Xiamen Marathon

Early Saturday morning we dragged the kids out of bed and went with one of Michael's students to watch the Xiamen Marathon, which passed right by the campus along the Island Ring Road (along the beach). It was a fine clear day, chilly but not cold -- just right for a marathon. There were lots of students out volunteering and a fair amount of spectators for the race, which is one of the top marathons in China. We had our free flags to wave, and waited anxiously to see the leaders, who passed by on the way downtown to the turn, and again on the way back , with about 6.5 miles to go to the finish..

Here's the timing truck and the leaders... at this point the Chinese runner was in the lead, which really pleased the crowd..but in fact the two Kenyans were working together to set the pace, and the one pictured on the left Kenei Kiprotich apparently pulled ahead in the last 500 m and won the $30,000 prize easily in 2:09:49, and the Chinese runner finished third. The Chinese women did better though -- the woman in the yellow shirt running in this pack of men, Zhang Yingying led most of the way and won with a fast time of 2:22:38, and Chinese women took second and third as well...after seeing Zhang run by we hurried home to catch the results on TV and saw her cross the finish line on TV..

You can see the story on the marathon by pasting this link:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2008-01/05/content_6373155.htm
It was a good time watching the runners, we had heard about the Marathon, but it has usually been held in March -- I guess they wanted to avoid the rain and the heat!





On a technical note -- I am having trouble posting photos and can't see them as I am posting -- someone please let me know how things are looking these days..Thomas is finally back to school tomorrow for a few weeks before the next holidays begin, so I can get back to a regular schedule. I went back to Tai chi today after an absence of nearly 2 weeks and it made a big difference in my energy level -- also I had been feeling like I might get the kids' cold, but now I feel fine.

Today we went to the famous "Yesterday Coffee" of Chinglish fame for lunch after church. Not sure if I posted this photo before or not of the "bunsen-burner" like method of making the coffee...I noticed some postcards around of Lijiang, the city in Yunnan we are planning to vacation in, and managed to ask the owner if he was from there, and we got in a conversation about Yunnan and coffee -- which is apparently grown there and this method of preparation is typical...we'll have to check it out when we go.