Stardand Charter Hong Kong Marathon 2007

The event was to start at 0705 a .m. I found that it had been drizzling all night long and the street was still wet when I was walking to the nearby bus station at 04: 30 a .m..


Luckily the rain had stopped. I got on N269 departing from Tin Shui Wai to Mei Foo MTR Station. I wore sport shirt & sport shoes because I knew that it was difficult to find a place to change my clothing at the scene. I felt that some passengers cast weird eyesight on me.


The bus reached Mei Foo at 0545 a .m. I saw lots of passengers waiting inside the station. They were recognized to be participants of HK Marathon by their sportswear.


When I left the station at Tsim Sha Tsui, I was flabbergasted by the spectacle spreading ahead. Thousands of runners carpeted most part of Nathan Road in the early morning and the neighboring streets were stuffed with runners who were performing warm-up exercise.


When the race was due to start, runners tried to occupy the best position in order to achieve better time of their own.I regretted that I did not move forward to get to a good position.


When the race started, it was difficult for me to run smoothly in the midst of runners. I meandered my way through the crowd. The charter marathon was something like a carnival to me.


Parents run with their kids and juveniles took photos while they were running. Some of them even used their cell phone describing the scene to their friends or playing with each other during the race.


During the first ten minutes, I could not run on my own speed. I knew that I might not finish the event within one hour.


Eighteen minutes later, I reached the entrance of the Western Harbour Tunnel. Seas of runners funneled into the tunnel so I had to run cautiously to get my way.


Running through the tunnel was a hard time for me because it was sticky and the temperature exceeded 25 degree inside. All I want was to leave the tunnel as soon as practicable at that moment.


I began to increase my speed. I knew that it was unwise for me to do so but I had no choice. Consequently, I was physically drained after leaving the tunnel.


There was a left upturn flyover leading my way to Central and Admiralty at the exit of the tunnel. I felt hot and exhausted. I struggled to move forward. I really wanted to give up, however, when I looked at my watch, I still had chance to finish the event in one hour so I kept on running.


There were lots of runners hanging around me during the event and numerous onlookers clapped their hands and shouted to encourage runners on the way.


Having passed through the downtown of Central, Admiralty, I saw the finish point, I summoned up all my strength and run through it.


My official time is one hour & 2 minutes. It falls short of my expectation. I think I can finish 10 km within one hour. I may try again next year.