Day 28

Houlong to Shinfong.

In Cafe 85, the map comes out. We are behind schedule, though little shocked by that expected news. Neil’s adamant he finishes, if at all possible, on the 30th April. But with three days to go and around 150km to cover, we’re going to have to come up with a plan. So, today is Ultra-Monday. An Ultra-Marathon is anything over the standard distance of 42.2km. Today, for the first time, after twenty-seven days on the road, Neil will attempt a 50km run.

Running on Road 1 through Miaoli County is hilly, but a welcome change in scenery. A cone-hatted farmer walks an ox past me, across the road and into the field yonder. He is as suprised to see me sitting there as I am to see an ox less than two feet from my face. The weather’s cool and fresh after a rainfall and that foresty aroma hangs in the air all around. At 18km, Neil’s debating how best to psychologically tackle this Ultra-Marathon. The halfway point is simple because it is little different to where we usually take the halfway break at 22 or 23 kilometres. But 30km, that has always been the point at which Neil knows he’s on the last leg with only twelve remaining. Today, at 30km, he’ll still have 20km to go. However, he’s not worried. He thinks it’s interesting to debate, on the first attempt, the most effective way of going about the job in hand. We have no phones again today as all our belongings are still at Alex’s place in Hsinchu. A little paranoia creeps in. Distant memories of Day Seventeen are almost tangible.

Yet, everything is going well. Neil is storming through and eager to see what happens to his body past the 42.2km mark. We wonder if he’ll just not be able to run, not take a step further, his legs and mind being so conditioned to this distance. At 38km, we befriend an elderly Taiwanese fellow who works for the Formosa petrol station. He tells us about his Japanese friend who once cycled around Taiwan. Neil tells him what he thinks of that. “Easy!” he says.

At 44km, Neil’s quite simply in disbelief about how fast he is going. “Alice,” he tells me. “This is ridiculous!” We are also pleased, after seemingly having spent four days or more in and around Hsinchu, to finally leave it behind as we see no more signs towards the day’s end for this city of no escape. At the finish, it’s barely later than 11.00. After 50km on Day 28, I think he really can call himself a running machine. More surprises await though. As he approaches me I begin to congratulate him on his first Ultra-Marathon. But he just grabs me and hugs me, smiling, laughing like someone quite overcome with some form of joy, and explains that he can’t stop running. “Let’s go another two!” I cannot believe this madman. He never stops surprising me. So onwards I go, and enter a tunnel with no end. Damned if I’ll wait in the middle of it, I carry on to the exit. Slightly anxious that I’ve made Neil run 53 kilometres instead of the 52 he requested (I’ve learned never to guess how a runner will be feeling at any given point, let alone another quarter marathon on from the usual forty kilometres), I wait at the well-lit tunnel mouth. In no time at all, the rapid footsteps echo nearby. “Woohoo!” I hear. “Yip yip!” He is happy. He arrives. I actually have to talk him into stopping.