Great Wall Half Marathon (Read 387 times)

Well back and jetlagged from China, so I figured I would write a race report about the race. May be foggy, but I'll do my best. Arrived in China on May 10 for the May 17th race and hit the ground running. We went to see the flag raised in Tiannaman square and did a 5 mile run around the Forbidden City with the group-about 50 of us. The tour group-Kathy Loper events had us booked and seeing all the sites over the next few days. I was even lucky enough to be in XIAN during the earthquake and had to evacuate the hotel. No real damage though. Race info. We all had to take a 3 hour bus ride to the site on Thursday and walk the 2.5 miles we would run on the wall. A bus took us up a 3 mile winding steep mountain road(we were all groaning)to the wall. It was great to see where we were going to run and just enjoy the view and take photos. Everyone was saying-they were going to walk most of the first 5.5 miles because of the steepness and steps of the wall. I agreed. Then a 3 hour bus ride back to the hotel and a pasta dinner. Race day. Wake up at 2am for a 3am start on the bus. I didn't sleep much and stared out the window. Arrived in Ying/Yan square and everyone started their prerace readiness. This part of the wall is not really visited much, so pretty rustic and rural. There were 2 waves for both the full and half and I was in wave 4. Gun went off at 7:40 and we were off. We hit the steep road immediately and I figured I would run at an easy pace as long as I could. Well, I ran the entire time and felt great. I finished that 3 miles in 31 minutes and then reached the wall. Here I knew it would be slower. Again, I felt good, so I stayed with some people who were running the spots you could and passed alot of people walking. Don't get me wrong I walked the steps and steep spots, but was surprised at how well I did on the dwonhill. I finished the part with a time of 1:26:02 on my watch. Well back to the square and flat ground-not! The 2nd half was flat for a bit and then we ran into the local village. The roads were a mix of gravel, dirt and stone and through farmers fields. It's hard to worry about pace, so I just ran what felt good. The best part about all of this was the people saying "hi 'five" "good luck" and "run" to us. I had one stop when a herd of goats stopped us and we had to wait for them to cross the path-I wouldn't have missed that for the world. The last mile and a half was back towards the square. I actually was surprised at how many people were walking and I was passing(ok how did they get in the wave ahead of me-another day). I heard the noise in the square and finished in 2:46:25! I'm told you should add 1 hour to your best time and thats 1:53 for me, so I was ecstatic. I ended up placing 8th in my age group of 45-49. I turn 50 in July and this was my birthday gift, so well worth it all. The next day was off for fun and shopping and sharing stories. I really had no pain and I guess all my hill training paid off. I'm so glad I did the race, met great people and just had fun. Not many people were there for any other reason. Sunday was the Gala dinner and awards. The male marathon winner placed a new record by 5 minutes and my husband said he was running down the wall 2 steps at a time. I will be buying the video of this race! Well, I've rambled, but I will say it was worth every penny. Off to the next race on the first of June and no more complaining about port a potties- another story. Kathy

That sounds like a fantastic experience! Congrats!

That is too cool for words.