept cool. I memorized the appearance of every grandma and grandpa from the back and promised myself that I’d overtake them after raising the body fitness level. Eventually, that did happen. Sniffles persisted but energy was building. Around 40 minutes into the race, I went by training protocol – run as fast as possible so long as you breathe normally through the nose, go at lightening pace during downhills. 10 minutes after picking up speed, I had a visual on grandma #1. Overtook her. Then came the downhill parts. I was pretty fast but noticed that the body was losing energy rapidly and eyes were watering again from the cold. Played some rock music and continued as fast as I could but performance wasn’t that great.

Finished the half marathon (18km) at 1125 (2 hrs 25 minutes)

I wasn’t even going to let the thought of quitting enter my mind. I proceeded straight for the Full marathon. Made some wrong turns and ended up at a bus stop but quickly retraced my steps and plodded on.

KOTH Sai Kung, IS NOT easy. Up until the 1/2 way mark, it’s reasonably easy but after that, it is VERY HARD. There are an incredible amount of steep climbs and the trail is overgrown. Full pants will save you many cuts to the legs!

I was exhausted from the cold and had to focus every step of the way. Didn’t even notice the scenery, looked straight down most of the time. I didn’t rest anywhere, forced the legs to keep moving regardless of speed.

Well, several grueling hours later, I managed to bring fitness level to about 75% and finished the race at 1435. Not quite spectacular but I am pleased I didn’t quit and for a debut attempt, this ain’t too bad.

Stats: 5 hrs 35 minutes for 38kms (full marathon)
Position: #50 of all participants (not sure how many there were)

Slept like a log on the bus and have to continue to do that again soon!

• Hiking, 2009-11-28, KOTH Sai Kung Leg practice (0)
• Walk report! (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)

Tags: KOTH, Sai Kung

Care Action 2009!

I love this race because it bring together all the fit people of Hong Kong at a very cheap cost. HKD 200. The winners (top 300 I think) also have the opportunity to win a cool bag in addition to a designer tee shirt (ok, maybe not designer tee shirt but it’s still great!)

Now, the bad stuff. In the beginning, you’ll encounter VERY VERY VERY unruly people who push and shove to take the lead. It’s hard to overtake on many parts of the trail because it’s narrow.

The route is Pak Tam Chung to Sharp peak (little below the summit) then the peninsular, then the beaches, then Ham Tin, Sai Wan, the Pavilion and eventually back to Pak Tam Chung. The distance is about 30Km.

My target was to complete in 3 hrs 45 mins and I participated with much enthusiasm (coming from the Trailwalker a month back).

In the beginning, I fell victim to the unruliness and some SOB tripped me as he was shoving me to one corner to get past me. I tried recovering but could not do so and fell to the ground bleeding from my palm and a little from the knee. As I was falling, I fell on the dude in front of me and he fell as well! I was fearing being stampeded to death but my reflexes took over and I gathered myself in an instant and started the engines (figure of speech of course). I had to wash off the blood from my hands but didn’t have bottled water so I took to sucking water from the hydrapack and spitting it on my hands. Well, anyway, there was no way I was going to let this bother me and I wanted to find that SOB who tripped me so I accelerated. Alas! He disappeared into the crowd and now there were several dozen people running.

So, I gave up on the grudge and stuck to training protocol (for the first 20 mins!!) After that I had no choice but to accelerate wherever I could in order to get past people. I loved the control I had and started gaining speed. A lot of the time though, I found myself unable to overtake and achieve top speed.

Things went according to plan except for the unanticipated heat. I ran out of water and faced heat exhaustion after the beaches. Had to walk during several parts although protocol called for running.

Eventually, the beautiful cheer girls at the Pavilion and the prettier ones on the road to Pak Tam Chung brought out the reserve energy and I went full thrust to the finish.

Actual: 3 hrs 48 minutes
Position: 143 out of 3000 people (top 5%!)
Prizes: A bag, some “microfabric”, “multi-purpose” cloth?! and a medal and a tee shirt

Great event! Next year, have to watch for someone tripping me in the beginning.

Oh, here’s the map! I turned on the GPS a little before so the average speed and all that isn’t right.

• Hiking, 2009-10-03, Care Action (trial) (0)
• Walk report! (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sharp peak hike (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)

Tags: Care Action, Sai Kung

Pictures are here.

King of the Hills is a 4-part hiking race, the first of which is on December 20th 2009. It’s in Sai Kung and the full marathon is 38km. Half is 18km. Don’t get fooled by the word marathon! It’s not a running race on concrete like the Standard Charted Marathon. It involves a lot of trail running, fighting overgrowth in several parts, etc.

We started in the morning at about 10.30am and finished at about 4.30pm. Nothing too spectacular. About 33km in total (we made a few wrong turns and somehow skipped 5kms!) The trail is gorgeous. One can see Sharp peak, Mac 1, Mac 3 under clear visibility. Trail running should be done carefully as the terrain is fill of stones and pebbles and lose gravel.

