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Crazy Cravings, and Ne-ne-ne-ne-Nineteen - Nineteen!

6/18/2014

No blog post yesterday – I’m sure you’ll understand and forgive me (hope so). Yesterday was the day of the funeral for Husband’s cousin, and although we couldn’t be there in person (he, very sadly, couldn’t get back in time for the funeral, which happened so quickly after her passing away, it seems) we celebrated her/mourned for her ourselves, just the two of us, by having lunch at a local restaurant and talking / thinking about her. As my best friend (and a very wise human being) said: it doesn’t matter where you are when you say goodbye. So true.

No run yesterday either, as after I posted my entry re: the random knee pain, I kept getting niggling/annoying random knee pains when walking up and down our apartment stairs and throughout the school. So, I thought it best to give it a full day’s rest, running wise, and instead I did some very relaxing yoga in the morning instead.

But thank you for all your comments and helpful advice! I have been trying to reply but there is some sort of problem, whereby this website thinks I am a spammer or a robot and every time I try to post a reply tells me it has been sent somewhere to await moderation – but then I never get told where/why and the comment doesn’t appear – WTF?!? Sort it out Weebly!! Why won’t you let me reply to people on my own website?!? Boo…. Hopefully this will be resolved soon – I’m not ignoring you, promise! J

I got an email from the race organisers of the Runner’s World 50km trail race, and attached to it was my official certificate and time, and this just-about-to-cross-the-finish-line photo (I promise I am running at this point, but it looks like I may not be in the photo):

They also told me in the body of the email that my time was 7 hours 33 (so, I was close enough when I thought 7 and a half) I came 85 overall (out of maybe 500?), and my position was 19th female!! Woohoo! I’ll take that thank you. Not sure if anyone (other than Rach, if you’re reading this?) will get the reference to the song (way back in the day) that I think had the same eponymous title ‘19’, but if you do know it, you will be able to sing along with me ‘ne ne ne ne nineteen – nineteen!’

Now, I don’t mean to alienate the guys here at all, but do you ladies ever get the most intense, crazy cravings for things that you don't usually crave like cake/ice-cream/pastries?? Then have a really weird/psychotic moment where the things coming out of your mouth are insane but you can’t stop them?? Then, some awful womanly pains and all those prior nut-job symptoms suddenly become startlingly and patently clear?? And then it’s like, ‘d’oh!!! So that’s why!’ And hey guys, maybe you’ll know what I mean anyway or recognize these symptoms in your partners. Hmm, very annoying but anyway, there you go. Rant over now, promise. Maybe TMI there, so, sorry about that…

On today’s schedule is a 12km easy paced run, and supposedly a second run (6.4km) later in the day. I’m not whether to do both runs at the moment. Will probably see how Run 1 goes first and assess it from there. As the training schedule has decreed that I should cease all weight/strength training until after the race now, I’m not sure what that leaves me as an alternative? More yoga perhaps?? Or maybe a cardio/kick-boxing workout? Would that be acceptable? I suppose if it’s more cardio than strength as the replacement session for the second run then it would be a-ok? Then again, I may get the second run in after all, we’ll see.

Do you try and leave out strength training when you’re getting close to race day?

Do you know what I mean by intense food cravings?? Do you go with them, or have you got any excellent tactics for ignoring them?

ps - I am back from the first scheduled run of the day now, and NO knee pain! Hurrah! I am so happy about this. However, I think I will substitute some pool running or using the gym at that local hotel again instead of the second run, as per the excellent advice in THIS article re: how to PR/get a PB: http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/10-ridiculously-easy-ways-to-beat-your-pb/

I felt pretty happy reading through this and realising that I can tick 8 out of 10 of them off a to-do list, however I will now be adding in some planking each day (I always neglect any core or abs work, oops...) plus some pool running when possible.

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How About the Humidity!?

