Category: Running in China

(s)Whoosh!  This was a race without glitches — a super-smooth, well-organized gathering of 15,000…

Although I was still somewhat dead-legged from a very long run on Tuesday, otherwise I felt fine and ready to go.  I left the apartment at 5:45 am (my normal time to run) and felt…spooked.  Campus was reallly dark.  Somehow, it’s OK to run in the dark on my customary route where there are other joggers and the street sweepers, but it was sp-p-pooky to walk to the subway.

Once I entered the subway, I saw others wearing the humanrace red t-shirts (with yellow writing — appropos for China’s 60th birthday).  I gave a thumbs up as I stepped around 2 young men sitting on the subway stairs.  They  came around a corner a moment later and asked me to take a picture — no, I misunderstood — they wanted me to be in THEIR picture.  After that, I gave them my camera and said I didn’t know how to do the timed picture deal…and they figured it out instantly.   Turns out they’re 16.  Of course!  All 16-year olds can figure out the timer on a camera in a second.  I made them happy by saying “impossible!” when they said they were 16; both were quite tall.  Here’s the subway pre-race photo then, with the friendly 16-year-olds:

When we got off the subway at University Island (this is an island in the SE corner of Guangzhou where 10 universities are located), there were helpful signs and volunteers everywhere pointing the way to the race.  Besides, I just followed the crowd…with a race of 15,000, it’s a fairly dependable tactic.

I lined up too early, but that was to avoid having to rudely push my way to a good starting position later on.  Loudspeakers warned us many times that we must be fit enough to take part in the race, and the course shuts down after 2 hours.  The rest I didn’t understand.  The crowd laughed a few times and I wished my Chinese language skills were better. 

I was not too far from the start line — perhaps a minute — but it didn’t matter because Nike had us chip-timed.  Alles Gut!  The first mile involved a lot of shuffling to get around people; 8:50.  My legs just felt yucky, partly due to the long run and probably partly due to no warm-up.  I can’t see warming up when it’s 75 degrees; plus, I was stuck in the start line and couldn’t really get away to warm up anyway.  Here’s the start (looking backward):

The second mile was 8:29…I didn’t look at the watch; just ran. 

There were lots of aid stations with cheerful student/volunteers yelling “Jia You!” (sounds like jyah – yo)  This means “go!” but literally means….”Add Oil.” 

The third mile was 8:23.  I drank a bit and at one point (at the top of a mild hill) turned around and pointed the camera at the crowd behind me (look carefully to see the long line wayyyy off).  A couple of guys also turned around at the top of the hill to look at the crowd, and I heard them say “Woah!” 

I like that expression of surprise…”Woah!”

Somewhat before the halfway point, a young man began running beside me, encouraging me with “come on!” and “let’s go!”  Now, those of you know me as a runner know that I Always Race Alone.  But hey, he was trying to be nice and well, when in Rome… So I just ran along with my pal.  I asked him how old he was and he said 20.  Must be a university student.  Every time I lagged a bit, he motioned for me to catch up and gave me another “come on!” cheer…  Mile 4 was 7:56, and Mile 5 was 7:43…but I was beginning to suffer quite a bit, so in mile 6 I told him to go on.  I regret not seeing him at the finish line area, because I really owe him a hearty thank you for his good-natured help.  Mile 6 was 7:42.  We had passed a LOT of people!  (The 2nd 5K would have been 24:19)

The last, painful .41 miles was just so sad, but actually, my pace was fine.  First, .2 at an 8:22 pace and another .21 at 7:53 pace….my garmin measured the course a little long, hence the extra .21.    A lot of young pups sprinted past me in the last .41 miles…but I did managed to catch one more female runner close to the finish line.  There were very few females in that time zone (see the prior picture — all guys), so I’m hoping I placed well in my age group.  52:24 — not bad!

The finish was as well-organized as the rest of the race — here’s the clothing drop, for example:

I ran into a friend from the hasher group — and I did one of those “hey, I know you — where do I know you from?” things.  Duh, Renee.  Here he is (I forgot both his real name and his hasher name!) in our post-race photo:

Thus endeth one of my New Years 2009 goals; to run a race overseas.

