Beijing Marathon 2003
After running Boston four times, I felt it was time to try something different. I trained for a fall marathon, Chicago and Beijing were only a week apart in October. I wasn't ready for Chicago, so I ended up running Beijing.
I was hoping for four hours, it's a nice flat course, and my training had gone well. However, I learned another important lesson. Track your running shoe mileage during training..
I don't know if it was the shoes or the composition of the running surface, but after only 9 miles, 1/3 distance, my hip started killing me on every impact. This really killed any chances of getting a good time, but I did stumble through to the finish. Too bad, other than the hip I never hit my wall, and had plenty of wind at the finish line.
I didn't have any cheering section to take pictures, so all I've got is the course map..