Episode 4-445 – The Hong Kong Running Scene with Mark Agnew

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-445 – The Hong Kong Running Scene with Mark Agnew  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4445.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-445 of the RunRunLive podcast.  How are we doing?  By the time this podcast tickles your inner ears it will be the shortest day of the year up here in New England.  It might even be that “After the holidays” scenario when someone bought you a new audio device or phone and you have downloaded some podcasts and you’re listening in to see what you like and sure enough you find this weird old dude who runs a lot and has a dog and rambles on and on and on about things that no one really cares about and then says something like, “Hey that was a 71 word sentence!” Vladimir Nabokov would be proud! Yup you new listeners can bail out now because it doesn’t’ get any better. This week we talk to Mark Agnew who is the extreme sports reporter in Hong Kong for the South China Morning Post.  No kidding a real, honest to goodness ex-patriot living in Hong Kong and covering the ultra-running scene.  Super interesting.  In section one we talk about running in the snow, because, yeah, I’ve been running in the snow.  Write about what you know is what someone said, so there you have it.  In section two I’m going to talk about the importance of a positive aspect.  Now Aspect is not a good old English word.  It is from Latin.  You might recognize that Latin root ‘Spec’.  As in Spectacles.  So Aspect means “to look” or in the case I’m using it “appearance”. Anyhow…  It’s been an uneventful couple of weeks since we last spoke.  I had a good higher volume week and got 5 runs in.  I did them all on the trails with Ollie so it only added up to 30 something miles but if I had been running those on the roads it would have been over 40 miles for the week. We got a nice big dump of dry snow this week.  Somewhere around a foot and a half.  It’s hard to tell because the storm had 30+ MPH winds so the snow wasn’t evenly distributed. I haven’t been out running in this new snow yet, but I have gone for a couple hikes with Ollie and it is hard going! It got cold and stayed cold. Woke up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.  It’s amazing how fast you adapt to the cold weather.   It’s so dry and so bright with the snow down.  It’s also acoustically amazing.  You can hear sounds traveling for miles in the dry air.    The coyotes were out last night singing in the woods.  Clear as a bell. Ollie was freaking out.  He wanted to get out of the house and have a go at them.  Or join them maybe.  He is a bit of a free spirit. That son of a gun has taken to ambushing me on the trails again.  It’s a border collie thing.  Buddy, my old dog did it too.  But Ollie is a bit aggressive. He’ll pounce on me and give me a nip if I’m not paying attention.  He’s not trying to hurt me but his big old velociraptor jaws are leaving me with vampire bites on my thighs. I’ve taken to carrying a small stick with me so I can swat him when he moves in for an ambush.  What the southerners would call a switch.  Maybe I’m bringing back some bad memories of someone having a switch taken to them. “Switch” is an old German word.  Means long thin stick.  Maybe I should have used the word ‘crop’ like a riding crop.  “Crop” is another old German word.  I think we’re seeing a pattern.  Lots of swatting going on with those old Germans.  But anyhow I can give him a little swat and it keeps him from biting me.  I read an article about a woman who died from a dog bite.  She got the flesh eating bacteria!.  Yikes.  But what I’m really worried about is turning into a were-collie.  (by the way ‘were’ is Algo Saxon for ‘man’ – so were-wolf is literally ‘man-wolf’) If I were to turn into a were-collie, some morning of the full, collie moon, I might awaken with an urge to go on long runs in the woods, and chase a frisbee, and get my belly rubbed, and roll in dead animals, and have an odd fascination for sheep… Hey wait a second… Oh my God! I’m a were-collie… No, just kidding, that’s not true, I hardly ever roll in dead animals. On with the show!   