Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2013

Let me begin by apologizing to some of my friends—I lied to them; I said I wasn't gonna run the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (SCHKM) this year. But actually, I had planned to run the race since almost a year ago! You see, I've been doing quite a number of races ranging from duathlon to triathlon to ultra trail marathons, and had no choice but to neglect my road marathon. It's been about 2 years ago since the last time I achieved a personal best (PB) in the full marathon (42.2km) in Hong Kong as reported here. Since then, I've been running a few more full marathons, but was never able to prepare for a PB. So a little over half a year ago, I made up my mind that I must make it a point to achieve a PB in the full marathon in 2013. That's when I decided that my best chance for a PB is the SCHKM. The terrain in Hong Kong is a bit undulating, but the temperature is ideal at about 18C.

When the event opened for registration, I secretly registered after trying for almost 6 hours. But eventually, I made it into the first group, flagging off at 6:40am. I also decided to keep my participation a secret, especially from my friend, Teo. I thought I'd surprise him in Hong Kong. In fact, I pulled off a similar stunt once during a triathlon event in Miri as reported here.

Only a few people knew of my secret mission. But it wasn't easy to expect them all to keep my secret. Of course women are not generally good at keeping secrets, but my friend, Hana, did exceptionally well. Because of what happened in Miri before, Teo and Paul, suspected that I have secretly registered for Hong Kong. But they couldn't confirm it. They tried so hard to investigate. At one point at the height of their obsession to find out, they conspired with another friend, Marjie, to secure my passport numbers which they then tried to check with the SCHKM website to verify my participation, but to no avail.

I was careful to book a different hotel, and also bought the latest possible flight to Hong Kong on the eve of the race. For months leading up to the race, Teo tried so hard to persuade me to participate, but I was apparently adamant with my decision "not to go". Teo wasn't convinced though. So I had to help to convince him a little bit. You see, Teo was on a mission of achieving a sub-2hr half marathon in Hong Kong. He had been training very hard for it. So when he departed KK on the Friday afternoon, I went to the airport to see him off with this placard.

I had to show my face at the airport to indirectly convince Teo that he's not gonna see me welcoming him at Hong Kong airport when he arrived there. Unfortunately, Teo was too excited to achieve his sub-2hr PB that he went into the departure hall about 2 hours before his flight! But I had achieved my purpose of going to the airport anyway. Judy, who was waiting for my placard brought it to Teo in the departure hall.

My plan was going well so far, but little did I know first thing the next morning, when it was my turn to fly to Hong Kong, Anslem and Amy were also on the same flight. I could trust Anslem to keep my secret, but I knew that my plan was in jeopardy because Amy is of the opposite gender! Still, I had hoped that she could endure 24 hours of secret-keeping. Of course that's a long shot when it comes to women, but I kept my fingers crossed.

We duly arrived in Hong Kong, and we parted ways. I went to my hotel near Times Square, whereas Amy and Anslem went to the hotel where the rest of the group was staying, including Teo. In fact the rest of the group had all flown to Hong Kong a day or two earlier.

After checking in to my hotel, I walked to Victoria Park to collect my race pack. There were not many people there by then. But on my way back to the hotel, I had quite a surprise. Of all the places in the world, of all the times, I suddenly noticed the mighty Teo Chen Lung ahead with the rest of the pack! There were many people around, of course, but he would notice me for sure! I ran out of ideas; all I could do was to stoop low in the crowd. I saw Teo walked pass me. What a relief.

They went to Victoria Park where they met Tey Eng Tiong and some other Malaysians. And then of course the inevitable photo-taking, culminating in this jumping photo which has become quite fashionable these days.

I thought they were kinda overdoing the jumping thing, especially Judy (in black). With a spread eagle pose like that, it can give rise to unhealthy thoughts for men. But of course healthy or unhealthy, it all depends on how you look at the matter.

But later on, Judy sent me a text message, and somewhere in that message, she said "...see you later!" together with a smiley at the end, and I knew that's as far as Amy could keep my secret. Still, I was hoping that she didn't tell Teo.

I went around the city hoping to catch a movie, but in the end abandoned the idea. Later I went back to the hotel and finally fell asleep a little past midnight. I woke up at about 4:30am and went through the usual race-day ritual, finally leaving the hotel for the race venue at about 5:30am. The timing was just nice. I reached the starting point about half an hour before the flag off, and after depositing my drop bag, it was just a short wait before the countdown.

