Next race?

So Trail Trouble is looking for more races in exotic places...

Amy likes the road races, but I think I will always prefer the trails. My legs are much better suited to the mountains.

Our list of potential destinations includes:

1) Africa
2) Australia
3) New Zealand

We would just like to be pretty sure it won't be hot. No more races in Singapore ever again!

Long Fook Hing Wei

So the death march turned out to be, well, almost delightful...

The highlights:

1) Barreling down Stage 3- flying past all sorts of people as fast as could be. i rediscovered my gobi legs!
2) Walking up the monkey road and making small talk to the guy next to me and having him respond to me in the dark, "Oh hello, Kathryn how are you?" I still have no idea who that was!
3) Potato and Leek Soup at the support stops
4) Flying down Shatin Pass and looking out at the lights on HK
5) Finishing in 18 hours 51 minutes...

So I didn't die. It really helps when you are properly nourished and not hungover... AMAZING.

My team Long Fook Hing Wei (say it outloud it doesn't mean anything) turned out to be an incredible group of motivators, jokesters and rabblerousers...All I can say is, "ARSE!"

Positive motivation for the death march...

Do we think there will be hot guys wandering the trails?

Hmm...maybe it is a good idea to go fast...

Transcontinental Training Partners...

I was up at 5:30am getting ready to meet my Trail Trouble partner when I saw a bbm chat from my friend Clare from Hkiss. I was just in Newport for Clare's EPIC wedding. Seriously, we started dancing with a mariachi band at noon on Friday and didn't stop dancing until Sunday after brunch with only a short pause for the ceremony and champagne toast. One of the best parts of the wedding was meeting all of Clare and Tom's friends from different parts of their lives. Given how small the universe is, of course, their next door neighbor in Newport is my Trail Trouble partner's best friend Sangell from growing up.


So Clare informed me that she was sitting in her kitchen drinking tea with Sangell trying to motivate to go for a run. I told her I was late (as usual) for my morning run and bootcamp combo with my Trail Trouble partner.


And I couldn't help but laugh that we are 13,000 miles and 13 time zones apart and yet, here we are, the four of us, all working out together. Now there is motivation. AWESOME.


I love technology.

The Next Race...

Suddenly the question for me (and a lot of my friends) is, "What is the next race?"

What is the next challenge? Where are we going next? What distance will this one be?

So the answer for me is easy- Trailwalker. 100km up and down mountains in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It's for a good cause. I'm actually going to raise some funds, and somehow I found a team that is looking to do it in 20 hours. Most people aim to complete their first Trailwalker in under 24 hours, but again, moderation is not my forte. It's a terrible, terrible idea and my body is going to hurt for days afterwards, but I feel like it's one of those quintessential HK things that you have to do.

But then what?

I've got a 15km reservoir race on Dec 6th. I've tentatively signed up for Atacama. My Trail Trouble partner wants to do a race in Australia. I think I should probably try a marathon, and my two best friends in HK are addicted to biking and triathlons. There's a crazy Action Asia adventure race in December. Maybe I should learn to orienteer?

Or maybe it's time to take a nap... hmm, that sounds least likely of all.

Tails

These furry tails might be the best yet...

Furry Animal Costumes

Furry animal costumes are awesome. I have been converted. Kate was kind enough to share her elephant costume with me. It was excellent. There were so many furry animals- we had monkeys, giraffes, dogs, pigs, ducks and even a caterpillar. Halloween parties are much better than Maclehose hikes...

40km through the woods at night is really not the way to end Halloween weekend.

Lesson learned for next time- more sleep, less alcohol, more water.