Great Wall Marathon
74
16 May 2009
A couple of months ago I phoned my daughter, "Hey Kerri, there are a few teachers at our school doing the Great Wall Marathon, I thought it would be cool if you did it and raised sponsorship money for the Hermanus Rainbow Trust!"
Kerri is not very sporty. She's never even watched a marathon in her life let alone run one. She wonders why men playing soccer don't pick up the ball and run with it as they do in rugby. But, Kerri is blessed with a spirit of adventure. She's game for anything. "Sure Mom," she said cheerily, "Why not? Could be fun!"
Kerri agreed without even knowing how long a marathon was. That was a bit of a worry. "Um, you'll have to do some training," I suggested worriedly, mentally thinking the half-marathon might be a wiser choice. Kerri does like to party, hard. "Er, you might have to give up partying for a bit as well." Kerri just laughed. "You'll have to eat a lot of pasta," I added, remembering that Kerri had told me the previous week that she had given up eating carbohydrates.
I set up a Facebook support site for Kerri where people could give her training tips. However, she always planned to start the training the next day, but the next day never came. I started to get worried. "I'm giving my elbow a lot of training," she'd tease jokingly, "And I walk to work instead of taking a taxi. And I live on the seventh floor and don't have an elevator!" My heart sank. All the teachers from our school who were taking part were going crazy with their training. Every evening you'd see some of them out jogging. Kerri appeared to be doing no training. No matter how many times I explained to her that this was one of the toughest races in the world, she'd just keep saying, "Don't worry Mom. I got it all under control."
I should have believed my beautiful child. She left Friday night with the group of teachers, heading to Beijing to take part in the Great Wall Half Marathon. She didn't run it as she knew her capabilities. She just wanted to complete it within the allocated time so that she could collect the sponsorship money for the Hermanus Rainbow Trust that had been promised her. All money collected will be used to build a kindergarten classroom for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in a disadvantaged township in Hermanus, South Africa. Kerri completed the arduous half marathon in just under four and a half hours. She walked most of the way, and took photos of the amazing scenery.
WELL DONE MY EXCEPTIONALLY SPECIAL BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER - I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!
If you'd still like to donate money to Kerri's mission to get a kindergarten built, you can still visit her sponsor site http://www.backabuddy.co.za/china or find out more about the Hermanus Rainbow Trust http://www.rainbowtrust.co.za/
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More info on the Great Wall Marathon
It's steep, it's high and in places it's very dangerous. The Great Wall Marathon in China is one of the world's best adventure marathons.
Runners cross the wall over the Huangya mountain pass in Tianjin province. The first 5km is uphill and the wall rises from there.
Runners cover 3.6km on the wall, over the mountain ridge, including 2550 steps. A narrow, steep goat track leads them back to road level and to the unpaved streets of nearby farming villages.
Marathoners finish with a second tough wall crossing in the opposite direction and a 5km downhill run.
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Ah man Froggy, can't tell you how proud I am of her. There are just no words. Can you believe I was actually crying while writing that hub?
What a wonderful story and sounds like you have a great kid with a lot of spunk and fun in her. Amazing pictures too.
Thanks Jerilee, yep, she took the pics, well not the official race ones, which I guess was one of the advantages of walking and not running! She's already saying next year she wants to train and then run it!
Cindy - yes I can! And now she's a Hub-Up (pin-up for hubs!) - And she wants to do it again! Like I said, great girl!
lol Froggy Hub-Up, love that!
Amazing pics, amazing daughter. If she was running we could not see this so interesting and mystical scenery.
When I go hiking, I never go quickly - how anybody can enjoy the surrounding and see any of wanders of this world if one is just focused on the goal and nothing else? The choice of your daughter was the best possible, send her my regards, congratulations and I am very thankful for the pics...
Thanks Tatjana! I'll do so!
Wow and Wow! Sometimes our kids amaze us! This is great, and the pictures are stunning! Many hugs to you today!
Hey! What a beautiful daughter you have. Really, simply gorgeous. I think you are probably the proudest Mom right now, huh? You should be. She took wonderful pictures too. Just fabulous scenery, I would have walked my self to just enoy it. Afterall it was a fundraiser for a wrothy cause so why knock yourself out. thanks for a heads up on this cindy. I love it. and she is beautiful
Absolutely amazing, a race on the Great Wall... hats off to all the marathoners...
Your daughter shines with an inner glow.:)
What a great thing your daughter is doing. She is so beautiful. and the photos are great!! Wonderful!!!
WOW congrats to her!! Is there anywhere online where I can find information on the Great Wall marathon. That sounds like something I'd love to do!
