What a fantastic but exhausting weekend! Our overnight train pulled into Changzhou at about 6am this morning after an action-packed weekend of sight-seeing and running.
The biggest event of the weekend was the Great Wall Marathon - a ridiculously tough, steep and brutal race. I didn't do the whole thing (thank goodness) but the half marathon was still plenty challenging enough for me. Sean, however, did complete the entire race in 5 hours and 34 minutes. His first words out of his mouth after crossing the finish line were, "I'm never, ever doing that again."
During the weekend we stayed with Daniel's (teacher from last year) dad who works for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing. He had also decided to join in the race and ran the 10k. To get to the race on Saturday morning we were up at 2:45am to get to the bus pick-up point for a 3 hour ride to the wall. The weather couldn't have been more perfect - I don't think I have ever seen a bluer sky in China. Though the day started out a bit chilly, it eventually transformed into a breezy, dry, 70-degree paradise for running.
There were only about 2000 runners in total for all of the events - but most of them looked like serious runners and had come from all over the world to participate in this "adventure" marathon. I was immediately intimidated. While we slurped our breakfast noodles and chugged coffee in a restaurant near the wall we listened to conversations of other runners' conquests of past triathlons and ultra-marathons while watching them get in their zone and do some elaborate pre-race preparations. Hard-core runners are kind of a freaky bunch, to be honest.
While Sean had trained a lot harder than I had and was ready to push himself to the limit, my goal was to have fun, take some pictures and to finish. Qin Chen, my roommate, had also come along as our official "spectator" (even spectators had to buy a separate ticket to participate). Sean and I started in the "slow" corral which meant that we began our race 10 minutes after the professionals.
The race itself was probably one of the hardest races I have ever tried. The first 3 miles were steep uphill on a road leading up to the wall and after that it was 2 miles of stairs up and down dips in the mountains. This was insane. Not only were the steps uneven and hard to manage but the sheer number of stairs and the steepness of the grade was unlike anything I could have prepared for. Needless to say, I walked a lot. Actually, everyone did. You had to. At times, the wall got so thin that bottlenecks formed and we had to wait for 10-20 minutes for everyone to pass through tricky and dangerous sections. It was more of an adventure "hike" with occasional jogging instead of a marathon.
I was very happy to be off the wall and after that we ran through a nearby town. This was a uniquely Chinese experience as I was passed by trucks filled with pigs, had to run through manure, farmland, kick chickens out of my way and negotiate the course through tiny alleys. It was hilarious. All of the other runners were friendly and excited and we frequently stopped to take pictures of each other - it was a great atmosphere and experience to be a part of. Many people wore outfits to represent their countries. There were Canadians in hockey jerseys, Brazilians in soccer paraphernalia, South Africans who blew on vuvuzelas the entire way and Frenchmen with flags painted on their faces.
During the whole route, Chinese children shouted "Jiāyóu!" (add gas!) while clapping their hands, yelling "Ni hao" and "Hello" and handing us flowers (not very useful but a nice gesture nonetheless). Other children and their parents gathered up the empty plastic bottles that the runners tossed on the ground to be turned in for cash. My favorite groups of bystanders were the old Chinese men who sat on tiny stools, smoked cigarettes and shook their heads and muttered while watching the crazy, scantily clad runners dash in front of them.
It was a great day without any injuries, complications or bad weather and I feel lucky that I was able to be a part of it. That being said, I have no desire ever to run on the great wall again. Once is enough.
What an awesome experience! Ross & I were wondering this weekend how it would turn out for you guys. Thanks for sharing the pics!