Let’s do a race together. It would be fun they said.
I am very competitive. I have been most of my life. I think it stems from growing up with a twin where we always participated in the same activities. We always wanted to be first and second without fail. Following the end of rowing, I didn’t know how I would stay in shape. Last year, thanks to the 2nd year ETA in Taitung, I was signed up for multiple running races. To gear up for my first half marathon I ran almost every day right after school last year. I’d get home and be out the door before some of the other ETAs in 關山 had even gotten home from school. I could run upwards of a 12k on a night, my only limitation being the time before the sun went down fully. Only once did I get caught outside in the pitch dark last year. I used my phone light to lead the way, but every rustle of leaves or slight movement near me made me jump, expecting some sort of unknown animal to jump out. I felt like I was in the Hunger Games a little bit. After that instance I made sure to never be out alone that late on the bike path again.
This year is a little different. Teaching at a school that is farther from my house and with longer hours has prevented me from finding time to run. By the time I get home, all I want to do is sleep and relax, along with any last minute lesson planning. I hadn’t anticipated the change in my schedule in August during orientation month. I assumed I’d be up to my daily running again. This idea drove me to sign up for not one, but two races. One was only a 5k, manageable. It was even in my city so I didn’t have to consider transportation or accommodations to race either.
The pre-race dance that always seems to take place
The 5k was along a road and felt like it was never ending. The competition was small. I assume most of the runners must have been running the longer distances and the people that were not taking the race seriously were in my race, the people that joined the race only to walk after the first bit is over. I did the race with Amanda and Megan, other Fulbrighters in Taitung. We were all running cold turkey, with no real preparation or expectations. I had originally planned not to take the race seriously, but when I saw the competition I thought there was a chance I could actually win. Battling it out with the other runners I came in 4th overall, and the 1st woman. Sadly, even with that finish I didn’t get a single prize being the top female because they didn’t give awards to anyone in the 5k which I think is a little wrong. Overall, my Taitung crew of Fulbrighters all made the top 40% of female runners in the 5k. So a pretty good showing for a group that hadn’t practiced before.
The 12k on the other hand was another story. I traveled to Taroko National Park, one of the prettiest and biggest parks in Taiwan. Taroko is located just north of Taitung in the county of Hualien. It is named after the Truku tribe, an aboriginal tribe located in the mountains of the park. I’ve only ever been to Taroko once, it was my last trip before coming home last spring. I was excited to return to the park for the race thinking solely about the views I get that would probably distract from the distance I had left to run. What I forgot to anticipate was the elevation changes of running in the mountains which were slight for the 12k distance (greater for the longer runs), but definitely makes running more difficult.
Sean had also expressed interest in running a race with me in the past. I mean he does actually run every day and Peter, the 2nd year ETA now 3rd year ETA in Taitung, does find the best races. All this culminated in participating in the Taroko Gorge Marathon, one of the most popular races in Taiwan drawing the “elites”, a group of famous runners from across the island. In the 12k race there were over 2,000 female runners registered for the race. I was proud of myself to have registered both Sean and I by myself, navigating the Chinese website only with a little help from Peter. The date also worked out perfectly. Nearing Friday, the day I needed to travel to Hualien, the director at my school warned me of a typhoon set to hit Taitung that weekend. I completely thought we were already finished with typhoon season, but who knows it could be climate change that brought the big storm close to the island. What I do know is that it took ten times longer to get to school as I stayed vigilant while driving in the rain and wind to school. Surprisingly the heavy rain ceased for much of the day, only having small sun showers throughout school classes. I was optimistic that the weather reports were wrong in the seriousness of the storm and that it wouldn’t affect my trip to Hualien after school. Right around 3:30, with 30 more minutes left in school, the skies opened up and didn’t stop the rest of the night. Donning a raincoat that goes down to my mid calves and a waterproof backpack cover I made it back home drenched. Even with snaps and a zipper on my raincoat, my sweatshirt underneath was somehow still wet. The visibility was even affected with the entire sky staying a grey color prohibiting you to see the end of a block at times. To say driving in those conditions freaked me out would be an understatement. I was very close to calling a taxi, but I was worried I would be cutting it close in having to wait for a taxi to be ready and free. Instead, I decided to leave myself an hour to drive the 20 minutes to the train station. Surprisingly I made it to the train station with garbage bags covering my bag pretty dry for the conditions.
Checking into the hotel was relatively easy and I just kept walking around till I saw a restaurant with a dish that wouldn’t be considered adventurous. I ended up with fried rice and eggs. I didn’t think getting sushi the night before a big rice a smart decision. I still recall last year’s Hualien race when I accidentally ordered a Szechuan beef noodle dish, leaving my lips tingling the rest of the night. I was lucky. I got into Hualien City a little after 7:30. The train schedule from Taipei wasn’t as conducive for Sean’s schedule and he got in to the city at 10:30pm. 10:30 for any other trip would’ve been fine, but for a race that requires you to get up at 4am it’s not the best option. Sean was dead on his feet from the long week at work and the anxiety surrounding waiting for the final election results that the approximate 5 hours of sleep at best were not the best way to prepare for a race. Sean took one for the team and really didn’t complain when my alarm woke us up the next day.
We arrived at the Hualien train station at 4:20 with crowds of people. I’ve never seen that amount of people up and about that early in the morning. Everyone was carrying their race bags and eating their morning snacks to prepare. Sean and I met up with the rest of our group primarily made of other ETAs and their friends/significant others. The 8 of us made it onto the later train leaving the station at 4:30 which took us to the next stop and then onto waiting tour buses set to drive us to the gate of the National Park. Throughout all of this the skies were pitch dark. Walking to the bag check-in area, the skies began to lighten and I think seeing the sunrise on the mountains could’ve turned the worst race into a delightful experience. The pinks and purples lit up the skies.
Our group was split between different races. John was running the marathon. Augie and Peter were running the half marathon. Sean, Amanda, and I were running the 12k while Chanler and Britney ran the 5k option. At 6:45, Amanda, Sean, and I made our way to the starting line to get ready for the start of the race. Each race started with small fireworks being set off in lieu of a gun. Once the race started Sean and I lost sight of Amanda. When you ran you just had to weave around the people that were either walking or running the pace equivalent to walking. The crowds were crazy. I was grateful Sean didn’t wear the shirt we were given for the race as it was easier to spot him in his blue shirt rather than him matching every other runner around us.
The goal we had for the race was to try to run it together. However, being as competitive as I am I did want to maybe be competitive with Amanda who I had already beat in the last race by a lot. I have never officially trained by concentrating on the pace I run at. I’ve only tracked my distances before. Sean on the other hand has an app that not only tracks his distances, but also his times and pace comparing it to what he should be at. The pace I set off at was probably faster than I would normally run at, but hadn’t noticed because we were in a race. Sean did notice though. Pointing out repeatedly that we were running at close to a 6:10-6:20 pace, faster than his practice pieces. I would slow down for a little bit, but then unconsciously return to that faster pace. Sean was able to stick with me for the first 7k of the race as I oscillated between the faster pace and trying to slow down to the pace his app advised him to stay at. Then we split up for the rest of the race.
The race was as beautiful as I predicted with waterfalls and temples along the way. We ran the roads usually full of cars of hikers and instead full of runners and walkers. The sun was a lot more than expected. The temperature was maybe around the low 80s, a departure from the fall weather of the past week. It was a nice reprieve in the last half of the race where we ran in and out of different tunnels through the mountain bases. The only crazy event at the marathon was that some of the marathon runners got attacked by hornets at their turnaround point. The hornets even caused some to be taken to the hospital.
I finished the race at a full sprint and felt like I could’ve run another 12k and finished a half marathon while I was at it. Overall, I finished as 31st out of 2,041 women in the race. Which was pretty good especially for having run portions of the race a little slower than I would’ve typically and for having run backwards to make sure Sean and I stuck together for a little longer in the race.
Post race we caught buses back to the city, enjoyed an aboriginal tent market outside the train station before returning to Hualien City. Getting back to the hotel we slept and when I say sleep, I mean sleep. We took maybe a 4 hour nap and by the time we got up it was that weird time between lunch and dinner when barely any restaurants are open. We intended to go to Woodstock Pancakes, a restaurant boasting of Japanese style pancakes of all kinds. Japanese pancakes are like western pancakes but fluffier by a thousand. Sadly, upon getting to the restaurant they were just closing up so we went with our second choice, Seven Beans. We treated ourselves to fries, chicken nuggets, and like anyone would, a dog made out of ice cream before our group dinner reservations. A dog out of ice cream wasn’t even the craziest food I found in Hualien! I got a bread bowl of curry. You heard that right; a bread bowl straight out of the Panera menu filled with chicken curry. The curry left a lot to be desired, but the bread made up for it in spades. I finished the entire thing with Sean sneaking pieces of the bread.
After our group dinner we all headed in different directions. Sean got a taxi back to the hotel being sore and having a hard time walking with blisters. Peter, John, and Lindsey returned to their hostel. Amanda, Chanler, and Britney went to a shaved ice place while Augie went to the night market. I followed after Augie and also went to the night market. Unlike most cities who have multiple markets, Hualien City consolidated theirs into one big night market. There are rows and rows of stands in an organized fashion. I had only gone once and was excited by the options, but it wasn’t as much fun as I wanted it to be. I think it wasn’t as much fun as it had been before because I wasn’t there with anyone else. I was taking videos and pictures and sending them to Sean wishing he could’ve come along. I ended up getting two new drinks, a passion fruit based drink with pearls and a mulberry/mango drink, as well as some cut up fruit and made the long trek back to the hotel by foot. The drinks and fruit were a long cry from last year’s night market escapades where I had a deep fried, chocolate banana.
My Hualien vacation ended with the best news, Biden was elected president. We sat and watched the speeches on youtube and celebrated the official report with a cinnamon roll at a cafe. I am so very optimistic for what is to come. A great way to end an already beautiful and fun weekend.
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