Meeting Jamie again
As had eventually become a tradition, I travelled to China on the Tuesday before the marathon, arriving in Beijing on the morning of Wednesday 18th May. As I came out of customs, I immediately caught sight of Jamie, who was standing there photographing me, and we took a taxi together to my hotel. I understood from Jamie that my group had been informed of this, although I wasn’t so sure and had rather a bad conscience. I was afraid the group would miss me. As it turned out, my sense of foreboding was not entirely mistaken. I had misunderstood Jamie and the group had not been informed. But this wasn’t a problem because our guide had recognised me and seen me leaving with Jamie, so the group wasn’t delayed.
That year’s hotel was one of the old familiar ones. Several years had gone by since I last stayed at the Dong Fang Hotel, which was central and a very good place to stay.
Herbal medicine
My Chinese doctor in Denmark had prescribed some Chinese medicine that was cheap in her homeland, and I had e-mailed the list to Jamie, who had bought it for me. It tasted awful, that’s for sure, but I was willing to do anything to get rid of my heel problem. I faithfully took the required dose within China and after my return. I continued until there was none left.
Doggy bag
For supper that evening I had Peking duck with Jamie at a restaurant, where they served up so much food that I was fit to burst. We were given doggy bags afterwards. I didn’t want to take anything back home with me, but they insisted. I politely accepted the bag, though I threw it into the bin when I got back to the hotel.
My guardian angel
During the period leading up to the run, Jamie had promised to follow me all the way through The Great Wall Marathon. She had wanted to be my guardian angel, protecting my injury and getting me through the marathon in one piece. It turned out, however, that Jamie had not applied for a running number in time. It didn’t matter, she said. Her time and the medal meant nothing to her. She would accompany me without a running number and a chip.
Wildcard
On inspection day, I asked Lars from Albatros if he could get Jamie a wildcard. I would pay for her running pack. He promised to get me a wildcard to Jamie but refused to allow me to pay for it.
1999–2011 – Mr Great Wall
Until that year, the running numbers also bore the runners’ names and nationalities. I liked that, because it helped to engender the contact between runners. This practice had been abandoned, so runners had only numbers.
My own running number that year was rather special. It simply read 1999–2011 with Mr Great Wall underneath. I have been given the same number in subsequent years, though of course with the current date. And as the only runner in the race, I still have my name and nationality beneath the number.
The inspection walk across the Wall was a bit tough that year. I could feel that I was not in the best condition. On the other hand, I was pleased that my heel didn’t actually hurt, although it was still a bit tender.
Yuyang again
After the fiasco of a hotel the previous year we were now back at the old familiar Yuyang Hotel in Jixian. Although it still was not impressive, it certainly was an upgrade compared to 2010. I got a lovely double room, but the Internet didn’t work. A crowd of people turned up once in a while to fix it, and they finally got it to work.
Jamie thrilled
On the morning of the run on Saturday 21st May, Lars gave me an envelope with Jamie’s running number and chip. Now I was anxious to give it to her.
I gave her the envelope when she arrived at Yin and Yang Square. She was thrilled to bits and very surprised. Afterwards, she disappeared for half an hour, showing off her running number to all her girlfriends.
A fateful day
As I was standing at the start, it felt as though I was facing a possible death sentence. Perhaps this would be the year that I fell and had to drop out of the marathon that meant so much to me? My heel injury was the crux of the matter. The fact that I had not trained enough was secondary. This day would be a veritable ordeal.
Despite the reality and limited ambitions, Jamie and I were in starting group 1. It would be good to have ten extra minutes for the two deadlines we had to meet on the run. Again, it was my heel I was thinking about.
My heel was painful from the first step and continued to be so throughout the 42.195 kilometres. But it wasn’t unbearable, and things went more or less according to plan up the mountain and across the Wall.
Dead battery
On the way round the fort at Yin and Yang Square my GPS watch indicated that its battery was almost flat. That somehow didn’t tally, because I had been charging it for several days. I went into a bit of a panic, but was pleased that my wristwatch was waiting for me at Yin and Yang Square.
Jamie and I got separated on the way across the Wall because she had been taking photographs. We did find each other again, though, and didn’t leave each other’s side for the rest of the run.
Ice cream and chocolate
Apart from my sore heel, everything was going very well. It was hard to believe that I had done practically no training for six months. For the rest of the marathon, I was in good spirits and knew that we were keeping good time.
On the way up the mid-way mountain, Jamie regretted the fact that she hadn’t brought any money with her to buy an ice cream. But I had some on me, and we had both ice cream and chocolate. I also had two power bars and to energy drinks with me, so we were well supplied throughout the run.
A good run
We arrived at Yin and Yang Square at around 12.45, which meant we had almost three hours in which to finish the run. Second time round, the Wall was unusually “easy”, and I remembered many other years when this stretch had been much tougher.
With a time of 7:27:52, Jamie and I ran across the finishing line hand-in-hand, just less than an hour before the gate slammed shut. It was a great victory for me to get through the run, considering the conditions I had faced beforehand. I later found out that I had actually crossed the line with a worse time than this for the previous three years.
This was Jamie’s third marathon in eight months. She had now become thoroughly bitten by the sport and subsequently ran the Xiamen Marathon.