6/16/2014

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The humidity here in Yiwu this morning is insane. Just saying. Out of control humid. So, I’m sitting here with a face that’s covered in sweat as I write this, nice…

This morning’s scheduled run was a speed session down at the track, which it seemed I’d not long ago left (I went for a quick 6km run last night seeing as I’d missed the early morning slot). On schedule was: 1.6km warm-up, then 4x 3.22kms at threshold pace (4:07-4:18) with 3 minute rests in between, then 1.6km cool-down. This day calls for a double up run with an 8km run scheduled for later, however, due to already being drenched and soaking wet and not wanting to relive the similar feel of last night’s humid/soaking wet run, I decided to tie these two together and just keep on running and get it all done and dusted for the day, and so, once I’d finished the speed workout, I had a drink of water, a banana, and set off on the 8km recovery run.

A Few Things Re:These Runs:

The humidity caused my speed intervals to be extremely tough. It seemed it was a battle between me and the humidity. Sucks to say but the humidity eventually won out and I cut the last interval short by 1.2km. Booo humidity…

- I was absolutely drenched not long after I began the track run. Soaking wet. Which is not too fun to run in. I think I was getting extra strange looks this morning, not only for being a running laowei but for being a soaking wet/drowned rat kind of running laowei. Check it out, I tried to capture just how wet I was when I got back: the first one will give you the idea of the weather conditions over here and in the second one I was trying to show that it looks like I’ve been in a shower fully clothed. Ohwell…

My feline friends were back at the track, but this time there was an extra tabby and tortoiseshell one. Cute.
During the recovery 8km, something worrying happened from kilometer 3 to 7. Knee pain. Uh-oh. WTF?! Very random knee pain in my left knee, and only very slight. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it. It felt kind of like if I had screws around my kneecap, that the ones on the outer side of it were being tightened or screwed in further, if that makes sense. Now, I’m not sure if I spoke too soon re: being fully recovered after the ultra race, or if this is a completely unrelated (one-off) random pain. I hope the latter! I’m supposed to be getting back into things hey! And building my speed back up for the half marathon in less than 3 weeks time! Noo… So, I’m not sure what it was, but it seemed to disappear again by the last kilometer. Strange hey? I will keep an eye on it (and maybe not run tomorrow, not sure), and will be trying out some of those joint capsules that the wonderful Runner’s World folks gave me as part of my prize. Haha, maybe they know something I don’t (more than likely). Can’t hurt anyway, so will give them a go.
My shoelaces came undone during the track workout. TWICE. Kind of annoying and put me off my pace. The second time it happened I was wavering anyway with feeling the full extent of the heat and humidity (it felt like running through a heavy, warm cloud) so I took this as a sign that maybe I should shorten that last 3.22kms interval and start my cool down early. Listen to my body and all that. I hope my laces last the distance on 6th July!
Apart from the not going the full distance in the speed session and the random knee pain during the recovery run, I was pretty happy with my effort this morning. I was able to keep at threshold pace for the distances I had set out, mostly anyway, and felt like my legs can do it. Although it was hard. I guess there’s a reason it’s called speedwork, and not run-at-an-easy-comfortable-pace-so-it-doesn’t-feel-like-work-work. You know your workout is hard and challenging when you are talking to yourself and making deals/excuses, i.e. ‘if you don’t run this last kilometer you will always get it in later in the day’, or: ‘you’ve done extra kilometres walking to the track and during the 3 minute rests, so you can stop early’. Lol…

A Few Things Not Re: These Runs:

- Our staple go-to breakfast a lot of the time (when we don’t feel like going to the school canteen for brekkie) is ‘Eggy Rice’. I thought I would share the ‘recipe’ here. It’s a good ‘un – very easy: Take any leftovers you may have from the night before (for example, for us today: leftover spicy beans and cauliflower with rice that I made last night). Chuck it in the wok after heating a little oil first. Fry for a couple of minutes:

Chuck in a couple of eggs and sort of muller it all together. Cook until you think it’s all cooked through, with some brown bits if you like:

If you’re like me, the next step is to douse it with aromatic vinegar, et voila: Eggy Rice. It tastes a lot better than it looks, I promise. I guess it’s like a Chinese ‘Bubble and Squeak’?

