Friday 15 Feb 2008
Pre-HK marathon trip. I went for a 1.5h massage appointment with Da Jie in the evening. As usual, a thorough check. Knees ok, minor soothing. Sides of knees ok. She laid her strong fingers on the muscle running up from both my ankles (Google: peronei muscles) and I was squirming from the pain. Ouch. Probably the result of some misaligned steps in the trail. Apparently they were causing my calves to be very tight, which felt significantly lighter after she worked at those spots. Next was the infamous ITB at the hip. Burrowed deep under, she had to use her arm to press and knead. Click click click. It was not as painful as I imagined.
Have not finished packing. Rushed to pick up Alber, who was down with a bad throat and fever. Gosh, I had not seen him so sick before, not very responsive or alert. I drugged him with Panadol, flu drinks and strepsils. Hopefully the HK weather would not make it worse and he recovers by Sunday for the run.
Saturday 16 Feb 2008
Flight was 640am. Planned to reach airport by 520am. Reality - alarm went silent after the 1st ring. Overslept, 5:00am! Jumped awake with a start and called a cab, in between getting dressed and dragging my bags down the stairs. Thankfully cabbie uncle was a Daytona champion, he sped all the way to the airport by 545am. I heaved a great sigh of relief when the Departure board stated that my flight had been re-timed to 710am. Whew! Bags checked in, duty-free shopping done, and even had time for a quick breakfast at Killiney. After all the rush and anxiety, we were finally onboard and taking off for HK.
We arrived and took the Airport Express MTR and free shuttle to Miramar Hotel. I deliberately booked Miramar as the race day weather was colder this year and the hotel was next to the start line - minimizing waiting time outdoors. Got the room online at a good deal too, cheaper than Kimberly Hotel where we stayed last year. We checked in and went for a quick lunch at a Cha Can Teng nearby called "Qing Song Yi Xia" ("relax a while"). I ate there last year too and the food was decent. The locals were decked out in down or thick fleece jackets, but we did not find it to be as cold. Perhaps it was an excuse for them to dress up in winter finery.
Gear Shopping
My friends had given me a Salomon gear list to look for, so we headed straight to the shops. First stop - Chamonix Alpine Equipment at Nelson Street. It had a good selection of outdoor gear and was having a storewide 30% discount. Tonnes of cheap Salomon trail shoes and spoilt for choice. After discount, the shoes were S$88-93 (vs Singapore's S$130-170). Unfortunately the shop only had women's petite sizes up to UK6, but my friend and I needed UK6.5. :( What a letdown.
I was browsing the backpacks when someone shouted "Hello!". To my pleasant surprise, it was my university schoolmate, Bernard, who had been posted to HK for a few years. He was a fellow ultra-marathoner and endurance junkie. We traded race stories and gear reviews. HK had so many trails for hiking and running, he was buying a hydration pack for run. He suggested to check out Vasque trail shoes for their superb hardiness especially on the soles. Montrail was good but wore out fast.
Alber and I spent almost the entire evening at the shop and its nearby branch to compare brands and models. I was tasked to buy 4x Salomon Raid Revo 30 race packs for my friends, and happily found them newly arrived at the shop. I got a smaller yellow Raid Revo 20 for myself too. There was a nice pink Suunto Vector watch costing S$278 after discount. Must buy!
We shopped until 9ish and headed back to the hotel because our harvest was too much to carry around. After dumping the purchases, we settled for a simple (and not nice) dinner near the hotel. Ricci had helpfully collected our race packs in the morning and left them at the Concierge. We returned around 11pm to settle in and prepare for the race the next morning. By now, there was a SOP for race-day preparations so it did not take long to get my things ready. Hit the bed past midnight. Luckily the marathon flag-off was 7.45am and not some unearthly dawn hours.
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