I visited the Great Wall of China for the first time, and I ran 21 kilometers while I was there. Sometimes, I forget how lucky I am.
My journey to the wall began in November when I signed up for the Great Wall Half-Marathon. I considered the full, but after extensive blog reading of people who had done it, I figured the half would be fun enough. I trained considerably different from any other marathon training that I've done. Due to the pollution, it was difficult to find days to run safely. I do not run in a mask, and I try to avoid running in pollution over 150. If you looked at the days in Suzhou where the pollution was below 150, you won't find many. Finding time/air for my long runs was difficult, but I was never worried because running a half can almost seem easy after you've run a full marathon.
I usually ran two days a week, sometimes three. The other days, I filled with a variety of Fitness Blender videos and other cross training. In the beginning, I did stair training about once a week, but I lost that habit pretty quickly. I took a couple ventures to find some hills to get ready for the wall, but for the most part, I ran in flat Suzhou.
We left on Friday after school, and we rode the bullet train to Beijing. Getting in around 11 PM and finally getting checked in around midnight meant that the 3:30 AM bus departure was a cat nap away. Luckily, I could hardly sleep because I was so worried we'd oversleep. We boarded the bus and snuggled in to try to catch some more zzz's. Our bus ride was short, almost too short. The clock said 5:35 when our bus arrived. Getting off the bus was a shock to our senses when we realized it was much colder at the wall than the city we left two hours ago. There was no sun, and a gentle breeze kept everyone a bit chilled. I was much luckier than others because I had layers to add and a beach towel to wrap myself in. There were sooooo many other unfortunate people standing around in t-shirts and shorts waiting for the sun or the race to start.
The atmosphere at this event was unlike any other race I'd been too. It felt a bit like Crazy Legs in Madison, but it had this international flair to it that made me realize how lucky I was to be there. It's easy to get caught up and forget how lucky I am to have these opportunities. I definitely knew this wasn't the average race when the Jazzercise routines began happening. What kind of people have energy to do aerobics before running 21 or 42 km??? Not me.
Luck was against me in the fact that I was put in the fourth wave of runners. I think it was an error because I had a faster entry time than most of my colleagues, but they all had wave two or three. I followed the rules and stayed in my wave. I was prepared for selfies, unfit people, and recreational tourists. When I started my race at 8 AM finally, I was ready.
The race began with about 2.5 miles running uphill. It was nice to see the group spread out a bit because I was very worried about the wall and getting stuck behind "slow" wave 4 runners. We got to the wall, and the march up the stairs began. There was no running. There was just stairs. I didn't mind the walking because it forced me to slow down, enjoy the view, and save my legs for the rest of the race. We climbed up, and up, and up, and up. Near the top was where the human traffic jams began. There were narrow doorways that only one person could fit through at a time. I was standing still for over 60 seconds when a volunteer joked that I should stop my stopwatch. Even worse, going down was super steep and the stairs were of varying sizes and shapes. This meant single file, slow moving vehicles.
Getting off the wall was a relief and shock when I realized my time was so damn slow, and I would have to push it through the village to salvage any time that was acceptable. I didn't feel destroyed or anything by the stairs, but I certainly wasn't feeling refreshed. The run through the village was great because I started to catch up to my colleagues from the earlier waves. It was motivating. The villagers were so excited: cheering, high-fiving, taking photos, and giving out water. It was lovely.
I finished in 2:36. I was 59th out of the ladies.
I'm going back next year. I'm going to do the full. It's going to be awesome.
My journey to the wall began in November when I signed up for the Great Wall Half-Marathon. I considered the full, but after extensive blog reading of people who had done it, I figured the half would be fun enough. I trained considerably different from any other marathon training that I've done. Due to the pollution, it was difficult to find days to run safely. I do not run in a mask, and I try to avoid running in pollution over 150. If you looked at the days in Suzhou where the pollution was below 150, you won't find many. Finding time/air for my long runs was difficult, but I was never worried because running a half can almost seem easy after you've run a full marathon.
I usually ran two days a week, sometimes three. The other days, I filled with a variety of Fitness Blender videos and other cross training. In the beginning, I did stair training about once a week, but I lost that habit pretty quickly. I took a couple ventures to find some hills to get ready for the wall, but for the most part, I ran in flat Suzhou.
We left on Friday after school, and we rode the bullet train to Beijing. Getting in around 11 PM and finally getting checked in around midnight meant that the 3:30 AM bus departure was a cat nap away. Luckily, I could hardly sleep because I was so worried we'd oversleep. We boarded the bus and snuggled in to try to catch some more zzz's. Our bus ride was short, almost too short. The clock said 5:35 when our bus arrived. Getting off the bus was a shock to our senses when we realized it was much colder at the wall than the city we left two hours ago. There was no sun, and a gentle breeze kept everyone a bit chilled. I was much luckier than others because I had layers to add and a beach towel to wrap myself in. There were sooooo many other unfortunate people standing around in t-shirts and shorts waiting for the sun or the race to start.
The atmosphere at this event was unlike any other race I'd been too. It felt a bit like Crazy Legs in Madison, but it had this international flair to it that made me realize how lucky I was to be there. It's easy to get caught up and forget how lucky I am to have these opportunities. I definitely knew this wasn't the average race when the Jazzercise routines began happening. What kind of people have energy to do aerobics before running 21 or 42 km??? Not me.
The race began with about 2.5 miles running uphill. It was nice to see the group spread out a bit because I was very worried about the wall and getting stuck behind "slow" wave 4 runners. We got to the wall, and the march up the stairs began. There was no running. There was just stairs. I didn't mind the walking because it forced me to slow down, enjoy the view, and save my legs for the rest of the race. We climbed up, and up, and up, and up. Near the top was where the human traffic jams began. There were narrow doorways that only one person could fit through at a time. I was standing still for over 60 seconds when a volunteer joked that I should stop my stopwatch. Even worse, going down was super steep and the stairs were of varying sizes and shapes. This meant single file, slow moving vehicles.
Getting off the wall was a relief and shock when I realized my time was so damn slow, and I would have to push it through the village to salvage any time that was acceptable. I didn't feel destroyed or anything by the stairs, but I certainly wasn't feeling refreshed. The run through the village was great because I started to catch up to my colleagues from the earlier waves. It was motivating. The villagers were so excited: cheering, high-fiving, taking photos, and giving out water. It was lovely.
I finished in 2:36. I was 59th out of the ladies.
I'm going back next year. I'm going to do the full. It's going to be awesome.
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