Leg amputee
That year’s sunshine story on the Wall was that of the 35-year-old American woman, Sarah Reinertsen, who travelled the world as an ambassador of sport for the disabled. She was born with a defect in her left leg, which was amputated above the knee when she was seven years old. Despite this, Sarah has run 17 marathons as well as completing a Hawaii Ironman, and in her youth she ran the 100 metres at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. Now she was about to conquer the Wall with her prosthetic limb. A few days before the marathon, Sarah held a seminar for disabled Chinese people.
Home victory
The fastest runner of the year was a local man, 24-year-old Hu Jianyon, who came in with a time of 3:18:36. His time was the fastest since the first year of the run, when the course had been considerably easier.
Back at the Dong Fang Hotel, I was given a very special room of a kind I had never seen there before. It was a very charming room in the old style.
Poor tailoring service
In the evening, we went to the Silk Market to have the final adjustments made to a suit I had ordered the day I arrived. I had also left a suit with them for repair. Neither was satisfactory, however. The trousers were way too tight, though that could be adjusted, and my jacket wasn’t finished, although they assured me it would be. We ended up making an agreement to have 2011 to be sewn on my jersey and a slight repair made. It would all be ready on the Monday.
School visit
Sunday I was out and about with Jamie and had a delicious lunch at her college together with two of her friends at a restaurant that served Japanese and Korean dishes. Afterwards, I was given a guided tour of the school, and later we had a massage. It was a very deep massage but at the same time very good treatment.
The gala party that evening was held at the Beijing Hotel where we had agreed to meet a journalist. With Jamie as interpreter, I was interviewed in Mao’s relaxing room. Very fancy indeed.
Rice brandy
During the party, my former guide, Jakob, came over with a present for me which he felt I deserved after running The Great Wall Marathon 12 times. It was a bottle of rice brandy. I remembered well that evening in 2005 when I got thoroughly sick on this local drink and deep inside I remembered the awful sensation and thought: “Oh no”. But of course I couldn’t say that to Jakob, who had been so kind as to give me a present. Whether I felt like drinking rice brandy or not at that time was irrelevant. What did matter though was that Jakob honoured me with a present.
After a while, a guy called Daniel in my group asked me what was in the bottle on the table. I told him and asked him if he would like to have it. He certainly would.
The after-dinner party was held at a place I had never been to before. The group had gathered outdoors and at some stage Daniel announced that it was now time to drink rice brandy. Some small glasses were procured, and the bottle did the rounds twice. Because it was now dark, I was able to pretend that I drank, although, in reality, I tipped the disgusting drink onto the grass under the table.
Dear Jakob. If you are reading this book, I would like to apologise for the way I treated your present. You should know that the thought behind it meant a lot to me.
That year, I became seriously aware of the technological developments that had taken place since the first time I was there. The first year, some of the runners sent each other prints or borrowed each other’s negatives. In later years, photos were exchanged by e-mail, and one year a participant made a website on which participants could post their images for sharing. But this evening, it was proposed that a Facebook group be created for people to upload their photos. I, unfortunately, had to admit that I wasn’t on Facebook, but one of the people present said: “Well, it’s about time you were”. And that’s what I did afterwards.
Stalked
During the evening, I felt I was being somewhat harassed. Whether I had been chosen by chance, or because of my status as Mr Great Wall, I don’t know. But a thoroughly inebriated Australian female runner was stalking me pure and simple. First she wanted to dance, to which I agreed. She literally just hung on to me mumbling something I couldn’t understand. Her far from sober but much more conscious brother did what he could to free me of his intrusive sister.
Hot Pot
On the Monday night, Jamie and I ate at a restaurant called Hot Pot. Hot Pot is a Chinese version of a fondue which basically involves boiling your own ingredients in a pot. You buy what you want to of meat, veg, eggs, shrimps, etc. You buy the sauce separately in the flavour you want. The food and the company were most enjoyable. I would like to have taken pictures of the place, but that was not permitted. I did, however, manage to take one picture before I became aware of this rule.
Really poor tailoring service
Later that night, we went to the Silk Market to pick up my clothes from the tailors. I had been there in vain earlier in the day, and the same thing happened that evening. Some of the things were not finished, and those that were had been shoddily done and were full of mistakes. This made me very angry, and I let them know, to the great embarrassment of the lady in the shop. After trying to find various solutions to the problem, it all ended with an agreement that Jamie would pick up the clothes the following morning.
I was leaving the following day, and things got rather stressful. Jamie didn’t come to the hotel as expected and when I tried to call her there was no connection. She called me back shortly afterwards, however. There had been problems at the Silk Market. My jacket and jersey had not yet arrived. But they soon would do and then she would pick me up by taxi. Jamie was further delayed, however, and the clothing was far from properly finished. I have not used the tailors at the Silk Market since.
Incredible hostess
Jamie came with me in the taxi to the airport, where we went to a cafe and had tea and fruit. She paid the bill, just as she had done all week. I found this most unreasonable, but there was nothing I could do. Jamie had been an incredible hostess throughout my visit.
Ash cloud
I got home without any problems, although I did experience a flashback from 2010 on the day before I left. The Icelandic volcano, Grimsvönt, had sent an ash cloud 20 kilometres up into the air, threatening air-traffic once again. Whereas the departure situation in 2010 had been critical, I simply shrug my shoulders at the current circumstances. What’s a week here or there, I thought. What mattered was that I had completed my marathon. Already at that time I was looking forward to the prospect of a year of running without being plagued by injury.
Buy the book here.
