What a grueling day! Either a sign of getting old or a sign of lack of training. Or maybe both! Anyway, the weather was perfect for the second race of the 4-part King of the Hills (KOTH) series. It was about 15 degrees centigrade and partially overcast today. The race was held in Sai Kung and the full course is about 38kms long.

As usual, I was riding my motorbike to the starting point (Pak Tam Chung in Sai Kung) and when I made a familiar sharp turn from Clear Water Bay road to Hiram’s highway, I was reminded of the time I bravely saved a rabbit’s life with complete disregard for my own safety. It was undoubtedly very heroic and selfless of me to do so but since that day, I have been very careful to avoid rabbits of all shapes and sizes. So, when I made that turn today, I was extra slow and on 2nd gear, that too without acceleration. An impatient car driver kept flashing his headlights at me from behind which was very counterproductive for him as I slowed down even further to annoy him. I was thinking how neat it would be to have a big balloon pop up from behind my motorbike with this message for the car driver: “Hey [expletive], my safety takes priority over your speed!”

I reached Pak Tam Chung at 8.30am and walked over to the registration desk. The whole area had a super fit aura to it. It looked like all the lean and mean trail runners of Hong Kong wanted to be the kings and queens of the hills! There was enough combined energy there to move mountains, not just climb them! The full and half marathons started at the same time (9am).

As with every race I participate in, I was stuck in a racer traffic jam from the very beginning. There were all sorts of “vehicles” present; ranging from those ultra-light, super-fast acceleration vehicles (some dude weighing about 50 kilos who can comfortably pull off a high-speed overtaking act in the narrowest part of an already narrow trail) to a heavy-duty truck with plenty of raw horsepower (some 6’5″ tall dude with long legs made of iron. This dude might be slow to accelerate but has the distinct height advantage of being able to hop from one boulder to another distant boulder with the ease that can only be matched by a humungous frog). I was stuck somewhere in the middle and took a more cautious approach at overtaking as I am neither that talented when compared to these other runners, nor am I such a big risk taker. Besides, I had a vehicle of my own (or so I thought). I was going to be more like a mere bicycle. Slower to accelerate and slower to ride BUT it would never run out of fuel! Ok, perhaps not the best example but my point is that I was going to rely on my endurance and overtake much later when the trails widen. Hopefully at a time when most of these other “vehicles” would have run out of fuel.

Murphy’s law certainly held true for me, just as the trails did widen – “If something can go wrong, it will”. The bottom of my left foot (below the ankle) went numb for no apparent reason. I tried slowing down but when you are in a freeway and you see vehicles speeding on all lanes, it’s hard to do so. My right foot also started misbehaving shortly after that, so I resorted to running on the slowest lane (extreme right on a concrete path). I was focusing only on the destination and desperately trying not to be bothered by those “vehicles” that were overtaking me from neighboring lanes and sending a waft of breeze my way each time they zoomed past me.

There was an occasion where the course seemed to be wrongly marked. There were two conflicting markers at a junction, one indicating that we were supposed to go up some hill and the other suggesting that we were supposed to carry on running on a concrete path. I went up the hill along with several other runners until one of them shouted “wrong way”. Those are awesome words to hear if you are at the back because suddenly, and without much additional effort, you are suddenly at the front! As we retreated to the junction, it appeared as though I gained a few spots over fellow runners who also needless went up that hill but in the grand scheme of things, I lost time. But, time was the last thing on my mind. I was more concerned about finishing the whole course at that point.

Just before the end of the half marathon, we had to run on a trail full of stones and boulders that seemed to hug the Sai Kung coastline (I was focused more on not tripping and falling over the boulders, so didn’t quite get much of a chance to admire the beauty of the Sai Kung coast). This is when most of us had the pleasure of being introduced to a very beautiful Queen of the Hills. She is not just beautiful but is very fast. She is also single. Yes, she does sound like the ideal girlfriend but that’s only if you are a male bee. This queen bee and her friends declared war on us as we were trying to cross her territory. I knew something was wrong when the superfast runner in front of me suddenly hit reverse gear. I continued running my engines and OUCH! The queen stung me with a serious vengeance. I stepped on the gas and escaped with only one sting and a bruised ego.

