Race Day!

Race day is finally here. It started very early with a 2:30a.m. wake-up call for a 3:30 departure. On the way to the wall we heard a pop and I wasn’t sure if we blew a tire or ran something over. The bus driver pulled over and checked it out, but I guess nothing was wrong because we were soon on our way again.

We got to the race site with plenty of time before the start of the race. I think we were all a bit surprised at how chilly it was, but we knew that it wouldn’t last long once the sun made it over the mountain ridges. I’m glad I did throw my Ethiopian Airlines blanket in our my bag because Tom and I used it while we were sitting waiting for the race to start.

Leah was in Wave 1, I was in Wave 4, and Tom Wave 5. Leah was on her way at 7:30, and my wave didn’t start until 8:00. Soon we were off. The first half mile was flat, but it quickly turned into that super long huge hill. I was able to run 2 miles up the hill before I had to walk the last half mile or so to the wall. Once on the wall I felt pretty good and was keeping a pretty good pace. Unfortunately there were quite a few bottleneck areas where it was a single file line and everyone was backed up behind them. Coming off the wall, it actually felt good to run and stretch out and I was starting to think that maybe I would do better than I thought. I saw Leah running back towards the finish when I was at about the 6 mile mark. I shouted greetings to her and she said she was going to make it under 2:25. Her original goal time was to do it under 2:30 hours. I ran for 3 miles, but by now we were on a gravel road and my knees and feet were feeling it. Unfortunately I started to walk and once I started, it was so hard get started again. Also, by this time the sun was really beating down and it was incredibly hot. I thought I might be able to do it under 3 hours but I just ended up walking too much. I finished in 3:31.

Tom was waiting for me at the finish and as I came out I could tell right away that I just didn’t feel good. Tom asked me what I needed, but I just wasn’t sure. We went over to some shaded area where I rested and Tom brought me some water. As I cooled down I felt better, but not perfect. I ate a half of banana, but couldn’t eat the whole thing. Everyone got a free 20 minute leg massage, so I decided to take advantage of it. It felt good to lay down and relax and the massage really helped my legs to not feel so sore. When I got back from the massage I asked Leah and Tom to take a picture by the finish line with our medals. As we started walking over, I turned around to find a garbage can because I felt like I was going to be sick. Good thing I did, because I puked 3 times. It was nothing but water and a little banana, so in the realm of puking I have to say it wasn’t terrible. As soon as I was done throwing-up I almost immediately felt better. However, some employees of the tour company had seen me so they wanted to take me to the medical tent. I said ok, but after we take the picture (see cover photo for said photo). At the medical tent they took my blood pressure and pulse and everything was completely normal. They told me I could just lay and rest and when I felt better I could leave. Tom came and joined me (who by the way wanted to take a picture of me puking but Leah told him that wasn’t a good idea – however the first thing I asked when I was done puking is if he got a picture for the blog). Not sure what all attributed to getting sick, but I’m sure the hot weather and running/climbing/walking 13.1 miles had something to do with it.

I asked Tom how is 8K Fun Run/Walk went. He said it wasn’t bad, and that he took advantage of a snack break on the wall. In one of the areas near the end of the wall there are local vendors selling souvenirs, nuts, and dried fruit. Tom said he bought some dried apples and the vendor asked if he would like to sit in their area and relax. Tom said yes he would. 🙂

As we were sitting in the stands waiting for our folks to finish, one of the members of our group said that Pippa Middleton was running the full-marathon and she had gotten a picture. When she showed me the picture I realized I had seen her too, but had not realized it was her. She was running with a group of 4 or 5 guys all wearing the British flag design on their shirts. I remember seeing the group thinking that it was nice that all those guys were running with the girl to help encourage her. I guess in reality that was her security detail. Leah had looked up her race results and she said she had done pretty well.

We didn’t leave the wall until all of our tour people were done with the race. The last gentlemen running the marathon finished after about 8 1/2 hours, so we left around 5:00p.m. On the way back one of our people had the idea to have our tour guide order pizzas for us to be delivered to our hotel for when we got back. This was a great idea since we didn’t get back until almost 8:00p.m. I didn’t think I would have Pizza Hut two days in a row in China, but it actually worked out great. We had time to shower and the pizza arrived at our hotel door at 8:30p.m.

It was a long, tough day but glad we can say that we ran the Great Wall!