The Great Wall 1/2 Marathon...Race Day!

So, it was finally here. 2,500 runners from 70 different countries. After thinking about it for 18 months, May 16, 2015 was upon us.  Because our bus was scheduled to leave at 3:30am, we went to bed and was asleep by 10pm.  Unfortunately, its tough to stay asleep after you have spent a whole day and evening trying to hydrate, so I was up at 12:45am. Yes, this was two hours before my alarm was to go off.  I tried to read, pray, lay quietly with my eyes closed, but nothing worked.  Finally, at 2am I decided to get up and shower...my day had started.

I did appreciate not feeling rushed, and we were outside with hundreds of other runners by 3:30am. Then it was the stampede to get on buses.  We were shut out of the first four buses, but then after a 10 minute wait, another driver came.  One of my favorite lines came from the director, addressing our pit stop on the way to the race.  He said, "We will shorten the pee stop." since we were 20 minutes behind schedule.

On the bus, it was quiet.  Most people slept, hardly anyone talked.  Andy fell asleep, but again, I closed my eyes and could not sleep...way too excited!!! It turned out, we didn't stop at all but went right up to the race...so there was a quick trip to the port a potties before we found our seat.  It was definitely a better feeling than the last time we headed up there, because this time we had our packets:)

Andy and I sat and took it all in.  We ate some banana, took some pictures, applied sun tan lotion, and kept drinking water. Both of us still couldn't believe it was finally happening!!! When it was about 7:30am we dropped off our bags and made one more stop at the port a potty, then it was time to get in line for our 8am wave of the race. We had been freezing when we arrived, but the sun was finally  out, the breeze stopped and the sun was warming us up.  We just took in the scenery again, being surrounded by such beauty was breath taking.  Then the gun went off and we were on our way!

Me and Caroline

The first 5k was uphill switchbacks, with a little reprieve in the middle.  We had planned on walking the steeper inclines and running the flatter course, but we found that we had trained hard on hills, and we changed our strategy to running as long as we could...especially since we knew that  there would be a lot of areas on the Wall where we would have to stop.  There were also a lot of local kids who loved to say hello, cheer us on and give us  high five.  I LOVED this part...it was so energizing and brought us a lot of joy.  In fact, I think it's a major reason why Andy and I made it all the way of the 5K without stopping.  And because we ran all the way up to the top and the base of the Wall, we created a lot of momentum.

Running/hiking/walking the wall was actually probably the easiest part of the whole thing.  We had already walked the same part, so we knew what to expect. And there were also several areas where we had to stop and walk or wait since we were bottle-necked at the more narrow, single-file parts of the course.  We did have the occasional participant, usually a younger kid, who was running the 8K, who was not patient and just wanted to push themselves through.  But overall, people were patient and considerate. The stairs were everywhere, with not too many flat or "runnable" areas, and then the descent, "Goat's Path" is CRAZY!! Our strategy was I would lead on the way up, and Andy would lead on the way down, and this worked great for us...minus a couple times when Andy got out his phone to video some of the run:) By the time we ran through the Square and off to the village, we were feeling great and felt like the hardest part was behind us.  Mentally, this was great...but this thinking may have been a bit overly optimistic:)

The second half of the race is pretty flat, and moves through a village.  To get to the village, you run about 3K on a paved road, where you can see people who have already run the village and are headed back to the Square. Then, when you get to the village, the road turns to dirt and gravel.  This is also where the marathoners and the half marathoners split for awhile, as the marathoners must do significantly more.  The village and road back were our toughest parts.  There were a few steep inclines in the village, and while they didn't even compete with what we had already run, they were unexpected.  It was also getting much hotter, and there wasn't much shade.  We made it through the turns of the village and were finally on the road back to the Square and the finish line.  This became very difficult for a couple reasons...we had already run 11 miles, most of it stairs and hills, it was significantly hotter, there were no more water stations (which had been pretty consistent over the rest of the course), and there was no shade. Andy hit a wall, and while I was feeling pretty good aerobically, my knees were feeling it and I was trying to find a balance of pushing him and supporting him.  I knew we just needed to get it done. Andy did a great job pushing through the pain and dehydration, and we crossed the finish line together at 2 hours and 49 minutes...we were thrilled!

After we were done, and we drank lots of water and had lunch, we met up with our friends from HK.  Caroline was waiting for her husband, who was running the full marathon.  He finished in 18th place and did amazing...it was fun to celebrate with them, too.

Our friend Ivan finishing the marathon

By 12:30pm we were back on the bus and on our way back to the hotel.  Both of us slept a bit, but most of the time we just reveled in what an amazing experience it had been and how happy we were that the race had gone so well.  I will attest that it was only by God's grace and strength that I was able to run my first 1/2 marathon on the Great Wall of China on 3 hours sleep!!

After getting back to the hotel, we relaxed and got cleaned up, then went back out to our celebratory dinner...a place called Capital M. We sat outside...weather still gorgeous...and enjoyed a delicious meal. We even saw three stars in the sky...which if you have ever been to Beijing, know that that could be miraculous.  It was a great ending to a great day and memorable experience!!!

The view on the way back to the hotel

Put a fork in him...he's done!

The Great Wall 1/2 Marathon...Day Off

After yesterday's Inspection Day, and doing a bit more than expected, we were looking forward to an easy and relaxing day.  On the agenda was finding the marathon office and getting our packets, touring the Summer Palace, eating and going to bed early.

We headed out at 8:30am to find the office.  We invited a father/daughter team that we had met (two of the "Undocumented Five") to split a taxi, and then we ran into our friends from HK the night before as they were getting to the hotel and asked if they wanted to join us, too. So the seven of us in two taxis trekked out, not having a clue where we were going.  Luckily, Mr. Lam was on the case. In fact, he pulled out all the stops.  When he found out that our friends from HK were not Americans, and that they were from Belgium, he played the Belgium National Anthem and a couple other Belgium hits...it was hysterical.