I saw Hannes at the finish of the half-marathon who yelled “you took a shortcut” or something like that. I was still recovering from that passionate kiss from the queen bee so couldn’t really ask him when or where. I continued on the full marathon course and hit a trail that involved some serious and never-ending bushwhacking which was getting on my nerves. All my supposedly healed scars from saving that rabbit in Sai Kung were being tested for endurance by all the thorny branches of trees and shrubs. My leg also got worse. The heels of both legs were shooting off pain signals to the brain each time they hit the ground. Probably because my shoes were getting old and the insoles and treads were wearing out (Note to self: BUY NEW SHOES!)

I saw my Trailwalker teammate Steven at some point which was a surprise. I was expecting him to be a good 20 minutes ahead. He explained to me that he had lost over 20 minutes by actually going up that hill we weren’t supposed to climb. We ended up exchanging places frequently during most of the remainder of the course until Steven suggested that we finish as a team. I was initially a bit reluctant as I was very slow by then and didn’t want to slow him down even further. That didn’t seem to bother my teammate so we started to run/walk together the last few kms. We had two huge hills to climb towards the end and then had to descend straight into Pak Tam Chung road on a steep and slippery trail. By that time, I felt like a 60-year-old man in pain and was very slow in my descent. Then, Steven and I turned back and looked up the hill we had just come down and found a real 60-year-old man running down that steep slope in trailblazing fashion. This veteran was none other than Claus! I only wish I can be as fast as him when I turn 60! He overtook us and later on admonished me at the finish “tell your mom that you got beaten by a 60-year-old. If you keep getting beaten by a 60-year-old, you will lose confidence!”

Steven and I finished as a team at 1pm! Time: 5 hours 33 seconds and 18th in my category, 35th overall. KOTH is getting more and more competitive with each passing year!

They say that “there is opportunity in crisis” and, at the finish line, I was told by Alice about a gentleman who practices that to perfection. He had a rather innovative and entrepreneurial way of dealing with that bee sting which most of us experienced. He wanted the ladies at the finish line to “pee” on him because, apparently, the way to heal a sting by a bee is through lady pee. Alice corrected him and explained that this peeing method only applies to stings by jellyfish. But, something tells me he doesn’t quite care.

Great day out. Two lessons learnt (a) buy new shoes! (b) wear pants for KOTH Sai Kung! [Now, this old man has to recover quickly.]

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	22 m	-	-	-	-
5.009 km	32m 12s	18 m	9.33 km/h	22.36 km/h	200 m	204 m
4.996 km	31m 22s	132 m	9.44 km/h	22.36 km/h	358 m	248 m
4.998 km	31m 37s	91 m	9.46 km/h	22.36 km/h	474 m	405 m
5.011 km	36m 34s	38 m	9.11 km/h	22.36 km/h	565 m	549 m
4.996 km	44m 20s	62 m	8.52 km/h	22.36 km/h	793 m	753 m
4.994 km	44m 15s	162 m	8.17 km/h	22.36 km/h	1091 m	951 m
4.999 km	1h 00m 31s	62 m	7.48 km/h	22.36 km/h	1376 m	1336 m
2.733 km	19m 40s	12 m	7.53 km/h	22.36 km/h	1399 m	1409 m

Total: 37.735 km in 5h 00m 31s at an average of 7.53 km/h

GPX.

Tags: KOTH, Sai Kung

Having seen enough of Sai Kung and Tai Po in the recent past, I decided to take the fun to good old Lantau. So, pulled out the oldest run in the book.

Mui Wo -> Sunset Peak -> Lantau Peak -> Ngong Ping -> Tung Chung (via the road)

Quiet morning and plenty of schoolkids were out on the trails carrying heavy backpacks and probably going out camping for the first time. Several of them wore big frowns on their faces. They didn’t quite seem the I-have-fallen-in-love-with-nature kind!

I saw Keith (winner of Sydney Trailwalker) near Sunset peak and ran with him all the way to Tung Chung.

Stats:
Mui Wo to Nam Shan: 13 mins 42 secs
Nam Shan to Sunset Peak to Saddle: 1 hour 8 mins
(Mui Wo to Sunset to Saddle: 1 hour 21 mins)
Saddle to Lantau Peak: 44 mins 52 secs
Lantau Peak to Ngong Ping: 13 mins 50 secs
Ngong Ping to Tung Chung MTR: 38 mins 28 secs

(some breaks here and there waiting for Keith)

Total: 3 hours 10 mins; 20.29km

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	43 m	-	-	-	-
5.002 km	53m 40s	630 m	5.59 km/h	13.82 km/h	638 m	51 m
5.007 km	53m 03s	638 m	5.63 km/h	14.30 km/h	1082 m	487 m
4.991 km	56m 41s	335 m	5.51 km/h	17.76 km/h	1409 m	1117 m
5.002 km	26m 33s	15 m	6.32 km/h	54.70 km/h	1421 m	1449 m
0.122 km	42s	14 m	6.33 km/h	54.70 km/h	1422 m	1451 m

Total: 20.125 km in 3h 10m 39s at an average of 6.33 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Lantau Peak, Ngong Ping, Sunset Peak, Tung Chung

Pictures here.