The thought that this was supposed to be the "faster group" of runners of 4-hours or less. But actually, after the flag off, the crowd was moving painstakingly slow. It wasn't till about 3km later when I was able to break free. But by then, I was a bit of a "deficit" in terms of time for my sub-4hr target. So I had to put in a bit of effort to regain some lost time. I had originally planned to run a constant 5:30min/km average pace, but because I've lost a bit of time, I had to run between 5:00-5:10min/km. That wasn't in my original plan, but I had no choice if I wanted to keep my sub-4 dream alive.

I eventually arrived at the 10km mark in a little over 55mins just as I had planned. So I was able to relax and eased down to about 5:30min/km pace. I was still feeling fresh at that point, but anyway it was still too early to tell if the 5:00-5:10min/km had an effect on my race.

I maintained that average pace, but when I went downhill, I took the advantage to increase my pace. Well, I reached the 30km point in about 2:40 and was very pleased that I was still feeling great! At that point of the race, I felt like I had a shot at a 3:45 finish. I thought I'd continue running at 5:20-5:30min/km up to around 35km, and then beyond that point if I still felt OK, perhaps I'd increase my pace for a strong finish. Running the remaining 12km within 1:05 seemed very achievable; it wasn't even very fast!

I finally went into that long tunnel under the sea. It's a long down-slope section, and I was happily running until I emerged on the other side when there's a sudden sharp climb. Immediately I could feel both my quads seizing up. I knew then I was in trouble. The thing about cramps is that once you get it, there is really no cure. It won't go away for the rest of the race. You just have to manage it, and hope to endure till the end! For the next 7km or so, I was running at pathetic pace, ranging between 7-8 min/km with occasional walking breaks. Thankfully, however, I had built up a big enough time buffer during the earlier stages of the race that I was still comfortably within the sub-4hr margin. All I had to do was to keep going.

The final few kilometres, as always, was the toughest part of the race. But when I arrived at the 40km mark, in spite of the pain in my legs, I was feeling happy—I knew that I've achieved my mission in Hong Kong. I eventually crossed the finish line, and looking at my Garmin, pumped my fist in the air.

Judy was running in the second group, and judging from her pace during training, I thought she should be able to achieve at least a 3:50 finish in Hong Kong. 

But as always, she had a bit of trouble controlling her appetite—she ran too fast in the beginning, and then paid heavily at the tail end of the race, hitting the "wall" after passing the 30km mark. Still, she achieved her PB and finished in 3:56.

Anslem and Amy ran together throughout the race, eventually achieving sub-4 finish too, i.e. 3:57. These are the happy faces at the finish line.

You may wonder what happened to Teo and his sub-2hr mission? Well, he ran his perfect half marathon in Hong Kong and achieved his target to a marvel; he finished in a 1:51 in dramatic fashion, with the final 100m sprint in what appeared like an Usain Bolt Olympics performance. The expression on his face was of course not something to be recommended for small children to see—as it may cause nightmares—but decidedly it was an expression that was impossible for the photographers to miss!

For the benefit of those who don't know Teo, that's him at the bottom (ignore the photos above).

SCHKM is a historic day for a few others from KK too. Fabian O. Daimon, the top Sabahan runner achieved a PB of 2:41 in the full marathon. Paul, although not very happy with his time, finished his half marathon with a PB in 1:56. Dr Heng made a debut 10km and was obviously very pleased to conquer the distance, though not really concerned about the time. Ah Diong finished yet another half marathon, but although he did not achieve a PB, he was happy nonetheless for the PB he achieved with his drinking sessions. Heng's son, and Paul's wife, Joe, Audrey, Jai Malik and Victoria did very well too. 

It was a day of PBs and record breaking affair; quite an outing for our Sabahan group. Congratulations and well done, y'all! But of course none of us could beat Teo's achievement. I'm sure anyone would know by just looking at his expression. 

Now I'm trying to convince Teo to run a sub-4hr full marathon next year. But, oh boy, I'm afraid to even imagine his facial expression then!

Intruders & Animal Instinct

Almost a week ago, a group of over 100 Filipino gunmen from the Southern Philippines, claiming itself as the Sulu Sultanate Army, arrived on our shores in Lahad Datu on the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia, as reported here. The Malaysian Security Forces swiftly surrounded the area and began negotiations with the intruders. Amongst others, the latter demanded that the illegal Filipinos in Sabah to not be sent back to the Philippines. But after a few days' stand-off and "negotiations", the Sulu Sultanate Army has agreed to leave. 

It is interesting to note the comment of the Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib regarding that demand. He said:

"There is no negotiation because they are demanding on a wrong platform and should do it on a specific forum."

I find that statement rather surprising and appalling, to say the least. Right or wrong platform, specific or non-specific forum, the response to that demand should have been a stern "NO", plain and simple. Is the Police Commissioner implying that there is at least a remote chance that the answer might be a "YES" if the demand were made on a "right platform" via a "specific forum"?

