Saturday, February 2, 2013



The first time I did the Green Power Hike was in 2010, not long after I joined Esquel. I thought it was just a casual 10k hike. Indeed it was. My colleagues and I were in casual wear, big and small bags. We were dressed for dim sum lunch as much as we were dressed for hiking. After we started, I started feeling hungry and looked at my watch. It was 10 am. At the rate we were walking and talking, we would only be done at 1 pm. So I told my colleagues that I would try running a bit so that I could finish and have food. I started galloping away and my colleagues followed. Carol and Bob were about my speed and we finished in about 1.5 hours and had a happy and early dim sum. That was my idea of trail running then.

The second year, Bob and I decided to up the challenge to 25k, and we got Eddie in too. We went for a few shorts hikes on the Hong Kong trail. On the day of the race, Eddie felt ill and had to pull out. Even though we were disqualified for lack of a complete team, Bob and I decided to go nevertheless and finish the race. While we were going up Dragon's Back, I gave a shout to Bob who was in front. My shout triggered his muscle cramps and he was barely able to walk for the last 6k. Bob is one of the best sports buddies in the office and I had no hesitation of stopping and walked with him all the way to finishing point.

The third year, I was not able to join the Green Power as it was our Annual Dinner.

2013, I decided to do solo 50k. I only had a few goals in mind - Finish, don't stop, listen to the body and enjoy the run. I was so glad that I had done all these, and still had time to care for an injured friend. As I was going up the Dragon's back, I felt I still had energy in me to keep going, and the flashes of so many races, the difficulties, the encouragement of my training buddies and friends all flashed back. Every race has helped me to become a better person and a better runner.