Testing the senses in Shanghai to find China's best antitourism and off-beat secrets. Dry and sometimes funny observations from a fixed gear roller, food eater and photograph taker.

I distinctly remember crossing the line of the Great Wall Marathon and proclaiming to the medal-giving marshal “that was lovely but never again”. I knew at the time it was a complete lie. It wasn’t lovely at all.

A few months later I nixed the whole sentence by standing on a running machine in Xujiahui and agreeing with an inspirationally-quick friend to register for “Asia’s Toughest Marathon” in Hong Kong.

Oh joy. The familiar feeling of saying “I would… but I’ve a marathon to do”, getting up and running in the worst conditions possible to keep the guilt at bay, knowing that doing enough training will never happen and then spending the last week cramming like a poorly-disciplined high-school student.

All so that we can get up in the dark of the morning, shove porridge in our beaks, stretch like there’s no tomorrow and join ten thousand like-minded individuals attempting to run 42k and hopefully, just maybe, cure that itch that got us here in the first place.

And we’re off – down Nathan road, around a couple corners and hitting a long straight heading north-west across Kowloon. These are the best moments of the Marathon; surrounded by runners, soaking in the novelty and hearing the gently pounding rhythm of feet every track-change on the playlist. The Asics SP3s are feeling sublime.

5km are over before too long and the field is starting to stretch out. This normally marks another highlight of finding a groove and settling down but in Hong Kong the road curves around and an obnoxiously large Stonecutter’s Bridge swings into view. Looming on the horizon we’re unavoidably connected to it by this stretch of highway which will wind us around to the approach, up the energy sapping on-ramp and across the breathtakingly high span above the container-ship dominated scenery.

This is the Hong Kong Marathon; lengths of sweeping expressway undulating over three massive bridges, through a handful of tunnels (including a kilometer or two from Kowloon to Sheung Wan) and culminating in a number of leg-destroying quick rises and falls along the elevated-road through Central and Causeway Bay.

My iPod got stuck at 30km and played the first 20 seconds of Eminem w/Rihanna on loop for the next hour. At 38km cramp replaced my legs with broom handles. That’s probably why, 3h55 after setting out and in 234th place I hobbled across the finishing line with a twitch and declared to the medal-giving marshal “leave me alone”.

At 4h50 Alex finished and after counting our blisters we agreed never again. I had my fingers crossed behind my back – I need to finish a marathon cramp-free to really cure the itch.

On a hot, hazy, mid-may morning we set out whooping and cheering across the start line as if the following 42km were going to be a stroll in the park. Indeed, the whoops and cheers soon dissipated in favour of puffs and pants as the first 5km of the course took us up a constant slope to the foot of the Great Wall.

Slope became hill, hill became, stairs became boulders. In single file we reached the summit and paused breathless thanks to both the arduous 40 minute climb and the awe inducing vista of the wall, falling and swooping across the valley below us to the next peak in the range of mountains.

(those white dots are runners!)

What followed was 8km of human rollercoaster. As the sun burned off the haze we picked our way along the wall, some sections rolling causeway, others steep uneven steps and others steep dirt paths with only a rope for comfort.

The middle section of the race took us off the wall and through rolling countryside. Locals greeted us with jiāyoú (go on!) poised to give us leaf-fans and collect our empty water bottles. My technique for the long-haul parts of a race is to find another runner going around the same speed and let them keep pace (…to keep at bay the urge to overtake everybody and burn out). However by the third person who gradually slowed to a walk ahead of me I could tell the sun, approaching 28c was having an effect. The midday training at Jiao Tong track had paid off.

Km35 and we had looped the countryside and the wall was looming ahead. As we ran back through the start/finish area I collected my last gel, sprinted past the cheering crowd and heard somewhere a commentator shout my name. Energized I followed the markers as we ascended the huge staircase up to the wall, in the reverse direction this time.

Exhausted runners were everywhere, sat pouring water over their heads or trying to stretch out a cramp. Some were climbing the steps backwards. I thanked my 40km cycling commute from Xujiahui to CEIBS and took as much water as possible as the day reached noon.
Five, six, seven drops and climbs later and just as I thought I could not manage another – the path fell away and met with the tarmac road that we had climbed at the beginning. I daren’t pause to catch my breath and pushed on.

The final 5km of downhill was an incredible test of tempo, by now I was alone on the road trying to find a rhythm between uncomfortably fast (fast = misnomer) and jarringly slow. I turned up the ipod and pushed on as the mile markers counted up and as the road reached the town was joined briefly by a steward who instructed me “500 metres to go. Cross the road. Keep left and be ready for the photos”

I uselessly tousled my salty hair, adjusted my shorts and forged on, rounding the final 100m in a sprint and five hours after starting, finished the Great Wall Marathon.

Our Times:
Drew: 5h11m
Alex: 5h48m
Javier: 6h12m
Pablo: 6h18m

Couple more photos here

I distinctly remember saying never-again…but this is one we can’t turn down. The photos say it all.

And so – the countdown begins. Here comes two months of preparation for the Great Wall Marathon. 42km along and around Qin Shi Huang’s garden fence… steps and all.

They say it takes an hour or two longer than a normal marathon – having never run anything beyond a gentle slope before this is going to be a new experience.

Starting this weekend the gradient training starts. With Shanghai lacking any decent hills we’re getting creative – early morning runs up the down escalator in Changle Lu station and fire escape stairwell sprints in Pudong.

I’m not sure when we actually agreed to this but on Sunday, November 29th, Alex and I will wake up, have a bowl of porridge and go for a 4-5 hour, 42km run around Shanghai.

In our last race, the Hangzhou half marathon, my broken toe almost fell off, Alex’s mission control unit (iPod) almost ran out of batteries and for the final 5 km the voice in our heads was chanting “wait here, why go on? take a break!”

This time we’re only running twice as far(!), so I’ll be using more toe-tape, the iPod will be fully charged and we will combat the stopnow-devil with the thought of making a difference for something very close to our hearts.

Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder which may affect anyone at any age causing repetitive muscle contractions. It touches many thousands of people, our family included, and as a syndrome, often cannot be attributed to a single cause. To this day there exists no successful treatment.

We will be running on behalf of Dystonia Ireland who are working to support, educate and raise awareness for the condition. We will be propelled along by every penny we can pound in their name.

Please click “Donate” to make a difference to their efforts and keep us going.