Reading the news for the first time a few days ago, my immediate reaction was for our local forces to rain bombs and bullets upon the foreign gunmen. Our police and so-called special forces have the reputation of treating seemingly peaceful Malaysians who assemble to seek fair elections in Malaysia as a threat to national security. So one has to wonder if the police sees the Sulu Sultanate Army as at least of similar level of threat to national security.

Over the years there have been a number of hostile visitors from our neighbour in the Southern Philippines. They came in speedboats. They arrived at our shores and grabbed civilians; and brought them back to the Philippines. They then made demands—mostly money. As recently as last year, 2 people were taken from an oil palm plantation in the east coast. Maybe these are different groups of people from the Philippines, but to the ordinary Sabahan in the street, they are all the same. It is so tempting to just terminate them all! I should add that from a fair number of postings I've seen on facebook, it seems that such is the popular sentiment of many Sabahans.

Then yesterday, I decided to unwind at the movies—I spent  my afternoon watching A Good Day To Die Hard. At the end of that movie, I had an even more brilliant idea; it would be even better to send the McClanes, Senior and Junior, to Lahad Datu. I'm sure they can do a better job than our police?

But that's the danger when people decide with the heart, and not the mind. This morning I woke up and started thinking again, this time with my mind. Sadly, the more I think about it, the more I agree with the police. You see, it is so very easy to just bomb all these animals to kingdom come—it would be over within a few minutes. But then to do that would also mean that we have to bring ourselves down to their level—in fact, it would make us animals too!

The simplest and most obvious solution is not always the correct decision. Some of us still believe in being civilized; every human life is worth something. I guess however insignificant is the worth of that life, it is only right to try to save it as much as we can. If anything, that is one of the few things that makes us different from animals.

Moral Instinct

I read with interest the recent news of Pope Benedict XVI who announced his resignation effective 28 February. To be quite honest, I wasn't even aware that a Pope could actually resign from his post. It just goes to show how little I know about the church. It's only after I've read the article that I know that the last time a Pope resigned from his post was about 600 years ago.

The thing I've noticed about the Pope—in fact, any Pope—is that he has a great influence on most Catholics. It's almost like his religious opinions are deemed to be those directly from God; the Catholics have faith in his views. I'm not even sure if Jesus had such an influence when he was still alive.

Throughout the history of mankind, a few people have claimed that they're the messengers of God. They're supposedly born into this world to deliver to us the words and commandments of God. Whether or not these people were bogus messengers, only God knows. 

There are a few possibilities here. Firstly, all of them were not who or what they claimed themselves to be; that they were just ordinary men just like the rest of us. But they pretended to be people they're not, for reasons only known to themselves. 

Secondly, that only one of them was the genuine messenger, whereas the rest were not. If this was indeed the case, then it's up to us to figure out which is the genuine one?

Thirdly, that all of them were who and what they claimed themselves to be—people who were born to spread the teachings of God. But if that's indeed the case, it goes to show that God can't quite make up his mind on what he really expects of us; he seems to keep changing his mind. For there are several discrepancies in the holy books. If the information contained in the holy books came from the same source, why, then they should all be the same. There's really no need to have several versions of the holy books.

I admit that I don't know—for certain—which of the 3 possibilities above is the correct one, but I'm inclined to choose the first. Perhaps it's just that I'm not meant to understand God fully, maybe my mind and knowledge, and seeing things from such a narrow scope against the grand scheme of things, it's just impossible to appreciate what's really going on in God's plan for us. But I try to understand Him anyway, and I'm doing it not based on the holy books, but instead relying on my moral instinct.

Some people may claim that they are an authority of God's teachings; that they're learned people in the religious sense. They may dress or behave in a peculiar way, perhaps have religious titles to their names too. But I'm immune from all those. No amount of theological studies, the robes or goatee beards can influence me. These people—if they're really who they claim themselves to be—should reflect the quality of God. After all, as Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker, "With great power there must also come—great responsibility!"

When a Pastor gets into a situation which he or she has the power to either build or destroy someone's life, which should he or she opt for? Which would God choose in such a situation?

Well, again, I don't know what would God do in such a case—he is after all a difficult being to understand. But if I had the power to decide between the two possible options, I would rely on my own instinct not to destroy someone's life, unless of course if there is absolutely no other choice. But I can accept that God may choose the other option.

Tour De Interior 2013

Last year, I joined some friends for a cycling outing dubbed Tour De Interior as reported here. But because of an unfortunate accident, plus persistent rain which resulted in slippery road, as well as failing daylight, we had to abort the ride about 20km before reaching the finish in Ranau.