By now, I’ve settled into a routine of sorts.   The weather has also cooled down, so it’s not such a shock to leave the apartment in the morning.  It’s in the 70’s (25 or so C?).  In the afternoon it’s still up into the 90’s.  My runs are along the Pearl River Promenade unless otherwise noted.  Here’s the promenade.  It’s deserted because this is a mid day photo taken on Ersha Island (note the new TV tower under construction).  In the morning, there are more people out and about:

Monday: easy run of about 6 miles

Tues: Very long run…this is where my marathon training focuses.  Last week was a 14 miler; this week 15.

Wed: rest, teach class in a.m.

Thu: easy 8

Fri: 4 miles at the track (usually just 4×400…lazy me).  My 440-yard/400m intervals are about 1:45 each (on the cinders track), so I’m doing OK on the leg speed (I say hopefully).

Sat: 5 or 6 mile hasher run/hike, usually hilly and on trails outside of the city (and at 3pm in the afternoon).

Sun: easy run of 2 to 6 miles.

My last 14-miler was my slowest long run ever (10:43/mile pace), but my shorter runs are finally speeding up to “normal” easy run pace, which is a bit under 10 minutes/mile.  I’m reluctant, as always, to do any true tempo running, but at least I’m speeding up, adding a few uptempo miles at the end of easy runs, and so forth.  What I need are some local races, but — alas! — there are none.  Nike’s Human Race 10K is coming up (in Guangzhou!) in a couple of weeks and I’m hoping to participate if I can register online; their system is very glitchy.

Also coming up:  A run around “University Island.”  I looked at my map and the island (where Zhongshan University’s East campus is located — along with nine other universities) seems to be about 9 miles (16 km) long…and asked my students if they thought I could run around it.  I am most concerned about getting lost or not being able to run around it due to construction sites.  They said sure, but some students are worried that it would take 3 or 4 hours (!).  Um, I don’t think so… Still, it’s helpful to get guidance for a run in a completely new location.  I am only vaguely familiar with ZhongDa’s portion of the island.  I hope to start, perhaps, a trend of students competing to run around their island, or just enjoy a long run there.  I hear that students often run the inner ring (about 5K) in the evenings.  The island has little traffic, yet little shade, too.

More views from the promenade — this triangular building seen from the South side of the river is the Xinghai Concert Hall  (on Ersha Island):

And another thing nice about running in China is seeing ueber-heroic statues such as this one (located next to the Xinghai Concert Hall in the above photo):

Onward!

Yeah, it’s hot here (August – September, that is).  I walk across campus, go shopping (always on foot), etc. — the heat is just a part of daily life.  My air conditioner in my apartment provides me with a much-needed escape.

But running in this?  Oy.  My first week here, the “feels like” index was above 100 degrees fahrenheit every single day.  Now, two weeks later, it is still there.  That is, weather.com has the “feels like” temperature at 102F or so, and accuweather.com has it at 113F today (their “real feel” temperature).   Whatever…that’s hot.  It doesn’t cool off much at night.  In the morning, it’s about 80, but super super humid.  So, when I step outside at dawn, it surprises me every day…”wow, it’s hot and humid this morning.”  Duh.  The humidity goes down as the day progresses, but the heat cranks up.  It’s inescapable!

So, much to my chagrin, I was able to jog only 8.3 miles (with some walking) last Sunday, when at home in Oregon, I was running 15-milers with ease every other Sunday.  🙁  That changes my marathon plans drastically.  In order to do the December 6th Macau marathon, I will have to work my long run up (gradually) from 8 miles, completing only one 20-miler prior to the race.  Gah!

In general, think “half” if you’re not used to this weather at all.  If your longest long run is 16 miles, think 8.  Bring water along, even for short runs.  Drink something with electrolytes earlier than you normally would.  Slow way, way down.

My face gets scarlet red after about 7 miles or after any intense effort.  I’m sure that the Chinese probably think I look like I’m about to explode (my face does feel like it’s going to explode).

Last Saturday I went on my first hash house harriers run…at 3pm in the afternoon!  Luckily, it involved lots of dead ends and standing around in confusion, so although it was hot, I didn’t die out there.  They are baba loco, by the way, those hhh-ers…and that’s all I’ll say about the run.  :]  I do have a picture, though.  The young men in the photo are sitting on blocks of ice.