- Very soon, I get to hang out with my favourite girl in the world: Annie. Here is us back in January this year:

I. Can’t. Bloody. Wait. It will only be for 3 days, but that is 3 days that we will definitely enjoy and here’s hoping we can work out how to freeze time during those days. She is amazing and travelling up from outer-state to meet me at the Gold Coast when I fly there for the half marathon. Amazeballs!
The opposite of this excitement would be the awful, awful pain of seeing the man you love being so utterly heartbroken and shattered, and knowing that you can’t do anything to take his pain away or make it better. All the love/hugs, time spent hanging out with him, nutritious and regular meals, support when he needs it, and alone time when he needs it, are not going to bring his cousin back (she was like a sister to him; they were very close), and it’s so painful hey.
Running (when you’re not trying to keep your speed up at the track and are constantly checking Garmin!) is the best form of therapy and also a great time to meditate on the move I reckon. I. Love. Running.
Yesterday in what was both a crazy hot AND humid day, I decided it would be a good day to do a thorough 3 hour clean of one of our apartments here. You know it’s a good workout/cleaning session when there is sweat dripping in your eyeballs.

Have a terrific Tuesday everyone!

Have you experienced the kind of weird knee pain I described above? Do you think I should take some unscheduled rest days or maybe it was all in my head? (I hope the latter.)

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Runner's World 50km Video

6/15/2014

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/55962d5ghf6nojn/RW50%202014%20review.mp4

Thank you for your kind words for yesterday's post. This one will be a super short one, but I wanted to share this excellent video made by Hendrick who I met over the race weekend. Hendrink is an amazing runner and will soon be taking part in the Grasslands Marathon in Inner Mongolia next month! So excited for him and for others who are doing this race, and yes, a little jealous. Haha, maybe next year, seeing as we'll up in the same (huge) province anyway.

I hope you can view the video ok via the link above (I am clearly not the most technical blogger around). It goes for just over 7 minutes and gives a great look at this beautiful course where we ran (and hiked and stumbled and sweated copiously) the 50km trail race Runner's World Grand Prix the Saturday before last.

Enjoy!

ps - Ever hear about the Grasslands Marathon before?

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Running and Grief

6/14/2014

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We all deal with grief and loss in different ways: for some it may be a few drinks, for others it might be eating whatever is your go-to comfort food, and for some it may be working out / walking / running; or perhaps a mixture of all these things? We are all different and deal with grief in different ways, and that’s way ok. For me personally, I know that going for a walk or a run will help me clear my head / process my thoughts / have a good bawl / release / cry / alone time. I know that when my beautiful dad was terminally ill that a daily walk/run/swim at the local pool (I say swim, it was more of a paddle and use of the sauna there) helped more than I probably knew at the time and helped to keep me as sane as possible during such a tough time. We all experience grief and loss, this I know, but that it doesn’t make it any easier anyway.

We have just heard some more unbelievably sad news and have had another death in the family (only two weeks – or less? - it seems since another passing of another loved one). I wasn’t sure whether to write about it here or not (I didn’t with the death of our other loved one, in recent days), but I do think it is helping now. It is hard being so far away from our family and friends at times like this, and it is even more shocking and upsetting as we were just talking about Husband going back to visit her. Such a wonderful, loving soul who had the best attitude, the best laugh, and was inside and out such a beautiful stunner and someone who will be missed every second of every day. We love you and are thinking of you Kez. xxxxxxx

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Good Things Come to Those Who...

