The DeSmet Family Worldwide: The Great Wall Marathon

This weekend was monumental for me. I ran my first marathon ever and not just any marathon, The Great Wall Marathon. This is an extreme race because of the terrain, huge hills and all of the steps on the wall. That is the reason it is ranked among the 7 toughest marathons in the world. I have seen some people list it in the top 4.

I had been training with my friends Hilary and Kasey from the time we came back this summer. We had a vigorous training schedule which included 3 days a week of Cross Fit and 4 days of running. I have never in my life physically trained this hard for anything. EVER. The shocking thing is that I think nothing could have fully prepared me for this brutal, gut wrenching, crazy course!

RACE DAY: We met up with several of our other friends at 4:30 AM, and caravaned with them to the race site. It is almost an hour and a half to two hours away, in the Provence of Tianjin.
Once we arrived the next thing on the agenda is to find a "bathroom" (AKA hole in the ground) to take care of business. I truly wish I would have had a picture of this because it is, well, it is impressive and not in a good way.
After we finished putting on our numbers, stuffing our pockets with GU (liquid nutrition and calories), greasing ourselves up and putting on our shoes, we are ready for business.
As we walked up to the square where the start and finish line is, there was a full on marching band greeting us with a round of "Jingle Bells" being played. (I love it so much. I do.) I think they wanted to play something us foreigners would be familiar with. Perfect!
As we warm up, stretch and do a quick team huddle, I realize that this $h*+ just got real and adrenaline was in overdrive. The gun went off and we were on our way for a half of a day of running. The first mile was great and then you start to climb up the mountainside for 3 miles at an extremely steep incline. You are happy to come to the end of that when you reach "the wall" and start to climb the stairs up and down for 2 more miles. Coming off the wall is an extremely steep stone path that is hazardous if you are not careful.
The next 6 to 7 miles takes you back out on the road and through some villages with horrible dirt and rocky roads. (This course is seriously a sprained ankle waiting to happen.) At mile 13 the marathoner have to go back up a ridiculously steep incline for another 3 miles, and just when you think that was painful, the downhill comes and jars your body all the way down for another mile or so. (This was my punishment for cursing the course for being all uphill.)
Hilary and I were clipping along great and were pumped to be making good time as we came back into the square at mile 21. We have a picture of us below at this point smiling and giving thumbs up. That was short lived. We turned the corner in the square to literally "hit the wall" again. We had to go the opposite way on the wall from the start and let me tell you, I have never in my life had to push myself past this much physical exhaustion. EVER. I mean, bring on child birth again and I would crush it!
The path up to the wall was probably the worst. It took us 38 minutes to go 1 mile straight up. I was pulling my way up with a hand rail and telling myself, "Come on, one foot in-front of the other". The footings in the path were not great and it was more like mountain climbing. There were people sitting all over the wall, that just couldn't go on anymore from exhaustion and cramping. People throwing up. (I thought I was going to join them in that mess.) We were climbing the monstrously steep steps like a dog, on all fours. My friend Hil was so encouraging and just kept saying, "We have to get off of this wall". She was right. The one piece of advice I was given about running this race was whatever you do, DO NOT sit down on the wall because you will NEVER get back up. We powered through and then were blessed with a 3 mile run back down the first hill we had to go up. (There were a lot of people that actually had to go backwards down the hill from cramping so bad and blisters.)
Our last mile was sweet agony as we came across some of our friends cheering us on. We rounded the corner in the square and had the finish line in our sites. A flood of emotions hit me as I crossed that finish with one of the greatest ladies I know and a bunch of our friends cheering for us and congratulating us. (They all just came back to me as I am now typing this through tears.)
It's hard for me to express how I felt at that moment. Proud. Amazed. Exhausted. Accomplished. Bad ass. This race was brutal and I kind of loved it. I loved doing it with my friends. I loved knowing that I could push myself way beyond my comfort zone. I loved that I can show my daughters that you can do anything you set your mind to. And I love that I am going to be 40 in June and can say I completed one of the toughest marathons in the world.
Incidentally, we ran it in 5:49:31, which is a great time for this type of race. (So all of you who think about bashing on my time, come run this race. I dare you.) I also ended up getting 8th place in my age division and 52nd overall for women. Not bad for a days work! Not bad at all!

This is me with my pre race jitters.

Getting ready.

Our group of friends. Jen, Kasey, me, George and Hilary.

Pre game cheer. Oh my, it just got real!

This was at mile 21. We are smiling and giving thumbs up. We wouldn't be smiling if we knew what was coming!

If you look above the green flag, you can see the marathoners creeping back up that mountainside. This was at mile 21 and it was brutal. There were people sitting, laying, puking and in medical tents up there. I had to keep telling myself to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and pull myself up.

This was a look at runners on the wall in the first 5 miles. The marathoners had to do this stretch twice. At mile 21 we came back up it the opposite way.