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!