Up at 05:00 more or less, ready and off to M’s who was generously doing a full English breakfast and then off to the stadium. We milled about nervously for a bit and did some stretches. DC arrived more than warmed up a little after 08:00 having cycled all the way across Hangzhou. Our support team F+L arrived and we were all set to go.
08:30 and bang! we’re off. There were actually five separate races all starting at the same time and following the same route to start with, 3.6k, 5k, 13.8k, half marathon and full marathon. This meant that there was a big crowd at the start and the atmosphere was great. The range of races and abilities all starting together meant that we were all free to settle into our own pace without having pressure to tare off down the road with the stars, which was something I had been worried about.
The first 5k slipped by easily which was encouraging and as we watched the 3.6k-ers and then the 5k-ers and eventually the 10k-ers peel off the crowd thinned and I settled into a pace. This part of the course was pretty, giving the best views of the lake itself (all the way down Hu Bin Lu for those who know Hangzhou) and was very pleasant.
The stretch along Nan Shan Lu past Lei Feng Ta was where we suffered the most with choking exhaust fumes but the marshals and police did a great job of keeping the cars, buses and bikes out of the way and giving the runners priority.
The road down to Six Harmonies Pagoda on the banks of Qian Tang Jiang was the middle of the course and this is when I felt I had to try to not think about what was to come. Particularly as it felt very steep down hill and I knew we had to come back up it. We turned at Six Harmonies Pagoda and began the ascent back up to the lake. I think I zoned a bit at this point as I have little memory of this part of the course and certainly don’t remember it being as physically and mentally draining as I’d expected, though if you look at the graph the pace slows fairly obviously.
By this point we had F+L riding along shotgun on the e-bikes for us permanently with our personal supply of water to supplement the water stops. I think the moral support was as important as anything and was to become more so.
Round about Inn Club (5k + from the finish) M decided to make an early bid for glory and took off down the road at a pace, I was fairly convinced that I wouldn’t make it all the way to the end running if I went much under 6 mins per kilometre, a decision I later very thankful for, discretion is the better part of valour I told myself and kept on plodding.
So I trudged up the narrow bike lane on Yang Gong Di with F by my side, conscious all the way that the last couple of k involved going up Shu Guang Lu. I’ve no memory of stepping up the pace through the last 2k but the graph clearly shows it (and it is up hill) anything to reach the finish line by this point, I think. The course turned into the stadium and while I knew how far in the finish line was the sign telling me it was another half a kilometre I could safely have done with out. The finish line was on the inner road of the stadium which meant that by the time you could see it round the curve of the stadium you were within sprinting distance (well it felt like sprinting at the time).
The rush was incredible at this point, 3 months of preparation, over 2 hours of effort for this moment and fortunately at the last moment I remembered something I read on halhigdon.com the other day and smiled as I crossed the line.
Sunday continued with doing the right things in terms of taking on food and re-hydrating followed by a bath. We then went for a foot / leg massage (the merits of which in terms of aiding recovery I’m still undecided on) and then out for celebratory drinks, the merit of this for recovery being immaterial.
In the two days since I’ve hobbled around the office like a 90 year old but did manage to make it as far as the fax machine to make a last minute application for the Shanghai Half Marathon which is in 3 weeks time.
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