6/13/2014

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...wait / get told 'no' and thus we go and do something else for the day. Further to our: we thought we were going to have an awesome relaxation spa day only to be told 'mei you' ('no / don't have' in Chinese), we then remembered we had yet more vouchers to a different hotel (also nearby) which offered time in their gym and swimming pool. So, yesterday we thought, why not try there instead? (I don't know why we haven't used all these vouchers before, but hey-ho, we're getting there in our last 4 weeks of living here.) Imagine our delight and joy then when we discovered that it wasn't just a gym and pool that was on offer, but that they too had saunas (and one each apparently, which was awesome - as at the other hotel it was a sauna in the guys' changing room but only a steam room for the ladies) and a giant, cavernous spa that lay adjacent to the large (and empty) swimming pool, complete with fake rocks and palm trees. This hotel's facilities kicked the other hotel's arse!! The only downside was that instead of 12 glorious hours as advertised by the other joint, they limit you to two, but it was just enough time (then we came back to continue the 'rest' portion back in our cool, air-conditioned apartment, ahhh...)

We took many photos of the place (as we're tourists like that) including photos of the very unflattering swimming caps that are mandatory here and the amusing (to us anyway) English signs (my favourite being the 'Men Stop' one, tee-hee. This was at the entrance to the ladies changing room, however there was no 'woman stop' sign for the men's room?). One photo I neglected to take was that of the ashtray in the gym, complete with recently stubbed out ciggie. Only in China hey. Oh, you can't tell from the photos but the no smoking sign shown below was placed, of course, above a table that featured a large, ready-to-use ashtray.

So, here is our day (or some of it) in pictures, starting with a massive, tasty breakfast, before we began cycling over to the hotel.

Haha, maybe we took too many pictures of a hotel's pool/spa?? I think we were excited to be swimming again. (I know, I had a wonderful swim in the last hotel I stayed at in Beijing last week, but Husband hasn't been in one since Bali last August! Shocker.) It felt soooo good to be splashing around in the water. After 30 very sweaty minutes on the gym's elliptical (active recovery! It must have been years since I was last on an elliptical in a gym, but I was excited to use it to test my legs/continue the active recovery practice) I spent the next hour ish with Husband in our miraculously private pool and spa (lucky us) before then sweating it out some more with a couple of sauna sessions. Ahhh, so refreshing. Kind of felt like we were properly 'on holiday', if you know what I mean.

Now, if you've tuned in or found yourself here because you were actually after some RUNNING news/info, then fear not! I'm back! Yes, I finally went for a run this morning (well, it's been a whole week, and I was getting itchy feet, plus my legs have been feeling fine) as I couldn't resist: perfect morning for it: slightly cloudy and wasn't too hot yet, and yay for all the active recovery, as my legs feel great. It was an 11kms easy paced/recovery run, and although I felt a little bit slower than my usual pace, hopefully this is just temporary and I'll be back into it (properly) next week. Just over 3 weeks to go! Can't wait. Just a bit excited for the Gold Coast half marathon (plus seeing some of my favourite people in the world, albeit too briefly and just for a day or so, but hey).

What are you looking forward to/excited about that's coming up?

Do you like to hang out in spas/saunas too?

Have you been to the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia? Or anywhere else in Oz?

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Cycling in the Sunshine

6/12/2014

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There we were, vouchers in hand, excitedly entering the basement level of the hotel in order to commence our spa day:

But: RUBBISH! Apparently they do not offer this any more!! We were too late!! Admittedly, it had been last year that these vouchers were given to us after a particularly awesome session there (where we paid about 10 bucks for this excellent experience, well worth it). They did, however, offer an extensive list of other options and treatments for us to enjoy (if we wanted to fork out a fair bit of our teacher's salary, hmmm). have a look:

Now, we weren't really feeling in the mood for any scraping measles, the fire pot, or even the noble physiotherapy treatments offered (what a shocker hey), so we did what we seem to do best here in Yiwu: went cycling and exploring in the sunshine interspersed with eating and drinking:

So, my day turned out to be more of an active recovery day than I had thought it would be, but that's way ok. I was definitely enjoying every moment and appreciating the day.

Check it out, all over our city (and possibly all over China too) they have painted murals and pictures on all the many walls separating different residential areas and on the side of bridges/roads. They are amazing, and so many of them, this selection of them doesn't really do them justice (I will try to take more photos of them over the next few days/weeks), but you'll get the idea:

It kind of makes me wish I could paint or draw hey. How about you? Any artists out there??

