Shanghai International Half Marathon

Today was Marathon day in Shanghai. Way back at the beginning of the semester, I signed up for the Half. After struggling with my tendonitis for the first month or so, I got back into training by November. This week I finished out at about 50. Its not as high as I wish I was by now, but it is nice to be back at 100% health and running consistantly. My runs for the past month or so have been going well, but it is still to early to consider myself in "good" shape.

Anyway, today was my first long run over 10 since early fall. For that reason I decided not to pound too hard. I went into today's race resolved to run it like any other long run, and just enjoy the fact that I was participating in a cool race.

The "Running Club" that I am a part of on campus (which incidentally doesn't actually do very much running) arranged for a bus to take us to the starting line. I woke up at 5 am, at my usual China breakfast of Chips Ahoy and 2 oranges, and ran the easy mile to the pickup point.

The temperature was in the upper 40s. I consider this pretty warm, so I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and shorts. The "Running Club" kids arrived in winter coats and jeans. They all laughed at me for wearing shorts. I would laugh later.

We boarded the bus. It was sort of cool- even though none of the runners on the bus were serious runners nor was it a real team or a group of people that I care about, it ALMOST felt like getting on the team bus before a meet. Everyone was thinking and talking about the race.

The bus got to the starting line in People's Square at about 6:50. The race started at 7:30, so I felt like we were late. There was not really time to warm up or anything. Fortunately for me I wasn't too worried about performing well or I would have been madddd. The Fudan students were in a panic because they had to find a place to put their winter jackets and jeans. I laughed at them as I lined up for the race.

The race was really big, and all the Chinese runners felt that they were world class athletes who deserve to be all the way at the front line. I found a spot in the first 3rd of the crowd, and decided not to force my way up further. I stood stationary, locked my elbows, and became an immovable object. Rude (and OBVIOUSLY slow) runners tried to force their way past me by pushing, shoving and elbowing. Fortunately, I'm a cross country runner and know how to respond with a solid elbow right to the meaty part of the bicep.

Other than the over anxious Chinese runners, the start's atmosphere was pretty cool. They had a dj and stuff very similar to the start of American marathons. The "Director General of the Athletics Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China" gave a brief introduction, the Chinese national anthem was played (and all the old men in the crowd stood tall and shouted it loudly), and they shot the gun at exactly 7:30. It took me a little over a minute to cross the starting line. EVERYONE was pushing and shoving, and being generally uncooperative to the common cause of getting strung out. My first kilometer was so incredibly slow, I didn't even look down at my watch. It took until 4k before I felt that I had enough space to accelerate. Splits were virtually impossible to get because the kilometer markers weren't always displayed, and when they were, they were small and hardly noticeable.

Eventually, I settled in and began enjoying the run. The natural process that happens in races occurred, which is the runners in your general vicinity become your own personal community. You begin to know their running styles, who you really want to break, who is trying to break you, and you get the general desire to move up to the next community.

The crowds were pretty good. Every time I go for runs in the park in the morning, I see various groups of old ladies practicing dances with fans and silk scarves. (this is nearly as popular as taichi). It seemed like EVERY group of these ladies had desided that this event was their time to shine. Almost every kilometer had at least one long line of these ladies, flinging their fans, scarves, and other props around and yelling "jia you!!" (go- give a greater effort) to the beats provided by drums and cymbols.

Because I wasn't flying at a real race pace, I got this feeling that I always get of ubercompetitiveness. In order to satisfy it without getting into heated races, I began proving the ease of my pace by trying to rile up the crowds. I raised my arms and yelled enthusiastically to the crowds. All the Chinese spectators thought it was hilarious and went CRAZY. It was pretty cool to be the center of attention for something other than my race for once.

The course was pretty flat, well marked, but not through the particularly scenic parts of the city. Traffic was regulated fairly well, though some cyclists on their way to work kept crossing the course at inconvenient times. Oh, and they used almost no cones or race markers. China has so many people, that staff and police were lined up everywhere acting as traffic cones. I thought it was pretty funny.

Well anyway, I finished the 21.09 kilometer course in 86:22. That is about 6:36 pace. I was sort of disappointed that it wasn't faster, but I suppose it isn't too bad for the effort I put in. Ordinarily I can run that on the way to 18 miles. I also count the fact that the first few kilometers slowed down the average a little. I was a little more tired afterward than I would have liked though. Still have a lot of training to do...

After the race, they put us through a series of lines. We returned our chips, and in exchange, we got a few advertisements (including a tutorial about obesity with RIDICULOUS cartoons), an orange, a nasty "Ion Water," a piece of chocolate, 2 Orion cakes, a certificate of completion, a medal, and a cheap (but super cool) pair of China-brand running shoes. They are super cool looking even though they are mechanically a nightmare.

I was hoping that there would be a bunch of shops and stuff like after the Pittsburgh Marathon, but there wasn't. I found a warm spot inside the stadium to wait for Ben. Ben was trying to get to the finish to get pictures, but naturally the Chinese cab system and metro system failed to deliver him even remotely close. He ended up arriving 2.5 hours after I finished. I waited wet and cold for him to show up with my stuff. He took some pictures of the race as he came, so at least I'll be able to put a few pictures of the event.

What really sucked is that it then took 2 more hours to find a cab back to the dorm. I was cold, wet, tired, and dehydrated. I got back, and napped for a while. I hadn't slept very much, being that was up till about 12 am and woke up at 5.

Overall, it was a pretty good day. Oh, and I was 65th in the Half. I suspect that a majority of the people who beat me were foreigners, because the farther up in the race I progressed, the fewer Chinese I saw and more foreigners. I felt a certain amount of satisfaction with this, and was glad that I had decided to pin a small U.S. flag to my shirt. There were a few really old chinese guys that beat me, though, which surprised me. In fact, I was outkicked in the last five yards by a really old man from China. Granted, I wasn't kicking (I was trying to get all the people at the finish to go wild) but I was still surprised when I saw him sneak by.

Can't wait to start doing real racing!!!