My Sunday Run
The last post was about our class's performance. It went off great, we got fourth overall and I even won best supporting actor. But that's old news now. I turned all my focus from the skit to preparing for a big run on Sunday. I've been running with the China Hash House Harriers since last fall, but I've stepped up my participation this spring. For the uninitiated, a Hash group usually runs once a week. Each week a different pair of runners plan out a course somewhere in the forests surrounding Taipei. Everyone meets up at the start of the run, and the two runners who planned it (the hares) get a 15 minute head start before everyone gives chase. This past week, an English guy named Michael Topham and I prepared the run in PingLin - that's east of Taipei. It was a bit of a special week because my roommate since last August, Tommy, is leaving at the end of this week. He's been a staple on the Hash over the past year and a lot of people are going to miss him. We had a big send-off bash for him on Friday night and Sunday was his last run.
Michael and I spent several hours up in the hills planning and clearing the run on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This was really his run. He spends a lot of time in that area just wandering around enjoying the atmosphere and the scenery. It's high in the mountains and dotted with tea fields and small villages. He had most of the run planned in his head before we even met. We spend a lot of our prep time on finalizing the route, clearing out overgrowth, and practicing for the run so that we (I) wouldn't get lost. We planned spots to stash the flour we use to make the trail. We also picked out where we could throw down checks. A check is a spot where we stop leaving a flour trail and the runners have to figure out which way to go on their own. The trail starts up again within 100 meters.
This was my first time going as a hare. I've been getting faster over the spring and I've done well against some of the better runners in the group. I wanted to do this run as a send-off for Tommy. I'm also hoping to plan my own run this summer; I needed to learn from a veteran like Michael who's done many runs before. Michael pointed out endless tricks and pitfalls about planning the course, he never wanted the runners to be sure about where they were or where they needed to go next. If they figure out the plan early in the run, it's much easier for them to catch you.
It's not often that the hares get caught, but it does happen. Before the run on Sunday I was pretty nervous as a perfect storm formed against us. It was my first time running as a hare and experience plays a big part of who you perform. My partner was running the very beginning and the very end of the run. Because we get a 15 minute head start, the group wouldn't have time to catch him at the start and he was going directly to mark the end of the run after that. He was only doing a portion of the run. I made a rookie error, too. I left the start with two big bags of flour on my way to a grueling uphill when I wasn't going to use the flour until the middle of the run. I should have stashed the flour out on the trail instead of hauling it up the side of the mountain.
But the biggest mark against us was the crowd that had gathered to give chase. It was large and fast. Two buses came along with many cars, we probably had 70+ runners. More concerning was the speed of this crowd. One guy who's new to Taiwan was a serious distance runner back in that states, clocked a 2:30 marathon. Another guy is named Rocket Man. He's Taiwanese and he usually wins when he runs. He's a serious runner and on an average Sunday he'll do a half-marathon before coming along to whip all our butts. But then he started bringing along a friend of his who is even faster. We had to call him Super Rocket Man. He's reputed to run a 2:20 marathon and he may be the fastest person on the island. He's easily in the top ten. I was nervous before we even started.
I went up to those guys before the run and told them, "慢慢走。" That's what a polite server would say to some diners encouraging them to relax and take their time.
The run started and I realized what a mistake I had made lugging those bags through the first part of the run - it was as straight up as you can get without needing a ladder. I was puffing terribly by the time I reached the area where I had to start marking the trail with flour and I couldn't move quickly. I did my best to make a good trail, there's no joy in getting everybody lost. I made it to my first check, I put down a circle and cross and stopped laying the trail. I ran on as quick as I could, but I was into the next big uphill and I was slowed down again. My insides felt tight and twisted because I could hear the runners shouting trying to find the trail. I'm lucky that we made that check such a tough one because the pack was close and I was moving slow. I swear the uphill cutbacks in that section went on far longer than I remember during our planning sessions. I expected a simple V turn to the top but I ran into more W's than a Woodrow Wilson signature - it went on forever.
I really wasn't thinking too clearly when I reached the top. I laid down another check, but I had to much flower. I went to dump some and accidentally gave away which way the trail went. By that time we were on top of the mountain ridge and I was more in my element, I can cover that kind of ground very quickly at this point. I ran as fast as I could laying down a handful of flower whenever my mind got around to it. I was on total auto-pilot cruising over the wooded, shady trail at a fast clip. I felt good because I hadn't heard any voices since my first check near the tea field. The only problem I had was that my focus was so intense that I ran straight past my last flour stash without grabbing the bag. By the time I realized what I'd done there was no way I was going back for it...but I started to get low on flower.
