A half marathon is a long way to run, but my second year ETA (an ETA that stays behind to help the new cohort adapt to the new way of life) is very convincing. Half my county believes Peter is starting a running cult for how many of us have signed up and competed in runs. It’s not even people that have run in the past, but have decided to have a change in lifestyle which now includes running most days. Peter makes it so easy to get involved in the running community. He gives us notifications on upcoming races, signed us up, and even made each of us personalized training plans. That’s how I found myself trying to run 5 days a week and complete 2 half marathons this semester with the goal to reach a full marathon by the end of the year.
I was actually doing fairly well with my training plan. I run on the bike path so it’s really pretty if I am able to start running right after school. The light from the sun comes down in rays and frames the mountains perfectly. However, it was getting harder to run most days. On Thursdays I have Chinese class at 5:15 so there is a tight window where I can maybe fit a 3-mile run in and a shower before leaving for class. On some Wednesdays we have workshops so that day is completely gone in terms of having time for a run. And then you have the rain that I will not voluntarily run in because my shoes would be soaked for days. I have taken to running with my phone in a plastic bag just in case it starts while I am already out. The shorter days also impact my running. I made the mistake of going for a long run after school. When I turned around at the halfway point it was still light out, but with 3 miles left the bike path was almost entirely pitch black. Being caught in the dark hadn’t happened before so I never gave much thought to running in bright clothes, so obviously the day that I was out late was the day I was wearing a navy shirt and black shorts. I ended up running with the flashlight on my phone on the rest of the way home. I couldn’t imagine how much my mind wandered any time I heard a rustle in the leaves next to me. I was completely ready for a snake or dog to just come bite me. Thankfully none of that happened, but I did use that as an excuse for myself to not run a long run in the two weeks leading up to my race.
I ran maybe six miles in the two weeks leading up to this past weekend. Although I had finally made my long run up to 11.2 miles, I had no idea how much I had lost in the weeks that followed, leaving much of a race plan in question. I went into this past weekend with the goal not to walk at all during the race or stop which I thought should be somewhat manageable.
After school I ran around finishing packing my bag for the race. I didn’t know how cold it would feel like on the coast, or if the weather would decide to rain again so I planned for every scenario. My bag was packed to bursting by the time I scootered to the train station. It was a nice change of pace from my 4.5-hour train rides to Taipei because Hualien is the next county from Taitung. I only had to sit for 2 hours and then the train pulled into Hualien station. I hadn’t been to Hualien city before, only a little bit of the county closer to the county border, and the city blew me away. Hualien is the county most like Taitung. It is also known for its nature, hiking, and aboriginal culture. Hualien is also known for its malls and more urban feeling which I was completely oblivious to. Hualien has malls and even another theater all within walking distance to the train station unlike Taitung City which requires either a scooter or taxi to get around. Upon arrival, I hailed a cab and went to our air bnb. We rented the entire building which fits about 20 even though there was only nine of us staying in the building. The price was pretty comparable and who would turn down the chance to have privacy and hot showers without running into people we don’t know.
I was one of the last people to show up to the air bnb and everyone was already running up and down the stairs deciding which room they were going to take. I opted for the top room with two other girls, Jess and Zihui. It was a loft style room in which the bottom had a bunch of coaches and small coffee table and there were stairs to the loft portion where there were four beds and a slanted ceiling. In my opinion it was definitely the coolest room. I did however, forget that I was there to run a half marathon and probably didn’t want to climb the five flights of stairs to the top after running, but that was a problem for later Briggs.
By 8:30 we left to find a place for dinner with the intention to carbo load. The restaurant was maybe only a 5-minute walk. The menu wasn’t handed out and instead was written on a chalkboard which I find really difficult to read. Handwritten characters is almost like cursive for us, it makes it harder to identify the characters, at least for me. I don’t know what I was thinking ordering something I have never had before, Szechuan beef noodles. Now the chance to have this sparked my interest because I hadn’t seen it on a menu yet and knew it was always mentioned on food shows. The restaurant owner checked with me asking if I like hot food. I didn’t understand why she didn’t use the term 辣, spicy. My friend Augie who has fluent Chinese explained it’s like a numbing spice and I was like how spicy can it really be? Boy was I not prepared. When they said numbing spice they meant you can’t feel your mouth. After 4 spoonfuls of the broth, my mouth had the feeling that your leg does once it falls asleep, that it was being pricked by a thousand little pins. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to my food. I started to worry because I literally had a race in a couple hours, but when I brought it up Augie acted like I should’ve known that, and I guess he tried to warn me in the first place. I thought when he said numbing that he was just exaggerating the spiciness, but no. I guess Szechuan causes a chemical reaction when put with other spices so that instead of making your taste buds on fire it prevents them from tasting pretty much. Amanda, who also got the same dish, ended up switching with someone else at the table, but it wasn’t spicy I just couldn’t really taste much so I just kept eating it because why not.
The marathon started bright and early on Saturday. We were leaving the air bnb at 5:30am so I was prepared to get up at 5:20am. I mean with years of rowing I know I won’t really want to eat anything beforehand and I already know what I am going to wear. There was no point in getting up earlier. I forgot other people don’t work the same as me. The first alarm Zihui set for herself went off at 4:50 with subsequent alarms every 10 minutes. I mean I can’t imagine anyone being able to fall asleep between alarms like that. So, my plan to get up 10 minutes before we were leaving was definitely foiled as I pulled myself out of bed at 4:50. The early wake up left me stretching in the living room waiting for everyone else to come downstairs.
