The Great Wall Marathon

OK, first we’ll talk about the race. I’m sorry, yes, I do know it’s immoral of me to boast, but I am 117 years old, so forgive me as you would your grandpappy, and let me get this out of the way – I just ran 26.2 miles on, over, and around the Great Wall of China. Later this week I am having my legs surgically removed, since they’re a wee bit sore. But other than that, I feel great! It’s Wednesday, and I haven’t run since the race on Saturday. But tomorrow I’ll go out for two or three miles . . .

Allison and I had a blast, and we ran really well, better than I could have hoped. Allie finished 88th among all women in the Half, and I ran 49th among men in the full marathon. This in not exactly olympian in a small field like this one, only 1200 total participants, unlike the massive city marathons like Chicago, London, NYC that have 30 thousand or more runners. But we are thrilled just to finish. Many runners took 6 hours plus on the grueling course, the winner ran it in 3:30, and a former two-time world marathon champ in 4:23. I did it in 4:53, which would be lame in another marathon, but is good here. Allison ran the half in under 3, while taking lots of pictures.

We both ran in shirts with the names of our honorees, people who have fought or are fighting cancer, heart disease, and brain illness. We want to thank everyone who sent names and donated money to one of the charities we suggested – it was nice to know your thoughts were with us and our thoughts were certainly with our honorees and their friends and families.

We actually went to the Wall twice. The first visit was an inspection day, Thursday, when runners got to walk sections of the course and, if they chose, switch from the full to the half; this was a great day to take pictures. Many of ours are from this day, but Allison had her camera for the race itself, too. And she thinks I’m crazy! Thursday morning we crammed onto buses at 5 am with many other maniacs and slept most of the 3-hour winding journey to the wall. There are numerous sections of the wall open to tourists – but they chose one of the more far-flung for the marathon, Huangyanguan. Huangya, means "yellow cliff". The pass takes this name from the yellowish hills and rocks nearby. Originally built in 557 A D, this portion of the wall was repaired for the first time in Ming Dynasty with bricks, and for the second time in 1987 to allow tourists to visit.

It truly is one of the wonders of the world – it’s so big, and it’s built over such difficult terrain, that it’s hard to imagine how it was constructed – or why, for that matter, since any army that could even get to it from Mongolia would have had to be spending a lot of time at the gym. .

Saturday morning we repeated our journey, only 2 hours earlier – starting out at 3 am. We’ve started a lot of events early – but this was ridiculous! We got there and literally froze – as it was desert-like around the wall – no sun equals no warmth. It got warm later, though – eventually it hit 32 Celsius, which is 91 in American-talk. In Allison’s cool video you can see me take off in the first wave for the full marathon; she started in the third wave for the half marathon. 1200 people were racing: 450 the full marathon, 400 the half marathon and the rest among the 10K and 5K. In many places, locals were lined up cheering and shouting “Jiao yo!” which means roughly “keep going!” Lots of kids wanted to high-five the runners – it’s a big day in the little villages that the race passes through. Allison got some great pictures.

Hot, dusty, inspired by the kids and the views, exhausted, but very happy, we both made it through in fine form. Following the advice of my friend, veteran marathoner Rob Keefe, I remembered to wear lip liner and apply it before the finish line, so I’d look fresh and sprightly as I crossed; it worked like a charm.

Next year, I’ll probably run another marathon. But it’s gonna be a flat one this time…


What about Beijing? Didn’t you go to Beijing?

We were focused on the race this trip, but of course we wanted to see some of Beijing. Beijing is, um, well, it’s big. Too big to see in four or five days, too big to capture in a blog. Capital of the world’s most populous country, Beijing has thousands of years of history evident in its beautiful temples, hutongs, gardens, and the Forbidden City. With its 17 million inhabitants, it’s as large as New York. Buildings are sprouting up everywhere with funky geometric shapes and lights, and all the historic sites are undergoing a major face-lift for the August 2008 Olympics. Traffic is on par with any other city – we spent an incredible 3 hours in a cab just to pick up our race packets.

The Wall consumed most of our time, so we definitely plan to go back again to see more of Beijing, we did find time to squeeze in a few other sites:

We caught the show of the China National Acrobatic Troupe, which was beyond amazing. With all due respect to Cirque du Soleil, these people are the best on the planet. My jaw is still on the floor of the theatre. It’s a bit embarrassing to post the video link, because in one segment (the jugglers), I say WOW and OHMYGOD about 153 times. Just tune me out and marvel. The video is in two chunks, with the second segment about 6 minutes long. It’s a bootleg, so don’t try to sell it, just share, in the tradition of Jerry, Bob, Phil and the gang . . .

