Remember when we were on The Rachael Ray Show and she gave us a trip to China? You may have forgotten but we haven’t. It’s an exciting thing for us that we’re totally not prepared for. We should have been on this months ago and now I feel like we’re in a big cram session.
There are only two things we have done to prepare for the trip: buy Rosetta Stone and get things squared away for The Great Wall of China Marathon (and I’m even behind on that stuff). With The Louisiana Marathon weekend closely approaching, it’s time for us to start preparing for the next big thing in our life which is this trip.
I am a little scared about the trip because we’re going to a place where we don’t speak the language. I don’t want to get lost so badly that it puts me in danger. I am the person who likes to be over prepared, but how do you over prepare for a trip to China?
And then there’s the race which I am totally excited for! Running on The Great Wall of China has been something I dreamed about since I started running. How many people can ever say they did that? It’s going to be an amazing experience but it’s also going to be a tough one. By the time I get to The Great Wall I would have officially completed 2-3 marathons so it will be my 4th, but Willie’s first. I REALLY hope he will enjoy the experience of being in China and not get frustrated during this race.
We have 10 hours to complete the race which is telling you something, right? Trail, steep stairs and whatever else comes with The Great Wall is what we’re up against. I’m excited to take on the challenge. I’m also excited for Willie to start marathon training so he can understand what it’s like to get out there and do the runs! This is definitely a race we’re going to have to train for and I will have to look into some cross training that will aid in our steep adventure too. After all, we are in the land of flatness.
I am excited to share this experience with Willie too. Besides the run, we hope to explore Beijing, take some cooking classes, buy some great kitchen utensils, shop the markets and take lots of beautiful pictures! We are excited to learn about the Chinese culture, traditions and just daily life. Willie and I are never “tourists” in a city so I’m excited to see what we stumble upon while on our adventure. This is our trip of a lifetime and we are so thankful to have the experience. There will be lots of posts about our upcoming trip so you’ll be apart of it every step of the way.
I’m actually really glad the race has add on packages for tours and things. And I love how we’ll be doing the cooking stuff the day before the marathon so we can really enjoy it and not worry about the calories. So far things are looking to up for us.
*We were provided with free bibs to The Great Wall of China Marathon but the opinions expressed in this post are my own.
What country do you want to visit? What one thing would you want to see and/or do if you visited China?
