Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Great Wall Workout

It was a cool and misty day. The fog was thick and the rain light. Not the ideal for seeing the grandeur of the Great Wall, but certainly perfect climbing weather. Jon and I were up for the challenge and set out for our journey upward. The thing about the mist was we couldn't see how much further we had to go. It felt like we just kept going up, . . . and up, . . . and up, . . . and up, into the clouds. Sidenote: I was highly amused that I specifically bought shorts for this trip because I expected it to be hot in Bejing. As it turns out, I was wrong. However, I WAS stubborn enough to wear them in the 60 degree weather. I must confess that my legs got a little shaky toward the end. It was a good thing I chose not to workout at the gym that morning!Ta da! We did finally reach the apex. I guess it took us about 40 minutes. Everything feels longer when you don't see the end in sight. Here we are at the end of our descent. Don't we look accomplished?

3 comments:

Ellen said...

I remember how steep that wall is. I did not climb half as high as you guys. Jen was the daring and crazy one in the group when we went. We waited a long time for her to descend from the clouds. I'm so glad the two of you got to experience all of this.

Jamie Stavenger said...

All those years of KATH-AAAAAY finally paid off. I'm sure you could hear her encouraging words in the back of your head every step of the way.

Anonymous said...

Good post.