Yonghegong, aka Lama Temple, aka Palace of Peace, now an active Lamasery plays an important role in China’s continuing struggle with the Dali Lama (Lama means guru). It is the home of the Panchen Lama, second highest-ranking lama after the Dali Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist religion. Who is the true present (11th) incarnation of the Panchen Lama is a matter of controversy: China asserts it is Qoigyijabu, while the Dali Lama in exile maintains it is Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, whom they allege to be missing since 1995, though China states that the child and his family have been taken into 'protective custody'. All attempts by members of the EU parliament and US government to get guarantees of the family's safety have been denied. There is some speculation that with the death of the current Dalai Lama, the People's Republic of China will attempt to direct the selection of a successor, using the authority of their chosen Panchen Lama.

Controversy aside, the building and grounds were originally built in 1694 as the residence of Count Yin Zhen, the fourth son of the Emperor Kangxi, it was called "the Palace of Count Yong." After Yin Zhen became the Emperor, he continued to use it as an imperial palace for short stays away from the capital, and to celebrate that status it was covered with imperial yellow tiles. In 1744, it was converted into a lamasery, and is the most famous Tibetan Buddhist temple in China outside Tibet. The rear hall, houses an enormous statue of Maitreya (the future Buddha) made from one tree trunk. It’s even an official entrant in Guinness Book of World Records. Most amazingly, the temple survived the Cultural Revolution unscathed, an accomplishment 99% of the other religious buildings do not share.

We next headed to the house of Soong Ching-ling, second wife of the father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen (China’s rough equivilent to George Washington). They married in Japan on October 25, 1915 while he was in exile. She was 18 and his secretary, and her parents strongly opposed the match, since Dr. Sun was 26 years older than Soong. Sun Yat-Sen died in 1925 but Soong lived on to play an important role first as a member of the Kuomintang (KMT) Central Executive Committee. She exiled herself to Moscow after the expulsion of the Communists from the KMT in 1927, but after her return to China, she held several important positions, and the Party renovated a prince’s mansion for her to live in. Interestingly, her younger sister, Soong May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek), fled to Taiwan with her husband Chiang Kai-shek.

The day after the race, achy and sore, we headed to see what everyone must see in Beijing, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We only glanced at Tiananmen this time, but we spent 4 hours in the Forbidden City and I don’t think we even saw half of what there was to see. The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is the world's largest surviving palace complex and covers 178 acres. The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms, 1406 are the actual Forbidden City. Construction, started in 1406, lasted 14 years, and used an estimated 200,000 workers. The grand terraces and large stone carvings were made of stone from quarries near Beijing. The larger pieces could not be transported conventionally; wells were dug along the way, water was poured on the road in deep winter forming a layer of ice, and the stones were dragged along the ice. The floors of major halls were paved with "golden bricks" baked with clay from near present-day Shanghai. Each batch took months to bake, resulting in smooth bricks that ring with a metallic sound. Most of the interior pavings are six-century-old originals.

Numbers don’t tell the story – it was truly the biggest thing I have ever seen. It went on and on, building after building, arch after arch, garden after garden. It stretched high into the sky – It’s impossible to communicate the scale of the place. The pictures will give you a slight sense of it, but it’s really a place you need to visit.

Some of the main buildings were under scaffolding to refurbish for the Olympics, so we’ll have to go back to see it in its full grandeur when they are done. Beijing is big and bold, and to paraphrase the words of our "beloved" California Governor, “We’ll be back!”

PS: To the grads -- I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: congratulations!
I sent a short video to Mr. Bigue for Senior Day. Let me know what's next for you! All best wishes . . .

*Shanghai, City on the Make

*Xi’an, City with a Past

*A Salute to the Graduates

* And, no fish tales . . .

Allison and I went to Borneo and did some amazing diving off Sipidan and Mabul Islands – but I’m not going to blog about it. Diehard afishianados (ouch) can see the excellent pics and read the fish tales at:

allisonupdate.blogspot.com

Check it out.

Shanghai, City on the Make

Like Nelson Algren’s Chicago or Dashell Hammett’s Los Angeles, Shanghai is a city of hustlers, players, pimps, scammers, dreamers, climbers, and wannabes. 17 million people live in the metropolitan area, so it’s roughly the size of New York or Calcutta, bigger than London or Rio. Thanks to the People’s Republic of China’s experimentation with free markets, Shanghai’s growth is explosive. The skyline is expanding by the minute – everywhere you look, cranes are straining away to create new buildings of 40, 60, even 100 stories. Architects top these creations with whimsical turrets, pagodas, fountains, ziggurats – seemingly with whatever springs to mind. They’re like designer hats, or children’s toys, Lego blocks for the egos of Shanghai’s Gatsbys. The man (or the woman) in the street is aching to get a taste of the action too.

