It is the most challenging of the three disciplines. It has the least influence on the overall race. It takes ridiculous amounts of time to just get comfortable with.

Beijing is flat. At least most of it is. But once you get beyond the sixth ring road, things start to look much more uphill.

Running in Beijing sucks! I have been running since the tender age of seven and absolutely love the sport, but over here the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I treat my training like a second job.