Two of my favorite courses in New Territories have to be (a) King of the Hills – Tai Po and (b) North East Mountain Marathon. There is actually quite a lot of overlap between the two of them!

With the 100Km Oxfam Trailwalker looming ahead in a week’s time (btw, please don’t be cheap – sponsor our team! Ok, fine, I beg ya! I plead ya! Please, please, please!), Dom and I decided to recci the NEMM 2012 circuit at a fast walking pace.

Ok, so why is the NEMM circuit so cool? Four irresistible reasons!

1) If you plot the course on a map, it looks like a butterfly. No kidding! Ok, fine, you have to use your imagination a little bit but here you go.

Use your imagination and see the butterfly. If you can’t see it, you ain’t got no imagination!

Confession: We skipped some portions but still, it looks like a butterfly!

2) It starts and ends in Wu Kau Tang so you can ride your motorbike to one of the most beautiful roads in Hong Kong – the road from Tai Mei Tuk to Wu Kau Tang! The ride makes you forget about all the problems in the world! (if you care – that is). And if you don’t have a motorbike, no problem! You can still enjoy the infrequent bus ride!

3) You won’t see any tall buildings en route. All greenery and nothin’ else but greenery. Gives you the feeling of a real getaway while still being only 40 mins away from the heart of Hong Kong!

4) There is a “special area” on the trail. More about that below.

The “elite” course is 25Km long and goes like this: Wu Kau Tang > Bride’s Pool > Wang Shan Keuk Tsuen > Sir Edward Pavilion > Luk Keng > Kai Kuk Shue Ha > Fung Hang Country Trail > Golden Dragon Ridge > Fire Lookout > Ar Ma Fat > Fan Shui Au > Lai Chi Wo > Sam A Tsuen > Sam A Chung > Ha Miu Tin > Wang Leng Au > Kau Tam Tso > Tiu Tang Lung > Fan Kei Tok > Wu Kau Tang （25Km）

If that doesn’t make sense, I suggest you simply go to Wu Kau Tang and wing it! You will get at least 10-20% of this right! So, Dom and I started in Wu Kau Tang and were on course for most of the way. The visibility was simply awesome (tip: discount “awesome” as this is hazy Hong Kong) and we could almost see as far as the snipers on the hills of Shenzhen training their AK47s on would-be illegal immigrants (use imagination again please).

Robin’s nest is in the background and Shenzhen can be seen as well – use imagination!

Believe it or not, I own that little island and the mountain ridge behind it

Excellent view of those buildings which may either be in Shenzhen or in Hong Kong – your guess is as good as mine

Our CNO for the day – Chief Navigation Officer

Dom is soaking in the beauty of nature

This poor lizard is stuck in the notice board!

One thing that’s gotta be remembered about this circuit is that it gets SUPER HARD at the end. At around the 20th kilometer, one has to climb to Plover Cove (yet another one of my properties in Hong Kong) and go through parts of that beautiful undulating ridge. And after returning to ground level, there is a super massive climb up to something like 400m to some hill (don’t ask me what it’s called) and then there’s a steep downhill back to Wu Kau Tang where the circuit ends! And one more thing one has to bear in mind is that if something is very hard to do, it needn’t be done! And so, we safely skipped both the Plover Cove ridge and this super climb! Instead, we took a shortcut back to Wu Kau Tang. Philosophical tip on life: “Life is full of shortcuts, you just have to find them and take them”. Yup, that’s a genuine quote from yours truly!

And so, we did about 23km for the day before returning to Wu Kau Tang. Oh and before I forget, there is a “special area” on this trail. It’s called Lai Chi Wo. Dom doesn’t think this is so special but several dozen mainland tourists sure think otherwise! In fact, we even saw a Hong Kong tour group on this trail. Oh, in case you don’t know the definition of “Hong Kong tour group” it is – “a bunch of typically old and mostly mainland tourists following some dude carrying a red flag and a megaphone”. Of course, the tourists walk at a snail’s pace (or maybe the snail is faster). Anyway, so this area is famous for its banyan trees. Dom thinks that the Peak has more worthy banyan trees but I think that Lai Chi Wo (minus tourists) is far more beautiful. Here, take a look:

Aren’t the trees gorgeous?

