Lantau 15 and My First Race

Yesterday, March 16, Amanda and I ran the Lantau 15 in Hong Kong. The Lantau 15 is a 15 km trail run up and down the trails of Lantau Island. Spectacular views surrounded us throughout the race and the scenery was just beautiful!

We signed up for the race a couple of months ago and figured this would be a good warm up for the Singapore half marathon in May. We ran the trails of Coloane for a couple weeks which is a 6 km loop, but has nowhere the gradient of the trails we encountered yesterday.

In the previous 3 weeks, we only trained 2 times (1 trail and 1 treadmill) so I wasn't too sure how this would turn out. The night before the Lantau I munched on some poutine and chicken wings, then just before the race started, I powered down an Egg McMuffin to fill the tank. Please note that I opted against the Sausage McMuffin because I thought I was too greasy to eat before a run. The furthest I had ever run before was about 7-8 km so finishing 15 was exciting for me, and honestly it was easier than I thought it would be. Amanda felt that despite the shorter distance, it was harder than a half marathon. She finished good and strong, but had some pain in her one leg. It was definitely nice to sit down in the ferry ride home and relax!

The Lantau 15 is the baby race! There are the Lantau 50 and the Lantau 100 as well on the same day. Our friend Nicole ran the 15 with us, but our other friends/coworkers Ed, Martin and Nick ran the 50! They started at 9am and finished at 8:25 pm! Craziness, but congrats to them for accomplishing such a great feat!

Next up is the Sundowner half marathon in Singapore on May 31 and we also found out that our friends Lisa and Jason and their boys Jake and Josh are moving there earlier in the month! So not only will we get to run, but we'll get to visit with good friends too!