Ready for the Marathon !!!!!

If somebody tells me three years ago that I would be running a marathon, I'd laugh really hard and say "are you kidding me?"

But here I am - tomorrow morning - on Feb 17th 2008 I'll be running the first marathon (the 2008 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon) in my life!!!!!

One small clarification though - I'll be running the 10km race (i.e., not the full marathon) in the event. I know I know, it's only 1/4 of a full marathon, but I already felt like I am "writing a NEW page in my life"!!! (haha... making it sound so "grand"!!) ^o^

Anyways, wish me luck and we'll see how I do tomorrow!!!

Pre-race Preparation


My Runner number


The hand drawing picture that I am going to pin on the back of my running shirt. Obviously, I didn't draw this ;) But then why would I put this on my back then?


Well... here is your answer!!! (read the message)
Meaningful, isn't it??! I am going to carry this Chan Hei Lam little girl's hand drawing picture and run the full race together with her, spreading the message of green living!!! =D
I am really excited!!!


My "Battle Armor" tomorrow


front


back

Okay, that's it for now. My race starts at 5:40am tomorrow, so need to go to bed and get enough race!!! Wait for my good news tomorrow!!! YOSH!!!!
^_________________________^


p.s. Julie, GOOD LUCK for your race too!!!! =D

Firework Recap (Part II)

My family used to travel and take long tours during Chinese New Year holiday, so I didn't have much memory of Chinese new year celebration in Hong Kong at all, not to mention watching the CNY firework on the 2nd night of the near year.

I guess that must be why I felt especially excited about participating in such a Hong Kong-specific CNY celebration, the annual firework!!!


Hehe... yay, the long missed Chinese New Year in Hong Kong!!!


Getting ready to go to Tsim Sha Tsui by MTR. Oh no, look, it's already packed with people there (according to the news reporter on TV)!!!

A little Detour - saving my poor stomach


I didn't have time to have dinner beforehand because I was running at the gym in preparation for the upcoming Standard Charter Marathon on the 17th. Hungry..... =(


Under Mike's pressure to pick something quickly so that we could get going, I picked a Japanese sweet potato bun. Yea, have a weakness for sweet potato, hehe...

On MTR


I bet you can't tell that I had a mouth-full of sweet potato when I took this picture, huh?!


People People People!!!


Hey hey hey, no picture on MTR!!!


You can tell that some people really likes playing with his DSLR camera!! ;) Can't help snapping pictures everywhere!!


Right?! Mr.!!

The Crowd @ Tsim Sha Tsui


We arrived at Tsim Sha Tsui around 7:40. As expected, everywhere was already fully-crowded with people!!!


People were walking around trying to find the best spot to watch the firework.


While others were trying to meet up with the other family members or friends.


At times like this, I am glad that we already "found" each other!!!! ^o^

Chinese New Year Decoration Lights?!

I didn't know they have Chinese new year lights now, in addition to the traditional X'mas lights!!!



Even little kids wanted to captured the happy atmosphere!!


"Hey come over here!!! Let's try to find a good spot!!"


We started walking towards the Cultural Center... but then found out that the view there was partially blocked by the buildings. So we walked back to where we were.


Luckily we somehow found an overpass that allowed us to cross over to the sea side. (All the roads around that area were blocked off.)


The view on the overpass was pretty, overseeing the entire Victoria Harbor; however, we could only walk pass the overpass but not stay and watch the firework from there. Probably for security reason, to avoid any pushing, climbing, falling incidents...


Police fenced off a bunch of passages on the ground too to control human traffic...


Coming down from the overpass. Wow.. this side was much closer to the water front. We were satisfied. Hee...

Let the show BEGIN!!!


Finally the long-waited firework started!!!

It was sooooo PRETTY and AMAZING!!! The whole 26 minutes of non-stop "wow"!!!





See how people's attention was all captured by the intense firework?! (Speaking of which... why were you taking a picture of me at this time, Mike?!!)


A lot of people had their camera up too!!!

The last minute Amazement
The last minute of the firework was the most breath-taking!! Luckily I was able to capture it on video.

You can hear people cheering and feel how "in the middle of a crowd" we felt like at that time!!



Happy satisfied us!!!


After the Firework

We were still taking pictures even after the firework show!! We were "helpless"!! hehe~


But can't you blame us?!! Victoria Harbor has such a wicked-cool view!!!


Finally on our way back. We were trying to get to the nearest MTR station; however, neither Mike nor I knew which direction was the right one, so we just followed the crowd (well... one of them). Mike was unsure if this was the right way...


"Should we be heading that way instead?" I wondered.
(Yea, we ended up being lost for awhile before we found our way back to an MTR station!! hahaha...)

People Leaving...


You could see people leaving Tsim Sha Tsui in all directions after the firework.


Hmm... I wonder which crowd was heading to the MTR station?!?!


Some smarter ones already made reservation at nearby restaurants and had dinner afterwards.


I bet the restaurant nearby had really good business that night!!!


Some couldn't wait for a proper dinner and just went to the nearby street stalls and bought quick street snacks instead. I was soooo tempted as well..... Apparently that sweet potato bun was not enough for dinner... (my poor stomach...)


While wandering, we found the cutest rat light decoration I have seen so far this year... (Sorry, I am not a very big "rat" person!! Last year's pigs were so much cuter!!!)


Anyways, we had such a great firework-watching night!!!! SUCCESS!!!! =D