Overall, I think the NEMM circuit is a fantastic course for trail runners. Fabulous running for the first 20km (only about 10-20% concrete and some super massive hills at the end for the Rambos). Today, we took a break from being Rambos but we are Rambos, I assure you! The race is to be held on New Year’s day (January 1st 2012) and you tell me – what can be a better way to usher in the new year other than to run 25km in the wilderness of Hong Kong! (Alright, maybe “wilderness” is a bit of an exaggeration as the only animal you will likely come across on this trail is that lonely lizard stuck in a notice board – see picture above). But, you do get to enjoy the countryside of Hong Kong! And as an added bonus, there probably won’t be any tourist groups on that day…

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	88 m	-	-	-	-
5.002 km	59m 43s	242 m	5.03 km/h	13.68 km/h	295 m	141 m
5.005 km	1h 17m 58s	31 m	4.36 km/h	16.19 km/h	497 m	554 m
4.997 km	1h 04m 44s	58 m	4.45 km/h	16.19 km/h	797 m	827 m
5.003 km	1h 05m 19s	0 m	4.48 km/h	16.19 km/h	985 m	1073 m
5.005 km	54m 44s	104 m	4.65 km/h	16.19 km/h	1202 m	1186 m
0.061 km	59s	104 m	4.65 km/h	16.19 km/h	1205 m	1189 m

Total: 25.074 km in 5h 23m 27s at an average of 4.65 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Plover Cove, Tai Po, Trailwalker

The plan was to meet teammate Steven who was participating in the Sowers race (Yau Tong to Tai Po) in Sha Tin pass to exchange backpacks with him. Actually, he was going to give me his used backpack and I would give him a new backpack. And then I had to run with him from Sha Tin pass to the finish.

The race started at 0815 and we were expecting him in Sha Tin pass at 1015. Teammate Jinhwa and I ran from Wong Tai Sin MTR station to Sha Tin pass in about 24 mins to wait for Steven.

He showed up soon enough and was definitely in the top 10 when he did. His goal was to finish in the top 25. I lead from there and although evidently tired from already running 16k in the heat, he was running at a very brisk pace. It was a hot day but Steven’s heat management techniques are top notch. We kept a very good pace and overtook quite a few guys along the boring concrete catchment and on Shing Mun trail. One guy who I thought was #1 had to lie down to take a break from the sun and shortly ended up puking after that.

As we were overtaking all these guys, I knew Steven was going to be in the top 5. On the climb from Shung Mun to Lead Mine Pass, we were jogging/running/walking at a pretty quick pace. And Steven cut loose on the run down from Lead Mine Pass to the finish.

Unsurprising, he came not just in the top 25 or in the top 10 or in the top 5, he came first! The champion of the Sowers race in the Men’s Open category! Remarkable effort and brilliant timing on such a hot day.

Summary:
Distance: 28.63 km
Time: 3:34:46 (including a 21 minute break at Sha Tin Pass)

Wong Tai Sin to Sha Tin Pass: 24 mins 38 secs
Waiting for Steven as Sha Tin Pass: 20 mins 55 secs
Completing Wilson trail from Sha Tin Pass to Tai Po: 2 hours 49 mins

The champ:

Our OTW team celebrating at the finish:

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	21 m	-	-	-	-
5.001 km	58m 38s	160 m	5.12 km/h	32.76 km/h	427 m	288 m
5.019 km	25m 14s	133 m	7.17 km/h	32.76 km/h	460 m	348 m
4.999 km	43m 22s	296 m	7.08 km/h	32.76 km/h	711 m	436 m
4.983 km	30m 20s	194 m	7.62 km/h	32.76 km/h	753 m	580 m
5.005 km	36m 47s	377 m	7.72 km/h	32.76 km/h	993 m	637 m
3.594 km	20m 25s	8 m	7.99 km/h	32.76 km/h	993 m	1006 m

Total: 28.600 km in 3h 34m 46s at an average of 7.99 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Sha Tin Pass, Sowers, Tai Po, Wlson

It was our last official team training before Trailwalker 2011. And it involved 53km of trail running (stages 3 to 8 of the Mac trail) – The Double Au(ch).

