UNICEF Hong Kong Disneyland Half-Marathon

Well, it's finally done!

Earlier today (and a lot earlier today) I ran in the UNICEF Hong Kong Disneyland half-marathon. What a nice race but let's start from the very beginning - a very good place to start... ;)

The race started and finished at Disneyland (what a surprise) which is conveniently located about a good 30 minute bus ride from Central Hong Kong. So I had to board a bus at 5:10am (!!) at the North Point subway stop to make it to the start of the race by 5:45 - 5:50 or so. Unusually cold temperatures (14C) and a pitch black parking lot welcomed all the runners. The announcer mentioned over and over the fact that it is "extremely cold this morning" while I was warming up in my singlet. There were dozens and dozens of runners wearing gloves and hats.. Strange..

The race went off quite suddenly at 7am without any sort of a lead-up or music or public announcement. The field thinned out relatively early due to the huge access road on which we were running. I must admit that this race is probably as flat as it gets in Hong Kong even though we went over two overpasses twice and a tunnel under the highway once (by no means flat based on North American standards) Far from flat but not hilly at all.. The weather warmed up as soon as the sun rose...

A few runners took off from me and were about a minute ahead by the time we reached the 5 km mark while the closest competitor was about 30 seconds behind me by this time. 19 out of the 21km I ended up running having nobody to push me but myself. The race was quite scenic, winding its way on a bike path near the ocean shore towards the Airport and back to Sunny Bay towards Disneyland. I suspect this race would be called 'boring' by some runners in North America but it was quite a refreshment from the hilly city running that we are forced to do on a daily basis in Hong Kong. Hmmm, Martin Goodman trail, how much I miss Thee...

A really strange feeling happened at around 16km, the route entered a park reminiscent of the Mississauga half-marathon route. It meandered its way through this park for about 2 km then we got back on a thinner bike path that lead us back to Disneyland.

At 20 km, the route turns back into Disneyland where a huge statue of a surfing Mickey Mouse welcomed all the runners. Christmas songs blasting out of the speakers for the last 1.1km which is a bit strange since the sun was up by now and the temperatures reached 18-19C. Passing a few more statues of Disney characters we finally made the last turn the lead us into the finish area.

Not nearly 100% effort that resulted in a time with which I am very satisfied. I finished 5th overall with a Kenyan runner winning in 1:07 followed by the best half-marathoner in Hong Kong at 1:08. This race just confirms the fact that with hard work, results will follow. 2 more months 'till the Standard Chartered Int'l Marathon of Hong Kong and there is no reason to doubt that another PB will follow...