Have a Fabulous Friday Folks!! :)

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The Illusion of Time

6/11/2014

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I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts was 'oh my gosh, it was a week ago today that I was off to Beijing!' I can't believe it's been a week since I left for my trail race adventure weekend already. It made me kind of sad thinking about how seemingly fast it came and went hey. I know, I know: time is an illusion and there is no 'past' or 'future' as we like to talk/write about, there is only life in the 'now' and here in the present: we have, as humans, constructed these illusionary hours, days, weeks etc. However, it seems to me that when there is something you're really looking forward to and are excited about that this illusionary concept of time simply speeds right up and suddenly that event/holiday/night you've been dreaming about and looking forward to has suddenly been and gone, leaving you feeling a little bereft, or something like that. It got me thinking, 'oh no! Soon my Gold Coast half and quick trip back to Oz will be been and gone, as will our month long caravan tour around China!'

All the more reason to stop and be mindful, and smell those proverbial roses as often as you can. Enjoy every moment of your day. Look forward to your events and plans coming up, sure, but be happy and present NOW.

So, further to this enjoying the moment and smelling the roses ramble so far, here is what we're going to do today, and I'll be enjoying every moment of it: there is a hotel not far from us that has this awesome underground spa area where you can have as many saunas, steams, dips in the Jacuzzi as you wish, before donning some excellent pyjamas of sorts and being led through to a buffet lunch. After this you are then led through to a large room filled with many easyboy/recliners, each with a couple of towels laid out (for blankets or for massages) and a personal TV screen. They sit you down in this pretty dark room, and people bring you tea and plates of fruit while you kick back and relax or sleep if you want. Then you can either start all over again and go back to the steam room/jacuzzi, or simply head back to the buffet a little bit later for dinner, or chill and watch a movie or get on the wifi there. We've got some vouchers that give us '12 hours of rest' there so we thought, why not today?? We are kind of on holiday now after all (exams are finished for us, so no more teaching/classes).

No so much active recovery today then, as it will be traditional restful recovery, haha.

Do you find that time speeds up when you are excited about something? Does it feel like recent months/years have gone by too quickly for you?

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Active Recovery

6/10/2014

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Ok, it's now Day 4 post-race, and my legs feel great! Pretty much back to normal. This is GREAT news, as, if you've been reading for a couple of weeks or more now, you'll know that there's the Gold Coast Half Marathon coming up in just over 3 weeks, where I'm aiming to try and beat my last official PB of 1:34. (I am going to try for 1:30!). So, fresh legs are needed.

However, I don't want to jinx myself or to have spoken too soon, so will still be taking it fairly easy for the rest of this week, and will probably do no running (if I can bear it, I may crack over the weekend). So far I have been heeding the advice of aiming for active recovery. That is, still moving, albeit different muscles/movements/exercises, and thus allowing the lactic acid in your sore muscles to dissipate faster, plus you're getting various stretching in too. So far, so good! I have been: walking (our Puppy, so maybe 2 ish kms at a time?), casual cycling around the corner to the shops and restaurants, and this morning I did about 40 minutes of yoga.

I read that unless you have an injury as a result of a race, then absolute bed rest and putting your feet/legs up for a long time leads to a much longer (frustrating) recovery time. However, obviously getting enough sleep is important too. As demonstrated by moi this morning - slept in until half 8 and then ate breakfast and went back to sleep for another couple of hours! Wow, that never happens. I am more than ok with this; my body clearly needed it.

Here are a few articles if you want to read more re: this active recovery vs. complete rest debate:

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/your-best-rest?page=single

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/active-versus-passive-recovery.html

http://running.competitor.com/2014/01/injury-prevention/the-long-run-putting-recovery-to-work_43017

Ok, here's to carrying on this active recovery and fingers crossed my legs continue to feel fine - just off into the hot, humid day to day said Puppy for a walk. Enjoy your day wherever you may be!

What do you like to do after a hard/challenging/big race? How long do you wait until you run again?

