Anyone who knew me at High School can vouch for the fact that I am not sporty and have no natural sporting ability whatsoever. The PE teachers in their Netball skirts and matching PE knickers did a great job of ensuring that I didn't become enthused, interested or improve particularly. I did take up going to the gym during my GCSE study leave and this thrilled one of the aforementioned PE teachers greatly. Sadly within 18 months of this new fitness venture I wound up being booked in to surgery on not 1 but both of my knees. This backs up my Dad's belief that exercise is intrinsically wrong for you. It does seem rather bizarre that as I write this it is less than 48 hours since I completed the Great Wall Half Marathon.
I blame and thank my husband entirely for this venture to the Wall. When I met my husband I was running, cycling and swimming to keep fit and he talked me into olympic distance triathlon as he is an Ironman and this race came up and well, I guess I was feeling inspired (completely crazy and with a complete lack of sense) and we signed up. I was planning on having a fantastic training schedule. The pollution put a stop to that. I don't exercise if the AQI is above 200, add to that me being sick constantly here in China and that equals me not being race ready at all.
For the race itself several people from my workplace were going to so none of us could ask for leave or to leave early and this meant that we arrived in Beijing at nearly 11pm. We still had to get a taxi and check into our hotel, both of which took a really long time and so we were able to get about 3 hours sleep before we had to be on the bus and on our way to The Wall. We arrived nearly 2 hours before the first wave of people were about to head out onto the course with a total of 4 waves of runners and 3 different races being run; 8.5km, half marathon and full marathon. A band dressed in cream, white and red uniforms were standing in perfect lines playing Jingle Bells, an obvious choice for the middle of May, hawkers were trying to sell a variety of trinkets and runners were standing in ridiculously long lines for the bathroom.
The spirit of those competing/participating is positive, upbeat and excited. People have flown from all around the world to put themselves through this and have an incredible experience. The atmosphere is infectious and everyone is just ready to go and have an amazing experience. The first 5km is pure uphill slopes winding slowly to the entrance to the wall. Living in Suzhou where it is flat I was amazed that I managed to get up this. Then for the wall. I had done a large amount of stair training in preparation. I was aware that the stairs on the Great Wall would be nothing like those in my apartment block, however I soon realised that to avoid falling, rolling an ankle or doing anything else stupid I would have to walk The Wall. Some steps were slanted. Some were the size of 3 steps. Some were tiny. Some were narrow. The majority of runners walked the stairs for safety, yet there were some mountain goats out and about putting us all to shame.
The vast majority of the run is then along the road/dirt tracks through the village. It is uneven for the most part and dusty, yet a really great part of the run as many of the locals turn up to cheer you on. The children stand eagerly at the sides arms out stretched to give you a high five as you dart/crawl by. A small girl in a pretty dress was poking out of the sunroof of a car giving us all a big thumbs up as her parents continuously drove her up and down the main road. Men and women shout at us to go faster and eagerly hand us sponges and water at the various water stations. Plenty of water on the way, sadly not many toilets...
This was my first ever half marathon and I knew I was underprepared. I knew it was a bad idea due to my previous knee surgery, yet for some unknown reason I really wanted to do it. I struggled between 15-18km and somehow managed to run across the finish line hand in hand with my husband who could have run harder and faster than me but instead chose to support me. I am lucky and now I know that I am capable and so are my knees!
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