About Zero ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action. Link to my ZERO page: (for Donations) … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  … Section one – Snow Running - http://runrunlive.com/snow-running   Voices of reason – the conversation Mark Agnew – Sports Journalist from Hong Kong Outdoor and Extreme Sports Editor Mark Agnew joined the Post in 2017 to capture the booming extreme sports scene in Hong Kong. He has been involved in outdoor and extreme sports his whole life. Since living in Hong Kong, his interest has expanded to endurance sports, including ultra-running and long distances ocean rowing. Areas of Expertise: Outdoor and extreme sports Languages Spoken: English     Section two – Positive Aspect-     Outro Ok my friends we have run up the side of Mt. Victoria through the end of Episode 4-445 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  We can take the tram down.  Got a lot of gear to review for you today.  First, I invested in a new pair of Hokas.  The Clifton 6.  These are road shoes.  I’ve worn them a couple times and I love, love, love them.  Haven’t done more than 8 miles but they are super comfy and easy to run in.  Second thing is I have been testing my new light.  Remember I told you about this light.  It’s the keyword rich one I got from Amazon for 24 bucks.  (big inhale) West Biking Night Running Lights, USB Rechargeable Chest Light with 90° Adjustable Beam Angle, 500 Lumens Waterproof Ultra Bright Safety Warning Lamp with Reflective Straps for Runner Jogger Camping (big exhale) Nabokov would not be proud.  It works great!  It’s USB, so no batteries and as long as you remember to charge it, it is super bright.  The main light sits in the middle of your chest like the headlight on a train and lights up the road or trail without you having to hold anything.  It’s got a red safety light on the back.  The main light can be tilted up or down and has two brightness settings.  I like the brightness and the hands free aspect.  The only thing I found that is minorly annoying is that since it is fixed, you have to turn your whole body if there is something not directly in front of you that you want to aluminate.  And since there is only one shoulder strap it tends to cant to one side a bit and you end up adjusting it every so often to bring it back to center.  The final thing was that pair of keyword rich gloves I got.  I’m using them but they are nothing special.  They’re not warm enough and I’ve already torn them during a fall.  Ollie and I have kept on exploring the trails in town and hooked in a couple new ones last week.  It’s fun to explore.  Now my other big news and where I’m going to blatantly ask for your help, is my new apocalypse podcast.  I’ve rewritten and added to the narrative of the old man in the apocalypse and created a new podcast called After the Apocalypse.  I’m releasing it as a serial.  There will be a new chapter each week and the whole season will be a coherent narrative arc.  This one is going up on a site called Acast.  I’ve put a trailer up as a place holder and the first episodes will be dropping in January.  If you go to you’ll be directed to the Acast site. I’ve hired a professional voice actor to be my narrator and it sounds great.  I had some artwork made and original music as well.  I’m really excited about this project. What I need form you is, when the podcast is live, go leave a review on one of the podcast sites, and share it with your friends.  I set up a Patreon page as well so if you’d like to help our survivors in the apocalypse you can go there and become a patron.  That’s . Stayed tuned for more, but I think this is going to resonate with fans of that genre.  And you might ask, “Hey Chris, don’t you have enough to do already?”  And you are right.  I have no excuse.  I am already too busy.  But, I listen to these athletes that I interview and they decide to do something.  To pitch their work a day lives and do something big.  Because they want to.  I wanted to do this.  So I gave myself permission to do it.  To do the best I can, maybe not be perfect, but to let myself go ahead and do it without expectation for the shear joy of it.  What is it that you always wanted to do but were too busy to do?  Or maybe you didn’t want to fail?  Or maybe you were afraid to succeed?  You’re not getting any younger my friend.  Pitch it all and do something you want to do.  You deserve it.  You’ve been a good soldier.  Now do something you want to do and make the world a better place because of it! I’ll leave you this week with a wonderful old anglo-Norman word.  Despair.  What does that mean? The prefix De is away or from.  Spair is from the old French meaning hope.  So Despair means to lose hope.  But, did you know that there is another form of this word, that is seldom used?  Respair.  Not kidding.  That’s a real word, even though Microsoft Word disagrees with me.  And of course it means to restore hope.  So use Respair in a sentence.  And I will see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff -> Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.