The Great Wall Marathon

This is a repeat if you caught it on my other blog, but I wanted to keep you up to speed on this one!  I've been in China the last month, and they're not BlogSpot friendly.  So if you wanted to see any updates you had to find me on Instagram (@cutemomstuff) or follow either of my wordpress blogs.  Or email.  Tristan and I thought we'd head over and spend a month with my parents. It was crazy how fast time flew and as I sit here in my living room, wanting to gouge my eyes out typing up ad match ups that are a day late, I am missing China. NOt just because it was cool-but because if this was Sunday night in China I wouldn't be a day late with the match ups ;)  And, China was fun.  I could live there.  But only if I had a driver and maid service ;) Anyway, one of the things that I got to do was participate in the Great Wall Marathon.  It was my first marathon, and now I am hooked.  Not hooked on like regular marathons, but the adventure ones.  My next goal is the one in Africa where you get to run by the lions.  Supposedly a few days before the race the rangers start monitoring the lions eating-if they haven't eaten a lot they feed them so they're not hungry. Then they have rangers every few hundred yards with guns so they can shoot whatever animal decides to eat you.  This brings an entirely new motivation to running.  OK! Anyway... here we go:
 

I mentioned a couple times that I was in China, but I rarely mentioned that I was planning on doing the Great Wall marathon. I didn't tell a ton of people because I was actually slightly concerned I might die. I decided less than 60 days before the marathon that I was going to do it, which really didn't give me time to train. So I mentioned it on Instagram (@cutemomstuff) and then told a few other friends. See, I am not much of a runner. I never have been. In fact, I was married before I ever even ran 3 miles at once, I used to hate it. Now I love it. It all started when my friend Shelby asked me to train for a marathon with her. I said yes, I always thought running a marathon was cool but never had the gumption to actually sign up and train for one. She was great inspiration. I thought I was going to die the day I ran 5 miles in a row. But I did it. Then we did a 10 miler, a half marathon, a couple more big runs (15 miles), and by then I was 6.5 months pregnant and decided I'd rather sit on the sofa and eat bon bons than actually do the marathon. Now looking back I wished I would have, but hindsight is 20/20. After I had Tristan I got back into running. I was surprised at how easy it was to do a half marathon. In fact, my running buddy for a good chunk of that first half marathon was a 70 year old man who runs almost every half and full marathon in Texas. Shoot. If a 70 year old can do it, I should be able to. And if I am able to, anyone can! There! That has been said. I am not a runner and I did the Great Wall marathon. I remember hearing about the marathon on the Great Wall years ago. I remember thinking, "Wow, that'd be cool to do." Followed by, "That will never happen." Little did I know that my parents would end up moving to Beijing, China, and I would have the chance to run in it. ... how often does THAT happen? Race day this year was May 18, 2013. I was worried that the weather would be hot like it had been when we went out to the Wall on the Thursday before. If it was hot, I was planning on dying at mile 19, if I hadn't died by then. Thankfully, we woke up and it was slightly chilly and cloudy with a tiny threat of rain. I was pretty excited. Not for rain, but for clouds. Of course, then I opted to leave my iPhone in the gear check instead of taking it with me. Sometimes I regret that decision as there were parts of the route I would like to have more than a memory of, but that's OK.
There were 3 different runs going on, there was the full marathon (26.2 miles), a half marathon (13.1 miles) and a fun run, which I believe was 6 miles. They started everyone in waves so the wall wouldn't get too bottlenecked (it did anyway)- the fastest runners going first. My aunt and cousin were running the full marathon with me, and then my other cousins were doing the half and the fun run. It was so much fun to have a group to hang out with. My cousin Hunter is a professional triathlete, and he is pretty competitive so we knew he'd take off and be gone. But Jody and I planned on sticking together, even though we kept telling each other, "If you want go ahead and don't wait for me..." That was meant more for Jody than me, but she was sweet and stuck by me.
Our race started at 7:40am, and we jumped in with a group of excited runners. We started at Yin and Yang square and then headed down the road towards the mountain where we would then head up for a few miles, and then venture onto the Great Wall. I am going to guess that it was about 3 miles of uphill mountain road before we got to the Great Wall, and then it was just stairs from there. It was pretty crazy and exciting. We couldn't believe we were there, in China, running in the marathon. Once we got over the shock and felt the pain in our legs from the stairs, we started to believe we were there :) Just like we were told, parts of the wall were bottlenecked. Honestly, I was glad for the rest, and glad people weren't racing through these areas. We chatted with the other runners and took a good breather. Some parts of the wall have only had one side, leaving an edge you could fall off. This year they finally put up a hand rail. They also put ropes along the wall in the really steep places so you had handholds. People who had done the race before said they were much appreciated. During one of the bottlenecks where Jody and I were just starting to head down when we heard the crowd erupt into cheers. We peeked over heads and saw a guy proposing to his girlfriend. Everyone cheered again and then we all kept moving. It was pretty cute. We headed down what they nicknamed "the goat trail" and tried not to slip and die. At the bottom of this area we got off the wall we entered Yin and Yang square again and headed out a different way. This time we headed out towards the villages. Locals lined the road to cheer us on. They gave us high fives and there were lots of smiles. I think they were secretly laughing at us for being so dumb :) By this time my legs felt like tree trunks, and we still had about 20 miles to go. After climbing all