New Balance Gold Coast 15K

The view of the water from the Gold Coast during today's 15K.

Despite being quite a bit out of shape, I toughed it out today and ran my first race in Hong Kong, the 10th annual New Balance Gold Coast 15K.

The race took place on a route that went up a mountain on what’s known as the Gold Coast, an area along the water in the New Territories, the largest area of the Hong Kong that is actually a peninsula jutting out of the Mainland’s southern most point. (Hong Kong, the island, is just below this peninsula. For a better idea, see map here.)

It was a perfect day for running: 80 degrees, sunny and warm. I even got a little sunburnt. And compared with all the chaos and disorganization of the races I’d been running in the Mainland, this one was perfect. It was very well organized, with even a bus waiting outside the MTR station in the morning to take us to the race’s starting point.

It was actually the worst I’ve ever run in a race, though. I’m admittedly a bit out of shape because my schedule’s been so crazy and I’m so busy at work that I just come home and get lazy or fall asleep. I had to stop a couple times, walk for a minute and regroup because I was getting those terrible side cramps, and I was definitely in the latter half of finishers. According to the official results, apparently I finished 1016th overall out of about 1300–not so hot–but 89th out of all women, which sounds much better. But I finished. And maybe now I can find the motivation to get with it and get back into my regular running routine.

 

After finishing, with the New Balance shoe!