So, here I am sitting on the Taroko Express Train. What a weekend. Cristelle and I caught a midnight train (23:50) from Taipei on Friday night. I forgot my headphones - a nightmare for a half marathon. So we were looking for a pair for purchase but all we could find was the sticker prize from 7/11. Haha! They are retractable ear buds attached to a character. Not ideal but better than nothing. And good for a laugh if nothing else.
The train ride itself was uneventful and so, good. But they didn't turn off the lights in the cabin so all hopes of grabbing a nap were thrown out the moving train. We didn't arrive to Hualien until 02:50ish. We met up with Sam (a guy from the South dorms) and cabbed to the hotel, grabbed an hour of sleep (literally) before the race, and headed out the door at 04:50. It's a good thing we left early because our cab driver was an idiot. And that's being nice. But let me back up.
Sam purchased the train ticket with his race packet but Cristelle and I didn't So morning of, we had to arrive at the train station early to buy them. We had to take a train to a shuttle to the race area. We met a really nice couple who assured us the race was the best in Taiwan. They offered to share a cab with us but didn't know Sam was with us. They flagged down a cab for us as well, though. Enter the idiot driver.
We used Sam's ticket to show the man, in Chinese, where we wanted to go. Well he took off in the wrong direction. We let him go because clearly we don't know the area. And we said about five times "Hualien Tran Station," each time getting a reassuring nod and "hao, hao, hao!" (okay). After about 15 minutes of driving we were 99.99 percent sure he was taking us somewhere else. We told him again, "Hualien Train Station!" And he said yes. Then we informed him that the night before it had taken all of three minutes to get from the station to the hotel.
Finally, he pulled over and we made it abundantly clear that he was wrong. By this time it was about 05:15 and we had to be at/on the train by 05:30. And Cristelle and I still needed tickets. We were panicked. He figured out where we wanted to go and then took us some back way. We got stopped at a rail crossing and I was certain we would see our train go by. I was mentally preparing myself for not running. But against all odds and despite our drivers best efforts, we made it to the train station, sprinted through the station, threw money all over the place and jumped on the train. Then we relaxed.
When we got off the train we were herded into such long lines to catch the race shuttles. But the sun was rising and it was beautiful. I've waited in much worse lines.
The race area was packed and the course was amazing! Cristelle and I ran together for about four miles before splitting up. We ran through tunnels, over bridges, along the river, under cliffs. Definitely an amazing course. At one point a butterfly flitted ahead of me and led me on. It was definitely someone looking out for me. There was also an amazing waterfall that I ran over to take a picture of.
Then all of a sudden the next four miles were all uphill. Talk about a nightmare. I had to keep telling myself Jai-oh! (keep going!). I saw Sam heading back and figured I had to be close to the turn around. And I was right. It definitely couldn't have come at a better time. When I turned around, I definitely felt better and couldn't help smiling. It was all downhill (literally) from there.
I fell into pace with an older Chinese man who gave me so much support, though most of it was unspoken -- just little looks, thumbs up. He kept pointing at the markers - 5 km left, 3 km left. He tried talking to me but when that didn't work we just ran together. It was really a special thing. It doesn't sound like much but it really meant a lot to me. Something I'll remember forever, the Chinese man who helped me run. :)
After the race I congratulated myself, multiple times - naturally. I finished the race in two hours and nine minutes - HELL YEAH! I was so happy and proud of myself and felt so accomplished. I LOVE DREAM STREET.
We got free lunch after and somehow all found each other. We headed back to the hotel and the rest of the day was filled with different combinations of eating, sleeping, watching TV and talk to family and friends. So lazy but we had just run a half marathon so we excused ourselves.
The train ride home was great. The ride is gorgeous. It hugs the coast and has so many amazing views. Has to be one of the prettier rides on the planet. I couldn't stop taking pictures. We met up with Rooney in Taipei and went to Beitou - the hot springs. I soaked my feet in the river again.
Such a wonderful weekend!
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