Just got back from China where I completed the Great Wall Marathon (my first marathon!) last Saturday in 7:19:22.
Great Wall Marathon
On Thursday, two days before the marathon, we did a 2-mile walkthrough of the segment of the wall that we'd be running on Saturday. It consisted of over 2,500 stairs and since we'd be running the same segment out and back the marathon includes a total of over 5,000 stairs. I thought I'd be ready but I had no idea what we were in for.
In training I had gone as far as 20 miles 3 weeks before the race. Physically I was feeling good and I felt that nothing could stop me from reaching the finish line one way or another. This being one of the most difficult marathons in the world, the time taken would not really be important as long as I managed to finish under the 8-hour cutoff for the event.
We arrived at the starting point for the race, known as yin-yang square, at 6am with the marathon not starting until 7:40. I was very anxious to get going. Knowing that I would likely be out there for at least 6 hours, I was armed with a waist pack with a water bottle, 3 power bars, electrolyte tablets, and one packet of Heed sports drink powder.
After what seemed like an eternity, the gun finally went off and we started the race. It began with a 5k uphill climb before we would reach the wall for the first time. I was using a strategy of 8 minutes running, 2 minutes walking and took it easy to start, finishing the first 5k in about 40 minutes. We then entered the wall and started going up and down the stairs. It was crowded here and the pace was slow because we still had all the half marathoners with us at this point. I was glad to conserve the energy, though, because I knew I'd need it later.
I was still feeling fresh getting off the wall, having taken the steps slowly and got to the 5 mile mark in about 90 minutes. The next stretch would be about 16 miles through Huangyaguan village and I planned to pick up the pace a bit here. We ran on a mixture of paved roads and dirt trails and were greeted by many villagers shouting "Hello!" at us (probably the only English they knew) or "Ni hao" (Mandarin for hello). I stopped for some pictures during walk breaks.
At about 10 miles or so, we would then be going uphill for the next 2-3 miles, going from an altitude of 650 feet to about 1300 feet. I was still feeling good though and got to the half marathon point in 3 hours. It was really starting to heat up though, now that we were approaching 11am, with temperatures in the 80s, very high humidity, and no shade from the sun. I was drinking a lot of water and had taken an electrolyte tablet every hour to this point, but it was going to get a lot more difficult from here.
With the stifling heat I was sweating like crazy and the next part of the run was in a remote area with few water stations. I slowed my pace and began to take walk breaks more frequently. By the time I got to mile 16-17 I was feeling really drained and my pace continued to slow. I began to feel really weak and at this point began to walk for the majority of the time and had to take frequent breaks to sit down and recover. My back was hurting, my legs were hurting, my feet were hurting, and I had run out of water.
I had been going for about 4 and a half hours by the time I got to 30k (18.64 miles) and was moving so slowly and felt so much pain that I started to have serious concerns about finishing at this point. I told myself that I just had to keep moving one foot in front of the other and just ignore the pain and thought of what a disappointment it would be to have gone all the way out there and not finish. Several runners stopped to ask if I was OK and I told them I was fine and tried to smile, but I knew I looked like crap. Every once in awhile I would manage a slow jog/shuffle for a couple hundred meters but would then have to stop and rest again.
After what seemed like an eternity I finally made it back to yin-yang square at mile 20-21 where we would have to re-enter the wall for the second time. I chugged a bottle of water and almost immediately felt better - I'm sure I had been dehydrated for the last few miles. In a way, this was good, because I started feeling stronger and got a bit of a second wind for the segment of the marathon which everyone else would later say was the most difficult.
Runners often speak of hitting the wall around mile 20 in a marathon. Now imagine literally hitting the Wall at mile 20 and having to face another 2,500 steps up and down.
Runners were gasping for breath and trying to heave themselves up each step. No one was moving quickly and many had to stop and sit on the steps and rest. At the steeper steps I crawled up, figuring that I might as well use my arms to help me up and reduce the strain on my legs. I used hand rails wherever they were available to help lift myself up and reduce the strain on my quads, which were feeling very shaky and painful with every slow, deliberate step. The down steps were even worse and I had to grab the side of the wall for support to help myself down. I started taking some of them backwards and found it slightly easier.
After each set of stairs I would look ahead and see more stairs and it felt endless. Finally, however, I made it off the wall to the final 5k stretch which was now all downhill. I took a nice, easy jog through most of it with a couple of walk breaks and when I saw the sign that said "40k" the realization that I was going to finish my first marathon started to hit me. Despite all the pain and weariness, I felt fantastic.
After 7 hours, 19 minutes, I finally made it back into yin-yang square and crossed the finish line, knowing that I had accomplished something truly amazing.
