Beijing Marathon!!!

Laurie givin er a go at the beginning of the run. Notice Forbidden City in the background. To the left is a pic of a gal who was sort of a cheerleader. They had music going and she was doing some sort of aerobic thing.

Up above, a Chinese Dumpling expert whipping up a batch for us.

We're ready to roll!

The soldiers kept people from sneaking into the starting area

THe Minnesota Crew ready to roll!

Laurie and I... :)

We were lucky enough to have yet another eventful weekend. Sunday, Laurie and I got up real early and headed into the city to run the 10k as part of the Beijing Marathon. We were part of a group of 6 runners who rode together down there. A rather funny thought occurred as we were driving though... All six of us runners were from Minnesota! The only couple was Laurie and I also, so it proves that it's truly a small world!!!

Just getting up to the starting line proved to be a story in itself.. We were not allowed to just cross the street to get to Tiananmen Square (where the race began). We had to walk underneath the road where there were guards and soldiers. They wanted to see our numbers and were randomly searching people. Some made a mad dash only to be checked again and possibly again before emerging on the other side of the road. Quite a comical scene...

We arrived up on Tiananmen Squrare to be greeted by thousands of runners preparing to run distances from a 5k up to a full marathon... Some estimates said that there were around 30,000 runners in all. Alot of people...

The elite runners began at 8:00, followed by the marathon, half marathon, and then us. By the time we reached the actual starting line, the race clock said something like 21 minutes... So, we took off and headed out by The Forbidden City (as you can see from the pics). It's quite amazing that they shut down such a huge and busy street in the middle of Beijing. I have frequently stated that I will never again whine about traffic in the US after being here. Unbelievable... And then to shut down a major artery for a race just adds to the jumble...

The race went great. Laurie and I ran together along with Josh, a friend from MN who decided to run the night before... He's a trooper and did great.

After the race, it took us about 2 hours to get home. A combination of getting our bags, finding taxi, communicating to taxi driver, getting him to drive us out to Shunyi, then navigating through traffic, is what this entailed... A typical day in the neighborhood. And it's all part of the experience!

The day before (saturday), I went to an electronics market and purchased a new camera. Jim, a great man who has done a ton for our family, organized the trip for us and attended. He also took me around the back to find a Chinese delicasy. Chinese dumplings... They tasted quite good, even though I am not a fan of gooey bread stuff... I must also mention that 3 servings of dumplings and a big beer that was shared between 3 of us cost about 2 dollars... Not bad eh?

Laurie finished up her volleyball season with a tourney on Saturday night. So, now she's off until the spring basketball season...

We love you all and hope things are all well for you...

The DuBois Crew