Hong Kong Marathon 2012

This was our annual pilgrimage to Hong Kong for the Stanchart Marathon and a weekend of shopping and eating. Being the auspicious Year of the Dragon, the commemorative medal was much coveted and it did not disappoint. It looked every bit the dynamic and prosperous dragon that Chinese believed it stood for. (For those unfamiliar, the HKSCM is held at the end of the Chinese Lunar New Year each year. Every participant gets a commemorative medal based on the horoscope of that year.) 

This was also my first race since Oct 2011. I did not particular train for it except for my regular runs. As always, the official race was to shop, eat, and then run. We had it down to a fixed routine of when to fly, where to stay, and what to do.

We were flagged off on race day (5-Feb-2012) at 7:15am. It was uncharacteristically warm at the start. In past years, the weather was cool and warmed up towards noon. Yesterday, the sun came on fairly early. That, plus the body heat from the mass of runner, plus my long-sleeved shirt and I felt like I was running in Singapore. Right from the start, I needed to use the toilet. There were long queues at each available porta-loos that I waited until the 5km point before joining a line. And wasted 5min in the Q and using it. Grrrrowl. So then I had to make up and recover that 5min. That meant an accelerating pace to catch up on lost time. 

10km point: 1:06h

Ok, was 6min behind time (assuming 6min pace). I managed to keep a 5min pace for the next few kms and brought the time gap down to 3min. 

20km point: 2:03h 

21km point: 2:09h

Still 3min behind schedule. Crap. Bit by bit, I closed the gap down to 2min, then finally back on 6min pace timing. 

30km point: 3:00h

Exactly. 

I kept a 6min pace thereafter. It was so consistently 6min, I could have been a metronome! My legs still felt ok, I hope they would not cramp towards the last 5km. 

40km point: 4:00h

Not bad. This year, I managed to run non-stop, over all the slopes, and did not stop other than for water. I still had enough legs to pick up pace over the last 2km, but unfortunately could not hit below 4:10h. I crossed the Finish line at 4:14h. 


Official results: A1816 in race category MR1
Category position: 381/ 4501
Gender position: 20/ ??
Official gun time: 4:16:10
Net time: 4:14:05
Distance times (based on gun time):
10km: 1:07:31
21km: 2:11:23
30km: 3:02:47)