Call me C-R-A-Z-Y

I realize that I just wrote a post about how hot and unbelievably uncomfortable it is to be outside for even a minute here in Shanghai these days so the fact that I have signed up to run a marathon may prompt the need for check of the mental faculties. Yes, I have signed up for the Hangzhou Marathon in November. Not only have I signed up, I have assembled a run group to encourage my craziness. We've actually been running together for about 5 weeks now very informally. To be honest, I was all talk in the beginning when I said I wanted to do a marathon here in China but one thing led to another and all of a sudden I found myself putting together a training calendar for 5 other people and not long after that the title "Coach" was thrown at me. AHHH me and my big mouth!! I think the real craziness hit me when a friend who is coming to visit asked what she could bring from the States and I immediately answered BODY GLIDE. No. Not peanut butter M&Ms, Wheat Thins or Oatmeal Teddy Grahams (all of which are also greatly appreciated ;). Body Glide :/ (I envision my brother and Susan, his fiance, saying "What's wrong with that?!?" ). So here I am....training for a marathon....in....China...Lord help me.

It's an interesting thing running in Shanghai. I don't think I could have come from a farther extreme in terms of running environment. I could have walked out of my door in San Francisco and blindly chosen any direction to run in and eventually found myself among the most beautiful running trails in the state. Not exactly the case here. Unless you want to be intimate with a bike, motorcycle, taxi or BUS it's wise not to do any action blindly. I did do a couple runs out on the sidewalks near my old apartment and I could never figure out if the locals were staring at me because I was either a)blonde/western/woman or b)running. The running for health or leisure aspect hasn't really hit here but honest-to-god if there's an announcement for a slash in prices for cooking oil you best be looking out for the sudden herd of Michael Johnson's sprinting your way.

So my Saturdays now consist of 7am wake-ups, which would probably happen if I was running or not due to the rabid vegetable bargaining going on in the markets below my apartment. I'm going to digress here but it is AMAZING to see the bustle of activity that goes on early weekend mornings. We take the metro to get to our run destination and it is PACKED. Like wall-to-wall, face-in-armpit PACKED. Sometimes I just want to shout: WHERE ARE YOU ALL GOING!?!?!? Really where are they all going at 7am on a Saturday?!!? Once I figure it out I'll let you know. Anyway, we have a really nice park to run in that knocks out about 10ks which is fine for now but once we get into the real training (20-30ks) we'll have to get creative with our run destinations. Luckily I have another friend who spent time in Austin and shares my CA run culture experience. We're determined to bring that lifestyle to China so I when friends ask what they can bring from home I don't have to say body glide :)

Here is a link to the marathon I will be doing: http://www.hangzhou-marathon.com/index.php?lang=en