New Taipei City WanJinShi International Marathon - International Monkey Race Review

Is Everybody Ready?  Thumbs-Up at the Starting Line!

Las Vegas, NV.  Salt Lake City, UT.  Seattle, WA.  Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan.  WanLi, Taiwan.

What do these locations have in common?  Other than they are all in the Northern Hemisphere, the commonality I'm getting at is I've ran in each of these places in the last three weeks!  And it has been awesome!  I've been traveling a bit for work lately, and I make an effort to get out and run at least once everywhere I go.  Map-My-Run is having a heck of a time keeping up with the changing locales.

The first four locations on the list were just training and fun runs, but during my last run I was able to attend the New Taipei City WanJinShi International Marathon (hereafter NTCWJSIM).  The NTCWJSIM allows runners to choose from distances of Full Marathon (42K), Half Marathon (21K) and 10K.  I only did the half-marathon, as I'm not as fond of the strenuously long distances as are Sam and Steve.  I hear the longer distances can leave one injury prone.


Me and my running mates, possessed and ready to run.
left to right: Little Gao, Winston, Erica, Selma, and 席文凱

Our morning began at 3:30 AM, as we had to catch the race shuttle at 4:00 AM to take us from downtown Taipei to the NorthEast Coast.  Getting out of the big city is a good thing for aerobic activity, and good for breathing in general.  Soon we were at the racing plaza, checking in, trying to stay warm despite the cool ocean breeze, getting some snacks in prior to the run.

Here's the start.  And the Finish. 

I heard some wonderfully infectious beats coming from the race stage, and thought I had better go check out where this catchy music was coming from.  The entire race plaza was full of athletes getting ready for their run, with the Jane-Fondas on stage directing the crowd in aerobics and warm-ups and stretches!  What a great idea!  Why haven't they done this at any of the U.S. races I have attended?  Are we too cool for this great idea?  This is such an obviously wonderful program I hope it will be stolen and replicated at races across the West.  Alas, I probably hope in vain.

The gun sounded for the NTCWJSI-Full-Marathon at 6:30, but by that time just about all the Half-Marathoners had already crowded the starting line.  I made my way to my usual spot, looking around to find people who appeared to be a bit faster than me and hoped to fit into the sub 8 minute mile grouping.  Although your guess would be as good as mine when trying to find this segment of racers, because appearances can be deceiving.  It's usually that person that looks like they shouldn't be running at all that zips by me early, and similar folks passing me by at various parts of a race.


When 6:50 sounded the NTCWJSI-Half-Marathon began.  Like every other road race I've attended, it was a bit crowded for the first mile.  But the road was wide enough that it was never a real problem, even while we ran a mile in a man-made tunnel.  After the tunnel, the rest of the run was along the Pacific Ocean shoreline.  The largest major city in this area (Keelung) averages 214 rain days per year.  Keelung receives approximately 147 inches of rain per year, for a comparison Seattle averages 38 inches annually.  But on this day we were lucky enough to only have overcast skies and a slight cross-wind from the Ocean.  The cross-wind pressed you diagonally, but never really was it fully a headwind or fully a tailwind, just a minor interference breeze.  The only real climbs on the run were short, and you gained only 100 feet in less than a half a mile each time.  But the downside (literally) of not having more hills is that there are fewer hills to run down.  I guess it all evens out in the end.

One thing that always impresses me is how welcoming the Taiwanese people are to foreigners, and this race was no different.  At the halfway point, there was a turn-around, and at that point you began running against traffic on the other side of the street.  There were hundreds of runners who encouraged me with a thumbs up, cheering me on and being altogether supportive of me as I ran by.  I'm sure other Westerners on this run had the same experience, as the Taiwanese people are incredibly polite and will often go out of their way to try to make visitors feel welcome.  This race was no different, both the race support staff and the public on the side of the road.  I gave high fives to the little kids on the side of the road, had my photo taken with some protestors, and chatted up the folks at the drink stations.  Thank you for the love, all of my new found friends.

When I finished I was happy to have a new PR, besting my previous time by 2 minutes.  Some of that, actually most of that has to do with running at sea level, but I hope that my fitness has improved a bit as well.  We shall see after the next half marathon at altitude.  All in all it was a good time, the race was well organized and well staffed, the road clearly marked, my friends and I all enjoyed a fun, well-organized and scenic race and I feel lucky that I get to do these kinds of things while traveling for work.

