I recently looked into the Shanghai Marathon. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go and there are multiple reasons to add it to the list.
They haven’t updated their site with details on 2017, but I found their insurance form to be… illuminating? I’m not sure what kind of race they’re putting on but given the things the insurance covers (and specifically DOESN’T cover), it feels like it could be Navy SEAL training level difficult:
I should note that whenever I bother to ACTUALLY read or more likely skim the boilerplate event waivers for ANY running event, it’s scary stuff. One of the best ones I ever read (and I wish I could find a link to it now) read something to the effect of: “Seriously, you may die. It’ll be your fault, we assume no liability. You’re signing this to say you’re an idiot for wanting to run 26.2 miles and take full responsibility for anything that happens. You’re an adult. You make your own decisions. But we’re telling you — you may die. But then again we all are going to die eventually, right? Except Agent Scully on The X-File. She’s apparently immortal.”
THAT waiver I can honestly say I would find much easier to sign away than anything that includes the phrase “dismemberment.” There’s something inherently… unpleasant… about the word “dismemberment.”
Dismemberment.
Dismemberment.
Dismemberment.
No matter how many times you say it, the word still has power. Unlike, say, the word “tartlets.”