Now it's not my habit of leaving things halfway done; and having to stop with only 20km of mainly downhill to Ranau was very frustrating. So when my friends announced that they're going back again to deal with the unfinished business, I simply had to oblige. I don't cycle very regularly, but I reckoned that I'd be happy to just finish the distance from Keningau to Tambunan to Ranau, a total of about 120km of hilly roads. The only problem was that the week before the trip, I would be racing the Vibram Hong Kong 100km Ultra Trail Marathon as reported here. I wasn't sure that I'd recover fast enough for the tour, but I thought that I'd just try my best. The plan was for an approximate 60km ride from Keningau to Tambunan, followed by an approximate same distance the next day from Tambunan to Ranau. Ordinarily, 60km is not really a big deal. But it can be quite a challenge on hilly terrains.

So at around noon of the 26th of January, we found ourselves in Keningau town. After having lunch, we went to the starting line at the outskirt of town. There, we spent some minutes assembling our bikes and doing some warming up. Then the customary group photo.

It was kinda strange to start cycling around noon—well, at least it's strange for me—but luckily it was a cloudy afternoon. Earlier on, when we were still at the shop during lunch, Paul, playing the role of the organizer this year, explained thoroughly the rules for this tour. You see, this year, to make things more interesting, he has included some hill-climb challenges. But because I hadn't even recovered fully from Vibram, I hardly paid much attention during his briefing. I barely heard that there would be some sort of regroup somewhere at the foothill, at which point we would be flagged off together. There were many hills to climb between Keningau and Tambunan, but there's a specific spot for the challenge. The distance of the climb wasn't horrifyingly far—I think just about 1km to 2km. But of course with tired legs, that can still be a decent challenge!

We started the ride with everyone intending that first 20km or so as a slow and easy pace. If I'm not mistaken, someone mentioned an average of 25km/h. I was somewhat glad to hear that, as I was a little worried if I could keep up with the pack.

As most cyclists would know, however, it's not as easy as one would think when several cyclists ride together. Elsewhere in this blog, I have mentioned about that curious disease scientifically known as kiasunisis, which is a common illness that could infect most athletes. They were only able to control themselves for—and this is the shocking part—about 5 minutes into the ride. After that, it suddenly became something akin to Tour De France time trial challenge.

From the beginning of the ride, I've made up my mind not to chase after the leading group. But because I have never witnessed a hill sprint before, I had hoped to be able to see one during this tour. Within 10 to 15 minutes, we were mainly divided into several groups, i.e. the fast pack in front, the chasing pack, and the slowest pack. I was somewhere in the middle group.

When we finally emerged at the main Keningau-Tambunan highway, it was already about 23km into the ride. I was several minutes behind the leading group. We rested for some minutes while waiting for the last group to arrive.

A short while later, the last group arrived. Hana, who was still recovering from a knee injury aggravated during Vibram the week before, had to quit at that point, but Claire wanted to continue.

We then proceeded towards Tambunan, and after a few minutes we started the gruesome climb up a hill. It was such a painful climb for me, and like many others in the group, I was going at snail's pace. Amy was a few metres in front of me, and I noticed that she, too, was struggling uphill. I merely continued pedaling, and felt my earlobes throbbing from the hardwork. My sweat dripping like a leaking water tap from my chin. But I kept my focus on Amy; I reckoned that I'd just make sure that I'd keep her in sight and follow her pace up the hill.

And then to my horror, suddenly she stopped cycling somewhere in the middle of the hill, announcing that she's done cycling; and for a moment I had to work extremely hard to shift my focus on another rider up ahead. I overtook her and just maintained my pathetic pace.

I took my time up the hill, feeling the lactic acid building up in my legs, but I kept going anyway.

As I was struggling on my bike, I felt a bit of regret for joining the tour, as I felt very exhausted. I have to admit that I need more time to recover. But of course there wasn't much I could do at that point, unless if I had wanted to just surrender and take a seat in one of the support vehicles.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that we must be nearing the hillclimb challenge location. At this point, I was very far behind together with some other slow cyclists. I kept thinking that I would soon arrive at the spot where we were supposed to regroup and I'd for the first time witness those crazy folks blaze up the slope. Instead, I reached a point where some of them were already discussing about the winners of the challenge! I don't know what happened to the rule of regrouping and getting flagged off together. I guess the adrenaline completely obliterated that part of the rule.

Anyway, we finally arrived at Tambunan a little after 3 hours pedalling up and down the hills. It was such a relief for me, as I was becoming increasingly tired. We regrouped for a few minutes at the shops before proceeding on to the lodge where we were gonna spend the night. As fate would have it, I ended up sharing a room with Anslem. Amy couldn't join us for the next leg of the tour because she had to return to KK that evening.

