HONG KONG MARATHON ROUTE

Running my first marathon where I grew up.

TING KAU

BRDIGE

KOWLOON

TSING MA

BRIDGE

LION ROCK

TSING YI

CHEUNG TSING

TUNNEL

TO AIRPORT

STONECUTTERS

BRDIGE

LKK STORE

MY HIGHSCHOOL

NATHAN RD.

first time to cross

the harbor on

my own two feet!

Western Harbour

Crossing

TSIM SHA

TSUI

CENTRAL

PIER

VICTORIA PARK

WALKED AROUND

HERE A LOT A FEW

YEARS AGO

HONG KONG

ISLAND

TING KAU

BRDIGE

TSING YI

CHEUNG TSING

TUNNEL

KOWLOON

STONECUTTERS

BRDIGE

LION

ROCK

TO

AIRPORT

first time to cross

the harbor on

my own two feet!

LKK STORE

MY

SCHOOL

NATHAN RD.

Western

Harbour

Crossing

CENTRAL

PIER

HONG KONG

ISLAND

TST

WALKED AROUND

HERE A LOT A

FEW YEARS AGO

VICTORIA

PARK

TING KAU

BRDIGE

KOWLOON

TSING MA

BRIDGE

LION ROCK

TSING YI

TO AIRPORT

NAM WAN

TUNNEL

STONECUTTERS

BRDIGE

LKK STORE

MY SCHOOL

NATHAN RD.

first time to cross

the harbor on my

own two feet!

WESTERN

HARBOR

CROSSING

CENTRAL

PIER

TST

VICTORIA

PARK

HONG

KONG

ISLAND

WALKED AROUND

HERE A LOT A FEW YEARS AGO

MARATHON TRAINING

After some research and talking to friends who have ran marathons, I decided to set a goal time of four hours.

I ran four times a week. One interval run at the track (run as fast as you can for 800 meters, then rest and repeat), two tempo runs (8 - 10 km, done at my marathon goal pace 5:27/km), one long run (20 - 30 km).

I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up with my training schedule in Hong Kong or in New York. There’s always beers after work, or whoever’s birthday, or holiday gatherings. But this was the advantage of my new Vancouver life. The four runs each week filled up my previously sparse schedule. The Sunday long runs always left me feeling dead afterwards. I’m proud to say that I’ve only missed two to three training sessions in these past four months.

The first few weeks of training was tough, but I slowly started to fall in love with the ritual of dedicating time to focusing on one thing. Running also took me out of the house more. (Very much a homebody!) There’s a gorgeous park in Vancouver called Stanley Park. I remember feeling awestruck when I first visited, but I’ve rarely been since. But now every Sunday, I would take my long run all around the park, where I got to see some of the best views of Vancouver. On one of my runs, it suddenly occurred to me that Hong Kong is just on the other side of this view in front of me, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Stanley Park, where I ran every Sunday.

The favorite thing I’ve heard about running, is that running is like putting money in the bank. The more money you put in, the more you can take out on race day. I think this is one of the reasons I love running. In other things in life, you might not get things in return even if you give a lot. But with running, as long as you are willing to put one foot in front of the other, over and over again, you would always get something out of it.

THE BIG DAY

I arrived in Hong Kong two days ahead of the marathon. I was a ball of nerves leading up to the race. Taking a 15-hour flight and the time difference didn’t help much either. I could barely sleep.

The last week of training involve a process called “tapering” where you ran a lot less to let your body recover and prepare for race day. But I had gotten used to this huge volume of running these past months, so I had all this extra energy that helped fuel my angst. A friend told me to “trust the process.” I did a slow jog for 3 km the day before the race, constantly reminding myself to breathe and slow down.

On race day, I woke up at 3 in the morning for breakfast and coffee, still full from all the pasta and bread at dinner the night before. As I put on the same running clothes I’ve put on four times a week for the last four months, I kept telling myself, this is just like one of your Sunday long runs.

My dad helped me put on some sports tape. My brother dropped me off at the train station.

The area in Tsim Sha Tsui around the start line was a spectacle. I had to stand in line to pee twice (so nervous!) before I shuffled to the start line with thousands others.

Moving towards the start line.

And off we went! It was slowly becoming morning as I ran down Nathan Road. It felt unreal. I thought about the last time I had run on this roads, I thought about how hard training has been these past few months, then I started thinking about everything that has happened in these past few years. I began to tear up. I gave myself a mental shakedown to keep it together, I still had 42.195 kilometers to go.

It was slowly becoming morning as I crossed the start line.

The first 10 km was easy. But I was pretty nervous and maybe drank too much water, so I had to pee again. (Those precious seconds!) At the first portapotty I visited, I saw the biggest mountain of s**t I’ve ever seen in my life… Luckily, the next one was clean-ish.

I kept at it and I was constantly passing people. When I felt any pain in my legs, I told myself “not today!” By the time I hit the halfway mark, I still felt pretty normal and I had kept my target pace almost perfectly. I was feeling optimistic about hitting my sub4 goal.

But then… at round 27 km we were suddenly merged with the half marathon folks. It was insanely packed, and the half marathon crowd at that point was running at a much slower pace than I was. I alternated between f*cks and sorrys while I fought my way through the crowd.

I had a friend who was running the half marathon and I started looking for her. I thought I saw her and began yelling “JOYCE CHAN!! JOYCE CHAN!!!” As I ran up to said person and was about to tap her shoulder, I realized I had the wrong person. I zig-zagged away from her as fast as I could.

Then came the most memorable moment — the Western Harbour Crossing. The tunnel was a key moment of the race. After the tunnel, you’re in the homestretch with only 5 km left. And crossing the harbor on foot is something that not many people get to do.

As we descended into the tunnel, people began yelling 加油, whooping and cheering. The echo made everything louder and more sentimental. This brought back all kinds of memories from 2019 — major roads blocked, people running, yelling. I couldn’t help but shed a few tears as I filed this moment into my long-term memory.

Once we began ascending out of the tunnel, it was back to obstacle course mode. This was probably the worst stretch, the course narrowed as we went up an overpass and many started walking. I had to become aggressive about shuffling my way ahead.

As we reached the Central pier, we saw huge crowds cheering. I needed it.

I chugged water and gatorade at the last aid stop and I might have overdid it. I felt like I had to throw up as I sped up for the last 5 km. At this point I also saw a runner who was barefoot — might have been a hallucination, 85% sure it was real.

There was one more overpass before we turned into the last stretch and a lot of people were walking and jamming the course. I was pretty worked up because I was ready for my mad dash towards the finish. At this point, I basically yelled for space to pass.

Then it was SOGO, and one last turn into Victoria Park. As I stepped onto the green sports ground, I ran full speed towards the finish line.

I had run a marathon in 3:50:55.

Right after the finish, captured by my brother.

I reread “The Alchemist” right before the marathon. A line in it said “When you want something, the whole universe conspires in order for you to achieve it.”

On race day, the weather was perfect. Barely any of the major pains and blisters I had during training came up. There were moments that I’ll never forget: running on Nathan Road as it became morning, cheering in the Western Harbor Crossing, friends and family meeting me at the finish, those from afar who tracked my little dot online. I could almost feel the power of the universe coming together.

I’ve been really focused on the sub4 marathon goal this last few months, but maybe the universe knew what I wanted more than myself — to be back in Hong Kong again.