Jungle Run

There were a few things I didn’t know before I got there. I ran a 5K race this afternoon after learning of it from my old Hong Kong acquaintance, Freeman. Freeman is a marathon coach and frequently organizes races for various running clubs in the city. Though I haven’t been running very much this summer, I feel in reasonably good shape from months of regular tennis matches and irregular runs in DC. I thought it would be a fun thing to do on a Saturday afternoon. And it was fun, indeed. But this short 5K course was unlike anything I’d ever done before.

First, when I set out from my apartment I had little inkling that the short “walk” to get to the starting line would take one hour and involve an incredibly steep hike (maybe a 35% grade?) up the mountain. One of the race organizers, when he heard I walked up Wan Chai Gap Road, chuckled and asked whether I’d climbed up hand over hand. You could say I was warmed up by the time I got to the starting line, with a scant 10 minutes before race time in which to register and figure out what was what.

The guy on the left is walking downhill, backwards. I did the same some of the time on my way back down; it was that steep and my knees were screaming.

This photo does not adequately convey the verticality, I promise.

Up, up, up I march.

View of downtown from Wan Chai Gap Road. Beautiful.

The other significant fact of which I was unaware until jogging through it is that the race course circled a mountain peak and was 1/3 trail run (as opposed to road). The trail was frequently muddy on account of the recent heavy rains, and at times was a rocky, three-foot wide path that sheered away to the green mountain below. On the trail portion of the route, I felt very much like I was running through a jungle, because the runners had really spread out and we ran in a tunnel of trees and undergrowth. When the trees opened up the views were absolutely amazing, providing a 360 view of the island from way way above the tops of the skyscrapers below. The route was tough, though, and a lot of people did a lot of walking, myself included. These Hong Kong runners don’t mess around. I finished in decent time and felt great for having done it.




Freeman is now trying to convince me to register for a "Victoria To Peak" 10K on October 1, which goes from the pier at Victoria Harbor and up, up, up through the city until reaching Victoria Peak. I remain non-committal. At least the starting line is on the flat land, so I wouldn't have to hike to get there.