I realised today that I haven’t really been keeping up with the blog at all. So lets play catch up.
This week I have been mostly listening to Flume.
So let’s go through what has happened since the HK100. After destroying my knee in the race, I took some time to relax, recuperate and regather my thoughts. It was tough not finishing the race and the mental side took a bigger hit that the physical. I wasn’t even sure that I could continue this journey. I took a spiral. I got in a rut. And it became damn hard to get out of it. I questioned everything that I was doing. Why was I bothering? It didn’t matter if I stopped. No one would notice. No one would care. It was fine to quit. I mean why fucking bother.
But it wasn’t. It wasn’t okay for me. I had to prove to myself that I could do this.
I had to do it.
So we got back on the horse.
We restarted training and started to get back in the groove.
It has been a quiet few months in all honesty.
RaceBase X Mile27 Training Camp
A long weekend with Andy DuBois, Nic and a great group of people running on Lantau. Perfect. Andy ran (ha!) through different sections of the Translantau course and we had some runner called Stone Tsang for two days. Then Jeri joined for the last days run. Just a great weekend of running and running chat with some awesome people. We plan for this to be a regular thing.
See more photos here
The Great Relay Bangkok
Our first foray into Thailand happened in February. Was an awesome event with Jeri and Vlad being at Ground Zero for the day. Slightly jealous as 1. It is Bangkok, 2. There was thai food.
You can see more images here.
Achilles And The Eagle’s Nest War
What could be simpler? 3.7km distance and 95m per loop. Run for 12 hours. Easy.
Well, was easy. Three loops in and felt great. Keeping to my goal of 7.0 km/h. Comfortable. Happy. Head down and grind it out for a few hours.
4th loop, rolled my ankle inwards. And the worst pain in my Achilles and calf on my right leg. So stopped. Didn’t think much of it until the next day where I just couldn’t run. I couldn’t walk. It was fucking agony.
A week later and I still didn’t run. I couldn’t. I wanted to but the pain was astronomical. So off I went to Fitzio and saw Alvin who was recommended by Michael. Tear in my calf and a slight tear in my Achilles. Six weeks of recovery. Six weeks I don’t really have based on the training for NDW100. So we joined a gym… and I hate it but love it all at the same time.
One door closes…
Over the last year or so, I have been involved in Gone Running and Tailwind in Hong Kong. Its been amazing and I have been fortunate to meet some amazing runners and the community in Hong Kong. But this has taken up time from a few things that I love: My wife, running, and organising events. Something had to give. I decided that Gone Running and Tailwind, as much as I loved being involved, just weren’t igniting the flame as much as everything else. I decided that it wouldn’t be fair to continue knowing how much other things meant to me. So as of the end of March, I am no longer involved. Sad. But happy. I am sure that John and the rest of the team will do brilliantly and it was a pleasure to be involved.
I also got to meet some awesome people. Next time I meet them will be at the end of my race…
One door opens…
So as one door closes one opens. I am pretty stoked to be a The North Face Trailblazer. Pretty cool. Get to talk to them about products and wear the gear. Chuffed to bits.
P.S. The North Face Ultra Endurance is a phenomenal shoe and no I wasn’t paid to say that!
Country of Origin
The first official RaceBase race. And what a fucking race! Designed by Nic, and what a phenomenal course – 30k and some stunning climbs. In the end won by the Australians. You can find out more info here and here.
Kilian Jornet’s Summits of my Life: Langtang
On the 25 April it was the first year anniversary of the Nepal earthquake. About ten days before this, we were linked to Kilian Jornet’s management company to see if we would organise a screening in Hong Kong.
Well we did that.
We did four screenings in 3 locations in Hong Kong.
Then helped to sort screenings in Singapore, Chennai, the Philippines, Malaysia.
We raised around $2200 EUR in Hong Kong alone which will go to SOS Himalaya.
I think that is ten days of good work.
And the other stuff
And now – we are back running.
What’s next
TGR KL
TGR Singapore
North Downs Way 100
The 9 Dragons
2016 Race List
January 23 – Hong Kong 100 – DNF
August 6 – The North Downs Way
October 29 – Lantau 70
And then who knows.
The Trail To 100 Miles 