• Hiking, 2009-12-20, King of the hills (KOTH) – Sai Kung (0)
• Walk report! (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)

Tags: Hoi Ha, KOTH, Sai Kung, Yung Shue O

Pictures here.

So, after several weeks of hardcore hikes, my team decided to take it easy today. That means 30Km! We did the Care Action circuit in Sai Kung. Here’s the story:

Thanks for the message below.

So, let’s do it !!!

To further elaborate, on Saturday, October 3d 2009, I would also like to cordially invite all of you to my guest house on The Peak! I have dreaming and practicing this line for quite a while so I’ll say it again – I would like to cordially invite all of you to my guest house ON THE PEAK! — Sharp Peak, that is! (I am yet to find a Nina Wang so can’t quite afford Victoria Peak yet! ;-) )

PS: No, the HKD 100 toll tax is not a joke

Steven W. Sparksman wrote:
>
> Team Meetup 5.0 !!!
>
>
> You may have noticed there is no Training Hike planned for this Saturday.
> The reason for that is the Wilson Raleigh is the following weekend, so this will be a weekend of rest.
>
>
> However, we won’t be doing nothing….Vince has invited us to join him on his personal training hike.
> This will be a 20km Trail Walk/Run along the trails surrounding Sharp’s Peak.
> This is Vince personal playground and we’re very lucky to be invited along.
>

So, a couple of facts I got wrong (a) Sharp Peak is about 414M (b) Care Action is 30Km not 40Km.

The day couldn’t have started better. Cloudy weather. Beautiful foliage. Fresh air. Greenery everywhere. We reached Sharp Peak (Care Action didn’t call for that but we did it any way) after about 1 hr 15 minutes of starting as always, I was captivated by its beauty.

Headed on to the peninsular after that. The sun was out but there was enough breeze to keep my body temperature under check.

We had some friends on the way too.

Finished at Pak Tam Chung at about 4 something.

Fantastic day out.

• Attacking Sharp Peak from its rear + Dai Man Shaan (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sharp peak hike (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)

Tags: Care Action, Ham Tin, Sai Kung, Sai Wan, Sharp peak, Tai Long Wan

Pictures here.

Having taken a 2-week break from HK hiking, I was raring to go on a Sharp Peak circuit run today. Mission was simple. Get rid of the cold that’s been bothering me for a while now through sweating and running. Idea was to start at 12PM at Pak Tam Au, reach Pak Tam Chung at 3PM (after a Sharp peak climb in between).

Problems: HK weather observatory issued a “very hot” signal. Also, typhoon Molave was expected to hit HK more or less directly in the evening. I was also far from a 100% fit. Constant cold reduced energy levels.

I started at Pak Tam Au at 12PM, as planned. Maintaining excellent control of the run, I reached the Sharp peak turn at 12.30PM (on schedule). Problems began then. I was getting a bad dehydration reading. Sun was out on full force. Air was 100% humid and hot. I felt like I was cooking in a microwave on ‘High’. Had to slow down big time. Starting losing time but continued to plod on with frequent breaks. There wasn’t a soul on Sharp peak.

Eventually reached Sharp peak at 1.40PM!! (1 hr 40 minutes. It’s supposed to take 1 hr!) Dismal performance. Not sure if to blame my fitness level or the heat.

Disappointed, I decided to redeem myself by doing a run from Sharp peak to Pak Tam Chung in 2 hrs. Left at 2PM.

History repeated itself. The sun rays started stinging and I started slowing down. Reached Ham Tim at 1.15PM (15 mins late). At this point, typhoon Molave introduced himself. Skies turned black and it started pouring down! Good news was that I was no longer a “running duck” for the sun. I had to move on after refueling (ran out of water) at my usual pit-stop.

I didn’t have a raincoat. Continued to run in pouring rain. My clothes got incredibly wet. Reached Sai Wan pavilion and a waiting taxi driver signaled to me, confident that I would use his services. Little did he realize my tenacity and cheapness. I continued to run in pouring rain from the Pavilion to Pak Tam Chung. Speed increased, thanks to no sun. Completed the run in 30 minutes. Reached Pak Tam Chung at 4.30PM (30 mins late).

It was then time to make the travel back home using HK’s freezing public transportation. On top of that, my clothes were wet. I couldn’t be bothered changing into a dry, spare tee shirt I was carrying.

The MTR gave me a near hypothermia. I was still too proud to wear my spare tee shirt (besides people were looking!) Planned to get out 1 station early and walk the distance home instead of freezing in the MTR.

Hot shower, clean clothes after I got back home and my energy returned. As for my cold, not sure what impact hot weather, rainy weather, getting drenched, getting frozen and a hot shower is going to have. We’ll see. Sniffles.

• Hiking, 2009-04-19, Luk Wu Trail -> Sai Wan -> Pak Tam Au (0)
• Sharp peak, Stage 3 Mclehose (fast) (0)
• Sai Kung Curcuit (slow) (4)
• Sai Kung Circuit in stormy weather (2)
• Sai Kung Circuit in HOT weather (0)

Tags: Rain, Sai Kung, Sharp peak