At the Finish Line with My friend Mr. Wei.

Beard Campout 2013



We're Happy.  No really.  This is fun.  If I say it enough I may believe it.

Tradition.

I am a recent inductee into the Brotherhood of the OTM.  And there are traditions the OTM have adopted that appear to have no rhyme or reason...other than the fact they are traditions.  This is probably true of most traditions in your life, really, just doing things a certain way because that's how things have always been done and that's what your family does during those times of the year.  Some of the glorious traditions you may have read about on this blog include ridiculously goofy hats, Barrel-monkeys hanging on shoe-laces or mountain tops, shorts on the snow trails, and popping magic drink caps in grocery parking lots (which is not nearly as dubious as it sounds).  But it appears that the most time-honored tradition of the OTM (other than regaling one another with our trail-side bathroom adventures) would be the Beard Campout.



Pretty Ice Crystals.  Don't let the beauty fool you.



It's a tradition to grow a beard before the winter campout, although this tradition may just be an excuse for the OTM to be lazy and to get out of shaving for a few weeks.  Allegedly the beard will keep you warm on the trail.  Allegedly, a warm beard-face is necessary when hiking at higher elevations, although it turns out it is actually much colder in the lower elvations of the inverted and  cold-locked valley.  There is a traditional bacon/egg/cheese/muffin breakfast, traditionally missing some vital component (not this year). Allegedly winter hiking/snowshoeing is awesome.

Bearded Huff, looking like a feminine hygeine product.

And so, tradition mandates that there must be beards, and there must be blisters, and there must be misery.  Snowshoeing with a backpack uphill is miserable.  But convincing yourself you had a great time afterward?  That's the real tradition.

Jesse, in full boy-band earnest lip-sync pose.

Someone much smarter than I described this phenomenon as follows:

"Half the fun of camping in those days was looking forward to getting back home. When you did get back home you prolonged the enjoyment of your trip by telling all your friends how miserable you had been. The more you talked about the miseries of life in the woods, the more you wanted to get back out there and start suffering again. Camping was a fine and pleasant misery."

From Patrick F. McManus' A Fine and Pleasant Misery

The quote from Mr. McManus' book is 30+ years old, and it still as true now as it was back then.  But now, instead of just telling your friends how miserable things were, you also get to blog about it and record your misery not just for now, but for maybe next year, when the traditional beard campout comes around, you can look at the blog and remind yourself just how miserable things were.

So.  Beard Campout.  You were miserable.  See you again next year.



Beard?  Goofy Hat?  Backpack?  Inversion?  Must be a tradition.

Bobcat tracks in our snowshoe tracks.



Inversion makes for challenged breathing
when you're in it, nice sunsets when
you're above it.

Jake's backside on a backside climb.












Chili Can top.  Sam says you don't need to pop the top of your can
when you put it in the fire to heat it, but we found this chili can lid
by our tents 20 yards from the fire after it exploded in the fire.
Yes we know what we're doing.

North Willow Lake Map and statistics

New Year's Freeze

Psychomachia.


It's a classic cartoon device: there are two distinct voices inside a conflicted character's head, pitching the good and the bad about whatever decision that person is facing.  Rarely does the hero choose to follow the Angel.  Donald Duck is tempted by his Devil into smoking a pipe, then he coughs and wheezes and struggles for breath.  In the Emperor's New Groove, the Devil on Kronk's shoulder does all sorts of tricks to show how much cooler he is than his shoulder Angel. Homer Simpson even sells his soul to the Devil for a doughnut.

Medium, or Super Sized fries and drink?

And so I found myself in such a dilemma on New Year's Day, caught between my own little Angel and Devil, trying to decide if I should go running or not.  I've actually lost out on some good runs/climbs with the OTMs after being convinced by my shoulder devil that I didn't need to go running in December.  The devil starts to say things like "It's too cold to go running" or "You're too busy with the holiday season for a long run" or "you're phlegm spewing cough and hallucination-induced fever flu is too debilitating to even let you leave your bed, let alone run to the top of some 10,000 foot high Wasatch peak in December".

