50 mile ultramarathon on the Great Wall

[brianthesoc]

This is a great forum. I spent a year in Beijing about a decade ago and wish I had come across this form at that time. I'm heading back to Beijing in June for business purposes, but would like to sneak in some recreation. I'm training for a 100 mile ultramarathon and thought my trip to China would really be a great opportunity to do something unique and get a critical training run in. I'd be very interested in any recommendations that you all have out there for a 12 hour training run. I'd like to cover about 50 miles and can generally do that in 10 hours, but realize the hills could slow me down considerably. I can carry enough water for 4 to 6 hours, but after that would need to resupply. If taxis are available to get me back to Beijing, I would love to do those 50 miles in one direction, but I am open to routes that go out 25 miles and back.

Anyway, recommendations would be very much appreciated. I do speak a functional amount of Chinese although I am no means fluent. I'd really like to stay away from touristy areas, but would be open to starting anywhere as the typical tourist doesn't cover much ground. Basically, I'm looking for recommended starting sites and finishing sites. I'll carry a GPS with me so any additional route information or data would also be useful. Xie xie nimen!

Brian the Sociologist
www.brianthesociologist.com