Run #74 – The Sod the Marathon Run Rehashed

Marathon Report
S&M – Full Marathon,   Torvill, Acro, 7Up – Half Marathon,  Cunning Linguist – mini-marathon (6.8K)
My first half marathon, and a finish inside the top 20…I guess i have to be pretty pleased with that. When Torvill and I decided to take the half marathon, our notional goal was “under 150 minutes”, and we’ve been training kind of hard for 4 weeks hoping to reach our goal of finishing it without stopping. I’m happy to say we both achieved that last Sunday.
Quite a chilly morning greeted the 20,000 attending the run. We got underway and the first half k was much slower and more congested than I had expected. But once we turned to Baochu Road, the whole group began to spread out, and Torvill and I sped up our pace.
The first half was really hard for me; breakfast caught me, the unbearable stomach pain limiting my speed. When we passed the 10k point 51 minutes had passed already!! I asked Torvill to leave me behind and try to make it within 2 hours. After the turning back point, the pain had suddenly gone!! Lots of people turned out to watch; lots of space on the road, and familiar territory! So amazingly, the second half proved to be very quick indeed…when i came back, it was 1 hour 58 minutes 38 seconds!! Torvill was 2 minutes earlier than me. Acro arrived 24 minutes later, then we all went to Wine center for lunch. After the big lunch, when we were planning to go to collect S&M, her call came through!! She finished using 4 hours 24 minutes, ranked 23, Superwoman!!

Run #74 Report
Some ran the Hangzhou Marathon, or half of it, or 14km of it. Others
ran (or set) the hash. No one did both? Why not? Perhaps all busy
having their hair cut. Anyway, after weeks of rain the sky was blue,
the sun was shining, and it was perfect weather for running. Phone Box
and Bestiality set the trail. The rest of us ran it – a small number
of regular hashers and a vast number of new people, incidentally
almost all of whom were Chinese. We ran up the small hill (Baoshi
Shan, I think?) on the north edge of the lake. We lost a few people in
the process. There was a nice sunset. We ran down again. We stood in a
circle and introduced ourselves like some sort of school class. We
drank beer. We sang a song about swings and chariots and such like, as
Battery Operated insisted. We went to a restaurant. We ate food. We
went home. Life continues. On on! – James