The Race

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A friend sent me photos from the race at the university sports day! The 1500m had about 15 people in my group and another group also with about 15 people. The other group had one guy who was a serious runner. Pity we were not in the same race. The other 28 people just play basketball twice a week. The other guy actually ran a faster time, but the crowd was fixed on me. The tall foreigner with red hair and silly shoes. At this university they don't know how to handle a track meet. I guess it's the only one they have all year. Two or three times during the race someone from the infield stepped out in front of me. Most of the turn on the track was lined with people holding cameras and phones out into the lane. Other runners had their friends running on the infield beside them to hand them water.
My time was around 4:45 certainly not impressive at any western competition. Still everyone was amazed and said 你跑很快 you run so fast! The other international students who used to be runners knew I only won because I happened to be in decent shape. China does not have a running culture from what I have seen. At the city marathon last semester I was very surprised how few people there were, less than one thousand, in a city of 8 million. China has a ping-pong and badminton culture. That being said, those sports are very competitive, and people play them everyday. It is nice to see older people exercising here. Every morning older people are walking, or doing tai chi or using the outdoor exercising equipment at parks. I hope to run a marathon in November so I need to get it together. In late August I will need to start a serious training routine.
Until later 加油！
Thanks for reading

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Photos

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notice the shoes they are wearing, basketball, football