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Runner's World 50km Trail Race Recap

6/9/2014

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I am back from my trip to the Wuyuezhai National Park, Hebei Province, via Beijing, and I have lots to tell. So, grab a coffee, a tea, a wine, whatever’s your figurative ‘cup of tea’, and get comfy: this is going to be quite a long one.

Firstly: hell yeah! I DID it!! I completed this extremely beautiful, extremely hard (at certain times) 50km ultra running trail race and completed it in a faster time than I ever would have expected (7 and a half hours). I also came in the top twenty females (either 18th or 19th, according to different people) so got a prize and had to go up on stage during the big prize giving ceremony – more on that later. Not bad for a previously virginal ultra runner, and for a first attempt at a trail race?! Here’s a sneak preview of many many more photos to come of where this race took place: so beautiful don’t you think?

First things first, let’s start with the lead up to the event: the travelling, the race gear pick-up, the pre-race meeting and greeting etc. I flew up to Bejing from our little city of Yiwu, which took just over 2 hours by plane. The plane was delayed and there was shitloads of turbulence, but other than these two minor issues, I was reminded of how much I really LOVE to fly and travel. I love it. All of it. The getting to the airport way too early. The mooching about while it’s too early to board. The pre-flight beer and snacks (carb –loading hey). The miniature meal on board. It’s all good.

After having arrived at Beijing’s airport, some way out of town, I then spent the next two hours ish getting across town to my hotel next to Bejing West railway station. This was a bit of mission, and the day was so very hot. Initially I got the airport ‘express’ which is a dubiously named train, and by no means express (not after Shanghai’s airport express Maglev train which reaches speeds of 430kmph!) and maybe should be called the airport plodder or airport normal speed train or something. I took this photo of the ticket as it amused me. Hmm, Beijing is not really famous for its blue sky, and even the picture next to this little fibbing phrase showed no blue sky nor any green land. It’s got a nice ring to it though, sounding more like some kind of vertical, space-train perhaps?

After settling in and going in search of some tasty pre-penultimate race day treats, I predictably ordered too many dishes (being used to there being two of us sharing many plates of food), and continued to carb load by the means of another cold beverage.

I chose the ‘Standard Bear’, and was relieved when it came out as a cold beer and not at all bear-like, haha...

I had a very quiet night and then left bright and early to meet the coaches and other runners the next morning. I was directed to coach number 7 and the real trip took off from there.

I slept a bit and chatted a bit to the other runners (lovely people) on board for the 6 hour ish it took to get to Wuyuezhai.

I have to say that this was the BEST and most well run and organised event I’ve ever taken part in. Names were ticked off upon boarding the coach, the race gear pick-up was smooth and hassle free as was the hand out of room key cards for the hotel (all went by coach number initially), with no queuing and no confusion.

Even during the race, this high level or care and organization was held up – markers clearly marking the course (so, no getting lost in the mountains as I was worried about), and the check points (where your bib number would be written down, to check you were there within the cut-off time) were laden with every different kind of refreshment you could want: water, sports drinks, bananas, cherry tomatoes, cakes, watermelon, noodles – it was great! (I ate a LOT during the race hey – had everything they were offering.)

So, back to the penultimate race day settling in. Once we’d found our rooms (I got lucky hey – for some reason I got a room all to myself! So, my fears re: sharing a room/glass bathroom walls etc, never eventuated) the other ‘laowei’ (foreigner) runners and I met up for some eats and carb-loading beers, in one of the restaurants in this picturesque little town, set into the mountain side, up a long, winding, fairly steep road (one that goes for about 4 kilometres that formed both the start and finish of the race – yes, that’s right: the last 4 kms were spent trudging up a seemingly endless tarmac hill, in the direct burning sun – brutal).

Then, later that day, there was a delicious (carb-loading?) dinner:

Followed by beers in a hill-side gazebo:

Followed by a pre-race safety briefing where I learnt that runners would be disqualified if they didn’t carry either a camelback or the designated drinks bottle we’d received in our race pack. So glad I invested in the camelback option! Even though I ran with the heaviest backpack I’ve ever ran with, it was worth it to have my hands free to steady myself at times.

