Racecation in Chongqing!

So I went to visit another ELF, Rebekah, in Chongqing (middle of China) because we signed up for the half marathon a few months ago. I was a bit apprehensive because I haven’t been training a lot. With vacation and my parents visit, then too much pollution, it’s been hard to get in long runs. But I signed up and I had plane tickets and so I was going- ready or not! I arrived in Chongqing and Rebekah was at the airport to pick me up! So lovely, it’s been incredible working with the other fellows in China. They are such friendly, motivated, intelligent fun people to work with. Rebekah is no exception. We went to her university in Beibei, where she lives with her awesome husband Mark.

Beibei is much more rural than Beijing and so many Chinese look at us foreigners and snap photos quite often. It’s something I’m not used to in Beijing and had to adjust accordingly. All around Beibei are gorges, because the area has both the  Yangzee and the Jialing Rivers. So, on Friday, we figured out how to take the bus to Jindao gorge. The bus ride itself was so beautiful I felt like I was in the hobbit. Is this China? After a windy uphill speedy ride to the top of a mountain, we found an almost abandoned tourist site (unheard of in China!). After trying to use our sparse Chinese to figure out when the last bus comes (which we didn’t), we started our trek down to the bottom of the gorge. Take a look!

Saturday we went to downtown Chongqing to pick up our race packets and explore an ancient part of town called Ciqikou. The race expo was so American! Free things being given away and loud music and free samples. Except that we were the only foreigners!! So many race participants asked us for photos it was hilarious! We were totally celebrities! And we also got some funny photos as well.

Ciqikou was super cute- reminded me of Lijiang in Yunnan. Lots of cafes, street food, flowers in hair, and so. Many. People. Wow.

Then came marathon day (or as we say in Chinese Ma la son.). If I thought we stood out at the expo, the race was even more so! So many runners took photos with us, said hello to us, shouted jia you! (go for it!) at us. It was pretty incredible energy. The whole race was lined up with chinese spectators. Rebekah and I went slowly and steadily and had a great time! My favorite time was when a group of old chinese women were cheering, and I went over and high fived them all! It made my day (and im sure it made their day!) Then it was relax, recover, and eat! A great racecation indeed!!