I spent a bit of time to rinse my bike while Anslem had a quick shower. It was a decent room with attached bathroom. As I was about to step into the shower, I noticed Anslem was already about to doze off on his bed. The warm water was very soothing, I felt like spending a few hours in there. And then to my horror, I realised that I had forgotten to grab the towel on my bed. I merely used my tiny underwear to cover my private part and stepped out of the shower. Anslem was half asleep, but he perked up upon hearing me enter and his eyes suddenly became extremely huge, seeing me with nothing on except for that underwear which I used to cover my weelie. He was, like, frozen for a bit. But when I turned to go back to the bathroom and he saw my bare buttocks, I was startled when he started laughing hysterically, I thought he was gonna faint! I could still hear him laughing frantically after I shut the door.

Well, we went out for dinner to a nearby restaurant. We ate like there was no tomorrow; I felt like my stomach was about to burst. Douglas demonstrated his amazing skill in opening the beer bottle with just his fingers. I think both Hana and Claire were very impressed!

The next morning was a bright and sunny day. Before we started for Ranau, Paul gave a short briefing, including a bit of modification to the hillclimb challenge, having realised that the effect of adrenaline was hard to control. He also showed us the route profile for the day.

Then we started off at a slow pace. Claire and Hana, too, decided to ride again. But they were held back, so the rest of us just went ahead. I was feeling a bit better after a night's rest.

We enjoyed a few kilometres of flat road. But after passing the roundabout, we started to climb again, and immediately I could feel my quads burning up. A short while later Hana surrendered and not long after that Claire, too, threw in the towel. Some of the guys took turns riding in the support vehicles, and I was tempted to follow suit. But I thought I'd just continue for a little bit more.

A bit more; a bit more, and then before I knew it, I was already far away in the hills! I felt very exhausted and although I was the last, I kept going and going, though unfortunately not as strong as the Eveready batteries. Eventually, I was approaching the final slope to the highest point, and oh boy, it was a punishing climb!

As I emerged from the corner, I could hear voices on top of the hill. The guys were taking a break after conquering that slope. And as I was pedaling like a bloody fool, they were cheering me on. It was such a relief to make it up that monster of a hill!

After a short break, we started our descent to Ranau. It was then around noon, and I could feel my arms and legs burning from the scorching sun. But at that point, all I wanted to do was to get over that remaining 20km or so to Ranau.

There were of course several uphill climbs beyond that point, but it was mainly downhill. But on the way, the guys found a nice spot for a group photo. Hence we stopped once again for this group photo.

 

The rest of the journey to Ranau was faily quick. We finally regrouped in front of the KFC outlet there where the guys deliberated whether to continue cycling to the Mt Kinabalu National Park. But I've had enough cycling for a weekend. 8 brave souls decided to push on while the rest of us would go ahead on the support vehicles to wait for them at the National Park which was perhaps 15km away uphill. While waiting we had our glorious lunch. We were just about to finish our lunch when we heard news that they, too, had given up at about 7km from Ranau.

After lunch, there was a simple prize-giving ceremony. Anslem was declared the King of Mountain for the tour. The thought that I wasn't even able to see the starts of those sprints is killing  me! By then, I was feeling totally spent and couldn't wait to get home to rest.

It was a very enjoyable outing even though I was the last to reach the top of the hill. But I console myself that at least I did not ride in the support vehicle all the way between Keningau to Ranau. Still, you know, I'm not used to the idea of being last. That was quite a beating to my huge ego!

Well, that was the Tour De Interior 2. Just a few days after that event, there were already rumours of another tour this year. Surprises upon surprises. Actually, I love surprises; in fact, I have a talent in surprising others too, like when we did the Miri Triathlon as reported here. I should start thinking of something new to surprise them again this year! 

But for now, I just want to rest my poor legs. They have been through a hell lot of punishments these last couple of months—they deserve the rest. 

Only question is for how long?...

Vibram Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race 2013

As I was approaching CP5, which was the midway point of the race, it was already past 10 hours from the flag off. I had just overtaken Dr Liaw going up a hill, but as I was descending to CP5, it was fast getting dark. I stopped for a moment to fix my headlamp.

Dejavu—I was almost exactly at the same location and at the same time about a year ago during my first attempt of the Vibram Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race. That was the time when I failed to bring home the elusive bronze trophy. You see, in order to qualify for the bronze trophy, one has to complete the race within 20 to 24 hours. Last year I finished in about 25:41.