As a big tall white guy, I walked the streets with a flashing neon sign that read, “Scam me.” In my five-day visit I was approached with scores of offers of various stripes: salesmen wanted to sell me everything from fake watches to designer bags to “antiques” to real estate to tours to kites. Pimps wanted to take me to hotels for “special lady massage.” When I showed one my wedding ring, he said, “your wife never know.” Students eager to “practice their English” (a particularly tempting approach for me) turned out to be trying to hustle me to a tea ceremony where I’d end up paying hundreds of bucks US for a few sips of oolong, to their “surprise.” (I didn’t – but google “tea ceremony scam” if you want to read dozens of stories from people who did.) Taxi drivers with a poor sense of direction and pedicab hucksters were common. Restaurants often have two sets of prices. Some people come up to you on the street and claim to just want to “make friends” or “have coffee.” And I haven’t even gotten to the beggars …

Beneath it all is a striving energy that I couldn’t help but admire. The old city lies slowly crumbling under the weight of its gaudy new dreams, coming through in brief flashes at the Yuyuan Gardens or on the art deco edges of the Old French Concession. For decades the people of Shanghai lived with work collectives and the guaranteed jobs of the “iron rice bowl” system; now they’re scrambling to negotiate their way through the glorious jungles of capitalism. The results are decidedly mixed. On an extraordinarily lame “cruise” along the Huangpu River to the Yangtze, Allison and I saw industrial sludge pouring from numerous drainpipes into the drinking water of the city’s masses, as barges filled with garbage floated amidst barges filled with coal, all of it on its way to be burned and choke the sky, obscuring the view of those fabulous new skyscrapers. Meanwhile thousands of people arrive every day from the countryside to add to the population of the “most prosperous” city in the most populous nation on the Earth.


Shanghai pics



Xi’an, City with a Past

Xi’an (pronounced “she-on”) is no pastoral paradise – it’s a city of 5 million people, nearly as populous as the San Francisco Bay Area – but it seemed mellow after Shanghai. Xi’an was the capitol of China for a thousand years, and the starting point of the Silk Road that China used to trade with Central Asia, India, Egypt, Greece and Rome for millennia. It’s traditionally considered China’s gateway to the vast West (meaning China’s West, not the “Western world,” and not Dodge City). It definitely has a different feeling than the big cities of the East (i.e. Shanghai) or South (i.e. Hong Kong).

The area has preserved some of its ancient heritage, either intentionally, like its city wall (practically brand-new, since construction began in 1370 -- we took a great eight-mile bike ride on this), or unintentionally, like the incredible Terra Cotta Warrior Army. As with the Pyramids, this is a monument to a ruler’s ego – the 8,000 warriors were made to guard the tomb of the megalomaniacal Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of the Qin (pronounced “Chin”) Dynasty. Amazingly, no two warriors are alike, and scholars speculate that each one was modeled on an individual member of Qin’s actual army. The life-sized terra cotta statues were sealed up, and intended never to be seen by human eyes again, around 210 B.C. Then, in 1974, peasants digging a well discovered them, archeologists (and eventually travel agents) got wind of it, and now the site is one of China’s most popular attractions. The first glimpse we had of the unromantically named “Pit #1” was breathtaking – the soldiers and horses are massed in rows for over 300 meters, more than three football fields. That Qin really went out in grand style; he built himself a little mausoleum next door, too – in the photos, you’ll see us climbing it.

Terra Cotta Warriors pics

Xi’an is about two hours from Huashan (Mt. Hua), one of the five sacred mountains of Buddhism in China. We took a gondola partway up, then hiked thousands of stone steps, through temples on rocky ledges, alongside Chinese pilgrims and tourists (mostly the latter), to two of Huashan’s five summits. We left a lock with our names on it on the mountain, like many thousands of others have before us. We were impressed with the dramatic views, and by the determination of our fellow climbers, young and old.

Huashan pics

We also visited several other temples, pagodas, and museums around Xi’an; sometimes I had to remind myself to appreciate the jade carvings and stone relics, rather than focusing on the butchered English translations on the signage (check out the pics). Hey, at least they’re trying – I don’t see too many Chinese-language signs in American museums.

A major highlight of Xi’an is the Muslim Quarter. The city has a significant Muslim minority (and in fact there are tens of millions of Muslims in China who you rarely hear anything about). It also has China’s largest mosque, founded in 742, with an exquisite courtyard and garden that was an oasis of peace in the midst of the old city.

Xi’an has a lot of character, some fascinating sites, and it’s easy to dance to. I’d give it a 92.

Xi'an pics


A Salute to the Graduates

My Juniors from last year are about to graduate from Capuchino High School in San Bruno, California. I wish I could be there to see it! I will try to blog once more before the big event, but I’m heading to Beijing to run a marathon on the Great Wall in two weeks, so I may not live that long. Just in case, let me say now – I am proud of you, and I send you my love and best wishes. Some unsolicited advice: Go to college! Dream big! And travel! China, Tanzania, Guatemala, Uruguay, Australia, Jordan, Romania, and many more countries await. U.S.A. = 4% of the world’s population. Get out of San Bruno (this does NOT mean “go to Millbrae”) -- at least for a while, OK?

Fly, little Mustangs, be free!

College peeps -- hang in there, finish strong.
Underclassmen -- keep movin' on up, it's comin'.
Alleged adults -- you think you're sooo cool, don't you?