Marathon in Shanghai.... tick! An early morning rise one morning last week-end, dressed in warm (but not too warm) running clothes and headed down to the Bund, the starting line. An incredible 26,000 runners reportedly participated - and it was quite an awesome feeling being one of such a large number. Taking a last convenience stop at a line of porta-loos, I lined up with thousands of others around 7.15am waiting for the 7.30am hoot to indicate the start. The race indeed did start at 7.30am but it took me 11 minutes to cross the official starting line - simply because it takes a while for the throng of people to move. No disadvantage though as everyone has a timing chip tied to their shoe, so my time is only recorded from the moment I step over the sensor at the start line. So around 7.41am I set off on the 21.5km course up the Bund, over the Lupu Bridge, then into Pudong and through the 2010 World Expo site, finishing at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Stadium. Along the route there was plenty of encouragement... teams of factory workers dressed in bright colours and waving pompoms, or rhythmically banging small drums. I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 16 seconds - unaware that I was so close to running under 2 hours. The only other time I had run this distance before the day, I clocked 2 hours 15 minutes, so this was a reasonable improvement. After finishing, receiving certificate and downing lots of water and two Snickers (part of goodie bag for all finishers compliments of the organising committee), I hopped on the Metro and headed home.
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| Spotted about the 11km mark... He-Man carrying a big chunk of tree. This was after passing the guy running backwards, and the guy dressed as Spiderman. |
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| Lupu Bridge: longest single arch bridge in the world |
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