I really liked this one! Beautiful pictures, and your daughter is gorgeous!!! She must get her good looks from her mama ;) Some of those "spectators" looked more like they were waiting in the bushes for runners to go by so they could jump out and scare the crap out of them lol.. Congrats to your daughter for finishing, too!! That did not look easy! She should be very proud of herself, I know I couldn't do it!
Thanks for the hugs Candie, yes the pics were stunning. I have been to the Great Wall and it is worth the visit.
CC, she is beautufk, eh?
Diana, it is a good idea to have a race on the Great Wall! People come from all over the planet to take part,
BC, you only appreciate how difficult and steep those steps are when you climb them. The pics do not do the steps justice!
JJ, maybe I can persuade my daughter to do the Kiliminjaro marathon next year!
Ashley, think if you just type in Great Wall Marathon then heaps of info sites will come up. It's run in May every year.
Janetta, some of the spectators did look a little scary lol
How wonderful! Cindy, you have been such an inspiration to me. I saw little Kerri grow up all those many years ago and I am so proud of what you and your children have acheived. Yes, Kerri has grown into a beautiful girl and many pats on her back for her courage and enthusiasm.
She is just beautiful thumbs up to her woo hoooo, gutso like her Momma.
Marlene and BP, I still get quite emotional when I think about her taking on the Great Wall! She didn't need any persuading, Just said, "Yip, cool, I'll do it."
great hub! I like it!!
That was a really nice thing of her to do and she looks really lovely, you must be really proud !!
Thanks Gin and Cabin Girl, I am really very proud of my daughter!
fantastic, well done her! Not surprised you are so proud of her.
Thanks LG, you wait till your little one starts to do amazing things, you'll feel the same!
Congrats to your daughter. Great job! The photos are amazing. That sheer drop near the path would have done me in, though. :)
Thanks Janet! She is a very special girl! The drop would have done me in as well, but not as much as those steps!
Way to go! She rocks. I have been on a couple of 20+ mile runs (a long time ago) and all I can say is I am inspired by anyone that actually does this out of choice. I despise running, and am all about my bicycle now. Great photos!
Thanks Trooper, yeah, my daughter isn't really a runner either!
Wow! What a great story! I know how incredibly proud you are of her and what beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing.
KCC, I will never have been able to do what she did!
All those steps, what an achievement, Congratulations to Kerri.
amazing
Hawkesdream and Stumpie, thanks for dropping in!
wow that is amazing! Definitely a race of a life time! How many people can seriously say they ran a marathon ON THE GREAT FREAKING WALL OF CHINA!!!!!!! Congratulations kerri!
Yeah, Inner Jew, it does sound kind of cool, doesn't it?
Nice journey, i wish i could go to CHina.
Icewave, China has some great scenery and old buildings, but some not so nice things as well!
Congratulations to Kerri! What a cool thing to do, and I just love all the photos. I trained for and ran a much, much, flatter marathon last fall and I recall posting some video in a Hub about the Great Wall Marathon. I can exactly see why you would be crying with pride. :)
Very inspirational hub!
Thanks Steph! If you're a marathon runner, maybe you could try the Great Wall one next year!
Huge congratulations to Kerri! I did the Great Wall Half Marathon two years a go and can testify to how tough it is WITH training... I can't even begin to imagine how she did it with virtually NO training! I think I remember reading that there are about 3770 steps in the half marathon... I'm guessing that Kerri's 7 flights didn't help her much! Good on her! E x
Emma, she must have the natural stamina of a camel used by the Arabs to travel those old trade routes through the deserts.
What a nightmare! I have run 5 London marathons (Hub How to Run 26.2 miles and Survive....!)but I could never do this! I went to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics (Hub Usain Bolt, The Bird's Nest.......)and visited the Great Wall and was amazed at how steep and frankly dangerous it was. Walking up and down alone was enough, mind you I hate heights. Well done to your daughter, I would not even attempt it!
Oremie, I walked on the wall and have to agree, i couldn't have run it either!
I guess this must be one of the hardest marathons. I prefer to run mine on a flat road.
Gidtset, apparently this is a really tough one!
Nice hub and great photos! The Great Wall Marathon is on my wish list, and it was great to see the section where the half marathon is run. It doesn't look like the place to go for a fast time, but the scenery is spectacular. Congrats to your daughter on her achievement a few years ago!
Aaron, she says it was a great experience so definitely something for your wishlist if you are into running!
awesome
Thanks Thushar!
Wow, never seen this marathon before. It's on my list of things to do if I ever can. Great Photos!
Apparently this marathon is quite the experience!
That looks awesome! What an experience...Thanks for sharing.
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Cindy - well done to Kerri! What a great girl :) You must be all warm and fuzzy inside!