Well, am back from Shanghai now, tired and stiff, but extremely happy. It's been a weekend of firsts hey: first time I have run a half at the time I got (which I think was 1 hour and 32 minutes but the official results are not out yet, and you know me, watchless and running fancy-free), first taste of pumpkin pie at an American restaurant yesterday, and first well deserved chilled sav blanc after 32 days of booze-free tee-totalism (in preparation for the race).
So, let's start with the race, as that was the reason behind our trip to groovy Shanghai, and yes, two of my three readers (hello you two!) have said that you are looking forward to the race recap! So I hope you haven't forgotten me - we had very poor internet connection where we were staying, hence my disappearance from here for a few days. Well, it started off pretty much how I'd thought and remembered from last year's race. However with the awesome added bonus of NO rain! Result. Thousands of other runners packed in and queue-jumping to get as close as possible to the starting line actually made it not quite so freezing cold, and they had a warm-up/aerobic session too, which was fun to watch, although I didn't participate with the aim of conserving my energy for the race:
So, let's start with the race, as that was the reason behind our trip to groovy Shanghai, and yes, two of my three readers (hello you two!) have said that you are looking forward to the race recap! So I hope you haven't forgotten me - we had very poor internet connection where we were staying, hence my disappearance from here for a few days. Well, it started off pretty much how I'd thought and remembered from last year's race. However with the awesome added bonus of NO rain! Result. Thousands of other runners packed in and queue-jumping to get as close as possible to the starting line actually made it not quite so freezing cold, and they had a warm-up/aerobic session too, which was fun to watch, although I didn't participate with the aim of conserving my energy for the race:
The first 10 or so kilometres were spent dodging thrown away plastic ponchos that were strewn around and trying pass as many people while not tripping up. I was at the 10km mark at 45 minutes. Something went a little wrong around 14km, when for some reason I thought I was at 18km (must have zoned out completely) and I started to pick up the pace a lot (i.e. ran too fast too early). Not sure if this affected my overall result as the end couple of kms were amazingly hard and painful, and the phrase 'running my guts out' kept circulating hey. Kept telling myself the following: "C'mon, what have you been training for?!", "just 2 little kilometres more then you can stop, keep going", and "we can do these hard things!". I saw Husband at the finish line and attempted a wave, which is why I look a little bit strange here:
Almost vomited when I stopped, but luckily managed not to. And, D'OH! Didn't even look at the clock when I passed the finish line, so confident was I that it'd be just like last year where as soon as you hand your timing chip back in they print off your certificate there and then, showing your chip time and overall race time (last year's was two minutes difference, I guess from where you're stumbling/half running/half walking just to get started and over the line). But, I THINK (and Husband thinks too) it was one hour and 32 minutes! Woohoo! PB for me - a whole 12 minutes faster than last year! Initially was actually a bit disheartened and had this thought: "How the f*&k do people run faster/get faster - ran my guts out and still didn't get under an hour and a half". Pretty stupid yeah? Seeing as I've ran the fastest that I've ever ran, so beat myself hey. Last year I got a prize for coming in at 42nd place, however this year, have no idea of my position yet (I keep checking the website in hope the results are up yet), and no prize, boo, haha... We think they may have spent the money this year on extra security instead, as that was pretty full on pre-race, with these fellas blocking the way and stopping you from getting to certain parts of the Bund (by the river in Shanghai):
So, once I'd warmed back up (and perked back up realising that I've achieved my goal of running faster than last year, and of getting a brand spanking new PB), we got ready and headed out to have some fun (i.e. food and drink) in Shanghai. We ended up eating in an American restaurant where we ate the biggest quesadilla/wrap ever (HUGE - ordered one and shared it and it was still a sh*&tload of food!), called 'the fat bitch' - what an awesome idea: it looked like it was a pizza base, covered in chips, chicken, beans, cheese and salad and then rolled up to be a huge wrap/roll/quesadilla thing. We shared a bottle of chilled sauvignon blanc, which was beautiful, and then ordered our first ever taste of pumpkin pie too. This was also soooo tasty. Not usually one for food/drink pictures, but here you go (minus a pic of the 'fat bitch', we were too busy stuffing it into our faces):
All in all, a GREAT weekend! The air was a bit of a downer, as it was pretty polluted (lungs and chest felt very strange immediately afterward the race), but that's what you get when you run in China I guess. Here is me, mercilessly flaunting my medal and race bib, just coz I can:
Last pic for today, and it serves no purpose other to show you the groovy PINK SPARKLY walls in our stylin hotel; enjoy!:
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