West Lake, Hangzhou, China. A morning run.

West Lake 西湖 (Xi Hu), Hangzhou, China.

After a run at The Bund, Shanghai, I was tempted to do a similar run at the West Lake  西湖 (Xi Hu),  Hangzhou since our hotel is very near to the lake.  West Lake was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. So I woke up early in the morning and started my run at 6am. It is less than 10 mins run to the lake. The first thing I noticed is the misty surrounding around the lake. A nice and serene atmosphere. The second thing I noticed is the huge numbers of senior citizens exercising around the lake.

Since I did not carry any water bottle, so my run has to be less than 80 mins and have to be back for the breakfast at the hotel. Comparing the run at The Bund, Shanghai, the run at West Lake, Hangzhou was a better place to run. The atmosphere and the scenery were just fantastic. In addition, I noticed that they are a lot of senior citizens running along the lake. And they are much older than me. The only reason they are drawing attention to me is I was wearing my Vibrams Five Fingers. They keep looking at my feet.

Views along the lake

The surprising part of the run is that some of these senior citizens run in groups and there were 20 to 30 of them in a group. And some of them is in their 70s. And they run with a flag and whistle just like in army training. So if there are so many senior citizens that can run of course we have to keep up. But the most interesting part of the run was that they are many interesting places along the lake. I could have keep on running watching the buildings and structures along the lake. Since I have did not bring any hydration and have to be back for the hotel breakfast, I just to control my urge of running further. I later found out that about the place that I stopped before running back to the hotel was called 楼外楼 Lou Wai Lou (Tower Beyond Tower). A place where they served the most expensive cuisine in Hangzhou by the West Lake.

Runners at West Lake, Hangzhou

We joined a day tour in Hangzhou for this trip which I don't really like because they waste a lot of time taking you to shops to buy stuffs that you don't want. And if you don't buy any stuffs, you can see the sour face of the tourist guide. However, there are more than 20 of us, a day tour with proper transport and a tour guide will be a better option. If they are only a few of us, the best option will be to rent a bicycle and cycle around Hangzhou. Since they are a lot of stations for bicycle rental.

Words of wisdom from Hangzhou, China

A Run at The Bund, Shanghai

View from The Bund, Shanghai when I did my morning run.

The trip to Shanghai and Hangzhou was planned more than 10 months ago. And I have also promised myself no races for September. As I have been running non-stop from January until end of August. Training for one race to another. But when we planned for the trip Air Asia only offered flights from KL to Hangzhou and not to Shanghai. After we have booked the flights a few months later then they have flights to Shanghai.

Anyway, we have to travel by flight from Penang to KL and then from KL to Hangzhou. We decided to try out the new high speed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai. The problem is that it is a big group of us. 21 people to be exact. After arriving at Hangzhou airport, we have to take a bus to the railway station and take the high speed train to Shanghai. And then the subway to nearest subway station and walk to the hotel near to Nanjing Road. One of the guy who join us for the trip the first time, he commented our trip is like The Amazing Race. Well, that's the best way to get to know the place better.

I woke up at 5:30am the next day to go for my run at The Bund (外滩), Shanghai which is very near to the hotel. I have planned for 60 mins to 70 mins run without any hydration. Bring my handphone along for taking pictures and emergency. The Bund (外滩) is a waterfront area in central Shanghai. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai and is a must visit place for day and night.

Photo taken by Teik Sun. The background of the photo with the historical buildings is just awesome. 

View from The Bund, Shanghai at night

Runners at The Bund, Shanghai

This is a morning run where I get to run in one of the famous places in the world. And you just don't care about the distance you covered or the pace you are running. You just want to soaked into the magnificent views of the places that you will be running. Just ensuring myself that I can have energy to run back to the hotel. I am just thankful that I get to run in a famous place like this.

Another landmark, Nanjing Road in Shanghai which I have to run through from the hotel

Borneo International Marathon 2013 (BIM 2013)

Photo taken at Race Pack Collection.

Time for 3rd full marathon. Although the 2nd marathon at Langkawi was a disaster in term of finishing time. But I was thankful that I finished and have a good time. The half an hour of walking, facebooking and photography adds to the finishing time.

