10K Race Report

At the far end in front is the starting line! It was overcast and light rain

This morning I woke up at 4.15am to be out the door by 5.30am to get to the start of the Standard Chartered Marathon 10K run for a 6.45am start. Mentally I was prepared to not run all the way, but run as much as I could as I hadn't trained as much as I wanted.

The weather conditions were good -- it was humid though not too hot at 19 degrees and I kept warm by wearing a plastic raincoat. Near the starting area I hung back and stayed near the furthest porta-potties to avoid waiting in line to pee a few times before the race (I drink a lot of water when I wake up!).

Walking towards the starting point just after 6am

In the lane opposite us were the first batch of runners on their way to Victoria Park for the finish. I watched them go by and standing next to me was a middle-aged local man who looked like he was responsible for first aid. He asked me the distance these runners had already done at this point and I said it was around 8K.

Seeing me now in just a T-shirt and shorts he asked if I was cold and I said no, it was fine. He was worried I would catch a cold. But it was perfect conditions, overcast. However, as I approached the starting line -- though way at the back, light rain started falling and the winds were picking up.

At 6.45am the bullhorn sounded for us to run, but it took me at least six minutes just to walk to the start! I started at a slow pace and somehow just kept going. Perhaps it was me being completely focused on the road ahead and not putting pressure on myself to beat my time which led me running at a comfortable pace.

Pic of the giant Central-Wan Chai air purifier by the highway

When I hit the 1km mark, I was surprised as others were to see some runners already waiting in line for the porta-potty! "Did they have a stomachache or something?" asked one guy to his friend. This is why I go a few times before the race...

I saw at least two people injured along the race route, as well as three pairs of visually-impaired runners holding a giant rubber band with their volunteer guide runners. Very cool. One woman from the heat before us was in a giant white chicken costume and had to walk the whole thing. She got lots of photos with runners though.

The light rain came and went periodically and when we turned around from Shau Kei Wan to go back to Causeway Bay, we were in lanes that were further from the water so it wasn't as windy. I had to be careful not to run along the dividing line markers as there were periodic raised bumps and saw one person trip on one of them and fell.

Watching the first batch of runners going to Victoria Park

Pretty soon I passed 6K, 7K, 8K.... the end was already near and I felt OK, no cramps and just kept going. At the 9K mark near the end is a really steep hill. I started to climb it slowly but then decided to take a quick breather and walked up, and when the road went downhill, I began running again towards the finish.

In the end my time was around 1:10, slower than my previous times of 1:07, but I was just happy to finish the race and felt good about it. Perhaps I could have gone faster, but I was thrilled that it was a comfortable run overall.

So perhaps I was more fit than I thought! Or conditions were just right for me and kept a conservative pace.

I'm glad my colleague encouraged me to do the race because she knew I would feel regrets if I didn't do it.

She's already told me to tell her when to sign up for it so we can do it together next year!