The race pack was a GREAT one! Lots of goodies, check it out:

Ok, onto the part you’ve possibly come here for! The race day recap!!

So, the day started off with a twenty minute aerobic session courtesy of the head coach (I think) of the running group Hey Runners from Beijing who I booked through and who most of the other laoweis (all 8 of us I think?) belong to.

This was a lot of fun!

And, nicely warmed up, we then headed to the starting line, excitement and adrenalin kicking in now.

The race started on time, and we began our descent, down the steepish, tarmac, winding mountain road.

For the first 11kms or so, I was badly needing to go to the loo, but could see no appropriately private tree or bushy area in which to do so. It was getting pretty dire, and was actually causing me to run too fast I think, as I sped up searching for a place to stop and pee. Not good when all the advice you’ve been given is to watch your pace at the beginning and especially going downhill straight off. Eventually it got too much and I found a handy wall/billboard to hide behind. Ahhh. All being much better, I continued with the race.

After about 19kms, just before checkpoint two, I realised something about this race: I would not be able to run the whole thing, as previously imagined and how I thought I would be able to. I eventually succumbed to stopping running up the hills, and began to hike the hard uphill sections, along with everyone else around me. Before then, I had been powering up past others, but perhaps using too much energy too soon by doing so? I had it in my head that I would be able to keep running, no matter what, and come on, even the first hotel was rooting for me:

So, a new plan evolved and was established: hike up the steep/uphill sections, run the flat, downhill, and gently uphill parts. Seemed to be the go for everyone else that I could see too.

From 20 to 30kms or so, it was a very steep ascent, and reminded me of a hard day’s hiking, let alone a running race. This is where people’s poles came into play. Initially I was a bit confused as to all the gear people were carrying. I mean, how do you run with poles? And why?? Well, all was revealed when we were hiking up (in single file at some points), and later, scrambling down, this mountain.

Reaching the ‘top’, or so I thought, at the 30kms mark, I was then told we had to ‘just run over there’ to collect a rubber bangle and have photos taken beside the elevation marker. Hmm, maybe ‘over there’ in an ultra event is not the usual ‘just over there’! This bit was tough. But here I am, feeling on top of the world, quite literally:

It was after this that a noodle break occurred, due to a fellow runner offering me half of his and thus beating the queue (thanks Cedric!).

I have never eaten noodles and then continued to run before, but all was fine. No nausea or spewing as feared. And on with the race:

I can see why people love trail running so much. There were a good many points during the race that I could feel myself grinning inanely and thinking to myself ‘I LOVE THIS!’, especially as I was running through some shady forest sections, with gentle up and downs. It was just such a beautiful course:

That’s not to say it wasn’t hard though. There were certainly some tough sections. Another out and back section took place at the 37kms mark. This again came as a surprise to me. Again, we had to collect an arm band and have our photos taken and again, this was an extremely tough section. The reason being? A very steep ascent AND hundreds of stairs, akin to the Great Wall race. I was actually really happy to see these stairs (I know, I’m a sicko right?) due to all the stair training I’ve done for this race, and I didn’t think there would be stairs on the course. Stair running after 38kms of mountain running/hiking is a bit different and a bit of a challenge hey! But amazing views from the top. And I soon found out that THIS was the highest point of the mountain, and not the previously though 32kms mark.

Coming back down the mountain there were some VERY steep, rocky sections, where I had a few near misses with twisting my ankle. Had to keep reminding myself to take these bits slower than I was trying to, as it just wouldn’t be worth it to have an injury out there hey. There were quite a few dangerous sections. I didn’t take a photo of the terrain here as I was concentrating on just getting down, but again, it was like a hard hike or climb down a mountain side, I though.

The route spread out again between 42kms to 45kms, and I still felt pretty good running. Actually, I felt kind of euphoric – this was the furthest I had EVER run before, and maybe the hardest too (although, I’m not sure –I think the Great Wall event may have been more challenging still, although was half the distance of this one – so, short and sweet/painful?).

