Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A day of epic proportions

The Great Wall Marathon. I have been looking forward to setting foot on the Great Wall for years now. Finally this year I had the opportunity to sign up for the marathon with some friends from the Seoul Flyers. Since January I have been been anticipating the weekend of May 18th. My boss was kind enough to give me the afternoon off work so I could make the flight to Beijing.

Friday morning arrived and I could barely contain my excitement. I had to make it through two classes and lunch time and then I was free. I hopped on the airport bus from Sunae and throughout the hour it took to get to Incheon Airport, I sat with excitement and anticipation. And a little fear. I was about to run a half marathon on one of the toughest courses around. Was I ready? Could I handle it? I may not be in top physical form but I am competitive and don't like to give up, so I figured no matter how hard it was, I would push on anyway.

We arrived at our hotel in Beijing at around 9:30pm Friday night. We had to be up and on a bus at 3:30 am to head to the race site. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. So bright and early we boarded the bus with our "breakfast boxes" and were on our way. Now, theses so called breakfast boxes contained a bottle of water, a "sandwich" -white bread with one slice of ham, and a snack size kit kat bar. Not the fantastic breakfast I was hoping for. I had nothing else with me so I had no choice but to eat all of it, I would need it for the race.

After drifting off to sleep for an hour or so, we finally arrived in the village of Tianjin. Everyone on the bus was bustling with excitement. We got off the bus and set off to find our race packages. Turns out there was a mix up because of our late arrival to the hotel and our packages were back in Beijing. However, they got us all new numbers and we were set to go. We said goodbye to the few from our group attempting the full marathon, they were off!



After a few minutes, it was our turn to start. I was filled with nerves but pumped to get out there! The course started through the village and began going up a windy road for about 5km before we got to the entrance to the wall. We lucked out and met up with the girls from our group in the corral before us so we were able to enjoy the wall together. Because we were back in the 3rd corral, we had to wait a lot on the wall.


There were parts of the wall that were single track with only one side so you had to go single file and it forced a bunch of people to wait. 





After the portion on the wall the course continued down through the village. We were on the wall together as a group but once we got off we kind of separated. Once off the wall I saw a sign saying we had only gone 8k so far! At this point we were over 2 hours in! I was tired but not as much as I had thought. Since we had to wait a lot the wall didn't seem as hard as it could have been. I tried my best to run the rest of the race without taking and breaks. It was insanely hot, I was sweating profusely. There were plenty of water stations but not a lot of sustenance other than that. A few stations had bananas as well. I was dumb and each time I passed one thought, oh you're okay, you don't need one. Big mistake on my part! The course went all through the dirt roads of the village, once I got to about 15km I was dead. Tired and could barely keep my feet moving. 





I walked a few portions and then kept up jogging. Through the village there were lots of locals standing on the side watching and cheering us on. There were tons of little kids screaming hello and giving high fives! It was really amazing to see all of them being supportive!


I kept pushing on and finally made it to the finish with a time of 3:55. It was a tough, long day, but incredibly worth it!! I am in awe of the people who did the full distance. I can't imagine having to go back up that wall again in the heat. It was a struggle to do it the first time, twice would have killed me! 




I am so glad I was able to get the opportunity to go to this race. It was amazing to be able to even step foot on the Great Wall, let alone run a half marathon on it. And while it was amazing and filled with views I will not soon forget, I actually enjoyed running through the village more. It was awesome to be able to see how these people live and to be, if only for a small second, part of their community. It's always an eye-opening experience to be a part of another culture, and for me it really hits home every time I do. It forces you to see the world through someone else's eyes and makes you incredibly thankful for the things you have and are able to experience. Running through the village and seeing the faces on those children was one of those times, I am a lucky girl to have the opportunity to experience these things. 

Another goal checked off the list!! Now what to tackle next?! 



Monday, May 7, 2012

Just another Friday night in Korea

May 4, 2012- The day had finally arrived. I had been awaiting this day for a few weeks now and was anticipating the events of the evening. For awhile now I had been wanting a tattoo, but I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted and where I wanted it. A couple of weeks ago I finally figured out that I wanted to have "run" tattooed on my wrist. Why you ask? Well, being slightly neurotic and a tad on the emotional side, running has been one of the only releases that I have been able to use. Every time I run, I bring myself back to reality. If I am having a bad day at work, a run makes it all better. If I am feeling down about myself, a run perks me up. If men troubles are making me sad, a run empowers me. So I played around with some fonts and finally found one that I liked. I like the fact that it will be on my wrist so I can use it as motivation when I am feeling lazy.

I went to Tattoo Korea with a few a month ago and had them look at it and give me a price. I had to wait to get paid so I put down the deposit and made my appointment, no going back now.

So Friday night finally had arrived and I met up with my friend Kat who was coming along for moral support. I was excited and nervous. I am not the best when it comes to needles. I normally have to get them to allow me to lay down just to have a blood test, so I was very nervous. Not only that, but many people had told me that the inner wrist is a very painful spot to have a tattoo.

Despite their warnings and my fears, I was in the tattoo parlour on Friday night ready to go, albeit, very very nervous. I lay down on the table and he asked me if I was ready. I guess so. The first bit of pain wasn't too bad. Kat was entertaining by my various faces and the amount of swearing I was doing.


I didn't want to look at it while he was doing it so I wouldn't know how much was left. At times it was really painful, and felt like someone was burning a hole through my arm. At other points, it barely tickled.


After about a half hour, it was done. Not too bad! I had managed to conquer yet another fear and didn't pass out(I was really worried about this!)


I'm really happy with how it looks! Glad I sucked up my fears and did it! 

Stay tuned for my next goal: Great Wall Marathon in China in two weeks!!