first ever experience of a taiwan running event

Participated in a running event organized by the Miaoli County Postal Service...The event was located about 14K from my city. This is my first time EVER running in a Taiwan distance event, so super exciting.

Reflections:

1. The air quality in the county is so much better. I plan to visit the area again just for fun.

2. Are running events in Taiwan always so...calm? I started cheering the returning 21K runners when they started appearing, but it seemed like I was the only one and the other runners seemed to find me strange. No acknowledgement whatsoever from the runners I was cheering on either, so I eventually just kept to myself and ran (silently) like everyone else.

3. After the races I'd attended in the US, runners usually received bananas, oranges, and bagels. In Israel, I had gotten dates and Israeli bagel. After today's race, I got meatball soup and rice noodles. Never knew these were good recovery food!

4. Newfound appreciation/respect for the Eighteen Peaks Mountain. Due to prolonged illness and bronchitis, I'd only ran three times (4-6K lengths) in the last two months. My expectation going in today was just to finish. Was pleasantly surprised to find how much Eighteen Peaks Mt. had prepared me for the hills, which seemed like nothing (save one really big one, which ironically was the south end of the Eighteen Peaks Mt).

My result for the 11K: chip time 1hr 8min; age division: 23th/460 (prize money: the equivalent of ~ US$3 or 12 shekels -- I know, I'm RICH); Total placement: 324th/2808. I'm sharing so much of this rather ho-hum data because this is actually one of the few times I have really felt a sense of accomplishment after the race. I had almost forfeited due to various reasons (such as forgetting my sports bra and discovering I'm about six weeks pregnant), so thank you God!