BIM Full Marathon Route

This is the first time that I actually plan my finishing time and determined my splits for the event. Andrew told me that this used to be a flat course. But that was in previous years. It was no longer a flat course this year. Fortunately, the experience in Langkawi has taught me well. Never expect a flat course when you run a marathon. The never-ending rolling hills in Langkawi is a real torture. The other experience I took away from Langkawi is that never keep walking even if it is uphill or when there is no cut-off time. When you keep walking and walking, you never want to run even when the route becomes flat.

Before the start of the race

So how I did I predict my marathon finishing time and pace for this event ? I used the MacMillian Running Calculator based on my latest half marathon time. It actually calculate your marathon finishing time based on your current time and goal time. I was targeting to finish at 5:15 and the calculated finishing time based on my half marathon time is 5:15:41 at a pace of 7:29min/km. Which is pretty close. That will be the ideal time. My next target time is if my pace drop really slow which I can feel from my long runs is to finish in 5:30. It will still be a big leap considering my first marathon is 6:07 and 6:37 for the second. After that, I used Runner's World Pace Wristband Creator to calculate the splits. But I only recorded the splits at 10K, 20K, 30K, 35K and 40K on a piece paper. So I finally figured out that I don't have to run with no direction not knowing my time targets.

The full marathon starts early at 3am and my transport comes at 2am. You can actually take the shuttle bus transport arranged by the organiser which cost you RM15. But I was lucky that Andrew's friend has transport and was also going for the marathon. After two days in Kota Kinabalu, my first experience with Kota Kinabalu is that the sun can be really hot when it comes out. Due to the postponement of the run from 5 May 2013, the number of runners must have drop quite significantly.

Flagging off at 3am starting from Likas Stadium, Kota Kinabalu with a pace of 7:04 for the first km which is actually too fast at the beginning. At 10K, I did 1:13 and the 10K split is 1:14. So I am within time. Next will be 20K. At 20K the split is 2:29. The pace started to drop after 18km mainly due to elevation gain inside University Malaysia Sabah. At 22km, it was flat but again gain elevation from 23 to 24km and another elevation gain at 28km. This is when I have a short walk and took a banana. So did I meet my 20km split of 2:29? Yup, I managed to make it at 2:29. The problem is the pace is starting to slow. The hilliest part of the route is inside University Malaysia Sabah.

The most boring part of the route is the U-turn at 29km at Jalan UMS, where we be will running back to the stadium. Basically, we are running the same route. And you can actually see who is ahead of you and who is behind you. And when I reach the 30km and looking at my time, I know I can't made it at 3:44 because my time then is 3:54 already and my pace is slowing significantly. But for once running in this third FM i can actually still run. Usually after 26km, I am just dragging myself to run. Although my pace has drop I can still run comfortably. And at 40km, my split is 5:06 and I am about 10 mins behind at 5:16. But I am hoping to hit the second target of 5:30. So I try to hold my pace steady and hope that I can speed up at the last few km of the race.

After the finishing the marathon, with a group of friends. Me, Andrew, Ngu and Ewe Jin

Finally, saw the sign, 1km to go. And it is a really long last km to run. I was surprised that my legs could still speed up at the last km which I am usually extremely tired by then. Just no more energy to run. Don't talk about speeding. This last km seem to be very never ending. Running into the stadium and just trying to hold my running posture so that I can have a good photograph. That's what most runners do at the finishing. At last, realising a nice finishing photo is important.  Finishing at 5:31:58 according to my Garmin. Only almost 2 mins off from second target of 5:30. Still very happy slashing 35mins off my first marathon is an achievement. And I really find myself finishing strong. Pacing myself conversatively in the first 20km helps without burning off all my energy early. So I could still run comfortably at 30km. Not to be overly ambitious on the finishing time ensure that I still have a good time. Fueling regularly at every hour also help, a gel every hour except on the 3rd hour which I fueled with a banana. Never hitting the wall in a marathon is really good plus a PB becomes really great ! Going for island hopping tomorrow. A running holiday in Kota Kinabalu is just awesome !

Last but not least, this marathon is well-organised race. Water stations with water and 100 plus. Also one water station with bananas and another with power bar. And the organiser really took the effort to get quite a lot of supporters for the whole route. Although the race starts at 3 am in the morning. So far, this race is the one that I ran with the most supporters and it helps. So weave a holiday in and run this race. It is worth the effort.

At the finishing lap

I like this medal !

The Finisher T shirt

It's time for recovery after BIM and preparing for the Penang Run 3rd Series, Rock to Rock Run and of course another Penang Bridge International Marathon. My virgin marathon. Running it for the 2nd time.