Taipei Ultra Marathon is a different type of marathon that goes for your maximum effort in the stipulated hours, longest best 48hours , 24 and 12. For the 12 there is a choice of day and night, and also there is also an Ekiden relay within 6 hours. Most of the participants are return runners who have taken part in last year’s relay.
Location
At the start point in Shin Sheng Park Taipei
This is a run at your maximum effort race, so within the stipulated hour just keep running, you are allowed to rest or go to toilet in between. In fact I rested for very long for the lunch break and did not manage to hit the 100km that I originally targeted for . Runners report to the start line in Shin Sheng Park, Taipei.
The drop bag point for the 12 hours and 6 hours category are opposite of the Lin An Tai Ancestral House, this location is good because of a large public toilet there. Basically runners have to run around the green part in the hours stipulated. It is about 600m a round. There are 2 tracks one inner and one outer. The outer one is for the lesser duration races, and the inner one is for the 48 hours runners. Directional change are imposed after certain hours for the longer category.
My Race
12 hours day race was my choice as I do not like to run overnight. Gets really sleepy and stuff, so reporting to the start line in the early morning at 7 am, I brought my stuffs in the dedicated runner bag that most runners in Taiwan bring for races. This is a smart and organised way of baggage drop and you have your name tag placed in the front of the bag so that things will not be confused. I got my bag from the Ultra Runners Club at NT150, there are also others given out during races.
The drop bag
Runners just place their bags at the various points around the track. Although there are no one to take care of it, I quickly made friends with my neighbouring bag droppers and got their supporters to help us look after. I am quite surprised about how friendly and helpful the running community in Taiwan is. As I am solo, the fellow runners started chatting with me and even offered me some bread and hot drinks. I realised that many of them had prepared a hot flask which I did not. All the activities are circled around the tracks, drinks and food stops, the sensor for clocking our timing, bag drop and rest area, toilets. It is like every round you see everything same hanging around. But yet different people moving in and out. The photographers keep snapping away. You can imagine how many pictures I garnered at the end of the race.
Going round in circles
There are 2 main food and drinks point. One serves hot food while the other merely drinks and simple dry food with cut fruits. Fruits served are custard apples, oranges, cherry tomatoes. To speak the truth the fruits are really better perks than the dry food. Really wakes you up. Hot food wise they have curry tofu, instant noodles, fried stuff and some coffee and ginger tea. The ginger tea is the good stuff that really help to keep you warm on a cold rainy winter day in Taipei. As usual my race was dark and gloomy with rain.
Running in Circles
At first I thought this would be a mental torture, but seems strange for me, after a while, it gets easier. I even prepared extra music players and batteries in fear that I need more music to Psycho myself out of it. I made a total of 127 rounds, the biggest mistake was to rush and finish the full marathon distance that I usually paced at which means I have 8 more hours to go on. Around the 70km, my right ITB started to work up. It has been a long time since I experience such sort of pain. I was wondering, should I stop or go on. I took a short break at my rest tent and then decided to change to the normal shoes ( as I usually wear Vibram five fingers), the cushioning made it easier to walk on. So for the rest of the 17km, I was limping walking and semi running to clock as much as I could.
Every round you pass by the timing chip will sound at the sensor portion, and you can immediately see your results on board. It kind of motivate you to go further and further.
Results board
Was quite impressed that many of the ultra runners maintained a steady speed and never really walked. They just maybe slowed down or massage their leg a while and carry on running or jogging.
The weather was gloomy the whole 12 hours, but there were small snippets of better skies and less rain. It feels much colder in wet clothing, and I was glad I prepared the heat packs for keeping my hands warm.
Ending
To speak the truth when the ITB started to work up, there were many a times I feel like just resting till the 12 hours are up, but I thought this was not what I came here for and started to slowly massage and walk. I guess I should have brought some muscle rubs to overcome this problem.
Five minutes before the time is up, the announcer will inform all runners, if you are within the completion of one circle, the last round will be taken into consideration and not the one that you are doing half way. Finishers get a bento set, water, finisher medal and a certificate to show your name and distance completed.
Bento sets
As there were not many lady participants I came in 1st in my category. Although I fall short of my target, I have learnt many lessons from this ultra race. I now know the pacing and also how to spread out the speed and distance. Definitely a race that I will come back to, also hope that the weather will be better then.
Finsher medal and category trophy
On the run