I tried to conserve my supply a bit, but I was really praying that I would quickly find where Michael had started marking. My supply dwindled down to a couple handfuls, but I was doing ok because you don't have to mark as much on a closed trail with limited places to turn. I turned downhill and finally found my partner's trail. I closed up my bag and ran as fast as I could straight down the mountain. Downhilling is another thing I do fairly well, no idea why. I felt much safer. The trail went through the driveway of a family in the mountain village there. They told me which way Michael had gone and I took a shortcut to the main road. I told the family it was extremely important they not tell anyone which way I had gone. Once I got to the road it was simply a few cutback turns down to the start. I made it in a full three minutes before Rocket Man and Super Rocket Man.
Michael and I spent several hours up in the hills planning and clearing the run on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This was really his run. He spends a lot of time in that area just wandering around enjoying the atmosphere and the scenery. It's high in the mountains and dotted with tea fields and small villages. He had most of the run planned in his head before we even met. We spend a lot of our prep time on finalizing the route, clearing out overgrowth, and practicing for the run so that we (I) wouldn't get lost. We planned spots to stash the flour we use to make the trail. We also picked out where we could throw down checks. A check is a spot where we stop leaving a flour trail and the runners have to figure out which way to go on their own. The trail starts up again within 100 meters.
This was my first time going as a hare. I've been getting faster over the spring and I've done well against some of the better runners in the group. I wanted to do this run as a send-off for Tommy. I'm also hoping to plan my own run this summer; I needed to learn from a veteran like Michael who's done many runs before. Michael pointed out endless tricks and pitfalls about planning the course, he never wanted the runners to be sure about where they were or where they needed to go next. If they figure out the plan early in the run, it's much easier for them to catch you.
It's not often that the hares get caught, but it does happen. Before the run on Sunday I was pretty nervous as a perfect storm formed against us. It was my first time running as a hare and experience plays a big part of who you perform. My partner was running the very beginning and the very end of the run. Because we get a 15 minute head start, the group wouldn't have time to catch him at the start and he was going directly to mark the end of the run after that. He was only doing a portion of the run. I made a rookie error, too. I left the start with two big bags of flour on my way to a grueling uphill when I wasn't going to use the flour until the middle of the run. I should have stashed the flour out on the trail instead of hauling it up the side of the mountain.
But the biggest mark against us was the crowd that had gathered to give chase. It was large and fast. Two buses came along with many cars, we probably had 70+ runners. More concerning was the speed of this crowd. One guy who's new to Taiwan was a serious distance runner back in that states, clocked a 2:30 marathon. Another guy is named Rocket Man. He's Taiwanese and he usually wins when he runs. He's a serious runner and on an average Sunday he'll do a half-marathon before coming along to whip all our butts. But then he started bringing along a friend of his who is even faster. We had to call him Super Rocket Man. He's reputed to run a 2:20 marathon and he may be the fastest person on the island. He's easily in the top ten. I was nervous before we even started.
I went up to those guys before the run and told them, "慢慢走。" That's what a polite server would say to some diners encouraging them to relax and take their time.
The run started and I realized what a mistake I had made lugging those bags through the first part of the run - it was as straight up as you can get without needing a ladder. I was puffing terribly by the time I reached the area where I had to start marking the trail with flour and I couldn't move quickly. I did my best to make a good trail, there's no joy in getting everybody lost. I made it to my first check, I put down a circle and cross and stopped laying the trail. I ran on as quick as I could, but I was into the next big uphill and I was slowed down again. My insides felt tight and twisted because I could hear the runners shouting trying to find the trail. I'm lucky that we made that check such a tough one because the pack was close and I was moving slow. I swear the uphill cutbacks in that section went on far longer than I remember during our planning sessions. I expected a simple V turn to the top but I ran into more W's than a Woodrow Wilson signature - it went on forever.
I really wasn't thinking too clearly when I reached the top. I laid down another check, but I had to much flower. I went to dump some and accidentally gave away which way the trail went. By that time we were on top of the mountain ridge and I was more in my element, I can cover that kind of ground very quickly at this point. I ran as fast as I could laying down a handful of flower whenever my mind got around to it. I was on total auto-pilot cruising over the wooded, shady trail at a fast clip. I felt good because I hadn't heard any voices since my first check near the tea field. The only problem I had was that my focus was so intense that I ran straight past my last flour stash without grabbing the bag. By the time I realized what I'd done there was no way I was going back for it...but I started to get low on flower.
I tried to conserve my supply a bit, but I was really praying that I would quickly find where Michael had started marking. My supply dwindled down to a couple handfuls, but I was doing ok because you don't have to mark as much on a closed trail with limited places to turn. I turned downhill and finally found my partner's trail. I closed up my bag and ran as fast as I could straight down the mountain. Downhilling is another thing I do fairly well, no idea why. I felt much safer. The trail went through the driveway of a family in the mountain village there. They told me which way Michael had gone and I took a shortcut to the main road. I told the family it was extremely important they not tell anyone which way I had gone. Once I got to the road it was simply a few cutback turns down to the start. I made it in a full three minutes before Rocket Man and Super Rocket Man.
posted by Jacob Gerber at
8:01 PM
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