When we got to where we were going, Mr. Lam actually walked us to the office...and thank goodness he did.  Otherwise, there was no way we would have found our way through a maze and up an elevator.  We even got there before it was scheduled to be open and found that there were people there waiting to help us.  We all got our packets in hand and let out a huge sigh of relief.  Then, after dropping everyone else off at the Forbidden City, Mr. Lam drove Andy and me to the Summer Palace.  This was a place that we didn't get to go to when we had brought the kids, and it was the only thing left on my list.  To describe it in words wouldn't do it justice.  The Lord blessed us with another beautiful day, and we walked around, talking and soaking it in, thoroughly enjoying it.

Uninterested school boys gaming to the side

We finally met up with Mr. Lam around 2:00pm, but didn't get back to the hotel until closer to 3pm.  Since we skipped lunch (yes, not really the plan the day before running) we decided to find some snacks at the stores across the street and eat dinner in our room.  Neither of us felt like getting out in the traffic again, and Andy had an important work conference call at 8pm. So we found a Watsons (familiar drugstore), came back and ordered room service, and caught up on some email until he got on his call.  I did some reading, he was off in an hour, we chatted for a bit, packed our stuff for Race Day, and was in bed and asleep by 10pm. We had about three different alarms and were determined not to oversleep.  Turns out, that would not be a problem:)

The Great Wall 1/2 Marathon...Inspection Day

After a good night's sleep, we got down to the lobby at 6:30am to find about 50 other people ready board the bus with us. One thing I quickly observed was that these people looked like they were ready to run that day.  Because I knew that we were able and encouraged to take lots of photos, I dressed that part.  I also knew that we were only on the Wall for about an hour, so I wore my very comfortable Keen's...I was the only one without sneakers on:) I definitely started to second guess my apparel. We realized that the restaurant was open for our free breakfast, and since we hadn't eaten anything, we decided to run in and get a piece of fruit.  We weren't exactly sure what we were in for today, but at the least we had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the wall.  Sure enough, when we got back out, the lobby was empty.  Somebody pointed when they had gone...there was construction at the lobby entrance, so the group's buses were at the side entrance.  We had no problem catching up to the bus, but when they were collecting our name to get on, we found out we were not part of the group.  The woman directed us to a gentleman in the know, who pointed to another bus, blue and yellow, that we should get on.  As we were walking towards the bus, it started to drive off!  We started running after the bus, and before it got out of the parking lot, another attendant stopped it for us, and promptly yelled at us for being late.  Yep, good start!  Then it was the walk of shame to the back of the bus...but at least we made it on.  And all the way there I was hoping we were on the right bus with the right group:)

On the bus, we started talking to three other people who were there together...two American expats living in Shanghai, and the women's friend from Indiana.  I noticed that they had the same paperwork, which gave me a sense of relief that we were in the right group. What caused me some anxiety was that they had their race packets. We thought we were picking up race packets at inspection day.  As we read a little more carefully, it turns out that we needed to pick up the packets at their office in Beijing.  Our new friends were able to have theirs sent to them since they lived in China.

When we got to the Wall, we were ushered to Ying Yang Square...this was the starting and finish lines, and where all the runners were gathering for Inspection Day.  As we got closer to the Square, there were Wall officials who were collecting tickets.  Apparently, in your race packet are tickets to Inspection Day.  Andy and I were grouped with three other people who were in the same boat.  One of these young ladies (I think she was a Texas college student, and Asian) started arguing with the officials that they needed to let us in. We did have paperwork to prove we were runners...but these officials were not buying it...these were the rules...we needed tickets or we weren't getting in. Finally, a race official came over and vouched for us, and we were allowed to pass.  But we had a little laugh about this and called ourselves the "Undocumented Five."

After getting into the Square and waiting for about an hour as all the buses arrived, one of the coordinators went over all the rules and regulations.  There were timing rules and even an opportunity to change your race after inspecting the wall.  This was actually quite informative, and Andy and I were feeling better about making the effort to go to Inspection Day.

When he was done, all the runners boarded their buses, and were driven the 5K hill (that we will be running in the race) to the point where we will be entering the Wall.  Then we walked/hiked the 4K portion on the Wall back to the Square. WOW!  I'm not sure if this increased or decreased my anxiety about this race.  When we visited the Wall about 18 months prior with our kids, the Wall was a lot of stairs, but it was doable (plus, we got to ride down in a toboggan).  The portion of the Wall we would be "running" in the race was crazy...complete with lots of different size stairs, areas we would need to be single file, and places we would need to use a handrail.  But, I will say, we had an incredible day and all of the "scary"stuff could not take away from enjoying the incredible scenery. We took a ton of pictures, and we were so thankful for gorgeous, sunny, 85 degree weather (with very little humidity).

Instructions from the director in Ying and Yang Square 

Just remarkable surroundings in gorgeous weather!

Enjoying the beauty

We made it to the beginning:)

A few stairs

Single file and a hand rail for good reason!

Shade!!!

We can see the Square!

We got back to the Square to find Subway waiting for us.  I did survive quite well in my sandals...but Andy and I were drenched in sweat since we chose not to leave our back packs on the bus.  All in all, it was a great experience, and at least we were more informed of what kind of race this would be.

The drive back to the hotel was a bit longer (3 1/2 hours) because of traffic.  I was able to sleep a little bit, and Andy listened to a work call.  We got back to the hotel, showered and changed, and then met a group of Andy's work associates for dinner.  We were exhausted by the end of the day and had no problem going to sleep.