We got off the bus at Pak Tam Au. The civilized ones (Steven and Jinhwa) decided to go to the proper toilet at the start of Mac 2 while Vic and I decided to be more in tune with nature and considered the whole world our toilet. There was only one problem with that. Vic was about to pee into a high voltage electric station! Luckily, he read the sign just before initiating his pee, otherwise we might have had the most brutal form of torture the world has ever witnessed.

Saved by a sign

We took a group picture and were on our way

Group Pic

Okay, so things seemed to be more or less a-okay for everyone until about Stage 6. Jinhwa suddenly got super energized after Stage 4. We had lots of fun until Stage 6 which is when things started going wrong for me.

My body suddenly switch from “all is cool” to “something is wrong” to “something is terribly wrong” in a matter of minutes. While climbing Needle Hill, the first thing I felt was a sudden urge to sleep! I tried persisting but the second thing to cause problems was (yet again) my stomach!

And as usual, my team stuck by me. Steven was walking with me while Vic and Jinhwa were offering advice and moral support. By the time we reached Tai Mo Shan, I started puking, not once, not twice but well over three times. The last stretch down to Route Twisk was particularly uncomfortable but I had Steven walking with me which made it easier.

My team got a taxi at the end to pick us up about 300m before Route Twisk and off we went.

Okay, now for the differential diagnosis of what went wrong with me. (Thank you Dr. House from House M.D.)

(1) I am pregnant
- Yes, this is a joke!

(2) Something to do with food
- I puked on the Wilson race too. The common food items were (a) Vanilla Gel (b) Mixed Nuts (c) Fruit Tips (d) Water from Hydrapack. The pipe in the Hydrapack is pretty damn old
- I did a solo Double Au at a great pace some 3 weeks back and had (a) Mixed Nuts (b) Fruit Tips (c) Electrolyte Chews and water from same Hydrapack. I had zero problems during that time
- The vanilla gels I had on both the Wilson race and yesterday have probably expired. I got them for free at Protrek and what’s free comes with a catch. Right? If it’s free it ain’t REALLY free!
- Insufficient food intake. Perhaps the body was burning way more energy than available. But why would that result in puking? Besides, my solo Double Au was no different compared to what I did yesterday minus the Vanilla Gel

(3) Lack of breakfast
- I never really have breakfast before a hike/run. No matter how long. Maybe I am too old now for a run without breakfast

(4) General everyday stress
- I tend to get obsessed but I am a big fan of Anthony Robbins and always prioritize health and nature over anything else

(5) Too much monotonous exercise
- Running 12Km everyday at Kowloon Park might not be that great for the body. But, I have been doing this for well over 2 years

Based on the above, I’d say the most likely culprits are (2) and (3). So, the new changes to be implemented are (a) proper, healthy breakfast (b) Japanese Gel + nuts + raisins + Gatorade during runs (c) great sleep. In addition to the above, just in case (4) and (5) have played a part, I will also go with a forced vacation every two months and a minimum of 8 hours of proper, solid sleep every night and I will alternate between runs and exercise every other day.

And yes, time to upgrade racing gear. New bag and new hydrapack – come to papa!

As always, special thanks to my team for all the support! You guys are the best.

Happy trails!

Garmin.

Distance	Time	Altitude	Avg Speed	Maxspeed	Up	Down
0.000 km	0s	142 m	-	-	-	-
5.007 km	47m 21s	231 m	6.34 km/h	18.18 km/h	327 m	238 m
5.003 km	54m 19s	158 m	5.91 km/h	18.18 km/h	668 m	652 m
4.995 km	54m 47s	519 m	5.75 km/h	18.70 km/h	1128 m	751 m
5.000 km	43m 00s	445 m	6.02 km/h	18.70 km/h	1298 m	995 m
4.998 km	43m 45s	396 m	6.17 km/h	18.70 km/h	1503 m	1249 m
5.006 km	57m 25s	433 m	5.99 km/h	20.82 km/h	1769 m	1478 m
4.999 km	37m 07s	238 m	6.22 km/h	20.82 km/h	1873 m	1777 m
4.996 km	1h 05m 18s	523 m	5.96 km/h	30.04 km/h	2343 m	1962 m
4.997 km	1h 03m 39s	513 m	5.79 km/h	30.04 km/h	2728 m	2357 m
4.999 km	1h 39m 19s	896 m	5.30 km/h	30.04 km/h	3203 m	2449 m
2.867 km	33m 22s	604 m	5.29 km/h	30.04 km/h	3203 m	2741 m

Total: 52.867 km in 9h 59m 22s at an average of 5.29 km/h

GPX.

Tags: Double Au, Trailwalker 2011