C - My Long March

Last Saturday, I took part in the "5th Annual Dalian International Walking Festival", an event organized by a Dalian travel agency to promote walking, health, peace, and communication. There were four paths to choose from: 5K, 10K, 20K, and 30K. I'd heard my friend Lizzy complain a few weeks ago that none of her friends were willing do the 30K walk with her last year, so I told her I'd be willing to give it a try.

We met at 7 am on Saturday morning and took the tram to the walk's starting place, the enormous Xinghai Square. The tram was packed with people wearing the same t-shirts and hats as us, which was my first clue that I would be part of quite a large herd for the day.

When we arrived at the square, we had to search for the student group from our university that Lizzy had arranged for us to walk with. This was more easily said than done, because Xinghai Square is supposedly the largest public square in Asia and everyone was wearing the same shirt and hat. We finally found the students and I was introduced to them. I attracted quite a bit of attention, as there were some law students in the group who were really interested in studying law in the United States and seemed to think that because I am going to law school in the United States next year, I could give them some tips on how to make it more accessible and affordable for them. No such luck, however.

I also got some attention from a reported who was interested in a U2 quote I'd written on my tag (those things runners have pinned to them with their number on it, I'm not sure what it's called!) saying "What you got, they can't steal it, no, they can't even feel it; walk on." Lizzy translated it for the reporter as I quickly whispered to her not to mention that it's actually a song in support of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese pro-democracy activist.

We eventually got underway at about 8:10 a.m. Lizzy and I had an interesting conversation that made the time pass quickly, but the crowd was so large that we were forced to trudge along at a snail's pace. After about four hours, we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch. I didn't know that lunch would be provided, so I'd brought granola bars, apples, and raisins. It was a good thing that I did, though, because the lunch consisted of rice and whole fishes that had been chopped coarsely and fried in the usual Chinese brown sauce - fins, head, bones, and all. I had a bone lodge itself in my throat a few weeks ago while eating similarly prepared fish, so I really wasn't interested in trying this batch.

After lunch, the leader of the student group announced to Lizzy and I that they were done walking for the day and that their bus would be arriving any moment to take them back to the university. Lizzy and I decided we weren't ready to quit; except for some blisters, we actually felt quite good. The group leader told us that there were only seven or eight kilometers left, which surprised me but sounded good nonetheless.

We soon learned, though, that we were just barely halfway there. We came to a point that we thought was the end until we saw a sign that said "You have finished 18 kilometers." Although that information was quite the morale-killer, we pressed on as the trail got steeper and the sun got hotter. Lizzy and I talked much less, and I was less polite to the strangers who approached me. The crowd thinned out substantially, and we made it to the end at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Not counting the 45 minutes for lunch, it took us six hours and thirty-five minutes to walk 30K. We then had to walk a bit further to find a bus and then a taxi, so by the time I got to sit down, I was quite tired!

Overall, I enjoyed the walk, even though the concept seemed a little silly to me. One of the random people along the way who wanted to speak with me asked me if we had similar events in the US. I told her that there are many competitive races and charity events that are somewhat similar but that I'd never heard of an event being held simply for the purpose of walking. As I feasted on Indian food that night with David and friends, though, the walk felt more than worthwhile!

Here's Lizzy at the two-thirds mark:


And here's me:


I'm already thinking about taking the same walk next Saturday!