Where does running take you next?

The race starts in the evening, so no need to worry about getting up early. The final 1-2 kilometers of the track are uphill, which will be quite challenging.

I've participated in several races in China now and this one was well organized. Huairou is north of Beijing. We took the bullet train into Beijing and then rented a car to Huairou. Most of the traffic congestion was in the city center. We got frequent text updates and race packet pick up was well organized. Similar to other marathons I have joined in China, this was a large event with room for up to 10,000 half marathon entries and 5,000 full marathon entries. They had 3 bus pick up locations which we did sign up for. But then it turns out I got lucky with my homestay booking. We easily drove ten minutes from our homestay to the nearby train station and then it was a short 10 minute walk to the starting line. This was probably the first race I was an hour early for. Therefore we did not need to use the shuttle service. The weather was great on race day, not too hot. Overall the road/route was good. There are some hills, but nothing too extreme. I don't stop at the water stations but from what I witnessed, there was lots of yummy foods. There were little gifts and goods with the prerace package and the post race package and of course a finisher's medal. This is my first scented medal. My favorite gift is probably the house slippers, they are very comfortable. Post race there were also multiple booths for various offerins including stretching but my party had to head out to catch our train back home. Overall, great race, great experience.

Extremely well organised with good communication from the organisers. The hill not as bad as expected! Medals for first 3 in 5 year categories was unexpected. Walking around Prague for 3 days before not a good idea for a good time though 😉