those mountain roads and then the wall, I was pretty tired and had no desire to do anything but walk. Thankfully Jody kept cheering me on and we kept moving. We got to our first small village that was off the beaten path when these 2 little boys saw us coming. They scampered up the hill side, picked a couple of HUGE bouquets of flowers and gave them to us. We jogged with the flowers for quite a while and then we gave them to some girls in the village. In turn, they gave us jelly beans. We happily ate those. Then we got more flowers, which we traded for more candy, which we then traded for flowers. This went on until we were no longer in the villages. We eventually ended up on a dirt road and hit an aid station that had bananas and water, and a toilet. We decided to take a potty break. The toilet was just a green tent, I assumed inside there was a bathroom, til we opened the flaps, saw the wet ground and realized... that was the toilet. We decided to burn our shoes once the race was done. This aid station also marked the turn around for the half marathon. We lost a lot of foot traffic at that point. Out of almost 3,000 runners, only about 800 did the marathon. Most people did the half.
We kept plodding along until we saw a slight incline. Just at the top of the incline we saw my cousin. We were stoked to see him. He kept yelling at us, "MOVE! You have to RUN!" We talked to him for just a second. He told us he made it to the halfway point in 2 hours, and then it took him an hour to go the next 2 miles. "What happened!??" I worriedly asked. He's 18 and ridiculously in shape. It's not fair. He pointed to the horizon and said, "That happened." We panicked a little at this point because at 6 hours, they close the second entry point to the wall. Meaning, if you don't make it back to Yin and Yang square after 6 hours, you don't get to finish the marathon. We had actually heard a story about a guy last year that got to the square and saw them closing the gate... 30 seconds too late to finish. We couldn't imagine training, flying to China, and not completing the marathon, even if we crawled in. So we jogged about another 100 yard before we saw what he was talking about. Another steep mountain road. Only this one felt like it was 20 miles long and would never end. We walked the entire way to the top before we finally started to jog downhill again. By the time we got to this point I understood what they were talking about in the information guide. "We can't monitor the whole race, please keep an eye out for your fellow runners." It felt really lonely. We were in the middle of nowhere China, with a tiny handful of runners spaced about 300-400 yards apart, and just mountain road. As well as a lone horse rider. That was kinda weird. Not sure where he came from. This was not a good place to get hurt. Despite being lonely, it was also beautiful. It was part of China you probably wouldn't see if you didn't do the marathon, random little roads and small villages. We kept jogging downhill until we finally got close to the part where we saw my cousin. Just as we were crossing a bridge, a bee landed on Jody's back and stung her. I swatted it off, but it kept coming back. Then suddenly I noticed a swarm of bees. I screamed, "RUN!!!" And somehow we managed to sprint uphill and away from the bee swarm and I had a chance to pull the stinger out of her back. Another runner stopped to ask if we were OK, which we were. We mentioned being worried about our time when he said, "Oh you're fine! You have at least another hour before you need to worry." That's when we said, "We heard a guy last year missed the time and couldn't finish!" That's when he laughed and said, "OH my gosh, that was me!" I don't know what the odds are of running into this guy on the trail, but they have to be slim. This year he trained differently, and knew exactly where he had to be by what time, and he was encouraging. We were just glad to hear we were an hour ahead of schedule.
It was getting harder and harder for me to even jog, I swear my legs were made of lead and I wanted to just walk the rest of the way. Jody is a champ and kept encouraging me to keep going, but it was a struggle to keep up with her. Even when we had downhill I didn't want to run. I just wanted to stop and take a break, but we never did. At mile 21 we got back to Yin and Yang square. It was SUCH a good feeling to come down that mountain road and know you were THAT much closer to being finished. And, I saw my Mom. And then my husband, and then my baby. At that point adrenaline kicked in and I felt like I could run forever. I ran over and gave them all a hug and a kiss. It was SO good to see them. My little boy said, "Hey Mama!" and I thought my heart was going to melt. They cheered us on and we jogged through the square AGAIN. My Dad, cousins Maddy and Hunter were there to cheer us on, and it was so good to see them. This time after we ran through the square we ran up the wall backwards from the way that we went the last time. On the way back up the stairs it was pretty tough. All I could think about the entire race was how badly I wanted a chocolate Gu. That's all I wanted. For 21.5 miles I just wanted a stupid, chocolate Gu. I had forgotten mine at home. We had been climbing the stairs with some girls that were stationed with the military in Korea. Halfway through one of them overheard me whining and said, "Oh! We have extra Gu, would you like one??" I jumped on that, and then my heart almost stopped when she pulled out a chocolate one. I honestly could have kissed her right there. That is probably the most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. It could not have been more perfect or come at a better time.
Jody and I somehow managed to go up 2,500 more stairs, and then run back down 3 miles of mountain road before we crossed the finish line. Somehow, even the last bit of downhill was hard to jog. Our goal was to jog the rest of the way because we knew it was downhill, but we ended up having to walk some of it. I don't think my legs have ever been so tired, it wasn't so much that I was sore, but that my legs were just TIRED. And I was hungry. And every time we hit flat ground and I tried to jog I felt like a slug. I am so glad marathons are not any longer than they are. It was such a rush though when we got to the finish line. You could see everyone there, people were cheering you on, and you were done!

