Kuan Yee Han’s Blog

This picture says it all.

I managed to complete my first marathon within the six hour limit! It was quite a torturous run for me in the last few miles. The endless hills and a six hour time limit added on to my misery. I had to complete within the given time frame or else I wouldn’t get the medal and also have my time noted in the official results.

During the run, there were a few thoughts that came to my mind. In the first 8 miles, I was running quite okay and told myself that “Hey, you can do this all day long. After the mid point, I was very happy that I managed to complete a half marathon distance (21km). And then it struck my mind that I had another half marathon to go. At about three quarter mark, I was like “Why on earth did I sign up for the marathon? Paying $120 to torture myself!”.

At that point, each step hurt a lot. I realized that my knee and feet would not take it any longer so I started to walk. The last stretch was uncalled for. I thought that the first half would be crazy enough during the Hurricane Point mark. The last stretch was very hilly and curvy. When I saw the 1 mile mark to go, I was totally excited. And it turned out that the the one mile was the longest mile ever. When I saw the finish line, I just sprinted and completed my race in 5 hour 39 mins, just short of the 6 hour limit.

Nevertheless, the whole view along Highway One was spectacular. Even if you don’t run a marathon there, you should take the opportunity to travel there to enjoy the breathtaking view. It has one of the best scenery, right at the edge of the Western world.

It was a great accomplishment, given that I did not really train for the marathon. The longest distance I ran was about 12km, and for the past 2 months, I rarely ran more than 10 miles a week. And sometimes I didn’t run at all for some weeks (which was a bad decision). Coz my legs joint are very sore now. I can hardly walk and each step is a mammoth task for me. Anyway, look at my delighted face upon completing the race. Still can’t believe that I completed the marathon.

Now that I have completed my first marathon, will there be a second one?

Added 28 April 08:
I forgot to mention that I would like to thank Ruey Feng. He’s the one who persuaded me to sign up for this marathon back in February 08, which means that I wouldn’t have completed this marathon or run any marathon at all. (In other words, he’s the one who ‘psycho-ed’ me into signing up). Haha.

He also signed up for Big Sur Marathon but he had to go back to Singapore for some personal stuff. Ruey has done a few marathons (His best timing was about 3 1/2 hours. Yup that’s very impressive). We did a few lunch-time 5 mile runs for training. Before he left, he was quite worried that I would suffer during the run given that I did not train well for the marathon. He told me not to push myself too hard just to complete the race because I may just end up hurting myself. But I told him and myself that I will complete the marathon within 6 hours and get the medal. And I did! “Once you have completed a marathon, there’s nothing that you cannot achieve if you do not try or put in any effort” Yup, thanks for your advice, Ruey! And also thanks to my family for being so caring for me. Love you all!

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The day is finally approaching. In less than 24 hours time, I’ll be very dehydrated, have sore legs joints and gasping desperately for air. Not sure how I will survive the whole ordeal- 42.195 km. I was outta my mind when I signed up, and now I will do my best to complete the marathon and get the medal back.

It won’t be easy and one thing I can say for sure is that I will go there and enjoy the magnificent Highway One scenic road. Let’s hope to hear good news from me when I’m back. I’ll be leaving soon with my colleagues who offered to drive us down all the way to Monterey where we’ll be staying overnight there. The marathon will start at 6.45am which means we’ll have to leave pretty early.

Hopefully the determination and perseverance will bring me to the ending point within 6 hours. Wish me luck!

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I shall continue my post on Zion. This will be the last post of my trip to Zion National Park, Utah on February 16, 2008. Since I visited this park during winter, the shuttle bus system does not operate at this time. So, I managed to go for the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive which is open to private vehicles from October 29 through March 20.

This is a 6 mile drive. A short drive along the canyon floor with some icy spots which remain during the winter. I almost got stuck when I parked my car on a lump of ice. There was no grip on the tires for me to reverse the ca but luckily there were two kind souls who helped me pushed my car from the front. I was a bit panicked at that time because that would mean trapped in the car park.