On New Year's Eve Sam kept asking me about running up Adam's Canyon the next morning as a way to ring in the new year.  I had every Devil excuse ready for him.

"It's the day after New Year's Eve."
"I don't want to wake up at 6:30 AM after staying up so late the night before."

"It's going to be too cold."  (8 degrees F at the base of the mountain)

"I don't have snowshoes."

"I don't have a beard like you do to keep the cold out." (maybe that one was a bit of a reach).

The Angel was persistent, or at least patient, and even after I woke up at 6:30 and texted the OTMs that it was too cold to leave my bed, (one last try by my shoulder devil), I ended up on the trail for the first run of the year.  I even brought my own goofy hat, as I believe this is an OTM requirement.

After trying my best to avoid getting out in the cold, in the early morning, on a holiday, I couldn't have been happier with the run.  After 5 minutes of climbing, the cold was not an issue.  I wasn't tired from waking up so early on a Holiday.  A nice, short ascent amid incredible scenery, getting a good sweat on, what a great way to start out the New Year.

So remember, when the devil on your shoulder tells you that it would be so much nicer to stay in your warm bed, when he tells you that you don't need to get out and go, when he throws any number of excuses in your way as to why you shouldn't run with the OTMs, remember that the Angel is always right.  You will always feel better after your run, you will always be happy you went and did something fun and challenging, and it's always better to be the person who was happy to have gone and done whatever it is you do than it is to be the person who is sorry they missed out.

Sam warming up with a 10-rep set of Fallen Tree Squats

Adams Canyon Waterfall, January 1, 2013

Quasi-Possessed Huff in the Wild.

No I'm not getting gray hairs...just frosty sweat.

"Take off, eh?  I'm taking you to the loony bin, then I am going to the brewery, you hoser."

  

And one final note on the mileage.  After the run up Adams Canyon I went sledding with the kiddos, and so I ran up a large sledding hill at least 20 times.  Which means for one moment in 2013 I had more mileage than Sam and Steve.  At least until January 2nd.  Then they ran right past me.  I guess you can only be the King of the Mountain for so long.

Jade Mountain, Taiwan - Solo Monkey, International Style (Part 2)

To read part 1, click here.

The Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step
                                      Lao Tzu

千里之行，始于足下造句
                                      老子


4:30 AM,  I left the hostel, jumped on my scooter with my camelbak and headed out into the darkness to find the trail.

It was cool outside, it was dark, pitch black, and I couldn't see a thing.  Again, the roads were deserted, and everyone else from the hostel had either left before me and were well on their way up the mountain, or they were just going to hike some smaller trails.  So once again, I was alone on the mountain, which is heaven.

Except for one more thing.  I couldn't find the trail.  There was no one around, there were no signs, it was pitch black.  So I drove my scooter up and down the road, trying to make out signs in the dark and find the trail.  I found a police station, which I thought might be the start of the trail, but there was no where to park.  I drove back down a road, within about 1 km I found the Jade Mountain National Park Visitors Center, but again, no trail.  No signage.  And no one awake.  I probably wouldn't even be able to see anything with all the fog, so oh well.

I finally found some photographers on the side of the road, and one of them had hiked the mountain before.  So after driving the scooter around for about 30 minutes, I had to park it right next to the hostel, run up the road about 1 km back to the police station, check in with my mountain permits, and then follow that road for another 3 km to the actual trailhead.  There are shuttles that make this route in the morning, but not until after 8:00, so I walked.  The police station checked my forms, kept one half of one and told me to check back in with the other half of the form when I return so that they don't have to send out a search party for you thinking you're still stuck on the mountain somewhere.

First Light.

5:30 AM, I am finally walking up the road to the trail, and the sun started to come out.  I could make out the shapes of the mountains and see that the clouds had settled low enough that it would be clear climbing!  Yes!  I honestly was getting discouraged that it would be limited views, that I couldn't find the trail, that it would be a crappy day, and now it was totally turning out to be the opposite.  I found the trail, the clouds were low, the views were incredible, and my real journey had begun, with one step.

