The crowds were coming.

The Group on the Wall

I still have so many pictures to share... we were the absolute 1st people on the Great Wall that day. We made it to the section called Badaling, one of the more touristy sections but because of our early arrival, it wasn't too bad, not too mention the only area open at that time. We were lucky to have Sylvia there with us. Sylvia was with the Bafangzy Group that was helping us with everything- accommodations, transportation, tickets to the events, tours for families. Sylvia was obviously her "English" name and she was so sweet. The sweetest little voice and such a nice lady. She is 25 years old and originally from Shanghai. She had spent 5 years in Moscow studying and learning Russian. Sylvia has also traveled to the states, Australia, Japan and speaks all those languages. Pretty amazing. She would like to come back to the states to study nutrition at Cornell. 

So the visibility that day was not the best but probably pretty average. We were spoiled our first two days on China with absolutely clear, blue, sunny skies. That was not the usual. Regardless, the wall is pretty amazing and something you need to experience in person.

Wednesday morning started early, 5:30am early. The staff decided it was time to head out to the Great Wall. How amazing was that...

The Team and Jimmy

Party time...

Tuesday night we had our post race party at the Auspicious. All family and friends of athletes were invited to a buffet dinner with drinks.  It was a nice way to bring closure to the event and unleash everyone to their own devices. I had organized a slideshow with about 400+ pictures which took about 15 minutes to show. All in all a great night. 

I have been quite neglectful of my blogging duties and for that I apologize. I am back in the states but wanted to share the last few days. I was finished with my responsibilities on Tuesday after the men's race. Before I forget, I wanted to share pics fro my long hike run Monday after the women's race. I was out for about 90 minutes and it was awesome.