Train for a half marathon, see China

I don't think I have made an official announcement here, but many of you already know through emails and Facebook that Tim and I are both training for a 1/2 marathon on the Great Wall on May 15th. It will be the first time that either of us have run in a race. So far the training has been great, hard, painful, time-consuming and fun. We are looking forward to being finished with the training schedule! But running 4 times a week has been great for getting to know Beilun better and to see some of the Chinese countryside outside our little town.

On one of the few sunny days recently, Tim, Milan and I took a bike ride to some of the areas where we often run. Here are some photos of the places we run around here:

A village on the south edge of town

village courtyard

Path leading to the fields

Path through some fields - this was sugar cane in the summer (on the right)

Field of shrubs grown for nursery and transplanting

Courtyard next to a canal

Running around the park in front of the government buildings

We have a few more weeks of training before the trip to Beijing for the big race. One of our good friends from school will be joining us to play with Milan while we run. It will also be our first trip to Beijing, but I doubt that we'll feel like visiting the Forbidden City and other tourist sights the day after we run 13 miles!

Wish us luck!