This year we had a bigger group from KK—Mia and I, Dr Felice Huang, Hana Harun, Bobby Tseu, Dr Liaw Yun Haw, Boyd Gimbang, Dr Peter Ong. A Canadian friend, Paul Bourget, also decided to join for the second time.

It was a much larger crowd at the starting line as the number of participants had grown from about 750 last year to over 1,200 this year. Before the flag off, people were busy taking photos.

I bumped into Dr Pui San, a fellow Malaysian from KL, at the starting line and we invited her to join us in this photo.

From left: Mia, Hana, Dr Felice

It was good that Felice was able to make this event, as she could motivate us to push all the way. That's the beauty of having a gynaecologist with us. As for Dr Peter (extreme right of photo), I'm not sure what he's checking on, but I want to put it on record that he wore a pair of 2XU Compression tights for the first time in his life that day. I'm not sure if all the compressions were just right at the right places. I can still remember when I first bought my compression tights a while ago, he shared his opinion about the compression element, as reported here.

After the customary countdown, we were duly flagged off. The first kilometre was a pleasant sealed road, but then we came to a bottleneck up a narrow path. Shortly after the flag off, I turned to Bob, saying that we should try to reach CP5 within 8.5hours. If that could be achieved, then we might have a shot at the silver trophy! Hana was closeby and she gave out a strange surprised cry, but actually she had a silver trophy dream of her own!

As we were all stuck going at snail's pace at the bottleneck, I suddenly noticed that Hana had already sneaked up ahead. And a few minutes later, she was already out of sight! I had estimated that we would be stuck at the bottleneck for about 40 minutes, but it was almost an hour later when we emerged on the other side! By the time I reached the first support station, all the guys in our group were already ahead. Felice and Mia were still behind me, but still quite near.

I arrived at CP1 feeling a bit annoyed with the sand in my shoes (having crossed a beach section). I sat down on a chair and as I was cleaning my shoes, I saw Dr Peter sitting at the next table, apparently also busy ridding his shoes of sand. After dealing with my shoes, I grabbed some food, and while I was biting into a banana, I saw Peter leaving.

There were of course many other participants, but I felt a little lonely without any of my friends. Although I didn't exactly have the luxury of time, I spent just a few moments savouring the beauty of the views along the route (in random order).

By the time I reached CP2, it was clear that there was no way I could reach CP5 within 8.5hours. It was then that I reverted back to my original plan for a bronze trophy. I reckoned that if I tried too hard to aim for the silver, I'd burn out too soon, and that could eventually jeopardize even the bronze!

The rest in my group were still going strong. I was thinking they were probably a mere 10-15 minutes ahead of me at that point. But little did I know that they were much faster than that. Hana was just getting the hang of the trekking poles, and as she was busy pole dancing in the direction of CP3, Peter caught up with her.

In fact, all four of them—Peter, Liaw, Bob and Hana—were racing at more or less the same pace. I have to admit that it was so tempting to rush ahead to keep up with them. A friend of mine, Teo Chen Lung, would throw a big party, I'm sure, if Hana finished the race before me. I was determined not to let him have that satisfaction. But at the same time, I did not want to lose track of my bronze ambition too.

Well, I arrived at CP3 and CP4 without catching a glimpse of them. It was then that I realised that they were farther ahead than I thought. Looking at my watch, I was horrified to note that I would take well over 10 hours before reaching CP5. That's the same amount of time I took to reach the same station last year. It certainly did not seem very promising even for a bronze!

Felice and Mia were still behind me. And I had a feeling that Mia must be about an hour or two behind by then.

But later on, as I was climbing a hill when approaching CP5, I was surprised to bump into Liaw. His trademark cramps had caught up with him by then. Well, we eventually arrived at CP5 just shortly after nightfall. There, I saw Peter and Bob. Hana was also there in fresh clothing and ready to go. They've been there for about an hour when I arrived.

I was just about to start on my cup noodle when Bob said he and Hana would start for CP6. Peter and Liaw, in spite of my telling them to go ahead, insisted that they'd like to start from CP5 together with me. Peter had by then suffered knee pain; Liaw had his cramps; and I had my knee and ankle problem. After popping up a pain killer each, we departed from CP5 about 20 minutes after Bob and Hana. But just as we were about to leave CP5, Felice arrived in her gung-ho fashion.

We were well prepared for the cold. Peter asked me if the second half of the race was gonna be tougher. I replied in the affirmative, and the expression on his face became very grave. I told him to expect plenty of seemingly unending climbs. He responded amicably, saying that "Everything is bound to come to an end eventually." He went on to tell his life story on how that line came about. I just love this guy for his positive thinking attitude.

