Golden Jubilees at the Great Wall

So Briony decided to tackle the Great Wall Half Marathon for her Golden Jubilee celebrations...

Liz, in need of even greater personal physical challenge for 2014, decided to go with her....

Louise, lured by the promise of cheap silk and endless yum chas, decided to tag along...

And Kylie, who says yes to anything that requires running shorts and a PB, said "I'm in!"

So suddenly four of the Fairy God Mothers, rebadged for this adventure as the Fairy God Marathoners, signed up to the hardest half marathon on the planet: running on the Great Wall of China.

This blog tells our story. Enjoy our adventures, muscle aches and laughs.

So what's the big deal about our Golden Jubilees? A Golden Jubilee is a special celebration to mark 50 years of existence of a person or object or event. In Biblical times the Jubilee year was also marked by the emancipation of all slaves. Given that we are travelling alone as four friends, temporarily emancipated from all our responsibilities, we think this is a perfect allusion.

Here's a list of some of the challenges we have so far overcome: 

1. Selecting the brightest, and by sheer coincidence, functional footwear:

(ok so some of us were more focussed on not drawing attention to ourselves.)

2. Choosing running shorts - you decide who these belong to

3. Discovering training routes with sufficient hills and 2,500+ stairs - yes you read that correctly - to properly prepare us for our ordeal

4. Being vaccinated against every possible disease known to humanity

5. Coming to terms with the green and gold personalised T shirts emblazoned with 'AUSTRALIA' that our organisers are hoping we will wear....

If you are interested in the details about the history of the Marathon, various logistics and want to lament with us about our 3.30am departure from the Beijing Hotel you can read all about it in this link: 

2014 Great Wall Marathon Guide Book


Only 6 days to go!