Great Wall Half Marathon

At the end of our trip to Beijing, Andrew and I ran the Great Wall Half Marathon with a group of friends. It was a great experience. The half marathon is 13.1 miles and includes 2,582 steps, unlike the flat course I've previously ran. This was Andrew's first half marathon. He doesn't consider himself a runner. It was our friend Leon's first half marathon as well and late on the evening of my birthday party celebration after a number of alcoholic beverages, Leon bet Andrew that she would beat him. The wager was a flight to Shanghai, which is equivalent to $150.


The weeks leading up to the event, Andrew didn't have anything positive to say about the upcoming run and he was less than pleased when he woke up at 3:30 a.m. the day of the race. I was excited. However, he agrees that it was a really cool experience, especially since he beat Leon in the race. 

The runners & our photographer: Richard, Andrew, me, Kevin, Regina & Leon.
(Kevin was our "official" photographer. He was intending on running, but due to his shoulder injury was unable.
Next year he'll be running with us.)

The view from our hotel room, which faced the Great Wall.

Andrew ready for the race. Notice it's still dark outside. We had to travel about 2.5 hours to the start of the race.

Part of the race course. 

Andrew attaching his race number.

The race course & the crowd.

 Photos of the actual race course, thanks to Richard & Regina (they had their cameras with them while they ran).

Just ran over 2,000 stairs.

Andrew's smiling after the stairs, probably because he knows Leon is behind him.

Crossing the finish line.

Happy to have finished.

Andrew in the home stretch, only 50 feet to go.

The runners & photographer. All happy to have crossed the finish line.

Finished 24/403 overall for females & 3/77 for woman in my age group, 30-34 years old. (Happy I just turned 30.)  

Leon & I enjoying a glass of wine at our hotel after the run.

The following day Leon, Regina & I visited another portion of the wall. It was nice to actually take our time and enjoy the sites.