The Sea of Clouds

Clouds weaved their way in and out of the valleys, and the peaks poking through the clouds in the distance looked like islands.  The mountains of Taiwan are steep, very steep dropoffs on one side but the trail was well maintained.  Taiwan is essentially a big rock that erupted straight up out of the ocen during series of earthquakes that have taken place as a result of converging of four different plates.  The island continues to have earthquakes on a regular basis, as there are 42 active faults, but most are relatively minor.  The most recent major earthquake to occur was in 1999 (7.3 magnitude).  But the seismic activity is very evident in the topography of Taiwan, as most of the mountains are dramatic towers of steep rocks and sheer cliffs.



Cloud Atlas / Cloud Inlet.  I was just reading a book called Cloud Atlas, and the views were exactly what I imagined a Cloud Atlas to look like.

Jade Mountain, Taiwan - Solo Monkey, International Style (Part 1)

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end

Ernest Hemmingway

I get to travel some for work, and luckily on a recent work trip I had an opportunity to try to climb the highest peak in East Asia, Jade Mountain in Taiwan.  But this adventure began not at the TaTaJia Trailhead at the Jade Mountain National Park in Alishan, Taiwan, but long before that.  Just getting to the trailhead to climb Jade Mountain (玉山) was an adventure all by itself.  Part one of this trail report will detail the trail to the trailhead, and part two will detail the climb itself.

Jade Mountain Park Entry Permit Application

To climb Jade Mountain, you cannot just show up and start climbing the mountain.  There are two different permits you must attain before entering.  The first permit will authorize entry into the Yu Shan National Park, the application can be found by clicking here.  Because I was also planning on summiting and returning in one day, the requirements included providing photos of yourself on 3 or more summits above 3000 Meters (almost 10,000 feet), your exercise regimen in preparing for the climb, your equipment list...even your "Environmental Education" background (pack it in, pack it out, respect the mountain and terrain, etc.)  Being an Eagle Scout has its privileges.

The second application is a "Mountain Entry Permit", the application for this permit must be filed with the Interior Ministry of the National Police Agency of Taiwan here.  When you enter the park, the police station at the entrance takes the top half of the form.  If they don't get the second half of the form back when you descend, that's when they send out the search parties, looking over the cliffs to see if you've fallen off the mountain.



Scenes from a Train Ride.  And my ear.

So now...getting to Alishan.  The park is located in Alishan (阿里山), which is a township in ChiaYi County (嘉義鄉). I was staying in Taichung (台中), which is two counties away from Chiayi.  I jumped on an Express train and made it to Chiayi in a little over an hour.  I was hoping to ride the High Speed Rail to get there--it's fun to travel at 300 km/hour in a train--but there were no scooter rental stations at the HSR station, only at the train station.  But riding trains in Taiwan is very convenient, more space than a plane ride, foot rests, reclining chairs, and you can smoke between train cars if you would like.  Very Hollywood.


Once I got to ChiaYi, I went to the Big Elephant Scooter shop and rented myself a monster of a 125cc moped.  Taiwan is full of motor scooters, it's the most convenient way to get around and they're pretty fun to ride.  But when I told the shop keeper where I was heading...he just laughed and shook his head.  He couldn't believe first that I was planning on climbing Jade Mountain, and then couldn't believe that I was riding a scooter that far.  But he took my $400 Taiwan Dollars (about USD $14), and I was off.  After fueling up, I was on the road.



First view of the mountains...Beginning my climb from sea level to 2600 meters.  I got the scooter over 100 km/hr at one point on this straight away, which is much faster than I have skills to manage.

Stlong Blidge!  Stlong Blidge!  And a Taoist Temple.

I quickly turned up the skill level on the motor-scooter...At stop lights I start firing through the intersection when the opposite lights turned yellow (when the crossing light turns yellow that in essence means your light is green, even though it's red); I swerved and leaned into my turns like a pro; I non-chalantly pulled within 3-4 inches of dumptrucks and buses, sucking in fumes of other motorscooters and industrial vehicles.  Most people wear face masks to avoid inhaling the exhaust of so many vehicles, but not me.  You only live once.

The road up the mountain was a two lane highway, winding and winding and winding...steep drops on one side of the road and cars passing each other with obstructed views.  There were also a lot of very large vehicles going up and down this road, tour buses, construction trucks.  They really have no problem with passing one another on blind corners, either.  The whole traffic system is a series of suggestions and flow.  Just keep the roads flowing, don't stop and get in the way, avoid items larger than you, etc.  To see video footage of the road click here.

The Road to Alishan