5:09:25

Ha, ran 30 minutes slower than last year but hey, I'm just happy that I was able to finish. My left knee is hurting a more than last year but it'll probably get better in a few days.

Lots of interesting people this year. Saw a married couple dressed up like sharks to protest the eating of shark fin soup. The real kicker is that despite their oven-hot costumes, they were running much faster than most people. Amazing. And there was another guy who ran the whole thing barefoot. 42 kilometers! BAREFOOT!!! Plus there was that old guy who runs every year. I can only hope I'm in as good as shape as him when I reach 80.

It was also nice to see several pairs of Blind & Guide runners. I guess they were inspired by Henry Wanyoike, the blind runner from Kenya who started running here a couple years ago. Just goes to show what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it. Respect.

What wasn't so great were all those newbies who were in the race just to screw around. People stopping all over the place to shoot photos, other with babies/baby carts. I mean, come on! You want to mess around, do it somewhere else on your own time. Don't muck around when others are taking the race seriously and doing their best to finish. Plus, I'm no expert, but bumping up and down in a baby buggy (or worse, on daddie's back) for 2 hours in hot, humid weather probably isn't the best way to treat a baby. Plus, these people were basically breaking the rules. Marathon bylaws stipulate that only registered runners, with racing chips and number tags are allowed to participate in the race. I'm pretty damn sure that none of those babies met these requirements.

On a sad note, I saw a young man lying unconscious and deathly white near the turning point between the Tsing Ma Bridge and the Ting Kau bridge. Ironically, this was practically the same spot were the man who died last year had collapsed. As of 18:00, of the 43,000+ people who ran the 10K, Half and Full marathon, there were some 6200+ people who felt sick, 35 hospitalized with 1 in critical condition. I hope that history doesn't repeat itself.

Anyways, here are some pics.

Right before baggage check-in. How naievely sweet, I still had the silly hope of finishing in 4 hours:

New arrangement this year: no public allowed at the finish line. There were lots of people bitching about this saying they wanted to shoot their friends/family crossing the line. Oh well, guess everyone will have to look for their photos at http://www.marathon-photos.com/index.html.

Oooh, a bag full of bananas and other goodies:

Afterwards, went to have a gut busting burger at a nearby restaurant (it's a bit of a tradition for me). Then stopped off at a dessert shop at home to have some sweet dumplings (literally translated as "soup balls"). Today is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year (aka the First Full Moon, aka Lantern Day) and it's tradition to eat dumplings.

It might look kind of gross to anyone who's never tried it, but trust me, it's super tasty. This is a bowl of Sea Coconut, Aloe and Black Glutinous Rice soup with seseme filled soup balls. Yummy.