I think the last time I cried tears of joy was when my son was born, and then when we finished the marathon. I was so happy that we didn't have to take one more step. Of course, when you cross the finish line you feel like a million dollars and suddenly you have energy again. I had a couple sandwiches, some water, and enjoyed sitting down on a bleacher. I fed the baby a banana, got a massage and a finisher shirt. And I was so excited that I had ran my first marathon and conquered the wall. It was a great feeling. Jody has done an Ironman before and she said she felt like the marathon was harder than an Ironman. Maybe with her encouragement that will be my next conquest. :)
One of the big questions I've got since I have been back was, "How was the marathon!?" And everyone talks about the stairs. It's not the stairs that got me. The stairs were less than 6 miles. In fact, I think total stair length was 3 miles. What killed me were the mountain roads. I was trying to guess about how much was uphill, and my rough estimation is that 3 miles is wall, 12 miles are straight uphill, and the rest is downhill or just flat. I couldn't believe how much of the run was uphill. It was insane. If you wanted to train for that race I'd say just do 15 miles on a treadmill at the highest incline. Done. You'd be fine.

Overall though, it was amazing. I loved that race so much. It was so unique and was truly and adventure, and I loved meeting so many friends on the way, and especially loved that my family was there to enjoy and suffer together. It was SUCH a great day.
The organizers did a great job of setting everything up. They seemed like they wanted to make a good experience for everyone, and I think they did. They had a huge board there for everyone to sign, notice I am drawing a picture of Texas :) One of the neat things about the race is who you meet along the way. There was a group of runners that wore shirts on inpection day that said "Running for Boston." I wished I had a chance to talk to them, I was proud of them! There were people from ALL over the world doing the race and it was so neat to meet so many people. My cousin hung out with a group of Kiwi's, she cheered their friends and they cheered us.
If I recognize this man correctly, he has run in all 14 of the Great Wall marathons. No, seriously. He's done them all. Is that the craziest thing ever? Every May this man is running a marathon in China. I think it's really cool. He looks like he is all business with his camera and other gear! Some of the other people we had the pleasure of meeting was Whitney, who came by herself to celebrate her 3oth. We sang to her on the wall. Jeremy-the guy who didn't make it last year but totally made it this year. My girls with the chocolate Gu. The South Africans we kept yo-yoing with as we ran along. The people at the aid station who kept us hydrated. The guy who makes documentaries and is going to go biking for 5 years across the world. So many people, everyone had a good attitude and a smile and a story to share.

The next day we went to the Gala dinner. That's an optional part for many people, but I am glad we went. We got to see our friends we met the day before, enjoy a beautiful feast, watch a dragon dance and some other local entertainment, and a congo line. I could really, really go on and on about what a neat race it was, but I think you get the picture. I am so grateful I had a chance to participate in this. It will be a memory that is hard to top!