Think “swanky shops” in Hong Kong and Central will come to mind. Think “night market” and Mong Kok will come to mind. Think “missy massages” and Tsim Sha Tsui will come to mind. And think “nature” in Hong Kong and Tai Po will come to mind! Tai Po is the epicenter of some of the best and most pristine trails in Hong Kong. Put a trail runner in the vicinity of Wu Kau Tang in Tai Po and he/she will be like a little kid in a playground.
Today, we did a recce of one of the best courses around Tai Po – the Northeast Mountain Marathon course. It’s about 30km long and features some awesome trail running. Towards the end of the course, you really feel high and I mean that quite literally. Just around the 26th kilometer of the 30km course, you end up climbing a steep 400m high hill! Another feature of this race is its rather unique ability to weed out the party goers from the non-party goers. How does it do that? Well, the race takes place every year on NEW YEAR’S DAY!! So, as you can imagine, only the non-drinking runner equivalent of Cinderellas who have to be home by 12am can afford to participate!
Steven, Vic and I gathered early morning at 7.30am in Wu Kau Tang. We were joined by our “virtual partner” (i.e. the “racer” version of yours truly on the Garmin watch). I copied the course onto my watch from this very race I did on Jan 1, 2012 (yes, I am no party goer either). Each time we went the wrong way, I’d have both the voice of Garmin and the voice of wisdom (Steven) correct me.
The trails around Wu Kau Tang were at their natural best! The beautiful new leaves and blooming spring time flowers sent a waft of natural fragrance through the air! Running along vegetation rich trails beaming with different shades of green sent the endorphins buzzing inside us. Our friends in the animal kingdom seemed to enjoy the ambiance too. Insects seemed to be doing the human equivalent of hunting-for-girls-in-Lan-Kwai-Fong-on-a-Friday-night, except, their “Friday night” extends through the whole of spring!
Insects havin’ a buzzin’ time!
Sha Tau Kok/Nam Chung/Luk Keng area. Vic, Steven in the foreground and the great PRC is in the distant backdrop
The Wu Kau Tang fire lookout place. The fireman “looking out” here has a great job! Splendid views and no fire!
Here’s Pat Sin Leng, i.e, “8 peaks”. But aren’t there more than 8 peaks?? Shouldn’t it be “Sup Yath Sin Leng”, i.e. “11 peaks”
Building failure, lift failure, life failure, etc, we have all heard. But, who has heard of a “TREE FAILURE”? Picture taken in the Lai Chi Wo area
This is how honey is grown. (1) get a white box (2) get a bee (3) buzz off (4) open box and voila! Honey I am home!
Ladies and gentlemen, today we’re going to talk about something I’ve known about for a long time, but never really tried. You could chalk that down to laziness or ignorance – either way, it’s resulted in several (mis)navigation decisions. Well, getting lost is now going to be a thing of the past as I have just discovered the magic of Garmin’s “Run Course” function. Basically, if you are directionally challenged (like me), you can simply “Send a Course” to Garmin and run it. Garmin then tells you if you are on course or off course.
So, today, the trails of Lantau beckoned. I wanted to keep the run relatively short and fun, so I decided to do the Lantau Two Peaks course. But, there was only one slight problem. I didn’t quite remember how to get to the start of the trail or how to get to the Donkey Trail from Ngong Ping. Then I remembered this Garmin function I had never really tried. All I had to do was to “create a course” from one of my earlier runs on the same route. That was fairly easy to do. Then, after monkeying around with Garmin’s software for a bit, I was able to send that course to my watch.
At the starting point in Tung Chung, I simply selected this course from Garmin’s menu and voila! I had a “virtual partner” – i.e. me from the last time I did the course.
My vague recollection of the route in combination with Garmin’s “off course” warnings ensured that there was no way for me to get lost! There were two annoyances though. The first one was that the watch seemed waaaaay too sensitive to where I was headed. Even if I made the slightest departure from the actual course, the watch went into its frenzy “off course” warning mode. For instance, even stopping for a pee by the side of the trail resulted in being “off course”. (I don’t pee too far away from the actual trail – hmmm… too much info, maybe). Waaaaaaay too sensitive. Almost as sensitive as a teenage girl is to her weight. Or a billionaire is to his net worth.
Once I reached Ngong Ping, I went off course deliberately to refuel. The watch worked like a charm. It told me I was off course and when I went back on course, it had no problem figuring it out. And then, my usual directionally challenged instincts took over. I made a couple of wrong turns but Garmin came to the rescue. Like a robot that figures out the correct path by changing direction each time it collides against something, I was figuring out the correct route by crossing out all the wrong turns until Garmin gave me the a-okay. My heart skipped a beat as I was heading towards the beginning of the Donkey Trail. I saw a HUGE snake slithering away barely a meter in front of me. I made one heck of a high/long jump to get out of her way. I was on extra attention mode thereafter.
