Running up Purple Mountain

AHHHHHH OMG, it's only T-minus 1 week before the Great Hall Half-Marathon!!! Laura, Chynna, Stan, and I went for a 6-7 mile run up Purple Mountain (紫金山), which ended at this spectacular reservoir where we all went for a nice cool dip. :) The park was simply gorgeous and there weren't many tourists even on a Saturday. Wonderful day, let's do it again soon.

Wish me luck for the marathon... I've been training a lot but haven't done any runs longer than 6 miles at this point, but I believe I can definitely do 13... hahaha mind over matter?

Giving a little boy flying high-fives.

Yes, this is part of marathon training, haha.

The water was AMAZING (and clean!), the perfect treat for a hard workout.

Laura and I played on the animals lining the path towards the Ming Tombs... they're actually quite slippery! I think I tried hopping on (and sliding off) at least 10+ times, quite sad and hilarious, hahaha. We chose the lions because we liked their wicked perm. :)

ROAR.

I'm in Darnassus!

It's quite amazing how I'm starting to really love Nanjing just when I only have a couple of weeks left. I'm an nature-y kind of gal (surprising even to myself since I grew up in NYC), so all this great weather + Xuanwu Lake (玄武湖) + Purple Mountain has made me feel much better about this place. Running has also made me much more fit and able to enjoy long excursions outdoors too... I really hope I can keep this up even after next week's race!