The race of their lives

Fighting flab turns health conscious into torch bearers for an activity that is not for the weak of mind

In the life of a mathematician the number 3.14159 is as second nature as bread and butter or rice and chopsticks are to the rest of us. For another group of people the number 42.195 assumes an importance that in many cases will become an obsession and perhaps even a life-long passion.

And just like 3.14159, expressed in the Greek letter pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, 42.195 has strong Greek connections, reflecting the distance in kilometers that a messenger is said to have run between the towns of Marathon and Athens 2,500 or so years ago.

And just as pi is ever with us, the modern foot race called the marathon endures and endures, which is exactly what those who subject themselves to its rigors are required to do to run 42 kilometers, 195 meters.

Chinese, renowned worldwide for their mathematical prowess, are now taking on the world in marathoning. Some are out to win medals while others are simply in it for the exhilaration, the fun and the health benefits that running in such events and preparing for them can deliver. In either case, the desire to cover the distance and reach the finishing line keeps passions and ambitions high.

For a sense of that you need only look at Wulong, a tourism resort in Chongqing, which staged a marathon a few weeks ago in which participants were allowed to run stripped down to their underwear, and the frigid conditions in which it was run, minus 5 C, failed to deter the hundreds who took part.

Since his first marathon in 2015, Zhou Jiandong, 31, of Nanjing, says he has run in many marathons.

"The first time I heard about the marathon was in 1995, on television. It was something about the Beijing Marathon, and of course little did I know that one day I would become hooked on in."

In high school and college he played soccer but in 2010, three years after he graduated from college, he was overweight and was not as fit as he had once been, he says.

In 2015 after witnessing a marathon and sensing the enthusiasm of those involved, he decided to give it a go and for three months got into a routine of quick walking to get to the point where he could start jogging.

Last April in Nanjing he completed a half marathon and about four months later a full marathon. Now a lot of his time is taken up swapping information and knowledge about marathoning with fellow aficionados, and in fact marathoning has transformed his life, he says.

He used to weigh 100 kilograms but now weighs 75 kg, and all round he is much healthier, he says. Apart from once being overweight, his immunity was weak and his blood pressure and cholesterol level were high, and he suffered from asthma, he says.

"If I were to give a score to the quality of my life before I got into marathoning it would be just three out of 10. Now I'm so happy and full of energy."

Zhang Lei, of Beijing, says marathon has greatly improved her life, too. Though she is 51, she looks as though she is in her 30s. Those youthful looks can be attributed to marathoning, she says

"Once I could barely have conceived of enjoying running, but now it's become one of the most important things in my life."

The turning point came one day in April 2014 when she realized she had become so fat she had outgrown dresses she once loved to wear, and at a friend's recommendation she downloaded an app that promotes marathoning as a way of losing weight and getting fit and staying that way.

On her first run it took her 36 minutes to cover 1.6 kilometers, she says, and at the end of it she was out of breath. At the time, the idea of managing to run 5 kilometers was like a pipe dream, she says. However, she increased the distances she ran ever so gradually, and within six months she had run a half marathon in Beijing.

Since then she has run in a dozen of marathons in China and elsewhere.

"Marathoning has really changed me," she says.

She now looks like a different person, with a trim figure, and always feels energetic, and her husband, inspired by her, has also taken up long-distance running.

Encouragement

Zhang says that had it not been for the encouragement of friends and fellow marathoners she could not have summoned up the courage to run in her first marathon. Receiving training that is scientifically based and adopting a training regime that helps you improve gradually have also been critical to her success, she says.

In fact, of all the marathoners she knows, no one would have been capable of running a marathon when they took up long-distance running, she says.

She reads extensively on how to run safely and does specific training activities every day. At first she ran three times a week, supplemented by other kinds of physical exercise, such as squats, to improve her muscles and become stronger.

In fact marathoning has now turned into a new career for her. The self-employed now also provides consulting services designing fitness programs for long-distance runners or those who wish to start running.

She particularly vaunts running outdoors as a physical exercise, as opposed to running in a gym. Indoors it takes discipline to keep on going whereas outdoors the constant change of scenery adds interest to the activity, she says.

Lifestyle choice

For Liu Jianfeng, an executive with an international IT company, running marathons is about lifestyle choice and about perseverance. Liu, who has long been a regular exerciser, says he used to think running was not for him simply because it seemed boring.

However, when his grandmother died of cancer in 2009 he decided to do something to raise public awareness of cancer and plumped on taking part in a marathon charity with several friends that would raise money for cancer patients.

Even for a regular gym goer such as him training for a marathon was tough going, and it needed six months to, among other things, build up stamina. Eventually he and his friends completed a marathon in Macao.

Since then Liu has taken part in a dozen marathons both in China and in the United States.

There are, of course, many ways to keep fit that are not so nearly as demanding on time and physical effort as the marathon, but aficionados say no other sporting activity can quite match it with the challenges it presents to the powers of determination and perseverance as well as the opportunity it allows for reflection and contemplation.

Apart from that, Liu says, in China, marathoning has become an activity that provides the opportunity for socializing and partying.

Zhou Jiandong, the Nanjing resident, says it is of great fun to run marathon at a strange city, and since there are many cities holding marathon events in China, he hopes the organizers will be more detail-oriented to provide better experience for runners.

liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn

Marathon aficionados say no other sporting activity can quite match it with the challenges it presents to the powers of determination and perseverance. Photos Provided to China Daily