As the fall progresses, it will cool down, and I am hoping my speed will improve.  Right now I’m running about 30 seconds/mile slower than normal for longer runs.  Besides my once/week speedwork, I am not doing any tempo work; good gawd no!  I hope this lack of tempo running won’t hurt me later on in the season, but oh well, that’s the way it goes.

Now, my university campus is a great place to run — its shaded paths, greenery, and size make it a very pleasant place to jog around.  There are two (two!) tracks right on campus — a wonderful old cinder/gravel track, in case you want to play Roger Bannister and recreate a sub-4 mile on that surface, and a more up to date rubber asphalt track.

I’ll get to the Pearl River eventually, I promise.

Both tracks, even at dawn, are well populated by joggers.  12 minutes per mile or so.  For me, I go to the track once/week for speedwork (well, speedwork for me means 440 yards/400m at about 1:50).  I felt really stupid the first time I did some 440 intervals because I felt like I was trying to be the Big Show-Off Foreigner, going so “fast.”  Oh well.

Recall from a previous post that every run features a Speed-Up Guy.  When I visited the rubber asphalt track the following week (which had even MORE people jogging around it — maybe 25?), a young man in camouflage army pants was apparently not going to let me beat him around the track, so he ran alongside me for 200m or so (this is rather disconcerting), and then, with 100m to go, put on a spectacular sprint to the finish line.  Yay!  Youdaman!  I didn’t see him do any more laps after that, but I still had a recovery lap and one more 400m repeat to go… 

OK, now to the Pearl River.  Cutting through the heart of downtown Guangzhou (did I mention that 14 million people live here?) is the Zhu Jiang.  At night, dinner boats cruise up and down the river, their flashy neon lights beckoning diners and tourists.  The skyscrapers and river promenade are also festive with neon lights — it’s just great!  At the North gate of campus, bordering the river, there are dance lessons every night; several different styles to choose from (cha-cha, modest belly dancing, disco, modern/ballet, etc.).  I estimated the other night that there were about 1000 people there learning dances or watching.

The broad river promenade extends from West to East Guangzhou, allowing a runner miles and miles and miles of traffic-free (and therefore traffic-light-free) running!  There is often a buffer zone of a park bordering the promenade, so you’re rarely next to a busy street, far from the maddening car exhaust. 

No car/truck exhaust, no traffic, no hassle!  It’s great!  At dawn, many many others are out there running; young and old, male and female.  And…same thing in the evening (sorry, I haven’t run at midday yet — I am not crazy — so I don’t know if there are people out there at midday running on the promenade).

Most of the bridges have bike and pedestrian access, so if you want to cross the river and run along the other side, there’s even more ground for you to cover; again, safe, scenic and easy.  Ersha Island (which looks like an amoeba on the map, directly across from Zhongshan University) is mostly parkland and mansions, which makes it ideal for a morning run.

Not counting circumnavigating Ersha Island (looks like maybe 3 miles around?), the total promenade available for pedestrians on both sides of the river appears to be about 11 miles.  However, occasionally the promenade is blocked (grrr).  I am still in the process of exploring exactly which sections are blocked and which aren’t, and how to get around the blocked sections.

What you see at 6am – 7am are people out there doing their calisthenics, taichi (also with swords and large fans sometimes), dancing, stretching, and so on.  I am continually amazed by the fitness level of the large numbers of retirees who are out there in the morning.  They are amazingly fit.  Once you see a 70-year-old doing high kicks and wave push-ups, you realize how comparatively doughy the U.S. population is.

Today I also saw swimmers.  I don’t think swimming in the Pearl River is such a great idea…   I also saw a guy hop over the railing, extend his long pole with a net, and scoop out a nice fish. 

One of my favorite sights while running on the promenade was several older men writing poetry on the promenade with long poles (with a rag dipped in water at the tip of the pole).  The poems disappeared as the water evaporated.   I mouthed some of the characters as I ran by, trying to read it (“mingbai wo….”) and one of the men noticed “hey!  She read ‘mingbai wo’!” 

Cool — I managed to read and understand something (I can’t read much Chinese).  Ironically, “mingbai wo” means “I understand” or “it is becoming clear to me.”  heh.

