Adventures on this World: Hangzhou Half Marathon

Last Sunday was the Hangzhou International Marathon. It included four events. These were the full marathon (42K), the half marathon (21K), short marathon (13.8K), and mini marathon (6.8K). The theme was Run Along Beautiful Scenery. The race would start at the Huang Long Sports Center with a beautiful run around West Lake to the beautiful Six Harmonies Pagado and then back around the other side of the lake. It was truly a beautiful run, but also a painful run for someone who has always lived and run in the flat lands.

As you can see, the race course had various elevation changes. Even nearing the finish, there were small short steep bridges considered as part of the "flat" section. Those little steep bridges would add salt to the wound.

So Saturday we were off to Hangzhou. We had decided to take the bus. Train was not an option due to time limitations. The bus station is similar to bus stations across Mexico, except there were many more buses leaving and arriving to many destinations all over China. I think many foreigners use the bus, but today at 9:00 am we were the only foreigners to be found in the bus station. The bus took two hours to arrive at Hangzhou.

Once we arrived we had to purchase the return tickets for the next day. There were about 10+ lines full of people purchasing tickets. Here we were able to use our Chinese and purchase the tickets without much difficulty.

After purchasing the tickets, we would queue up in the taxi line. This line was extremely long and we waited 20-25 minutes as many, many taxis queued up and took many passages all over the city. We would take a 25 minute taxi ride to our Hotel and then off to the stadium for my runners package.

I asked one of the guards in Chinese where the package pick up for the marathon was located. He pointed us out in the right direction. I would say the pick-up location was what you can call a hole in the wall. There were no real signs, we just walked from one side of the stadium until I decided to peek around the corner and there it was! I just call it plain luck.

The rest of the afternoon was spent finding a Pizza Hut to load up on spaghetti and walking around a shopping mall. Dinner was spent with a few friends from Shanghai who came to race the following day. We ate at a delicious Chinese restaurant in the Xi Hu Tian Di right by West Lake. We would call it an early night and get ready for the big day.

Above you can see Team Delphi ready for the Half Marathon. This event would be the first half marathon for both Freddy and Nina. Ravi would be competing in his second half. Well, Sagar, Bill, and I have each done a few. This event would be my fifth half marathon.

Keeping with the Olympic spirit of 2008. I would run in the official Chinese Team T-shirt. It is made by Adidas and it is Climalite to help dissipate sweat from the skin. In fact I was in full Adidas gear except for my Asics Nimbus running shoes. This year I purchased some new running socks because my good long run socks are starting to develop holes in them. I did run a few long runs with them, but when it came down to the race, I stuck with the old Adidas socks which have now made it through countless long runs and five half marathons. I guess I am superstitious.

The weather was beautiful. It was perfect for a nice long run. A little chilly, but not extremely cold. The sun was out, so I decided I would run with my sunglasses.

There was some traditional dancing and music to get us ready for the long run!

Once the race started, the mass of people would start going. Even though we were the second group (behind the marathoners), we still had a very slow start. It was just as if everyone started moving forward, but walking. I picked up some speed by the quarter mile and was able to get into a very fast pace. I checked out my Garmin 305 results and for about .4 miles I was running under 7 minute miles. I know I was going fast, but with my Garmin 305 average mile display I still couldn't get the exact pace read-out. Beginning the second mile, my Garmin 305 had me at 7:30 pace. Using my Garmin 305, by the third mile I was at the pace I wanted run. I thought about the Houston Half Marathon (the best organized half I have run) and the pace setters yelling out the pace every mile. Here I was thinking about how the guys with balloons were keeping the pace. For a while, I was running with the guy with the blue balloons (4 hr marathon). He was definitely running faster than a 4 hr marathon. He had no running device to know pace, no pacers shouting out the pace every mile. I wonder what was his time for the marathon. Did he get close to the four hours?

It was a beautiful run around the lake. The first water stop was at the 5km point, then at each 2.5km interval. I had trained on my long runs only drinking water every 5km (Shanghai will be every 5km). So, I considered the extra water and sports drink a bonus and I felt I remained well hydrated throughout the whole race. As mentioned before, the race was a little hilly, but manageable.

After a nice long run, it feels good to come down the final straight with the finish line in sight and friends and family their to cheer. It felt good to complete the race.

I had finished the race in 1 hr 51 minutes 26 seconds. I figured it was an OK time for a little hilly route and also the fact that I am in the meat of the training program for Shanghai. Next weekend is the longest run on the training plan (14 miles), then two weeks of taper before Shanghai. I am hoping to improve this time. I hope the legs remain strong.