Shanghai Marathon

It was race day today! It all went great, but I'm also very glad it's done. Russ had a great day in the half-marathon, finishing just seconds over the 2 hour mark which was better than he had even hoped for. My time for the full marathon was 3 hours and 50 minutes - not quite as good as I was shooting for, but I'm still happy with it.

The morning started out very cold (the race started at 7:30 and my teeth were chattering at the starting line), but the sky was sunny and clear and it warmed up to be the perfect day. I have to say, as disorderly as China can be in some aspects (particularly the insane driving), the race was well organized and the participants were very civil. Maybe the lines of uniformed military personnel surrounding the starting line had something to do with it.

We started out in a nice spot: the first bit of the race was on a pedestrian road in the heart of one of Shanghai's touristy areas (Nanjing road) and went past the Jing'an Temple. But it didn't last - most of the race was on the highways or through some of the decidedly less scenic parts of town. But the locals more than made up for it by turning out in droves to cheer the racers on. There were numerous groups throughout the course: women in matching track suits or Chinese outfits chanting and banging drums or sticks, waving red scarves or Chinese fans, banging cymbals, and lots of people with those little plastic hand clappers. Some people even took it upon themselves to hand out water or candy or cookies. I couldn't understand what they kept chanting at us, but it was still really great.

I hit the wall somewhere around mile 20 (I think that's when most people start to fall apart). I worked through it somehow without walking too much at all, but by the time I finished I felt pretty ill - I didn't even want to wait in line to get my results certificate. I did, however, get my medal and goody bag as I crossed the finish. It's always fun to see what's in the bag - usually a bottle of water, an orange or a banana, and some promotional give-aways. In Madrid I got a beer, here in China it was a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce, which is kind of strange because I've noticed they don't actually use soy sauce in China (at least not in Shanghai). I guess that's why it's a promotion.

I told Russ he can do the full marathon next year 'cause I'm done for a while. I figure that since I did one in Europe and one in Asia, maybe I can do one in the U.S. when I get home and then I'll quit (maybe)....