It was almost 11.5 hours from flag off when we left CP5, and it was obvious to me that I had to make up a lot of time for the bronze. But I wasn't sure then if the energy I had saved during the first half of the race was enough for the feat. I took perhaps 10-15 minutes to fire up my system again. When I felt that I have had enough warming up, I started my brisk walking routine up the long asphalt road. Within minutes Peter and Liaw were out of sight behind me.

I kept a steady pace, except for the ridiculous climb up the unending concrete stairs to the ridge. But actually, Peter was right—the stairs did come to an end eventually! Along the way, I overtook a fair number of participants. Up and down, up and down, and then shortly before arriving at CP6, I finally overtook Hana and Bob for the first time in the race. As I was passing them, I said we needed to pick up the pace for the bronze. Bob agreed, saying that he, too, realised that time was a bit tight.

We grouped up again briefly at CP6. Then I started for CP7. When I left CP6, Peter and Liaw had not arrived yet. The distance to CP7 wasn't very long, but at that stage of the race, every kilometre was a torture. I lost count on how many times I looked at my watch. Thankfully, however, there was a long sector of downhill out from CP7. I took the opportunity for a slow jog, combined with brisk walk intervals. In my mind, I wanted to have between 5.5 to 6 hours cushion to the finish line from CP8. This was because when I reached CP8 last year I had about 3.5hours for bronze, but that proved to be insufficient even though it's just 17km to the finish line!

Out from CP7, I felt very sleepy. But I had no time to spare for a rest, let alone sleep. I merely kept going all out. At CP8, I topped up my bladder (2-litre capacity) for the last time, had a bit more cookies, 2 small kit kats, half a swiss roll, a banana, 2 cups of mushroom soup, and half a cup of coke. It was as good as a full meal. Not exactly a good idea for racing. Throughout the race, I ate small portions of about 300-400 calories at each CP. But according to my plan, CP8 was a little bit different. I needed the extra energy for that final climb. The idea was that if I was lack of time when I reached CP9, I wouldn't even stop for a break. Whatever I ate at CP8 would therefore have to last till the end!

But when I arrived at CP9, I had about 3.5hours for bronze. So another 2 cups of mushroom soup, coke, peanut butter sandwich, and off I went for that final climb to the highest point of Hong Kong. I barely had enough energy to reach the top. It was a slow climb. Foggy and windy. Visibility was down to about 5m. When I hit the flat ground at the top of that sealed road, I had a little over an hour to spare. I knew then that I was safe. I then took my sweet time to walk leisurely for the last 5km or so downhill. A friend from KL came along shortly later, and both of us walked to the finish line together.

I finished in the official time of 23:28. Boyd was there at the finish line. He had finished his race in 21 hours. After I received my bronze trophy, I kept an eye open for Bob and Hana. There was then about half an hour left for the bronze. I was hopeful. Unfortunately, Bob eventually finished in 25:00 and Hana in 25:23.

We weren't sure when the rest would finish, so we took a cab back to the hotel. At the hotel, I was surprised when told that Mia had already checked in earlier. I was worried that she was injured somehow. But she withdrew from the race because she couldn't keep up with the cutoff times. She threw in the towel at CP7. It's never an easy thing to see one's wife suffer. But, you know, after all she's an ex-St Franciscan; she's a stubborn woman. She said she's coming back for another attempt next year.

Well, Liaw finished in about 26 hours; Peter in about 29 hours; Felice in about 30 hours.

 This is the close-up shot of the bronze trophy.

Now, I wonder if there is a way to change the colour of this trophy to silver in 2014...

Rules Of The Game

An unfortunate story of an angler who caught the big one, but lived to tell the tale of the big one that got away. All too often participants think very little of the rules of the game, and then find out the painful way that that could hurt them.

Shortly after The Most Beautiful Thing(TMBT) in September last year, there was an interesting debate in the organiser's facebook page. It was about a 3-hour penalty imposed upon a participant when he was found not carrying a headlamp during a spotcheck at one of the checkpoints along the route. Apparently, that participant argued that he had a handheld flashlight which he deemed similar to a headlamp for all intent and purposes. But the organiser held its grounds and the penalty remained. It should be noted, however, that it was still broad daylight when that spotcheck was conducted, and many hours had yet to elapse before there was a need for the use of a headlamp or flashlight.

The format of the race was such that there was a drop bag service at the midway point. Participants were therefore able to leave some items in the drop bag for the night portion of the race. These might include snacks and energy bars, fresh clothings, and other sports nutrition.

