Claremore attorney Larry Rahmeier recently completed his 10th marathon.

His first international race took him along The Great Wall of China, across the mountainous countryside, and even through tiny villages where children lined the streets to cheer on the runners.

“It all started as an excuse to run a marathon on The Great Wall of China,” he said, “but you have to see all the sights while you’re there, so it was a 15-night tour of China, from May 9-25. We really covered a lot of the country.”

The tour included stops in the cities of Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Kunming and Shanghai.

Most of their time was spent in Beijing.

“I was amazed at the amount of construction going on in the city,” he said. “Someone commented that the tower crane was the national bird of China.”

While there, they visited the Forbidden City, which sits in the center of Beijing, to the north of Tiananmen Square.

The Forbidden City — now known as the Palace Museum — was the imperial palace for five centuries during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

“It was where the emperors lived for years,” he said. “It was all being refurbished and repainted. It was impressive to see all the stuff that had been reconstructed.”

The world’s largest palace complex, it contains 9,999 buildings. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, 14 emperors of the Ming dynasty and 10 emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned there.

The tour group had plenty of opportunities to experience Chinese culture, including sampling the local cuisine.

“We always ate Chinese food, however, I never was brave enough to try the ‘critters on a stick,’ as we called them — grasshoppers, slugs, even seahorses of all things,” Rahmeier said.

While in Beijing, a group from the tour, including Rahmeier, ate a meal in the home of a Chinese family.

“She cooked for 12 of us on one wok — and it was a multi-course meal,” he said. “The husband and wife were both retired and we got to talk with them about their life.”