In a raging rainstorm last week, an older fellow yelled something happily to me — it contained the words “rain” and “good”, so I think he was probably saying “Running in this rain? Right on, lady!”  But shortly thereafter I cut the run short because the thunder and lightning was a little too intense.

Two caveats:  The surface and the heat.  The river promenade surface is very hard; wear new shoes with cushioning if you are planning to run this route often.  Many Chinese runners run in zero-cushion shoes, even dress shoes sometimes.    Wow.

And the heat?  I’ll save that for another post.

OK, it was 9.9 according to my Garmin, but I did have a little trouble reading the Garmin because it had switched to Chinese characters.  (I’m joking…Garmin worked beautifully.)

Determined to reach Tiantan, I followed the correct route this time, West on Guangqumenwai Road, then South on Qinian Dajie.  The major arterials in Beijing are all clearly marked with pinyin, so they are easy to read and follow.  Moreover, there are signs alerting drivers what the next upcoming arterial is…

I left at dawn — 5:30 am — and traffic of all types (pedestrian, cars, bikes) was light.  When I arrived at Tiantan, however, I realized I’d messed up by not bringing money along.  Stupid.  Whenever running in a foreign country, always bring money!  There was an entrance fee, and I couldn’t get in…all for the lack of approximately 45 cents…

So I circumnavigated Tiantan Park, which is quite large (a few miles around), and headed back to the hotel for a total of 9.9 miles.  The return trip was not quite as peaceful, as the morning traffic was well underway.  I have been to Tiantan before (in 1984), so it wasn’t a huge loss, but drat, anyhow.  As the sun came up, I didn’t feel like I needed my sunglasses, because the particulate matter in the air provided somewhat of a shield from the early morning sunshine.

The following couple of mornings I ran a few miles on the hotel treadmill.  It was obvious from the 27th floor that the particulate matter in the air had increased, so I thought it was fine to stay indoors. 

I hope nobody reads this hoping to get tips on running in Beijing, as I really got only one decent run in, plus was unable to make it to any key sights from my hotel (which was a bit off the main drag, in East Beijing).  I guess the one takeaway was to recommend running prior to 6:30am, when traffic worsens.

On the run, I saw quite a few men (especially older men) jogging.  I saw men carrying bird cages (to go to a park and meet their friends who also have birds in cages…), and quite a few people doing some morning calisthenics, including this weird form of push-up I’ll call “waves.”  Very impressive! 

And I encountered my first “Speed-Up Guy.”  When running a long run (in “normal” weather, perhaps 65 degrees or so), I run a leisurely 10 minute per mile pace.  Many people run quite slowly here, so 10 minutes means I’m passing a fair number of people, albeit slowly.   So, as I passed this one fellow, I guess he didn’t like that idea much and speeded up and made sure he kept ahead of me from there on out. 

Some Speed-Up Guys are able to hold the faster pace, while others start lagging again, and then I have to pass them again (sigh).  I don’t like to play this back and forth game; I just want to run…  The reason I mention this is because practically every run features a Speed-Up Guy.

I run about 40 miles/60K per week right now.  For a 47-year-old woman, I’m just OK.  If I can break 4 hours in a marathon this fall, I will qualify for the Boston Marathon for 2010.  Not likely.  My best marathon is 4:11:58 (Eugene marathon, May 2008).  I haven’t PR’ed in a single race in 2009! 

My most recent races are a 50:27 10K on August 15th 2009, and three half marathons in the 1:53 range this past year.  My best half was 1:50:00 in January 2008, back when I was young and fast. 

More training details than you want to know (my online training log):  http://www.runningahead.com/logs/0cd3a35ee02f4b3eb1f593c9687a40a7

Training/racing goals for Fall 2009:

Build weekly mileage to 50 mile/week prior to the Macau marathon on December 6th.  I had plans to run the Shanghai marathon, but you have to register in person — too bad, because I can’t travel to Shanghai merely to register for a marathon.  

Running these kind of miles in a large and polluted city is going to be a challenge.  I’ll just see what kind of options are available when I get there next month.  The following photo is from the rain-soaked Napa Valley Marathon in March 2009 (recovering from the flu 3 weeks prior, so…another mediocre marathon, but great scenery).