"If we fail to reach the Great Wall we are not men"

One night, about three months ago, me and some friends were celebrating a birthday when the topic came up. I’d heard of it before but never really thought about it – after all, I have always been keener on shorter distances. It’s been less than a year since I ran my last 400 dash and I actually recall myself saying I would never run these distances, but I wanted a new experience. Something in me told me I had to do it, so I bluntly said that I was going to do it and because I didn’t want to half-ass it I would run the full. Me and my big mouth.

That’s when I started training for one of the hardest marathons in the world: the Great Wall Marathon. Since (1) the treadmill is a healthier option in one of the most polluted cities in the world and (2) the Asians in my gym only walk on treadmills, it’s safe to say the run-up to the marathon still didn’t make me a big fan of long distance running.

I badly needed some fellow masochists. I suggested the idea to some of my colleagues (note that it was a lot more flowery and victorious than I at that time imagined it to be) and I somehow managed to get about a third of the office with me. Not for the full marathon but the half (I guess they are smarter than I am), but I figured shared pain is half the pain, even if it’s half the distance too.

Despite a busy travel and general working hour schedule, and the fact that business in China goes hand in hand with alcohol, I managed to get somewhat of a basis for endurance running and felt somewhat more comfortable to challenge one of the world’s seven world wonders. That being said, I already promised myself I would run the race after having been “in training” for half a month, as otherwise those 40-odd km’s on the treadmill would’ve been for nothing.

After having bought some professional-looking long distance running gear in one of Beijing’s Nike shops and a week of “carb loading” (which is interesting in a country that loves its rice), me and my colleagues headed out for the Great Wall marathon near Tianjin.

A short description of the 42,195 meters I ran:

The run starts out with a 4.5km very steep uphill mountain road, followed by multiple kilometers (and over 5,000 steps) on the Great Wall. If you have ever been to the Great Wall you know how ridiculous it is to do a marathon on it. If you haven’t been, please click on the following link: http://www.appletravel.cn/images/events/76373runningonwall.jpg. Going up is a b*tch for the calves and the lungs, going down is a b*tch for the knees.
The good news is that after this you can say you’ve covered roughly 25% of the distance. The bad news is that it is indeed only distance that you’ve covered, since in the end it’ll feel like only 2% of the effort.
This is when we entered little scattered villages where old and wrinkled villagers in typical Mao-suits and Chinese cigarettes watched the spectacle along unpaved roads. Old Chinese面包车 (Mian Bao Che, Chinese minivans) and tricycles drove by, leaving dark exhaust fumes and bad gasoline smells behind. We ran through local weekend markets with raw meat and vegetables on old wooden planks and gave high fives to young Chinese boys with开档裤 (Kai Dang Ku, or open bottom pants). Little girls had made little bouquets of wild flowers they themselves had plucked in the field, and handed them over to us with a big smile and an English “hello”, or a Chinese “加油”. It was unforgettable and mesmerizing; there was no pain anymore and I think I had a smile on my face for most of the second quarter of the marathon.
That’s when I realized I had never really run any further than 25km…the villages were behind us and now we were running through the fields over unpaved roads with stones sticking out like tiny, treacherous icebergs in a sea of dust…I tried my best not to have my size 11 running shoes end up like the Titanic. Luckily we got back to civilization at the 30km-mark, and I mentally prepared myself for the Great Wall that was coming again.
But not even the most brilliant mental coach could have prepared me for that. I think literally everyone “hit” the wall…I may be a masochist for running the Great Wall marathon, but the person who mapped out the route for it is surely the biggest sadist around. I literally saw grown up men collapse and cry tears of pain and exhaustion while other runners tried to conquer the Wall on all fours. All I could do is tap them on the shoulder and tell them “keep going, you’re almost there”. Because, in terms of distance, we were almost there. I had to go deep into the red to make it to the finish though, and even the last few kilometers which were gently downward sloping felt like a struggle.
With my last energy I pushed out a sprint to the finish, where I received my medal and some shoulders from my colleagues who had finished their half marathon by then.

In hindsight it was less frightening than I expected it to be, but it was absolutely not easy. “Did you learn anything from this experience”, you may ask? Absolutely: that life is beautiful (after the pain subsides). Nevertheless, the next marathon is already on the calendar…one hint: looooots of sand.