June 19, 2012
Every year the Great Wall Marathon takes place for 2,300 participants that are crazy enough to want to take on the endeavor. There's a 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon, and the full, and no matter what option you pick the entry fee is the same, $300. That's a big commitment. I decide to indulge in the longest option I think possible, the 1/2 marathon.
Running outside proved brutal. My lungs burned like I was running in a bar while smoking a pack of cigarettes and I got lots of stares, something my imperfect running form didn't need. I resorted to moving my training to the hotel gym I have access to....a treadmill where the volume on the TV fades in and out and a beat-up stair machine. Things were not looking good.
Two weeks before the race I received my race packet. The pictures in the packet that was provided are less than inspirational... Yep, that first lady is crawling up the stairs and the second guy is walking. His race tag on his shirt shows he's only doing the 5k. What was I thinking?!
Race day approaches. Steve gets scheduled to work in Bangkok, Thailand all week. The race is Saturday morning. After several plane mishaps he arrives at our hostel at 3:00am Saturday morning. I have hardly slept worrying about his flights and the very dark and curvy drive to our hostel with a driver that has been up all day driving. Good thing the race starts in just four hours.
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| Hostel from the outside. There was a restaurant on the bottom floor |
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| Inside our room. It was just big enough for three beds, they must be used to packing people into these things. |
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| Notice that the shower is also the bathroom. |
And then it all begins...
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| About 50 feet in, the climb to the wall begins. I get pshyched out and start taking walk breaks around the first mile. Of course I don't know that it's the first mile since I only saw three signs marking the distance the entire race, but that's my best guess. There's no way I can do this for 13.1 miles, not a chance. |
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| Because I was running so slow the start group after me caught up with me and I got stuck in a major bottle neck that lasted 50 minutes waiting to get through a very thin section of the wall that only one person could pass through at a time. A normal person would have been upset at this unfair hold up, I however appreciated the break and the chance to take photos. |
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| Yep, that's the edge of the wall. A straight shot down. I recall a line my dad said once in another overwhelming experience..."well.. there's the ledge if you need to jump". I needed to jump. |
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| back to never-ending stair climbing... |
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| and descents too steep to run. |
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| The only toilet I saw the entire race. It was on the wall so I'm going to guess it was very...umm...only for emergencies. |
Somewhere around this point the race on the wall ended and a rather flat road race finished it. However I didn't know this, I kept thinking at any minute we would head back to the wall. I should have READ the race packet instead of just looking at the pictures of people suffering.
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| Spectators on the side of the road |
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| More spectators... |
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| Running through a housing area... |
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| And then a miracle happened. My friend Olivia who had started in the corral behind me caught up with me and we got to run the last few miles of the race together. Her spirit carried me, she was a lifesaver. This is her on the left. |
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| A woman washing her clothes in a stream that we passed over. |
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| The end |
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| Maeve congratulating me. |
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| The expats from TEDA that ran. The red bibs are for the 1/2, the blue bibs are for the 10k. Boys are smarter than girls after all. |
Will I be back? Not a chance. But I'm glad to say that I've done it. Mission Accomplished.