The sun was quite intense though – it got hot quite early on in the day, so for the whole race we were running mainly in the hot sun. (Note to self: take sun cream to an event in the mountains where there is little to no shade! Rookie mistake.) The last 4 ish kilometres were tough. And not just because they were the last 4kms of a 50kms race – it was purely that they back up that hill. Nooooooo! Everyone struggled with this apparently. Most walked for most of it, it was practically impossible not to (not sure about the elite guys/winners though), and I did a mixture of hobbling/jogging/attempting to run before walking/hiking up most of it (I think it may have been quicker to walk?). It was the hill that kept on giving. Every twist and turn I’d think, ‘surely this is the last turn and I will see the finish line looming ahead soon?!’ Eventually, when I finally did see the finish line, and the markers marking every 100kms away from 500kms down, a fresh surge of energy came back to me and I managed to run the last 100kms feeling pretty strong and awesome. I had done it! Finished! And well under the 12 hour cut-off time too! (My time was 7 and half hours.) I was ecstatic!!!

Then they told me I was in the top 20 (and someone later told me I was either 18th or 19th place)! Wow. I was amazed. And thrilled. Here’s me with my medal, woohoo:

Later, there was yet more shared, delicious meals:

Followed by the awards ceremony. There I was casually sipping a beer and chatting to another runner, Hendrick, when I heard my name being called. What the?! Why was I being called up?? Getting up there, they gave each of us a extra prize for being in the top twenty! We worked out they were doing the prize giving in groups of 5 at a time, so here is me in the 16-20th place group:

My prize was a giant tub of protein and oats powder plus some joint capsules:

To put it in perspective just how large the protein powder is, here’s another photo – it is half the size of my whole torso! Or maybe bigger:

So, all in all, the race went great: I had a blast, I loved the course, the guys I met are lovely and everyone was very friendly/I made new friends etc, AND my legs seem to be recovering pretty well now, as this is the start of day 3 post-race and they’re feeling pretty good. The day after the race was a different story however: even standing up and making my way off the coach to use the toilets when we stopped at service areas was a huge, painful struggle, let alone having to attempt a full squat, courtesy of all the toilets being squatters hey (can you imagine the pain of this?!). However, when I got to my third and final hotel back in Beijing (after a mammoth 8 hour coach journey ,then 2-3 hour trek across town via car/subway/taxi) I dived into their (actually open, operational!) swimming pool and did a form of pool running (not sure if I was doing it right – had no floatation belt or anything, but just tried to jog up and down doing gentle laps) for about 30 minutes, and perhaps this has helped with active recovery? A little bit of walking (mainly through the huge terminal 3 of Beijing) and cycling yesterday too, and this morning: legs are feeling ok.

Ok, that’s enough from me. If you’ve stuck with the race recap thus far, thanks for reading! I now need to catch up on all the things I’ve missed on other running blogs since being away. I did think of all your amazing comments while I was running the race, and I was sending positive thoughts out to Amy over at Run Write Hike who was running a trail race relay over this same weekend! Looking forward to reading all about her event too.

So tell me, what have you been up to over this weekend? What was your high point? What was your favourite part of your weekend?

12 Comments

Beijing Bound!!

6/4/2014

4 Comments

All that talk of keeping things short and sweet in yesterday's post will now come to fruition haha - off to catch my plane to Beijing soon! Woohoo! Excited, but nervous. I don't think I'll have internet access in the National park (deep in the forest/mountains I think), so stay tuned until Monday or Tuesday for an update. Hopefully, I'll have LOTS to tell you all about this 50km trail race adventure weekend. Thank you for all your awesome, encouraging words on here, and thanks to Husband/Coach too! (best coach ever, and I will really miss him this weekend, another reason for the nerves, going there solo, oh well)...

Have a great rest of the week and awesome weekend everyone!

ps - If I had internet or my computer with me, you'd probably here this from me in the next post, so here you are, pre-emptively: