Shanghai'd

Today, Tim and I participated in a 10k called the Human Race. It was the second race we could walk to from our apartment and the second race Tim bandited due to waiting too long to register. Between us we had a timing chip and one race bib (which was screen printed on a Nike drifit women's small shirt), these we got from Tim's coworker who couldn't make it to the race. I took the chip and left Tim the women's small shirt. Seriously.

It was my first race in China! And my first 10k. It started at Century Park, did a lap outside the park and then a lap inside. We woke up after a late night an hour before the gun, and it poured on our warm-up to the starting line. We jumped over the guard rails to get in the pack just as the gun was going off (no standing around in the rain), and we were off! I know it happens in the states too, but there seemed to be an abundance of sprinting at the start and inappropriate running wear (jeans?). But then, this is China. The kilometer markers were erratically spaced, and our splits varied significantly. Even at the 5k point, I had no idea about my pace! My favorite was all the guards along the path, who seemed a bit perturbed at the added work of watching thousands of runners go through their post on a rainy day when they could have just been sitting under the protection of their guard stands. The scowls on their faces were classic! Around the 6km mark, I had some guards nonchalantly strolling three abreast on the path, and I needed to dodge around them. There was also a good laladui contingency along the route, including some cheerleaders pomming to "Hey Mickey, you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind!". Some smooth jazz at 7km reminded us to take it easy. It was so much fun!

And now to enjoy the rest of our Sunday. ;-)