04.21.19 Zhengzhou Women 21k and Camilla's Birthday

My work was having a Ceilidh party that the girls really wanted to attend. I explained to them that we would only be able to stay from 7-9pm because our train left at 10:35pm. We had a blast and the girls really wanted to stay but were excited for the weekend away. When we were leaving, a friend of mine said, "Tara, I am really worried about you going there alone with your girls. Will you please check in with me so I know you are okay." I said, "Don't worry. We do this all the time. But, I will check in." She said, "I don't know why I am worried. I just have a feeling…" I am not sure if she jinxed us or what. But, when we got in the taxi, the traffic was terrible. The girls slept the whole taxi ride. I got them up and hurried to the train. We arrived to the station as the doors were closing. We almost missed the train. Carly said, "Wow! That was easy! You know exactly where to go!" (They has no idea how freaked I was) We arrived to beautiful blue skies and it was warm. We took a taxi to our hotel and it was extremely hard to communicate.

I booked my own hotel for the race because I didn't want the race director to pay extra for my kids. We got our stuff unpacked and decided to wander the city. Carly had fun shooting a rocket. Camilla and I got boba and boba pancakes. We walked to the race hotel and they fed us lunch.

Then, the race director told us that he had 2 rooms for us. The girls had a room and I had a room. It was a Hilton and much nicer than the one I booked so we accepted. There was a driver that took us to pack up our stuff and bring it to the Hilton. Camilla called the hotel, "Super Fancy!"

Then I called a taxi to take us to Furunzi Hot Spring water park.

We spent 3 hours there and I got the courage to do the fish spa.

When we left, I couldn't get a taxi. No one would come to get us. I even asked the water park to call a taxi and they said I need to take a city bus. We are used to big cities where DiDis go everywhere. The Chinese kept trying to help us by trying to tell us directions to a city bus, but we got so lost. I experienced that horrible fear that my kids weren't safe. We were in a very vulnerable situation. We ended up walking in the dark for over an hour trying to find a place that a DiDi would pick us up. I lucked out by getting a DiDi that went out of his way to find me. My battery died as soon as I got in the taxi. This taxi driver asked me to be his friend. I laid in bed with my heart pounding so fast. I told the girls I didn't want to race. Carly said, "Mom you have to!" If she wouldn't have said that, I probably would have skipped the race. My alarm went off at 5:20am and I left the girls with breakfast coupons and their iPads.

It was pouring rain so we all got ponchos.

Us runners were treated like royalty.

All the Chinese were snapping pictures of us like crazy.

I met so many women who were in China for business.

It was a very well organized race. It was an amazing experience!

I learned the phrase, "Jia You" because everyone was shouting it at me. It translates to, "Keep Going!"

This picture was from the finish line. This Chinese lady was running with her hands out to the side, trying to beat me. I sped up and crossed the finish line before her.I finished in 1:56. Pretty slow, since my PR is 1:26, but my goal was to get under 2 hours so I can get a 500RMB finisher bonus. I have been injured for so long that it will take me a while to get my speed back. The girls had a blast hanging out in the fancy hotel all morning. I messaged Carly when I was done and she said:

I walked back to the hotel and a lady actually ran up and put an umbrella on me. The whole trip was a fun adventure!