Standing on the Great Wall of China and seeing it stretch over a massive mountain range has me awestruck by its beauty and magnificence. Stretching over 8800 kilometres, it is without a doubt one of the most mind-blowing ancient constructions I have ever seen. I force myself to take it all in, not only because I want to imprint its beauty into my mind, but because I am about to run The Great Wall of China Marathon and I am seriously second guessing my decision to do this race.
There are two Great Wall of China Marathons. The first one is called The Great Wall Marathon and is the more popular one of the two. The race route is not solely on the wall but also takes you through the lower valley and small villages where crowds gather to support and a music festival happens in conjunction with the race, creating a more festive atmosphere. The second race, called The Great Wall of China Marathon is run exclusively on the wall and attracts the running purists like myself and that is why I have chosen to run this race.
The day started at 4:30 in the hotel lobby. It is a nerve-racking experience sitting here, seeing the tension on all the runner’s faces, not knowing what lies ahead of us. I find that it is always a good idea to try and strike up a conversation with fellow runners to calm the nerves. I did just that and spoke to a lovely lady called Elise from England. She lives in London but works in Hong Kong and she flew in especially to run the marathon. The bus drive to the race village was just under an hour long and I could feel the tension in the bus. Every so often someone would try to start a conversation, but for the most part, the bus trip was a quiet affair. Everyone’s thoughts focused on what’s to come.
Arriving at the race village I met a man from Norway who I started talking to about the race, we compared our race strategies which really helped settle some of my doubts and fears. Talking to people before the race helps so much with pre-race jitters and stress. It creates a running bond that will pay off during the race as these conversations grant you the opportunity to re-energise your brain and emotions, helping you forget about the pain.
I am a competitive athlete and I have to admit that my training for this race, or lack thereof, might not get me the result I know I could achieve with better training. So I have to rely on race experience and the competitive juices flowing through my veins before the gun goes off to get me through the race. The marathon consists of three laps of 12 kilometres each. Runners are required to run 6 kilometres in one direction and switch back another 6 kilometres ensuring that a total of 36 kilometres is covered to complete the marathon.
I was ready, the adrenaline was pumping and when I heard the gun go off, I set off at a fast but controlled pace. It was because of this pace that I found myself in the second position when we reached the wall after 1.5 kilometres. Running onto the wall and seeing it for the first time is terrifying. I see the wall draped over the mountain range, going up and down, never a straight section in sight, curling over and around the slopes of the mountain like a huge snake. The most terrifying part of it all was the sheer steepness of the stretches of the wall as they disappear and reappear from my sight. They are so steep that steps are built into the wall in an attempt to make the inclines more bearable for the everyday tourist.
Once on the wall, I was running comfortably and I found myself looking around and taking in the surroundings, so much so, that I almost came to a dead stop. The mountains, trees, streams, and blue skies, all the sounds and just the sheer vastness of this environment were just so astonishing! I had to try and capture the beauty of it all. Pictures sometimes prove to be a poor substitute for the real thing, but even my pictures do manage to showcase the beauty of the nature we were running in.
The wall itself is a magnificent feature. Guard towers built every few hundred meters, crafted in the ancient Chinese architectural style, showcasing all of the dynasty’s brilliance. It is easy to see how these guard towers provided the perfect lookout point to ancient Chinese soldiers guarding the wall. In an instant, the gruelling race pulls my focus back to the narrow steps and I concentrate once again on carefully placing my feet, step by step to conquer yet another incline. As the race becomes tougher, I still managed to reach the turnaround mark in second place. Knowing the nature of the beast that is marathon running I had to admit to myself that I started out this race way too fast and had a long and hard day ahead. My legs showed signs of cramping and I forced myself to slow down. I knew that I needed to distract my focus from the pain. That wouldn’t be too difficult considering where I was and sure enough as I looked up to take in some more of my beautiful surroundings, I passed Elise on my way back. We stopped for a quick chat and talking to her distracted me from the race and the pain I was feeling and motivated me to keep on pushing and finish the race.
Mentally I was feeling confident, my legs were not. After reaching the turn to yet another switch back and heading out to continue my race, I started to wonder whether it is possible to finish this race. I thought to myself that if I have completed the Comrades Marathon, an 89-kilometre road race four times then surely I would make it to the end of this marathon too. Reaching the 15-kilometre mark of this race, it felt like I had already run 50 kilometres. I knew that at this stage of the race my biggest battle to overcome would be the one I was starting to have with my mind. When pain starts shooting up your legs each time you take a step or you are struggling to get enough oxygen into your lungs, you start asking yourself those age-old questions: Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I putting myself through this pain? Why am I allowing my body to be destroyed like this?
As I started to feel the exhausting effect of this race on my body, the more frequent these questions became in my mind. It was at this stage of the race that I knew I needed to engage my will power.
Aware of my slower pace at this stage of the race and seeing other runners close the gap between us, I was hit by the realisation that I had dropped back to ninth place. To tell you the truth, race position was not important anymore. All I wanted to do was put one foot in front of the other and try to complete the race. Heading back to start lap number three I looked up and saw the Norwegian man had also caught up to me and we ran together for a few kilometres. This once again helped a tremendous amount, and I felt the motivation return to me. Unfortunately, I was too tired and my legs were cramping so much that I could barely run anymore.
With 2 kilometres to go before the end of the second lap, I was mentally and physically drained. I knew I needed to do some fact checking in my mind: I had run the first lap in 2 hours 20 minutes and I was already close to 4 hours on my second lap. That’s more than 6 and a half hours to complete two laps. According to my now slower race pace, it would mean that trying to run the third lap and completing the race would take me well over 11 hours. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that and made the decision to end my race on completion of my current lap. Unable to attempt the third lap left me feeling deflated, to say the least. My mind played back all the hours and hours of training, money spent on entering and travelling to compete in the race but mostly having all those hopes and dreams of finishing, and not being able to, was a very tough reality for me. Needless to say, a few tears were shed but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race and that it was the toughest yet best decision to make.
After reading this and hearing about my experience you might ask yourself why in heaven’s name would I ever want to do such an event? My answer is simple. It is because of the excitement and fear and pain that you should do it. The sense of accomplishment you get from pushing your body to its absolute limit and still being able to go on and finish an event is next to nothing. There are few things in this world that can give you that level of satisfaction, pride, and accomplishment. The human brain is an amazing thing. During the race, you will promise yourself that you will never do this again, that you will never put yourself through so much pain again. A day or two after the race, you can hardly remember the pain and the bad thoughts. All you will be able to remember is the experience of running on The Great Wall of China! Seeing nature in all its glory and having been able to push your body further than you thought possible. Soon enough you’ll once again hear that little voice in your head asking, “When will our next adventure begin?”
I can admit that there are a lot of things I did wrong leading up to this race as well as on the race itself. I can truly say that I have learned from them and in my next blog post I will talk about these mistakes and how to overcome them in preparation for my next adventure. I will also discuss the training needed, to successfully complete races like this. I will also include a complete breakdown of planning the trip to Beijing, where to register for the race, everything about the organizing company and the procedure to follow the morning of the race should this be the next adventure that you choose to take yourself on.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience running the Great Wall of China Marathon and if you are thinking of doing something so bold please don’t hesitate to ask me anything in the comment section below. I am more than happy to help. Also, subscribe to my e-mail service and receive a notification when I post my next blog.
The Extreme Sports Traveller 