Thank goodness everything went well so I managed to drive around to admire the view in Zion. I drove to a place known as Temple of Sinawava. It was at the end of the drive where you can see a high waterfall.

I will share some of the shots taken along the drive. So, I would recommend you to visit this place during the late fall to winter season because that’s the only time you can drive around in the park. And only then you can get to see such a beautiful view.

Whatever angel that you take, the place will always seem gorgeous. No matter how you take the photos, it still turned out nice. That’s why people say that Zion is a heaven on earth.

Then another scenic drive to go to would be the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. There’s this tunnel between the East Entrance and Zion Canyon which was built in the 1920s when cars were small and fewer in number. I stopped at the slope to take a shot of the scenic road with my car. It was still going strong at that time.

Leaving the East Entrance. Here wraps up my trip to Zion National Park. My next stop would be to Grand Canyon National Park. If only the North Rim is open during winter, I will only have to drive for about 2 hours. To reach the south rim, I had to drive a total of 5 hours instead. So, here I go again. Bye Zioni, Hello Grandier!

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Emerald Pools is one of Zion’s sweetest signature trails. Generously endowed with breathtaking scenery, this trail is one that children and adults alike will have fun hiking. Waterfalls, pools and a dazzling display of monoliths create the Emerald Pools Trail System.

There are three pools in the Emerald Pools Trail System – Lower Emerald Pool, Middle Emerald Pool and Upper Emerald Pool. How (un)creative! Who cares actually as long as they are not named as Pool # 1, #2 and #3. This trail is a short one, about 1 mile round trip depending where you start your hike. There are three ways to enter or exit the Emerald Pools Trail System, so unlike most of Zion’s trails there is no need to backtrack. I entered through Kayenta Trail.

However, I didn’t managed to get close to the waterfall because the trail that I took was somehow closed for access near the waterfall. So I can only see the waterfall from a distance of about 10 meters! Oh man, it’s so near but yet so far. This is the view that I got.

The pools and waterfalls are the attraction here, but the surrounding scenery is outstanding as well. The paved lower trail is a treat for kids and nice for parents pushing a stroller.

I went to the Middle Pool to check out. The color is not as green as I thought it might be. Nevertheless, the hike to the place offers amazing view, though Angels Landing has a better view.

On the way back to my car, there are nice views along the trail. Here are some photos that I took.

One more thing that I do not really understand is that why do people stack up the stones whenever they find plenty of small stones. And they stack the stones in lots of stacks. Is it to meant to symbolize something? Can anyone enlighten me please?

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Moving on from Angels Landing, I took another route known as West Rim Trail towards West Rim Spring. Along the way, I see spectacular rock formations covered with snow. However, I didn’t complete the whole trail. I would have to cut short the hike if I want to move on to other locations.

Here are some photos on why I love Zion National Park. There are cliffs along the way, trails covered with snow, nice rock formations.

The more you walk, the more awe you become. It was just a great experience hiking in snow. It’s nice to hike alone because you can do it at your own pace, and you don’t have to worry too much if you hike too fast or slow. You can get close to the nature- feel the serenity and enjoy the scenery.

But it’s very dangerous! Although you may see people occasionally along the way, if you just fall off the cliff, nobody will know about that unless you survive the fall and then SCREAM! Icy trails are real icy so without proper equipment, you must really hike with care. I had a few slips but managed to hike on. I brought a backpack and a tripod along so some people may thought that I was just a crazy dude. I brought along more bottles of water and energy bars that I need and clothes that I can wear just as a precaution if I ever get lost while hiking. Low probability but I was just a bit extra careful since I was hiking alone.

Anyway, Zion offers a spectacular view with snowy trails. After this hike, I went back to my car for lunch before I headed off for another short hike to Emerald Pool.

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