Western style candy bar at Shanghai train station.
Time, calories, average heart rate. This sequence is what is providing motivation for my training in the lead up to the GW half marathon. I would be lost if I misplaced my heart rate monitor now. These particular numbers are what I can record on my training schedule for the Jinqiao 8km race in Shanghai today. I set myself a goal of 50 minutes which I thought would be a reasonable goal considering I haven't run outside for ages and there were so many people there. So, I was thrilled to have run nearly 11 minutes faster!
Chinese style candy bar - preserved eggs and radishes.
I had several reasons for wanting to run this race. Firstly, it was a good chance to practise running in a group under 'race' conditions. I have been slightly worried about my panic attack issues limiting me with the GW run, but was happy to find that I was perfectly okay this morning (with a little help from my bottle of Rescue Remedy, lots of water and my ipod!). The start line was a little stressful but nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Secondly, it was good to practise running outside - the sun was shining (albeit through the smog) and it was hot (32 degrees today), good training for the GW run which will be stifling hot on an exposed wall in summer. Lastly, it was great to get out of Wuxi for the weekend and do something 'normal' - I didn't realise how many local and expat runners there were in Shanghai!
10 kuai dinner - rice noodles with beef and celery.
I headed up to Shanghai last night and had a quiet night after a late-ish night on Friday night. I enjoyed some dinner at a local cafe and then went for a foot massage - good race preparation, I figured! The massage was totally normal until the girl pulled out this set of what looked like a cross between drum sticks and croquet mallets - wooden sticks with little rubber ends. She then proceeded to hit these across my feet and up and down my calves - very sore, considering I'd run the stairs yesterday!
Workers cafe where I ate dinner.
After the race today, I headed back to the hostel for a shower before braving the subway to have a western fix. I enjoyed a beautiful, fresh lunch at Element Fresh before spending some time browsing the bookstore, where I bought a cool pack of Shanghai cards that have a heap of different locations on taxi cards - very handy! Then, I met Ash in the City Shop, where we gossiped in the milk aisle before heading back to Element Fresh for another smoothie and more chit chat. We have rarely seen each other since we both moved to China, so definitely need to make more of an effort to visit one another. Whilst at City Shop, I bought some treats since it's all a bit stressful here - Tim Tams and Monte Carlo biscuits. Yum! They will be treated like gold as they cost about $10 each! Naughty. There were no Easter eggs to be found unfortunately, so it's lucky I had some left from earlier purchases. Planning on an early night tonight, ready for another week of work - only 2 weeks till the Phillippines! Bring it on.
Lovely massage lady.
Playing the drums on my calves - ouch!
Just popping out for some milk!
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