It was unclear if the participant in question had a headlamp in his drop bag; one which he could have picked up when he reached the midway point. That would have been a good strategy since perhaps he could have saved a bit of energy carrying a little lesser weight than necessary during the first 50km of the race. Any ultra trail runner will tell you that in such a race, especially through very hilly terrains, almost every gram lighter counts for a lot!

I would have adopted that same strategy too because, quite frankly, it made a lot of sense. But the reason I carried my headlamp from the start of the race was because it was an item on the mandatory kit list. Actually, I was confident that I would be able to reach the midway point of the race when there's still daylight, and I have to say that carrying the headlamp throughout the day seemed like a waste of energy.

However, the organiser emphasized the adherence to the mandatory kit months before the event; and several more times after that prior to the race day. The penalty for a missing headlamp was immediate disqualification, but in this case it was reduced to a 3-hour time penalty.

The reality is that no matter how fit I was at the time, I could have been held back by unforeseen circumstances which might have resulted in taking much longer to reach the midway point, i.e. it might have been nightfall by then, and a headlamp would have been required even before that midway point. But what about a handheld flashlight; wouldn't that be good enough? Well, it's hard to say; one may need to keep both his hands free to hold other objects or doing other tasks. These were probably on the organiser's mind when deliberating the mandatory kit. I will leave the debate on the logic of the mandatory kit list—we can all argue till the cow comes home, and we still won't come to a fruitful conclusion!

Next Saturday/Sunday I will be joining some friends in the Vibram Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race, as the title suggests, a 100km ultra trail marathon in Hong Kong. I have done it last year as reported here, but failed to finish within 24 hours. So I'm going back for another attempt! I recently browsed through the mandatory kit set by the organiser. Amongst others, participants must carry a headlamp (with batteries) and spare light (with batteries) throughout the race. I find that rather odd and somewhat extreme, but I shall abide by the rule.

My policy has always been to play by the rules of the game. For I'm a firm believer that rules are meant to be obeyed. Otherwise there is no meaning to have them. If the rule says that every participant must carry a piece of brick throughout the race, then I suppose that's just what I have to do, no question asked. And if I really think that's a stupid rule, then I just won't participate!

The Unforgettable

It's been over 30 years since my high school days, but I can still remember some of the things I disliked in school. I was never any good at finishing my school assignments on time; and of course memorizing where and when the mouse deer outwitted the prince's hunting dog was not my strength. Then there were those times when I had nightmares of having to memorize the periodic table. But all those weren't so bad when compared to living life in constant fear of the big bully.

We've all seen them in the movies, and there are a few of them in every generation. Oh yes, decidedly these creatures are born to become a pain in the ass. There was this boy in school whose life mission was apparently to cause havoc and terror upon his peers. I'm thinking maybe the first thing he did when he woke up every morning was to plan how to outdo himself in being an even bigger asshole in school. Perhaps he would be miserable and feeling totally depressed if he failed to achieve something mischievous for just a day.

He had earrings in both ears, wore his hair deliberately cut crookedly so that one side is a little longer than the other side. In fact, a perfect example of a total idiot—ugly, ugly creature, if you know what I mean. He seemed destined to become a criminal and then spend half his life in prison. And of course there were other idiots who looked up to him as a leader, I don't know why. Oh! those were the days...

Well, over 30 years have since elapsed, and one would think that things like those would have all been forgotten. Then recently, at the launching of a property development which I attended, I saw him again. Somehow he was also invited to the event. The earrings were gone; his hair cut evenly and neatly combed. He was well-dressed with a tie on. But there's no mistaking that face—he still looked ugly; much the same as 30 years ago.

30 years is a long time. So many things can happen within that duration; certainly people can change for the better or for the worse. Maybe he has changed for the better; I'm not sure how's that even possible! But the reality is that first impression can sometimes be a lasting one. I have always known him as a pain in the ass, and I guess that's how I'm seeing him now, even if he's a changed person. There is really no valid reason for me to fear him today. Yet there is that fear of getting into trouble if he's around me. It's hard to explain. He's got that aura that spells trouble, you see. He's just one of those unforgettable characters in school.

All too often parents have the tendency to let their kids be naughty and mischievous—even mean to others. They're convinced that that's just a passing thing; all part and parcel of the growing up process. Unfortunately, sometimes the heart can forgive, but the mind can't forget. The harm inflicted upon others can last a lifetime. The impression of a forsaken character can remain forever. 

I suppose there is some truth that a book should not be judged by its cover. But there are occasions when the book is judged by its contents too. The author has only one shot to impress his readers. If he fails to impress them upon the first reading, he hasn't very many opportunities to rewrite or edit his book, and then expects his readers to have faith and revisit his book. A book, once known to be lousy, is always remembered as a lousy book. That's just one of those unfortunate realities in life.