Another cool feature I noticed today is that the watch draws a little elevation diagram with the current location on it. So, you can actually prepare in advance for sharp climbs or downhills. I can think of several ways this function can be improved though:
a) a proper map instead of an elevation diagram would help. So, you actually know that you have to turn left/right soon
b) the program needs to chill at times. It’s too sensitive. Like a said, it’s almost as sensitive as a teenage girl is to her weight. Or a billionaire is to his net worth
c) a voice function advising “left ahead” or “yo, there’s a right ahead” would be good. Garmin boys, are you listening?
Conclusion: today, I ran the proper course without mistakes (I can still take credit for that) and I think my run today was more or less identical to the one I did several months back!
Summary
Distance: 21.80 km
Time: 3:25:41
Elevation Gain: 1,678 m
As part of my penultimate training for next week’s HK100, I was torn between deciding which of my two luxury homes to visit – Plover Cove or Sharp Peak. After much contemplation, I eventually decided on Sharp Peak.
It was a cold day. It seemed like even the cows in Pak Tam Chung were exercising to stay warm. They were playing some sort of running and catching game. As I watched them in amazement, I noticed something unusual about them. I ran a little closer to examine. Then I noticed something quite bizarre – the cows were all wearing some sort of earrings on one ear! Nope, not the iconic rock star kind of stud earring hanging from the lobe of one ear, but more like an ugly 5cm plastic tag attached firmly to the upper part of their left ears. I zoomed in to read the tag on one such “rock star” cow and observed some random number on it. I was initially a little puzzled, but a moment’s reflection made things clear: our super rich Hong Kong Government is tagging each and every cow in the Sai Kung area! Oh man! Look where my tax money is going! We pay so much money in taxes to the Government so they can attach ugly (and probably irritating) tags to all the cows in Sai Kung?? Wonder what that project cost!
Anyway, I did Mac 1 in 53 minutes and then made my way to my home on Sharp Peak. It took 1 hour and 54 mins. I took a 12 minute break on the summit to chitchat with some of my guests who showed up about the same time as I did. I told them to keep my home clean and to lock the main door on their way out. I then made it back to Pak Tam Au in 49 minutes.
I took bus number 94 back to Pak Tam Chung as I wasn’t that enthusiastic about running on that concrete road back to Pak Tam Chung.
Summary:
Distance: 28.67 km
Time: 3:50:46
Elevation Gain: 1,350 m
With the Vibram HK100 ultra-marathon just 2 weeks away, I had to get some long distance training under my belt. This meant getting up at 6am on a Saturday morning to run 6 stages of the Mac trail (Mac 3-8) – a total of 52kms with some 3200m accumulated elevation gain. The pleasures of life!
It was a cold morning with some drizzle; I started running at 8.24am and had to keep running fast enough to prevent the body from getting too cold. It looked like I was on fire and I was even thinking at the back of mind that I was going to beat my previous 7h40m record. However, stages 7 and 8, cost me 19 minutes more than usual. I ran out of granola bars plus didn’t have my electrolyte chews so had to give up some speed to ensure that the body was happy! I finished in 7h59m (including all fuel stops) which is 19 mins longer than my previous successful attempt but, overall, it was quite well managed. Only problem was that I felt pretty sleepy on top of Tai Mo Shan (perhaps because I didn’t have my electrolyte chews) but I met some fellow runners near Route Twisk and all the yapping thereafter woke me up! (I am a pro at blabbering).
The splits:
Start Time: 0824
Time taken to complete Stage 3: 1 hour 19 mins
Refueling time: 4 mins 1 sec
Time taken to complete Stage 4: 1 hour 48 mins
Time taken from end of Stage 4 to Sha Tin pass: 24 mins 12 secs
Time taken to complete Stage 5: 1 hour 1 minute
Time taken to complete Stage 6: 34 mins 57 secs
Refueling time: 3 mins 54 secs
Time taken to complete Stage 7: 1 hour 16 mins
Time taken to complete Stage 8: 1 hour 26 mins
Total: 7 hours 59 minutes
Completed without issues (other than being very sleepy which might have been an issue?)
But, was it fun? Hmm.. I loved 3,4,5,6 but it got a bit “yeah, whatever” during 7 and “why the heck am I running so much” during 8! Something tells me I am going to regret having signed up for the 100kms! I am sure I will be cussing myself at several points during the race!
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.]
Loading ...