Arriving at the race were crowds of people. It was amazing. The people kept coming and most were color coded: green for the 5k, orange for the 10k, red for the 21k, and blue for the marathon. I decided not to go with the unisex tank they gave me for the half marathon and instead opted for my lucky rowing tank top and shorts. Most of my friends and other ETAs looked at me as if I was crazy because they wore long sleeves or leggings or in some cases both. I hate being hot, and if I could take morning rowing practice in the middle of November in a tank top, I could do a race in Taiwan in December. We were a little hyped up on nerves so when they called racers to the starting line Jess and I were convinced they were starting our race. We got lined up and were about to actually start running till we noticed everyone was wearing blue, we were so close to actually starting with the marathon runners which could’ve been really bad. As we waited for our actual race to start we met up with all the ETAs that were running from Taitung, but also some other counties as well. There was a set of twins that are both ETAs in Taiwan that were running the half marathon. One even rowed D3 in college. I was so jealous they had each other to pace with, what I would’ve given to have gotten to run the race with Morgan like our rowing practices in the past. While the time got closer to the start they led the half marathoners in a Zumba-esque dance routine filled with squats and punches. What felt like no time had passed they announced they were starting our race early and we were off.
I had no plan as for my pace, and ended up running alongside Augie, a Taitung ETA who runs a lot, for the first third of the race. I dropped behind him when I noticed he was running a lot faster than my training runs and I was nervous about being able to finish if I ran that hard in the beginning. I got a little over confident when I had passed the first 5k mark only to find out after the race that it was in the wrong spot and was actually only marking 3k into it. Augie had even tried to tell me, but because I was listening to music I didn’t comprehend what he was saying and only had thought he was pointing out the marker for me. As a result, the “second” 5k felt a lot longer as we weaved along the coastline.
The ocean was beautiful, but I definitely didn’t get to appreciate it as much as I wanted because I was running. I was worried about drinking water on the course so any time there was a table I would grad a cup. Holding up my goal to not stop or walk, when I would go to drink, half of the drink would just run down my front. I was always surprised what I was drinking. Sometimes I got a cup of water and sometimes it was a watered-down sports drink. Either way I didn’t have trouble running without a water bottle which I had been a little worried about. By the halfway point I was pretty far behind Augie, I would say maybe 5 minutes, but there was a large gap between me and the other Taitung runners. I was really excited that I felt that good.
The race felt great until the last 5k, and this time it was actually in the place it should’ve been to begin with. By this time I had what felt like a giant blister on the arch of my foot and didn’t know how I got it. I’ve been running in the same shoes for all my runs and never had this problem before. I’m blaming my blister for the fact that Benton, another Taitung ETA passed me almost sprinting as I passed the last 4k marker. I can’t really blame the blister because he was seriously booking it and I barely had enough to want to keep moving as I dreaded the last hill/mountain in the race that led to the last 1.5k. Sure enough the “slight hill” they mentioned in the course booklet was the equivalent to what my family calls “Mroz Mountain”, the sledding hill in town. I pulled what I could to sprint up it, pushing myself with the knowledge that there was a guy that had just poured a cup of something to drink just for me. And with that it was the last little bit of the race and I could see the finish. Liam, another Taitung ETA, caught up with me at the best time so that I actually had someone to pace with. That was the hardest part of the race was being alone. Together we finished the race in 2 hours and 1 minute. We were hanging off each other as we stood waiting to get out finishing metal and then standing in line for our certificate and place.
I was surprised as any to find I actually placed 33 out of the 438 women in the race and ended up getting 4th in my age group on my first ever half marathon. If only I had been 20 seconds faster, I would’ve gotten a prize and called on stage. One of the twin ETAs pulled a 3rd place women’s finish overall and her sister got 2nd in our age group as well. I loved getting to bound with the other twins as we walked around trying to make my muscles regain feeling that I thought I had lost forever. After everyone finished and we had taken sufficient time to relax we caught taxis home. After quick showers and changes we headed to brunch. The brunch was a nice surprise. I got the dish that’s a piece of toast with the middle cut out and an egg inside. I was pleasantly surprised the toast was actually a grilled cheese. The only weird part was that the grilled cheese was sweet instead of savory thanks to the large sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. Augie went all in and ended up getting a hamburger the size of his head which I had never seen before, let alone in Taiwan which usually has smaller portion sizes.
The rest of my time in Hualien was relaxing. We took a 3 hour nap and reconvened after to go to a famous 蔥油餅restaurant. 蔥油餅 is a fried thin scallion pancake and in this case it had what’s called an exploding egg inside. The pancake was deep fried surrounding a sunny side up egg and hot sauce. It was really good minus the fact I was not prepared for the actual exploding portion and it dripped everywhere. We then walked a distance to a pizza restaurant where the guy even made his own flour using a bike system to grind it up and then off to the night market. The night market was one of my favorites because although it was really big, the crowds weren’t as much. Unlike most night markets that size, the Hualien market had enough space to not knock into anyone or feel like you are in someone’s way. I caved and got a deep-fried banana with chocolate because why not.
I left the next day for shopping in the malls coming away with new sweaters, hot chocolate, and candy canes because why not. I wrapped the day up with walking to the beach to hear the ocean and actually appreciate where I was. I regret signing up for another half marathon in January, one was enough for me. As for my goal to do a full marathon I think I’ll wait a bit longer to make that decision. I can say that I am so glad to have gotten to spend the weekend with my friends and that doing well in the race was icing on the cake.
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