It’s been an intense spring with some small victories, minor disappointments and achievements.
Every winter, in polluted and humid Shanghai, we stare out the window waiting for spring. It’s good thing that spring starts here relatively early – at the end of February-beginning of March.
Spring for us is a running season with races happening almost every weekend. This year we started a bit earlier than usually with a pre-Valentine’s day ‘Honey run’ on February 12th. 5.21 km we ran as a couple and finished 3rd overall. A weekend stay at 5 star Intercontinental was a great award for Valentine’s day ☺
After a short race, some serious races were scheduled for March. The Suzhou half marathon and Wuxi international marathon.
In Suzhou, I ran my first half marathon in China in 2016 and was super excited to run it again in 2017. As last year’s race was not very smooth and pleasant, I wanted to enjoy the course this time. I signed up for 14 km and BG for 21.1 km as a warm-up race before the Wuxi marathon.
I was so excited and was almost flying! So far it was my best 14 km ever and 3rd place among women. It was a nice surprise and a well deserved podium. BG also did a personal best and was very satisfied with his result. I got 2 huge boxes with prizes (vacuum cleaner and weird iron-steamer), a pair of running shoes and sport costume (it was way too big for me, and perfectly fits BG ☺). Carrying it all back home was a small adventure worth a story of it’s own! Anyhow, we managed to get home with the gifts from the race sponsors. It was my first and, I hope not last, individual podium in a running race, a wonderful experience full of positive emotions and happiness.
But for every success you need to “pay it back” and I did the next week at the Wuxi Marathon. After a great half-marathon in Wuxi in November 2016 getting a new personal best, I was hoping for another personal best in the marathon. The course in Wuxi is amazing – with small elevations, around the lake with great crowds and spectators, and the race itself is very well organized. However, there is something weird and funny: pink tank tops for both men and women, pink gloves, a medal with multicolor crystals in it. From year to year, all of China makes memes and jokes out of the Wuxi marathon outfit. “True men wear only pink”, etc.
The weather forecast was not great for running – it was supposed to rain in the morning. And it did start to rain after 1.5 hours from the moment when thousands of runners began their journey and created a pink flow on the streets of the city. Before it started raining, the race was like a celebration of spring – happy runners, blooming flowers and trees and Taihu lake. The rain was such a run killer, at least for me. Icy, needlelike drops felt like they were piercing my legs, the cold wind was like a wall stopping you. It was at this point that my personal marathon just started. People say that during a marathon you experience a million emotions, feelings, pain, and, the most important and hardest, a unique conversation with yourself. You can actually learn something new about yourself. For 20 km I was struggling along the course but I didn’t stop and finished the race. Probably first time in my life I felt so miserable, disappointed, sad, and happy at the same time.
The lesson was learned.
In April we were running in Shanghai, I was desperately trying to get a spot in the Shanghai marathon. I had 2 chances: to finish in TOP 20 female at 10km race or finish in TOP 200 female at Shanghai half-marathon.
Unfortunately, both times I was 1 minute far from the goal: I finished 25th at the 10km race and 217th at the Shanghai half marathon.
Okay, I was out and I accepted it. BG also didn’t qualify for the marathon, though he did last year. He didn’t get slower, he actually ran faster this year in both races. The level of chinese runners had increased a lot! Also, more runners from all over China came to race in Shanghai. In the past 2 years we have been witnessing a significant increase of interest in long distance running in China. Not only has the level of runners increased, but there are more, well-organized races and, of course, sales of sport equipment has doubled or even trebled.
And speaking of race organizers, nowadays there are all sorts of running events: not only standard running, but also series like “Run for your life”, “Spartan race”, “Mud race”, kids, parent+kid, only women and couples’ races.
5/21 is a special day in China because it sounds like “I love you” in Chinese. On this day you can always find a race where you have to sign up and run as a couple. This year we chose a 5.21 km race in Wuxi. Wuxi is a beautiful place with a lot of runners and cyclists. People generally do more sports in this city. For example, the couple who won the race ran 5 km in 17 min! It’s very fast! Especially for women, I was impressed. We were running with my speed, of course, and finished 12th.
I improved in 5 km and dropped 17 seconds from February. And if compare to 2017 – improvement is 2 min 12 sec. Damn, I call it a success!
And the funniest thing happened in the very last race of May! We decided to try an obstacle race since it has become very popular all over the world, including China. The race venue was great – on an island not far from Shanghai (technically still in Shanghai). It was a very hot day with 8 or 9 km trail running with no shade or wind. So many people were collapsing during the course. This was THE obstacle and challenge of the race. The original 9 obstacles were a joke, like, mostly for people with absolutely zero fitness level.
Well, I believe the organizers decided to be on the safe side and avoid hundreds of injured participants. Speaking of the organizers, it was the organizer of the Shanghai marathon and the TOP 50 male and females can get a guaranteed spot for full or half marathon. And I got it! I finished 50th! Exactly 50th!!!
When I saw results I was like “No way!!!” But the fact remains, “I’m in!”