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.

Halloween Costume

So now that I have reclaimed my life, what on earth am I going to be?

My Trail Trouble partner is looking to do Blades of Glory. I'm going to a superheroes and villians party. I always want to be She-Ra.

Back story- a few years ago, I had a She-ra dress custom made for me. Basically all of my childhood dreams came true, and my life has not been the same since. It's really hard to find anything that I like as much as She-ra.


Rainbow Brite? Punky Brewster? A psycho ultramarathoner?

Reclaiming my life...

So I have been training for a race or a hike or an adventure basically non-stop since March...and I have to say the process of training, the long runs to Shek O, the hours of hilltop hiking have all been transformative. It has been wonderful to set goals and work towards them.

But I finally hit my wall. I have one last big race before the end of the year- Trailwalker. It's 100 kilometers over the largest hills in Hong Kong. It's going to be hell and I have no idea why I agreed to do it.

We have a night hike scheduled for Saturday night. Saturday night is Halloween. Finally I put my foot down. This girl has got to go out. I need to dress up, dance, and DFMO.

Costume ideas anyone? Shake the glitter...