The new millennium with a repeat of the fantastic run in China. This time with very few participants, but now with an international cut. Newly divorced, on my first journey with two children. The story of the runner who forgot his flight but got there anyway. The world’s toughest marathon, now even tougher in the extreme heat. The consequence of cooling yourself down with water. 17.4% have dropped out and one runner has collapsed. A love on the wall and the story of feeling pain, both in your body and in your heart.
A trip to the Middle Kingdom to run a marathon is not a bathing holiday with cold drinks at the pool. Apart from taking part in the world’s toughest marathon you have to resign yourself to being active from morning to evening to make the most of the many experiences that await you. These include the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Mao’s mausoleum, market places, visits to factories and the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty. If your trip is a once-in-a-lifetime event there is every good reason fit all of the in.