Picking up the pace

By Li Ying Source:Global Times Published: 2015-8-19 19:38:01

Social media and clubs spur on more people to start running


From left to right in black T-shirts: Huang Pan, Qu Tongxin and Song Jia in front of the Forbidden City. Photo: Li Hao/GT


The setting sun painted the sky a golden pink as Qu Tongxin, 26, ran alongside the moat walls of the Forbidden City. Every Saturday evening over the past few months, Qu has been running here, crossing the hutong area illuminated by street lamps, with about 20 peers from the Team Run Beijing club.

A total of 4.5 kilometers in 22 minutes. Qu checked his watch as he finished his workout - an average of about 5 minutes per kilometer. He was preparing for his next race on Saturday - the "10 Kilometer Mass Run," which will see 10,000 runners compete on roads departing from Yongdingmen Park and finishing at Yuetan Beijie. It is one of the events connected to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships Beijing 2015, to be held at the National Stadium from August 22 to 30.

"My expectation is to finish the run within 52 minutes," Qu said. 

Qu is one of the growing number of Beijing runners who regularly train and participate in competitions with social running clubs. A search on the Internet yields dozens of running clubs in the city, who are promoting running by designing interesting running routes and training programs to encourage runners to train and socialize together.

In 2014, almost 80,000 people attended the major marathon events in Beijing, Hong Kong and Xiamen in Fujian Province, and about 50 marathons were held across cities in China, according to a report in the Sichuan Daily.

Sun Yingjie, a retired world champion runner, wants to help amateur runners train. Photo: IC


Running for fun

In March, Qu joined Team Run Beijing after reading the club's training notice forwarded by his friends on WeChat. "Running with others won't be as boring and would help me maintain and increase my pace."

With the primary purpose to lose weight, Qu started running in 2013 when he weighed almost 100 kilograms. After two months of running 10 kilometers a day, he was able to shed 30 kilograms. Recently, his workout programs include strength training at a gym two or three times a week and cycling in the suburbs over weekends. An avid runner, Qu often shares his exercising experience with the club's newcomers.

Huang Pan, team leader of Team Run Beijing, said the club was founded with the mission of getting more people to discover the fun and happiness of running. "Most of our club members are rookie runners. We emphasize that running can be recreational and hope to use our passion to motivate more people to run," said Huang. Team Run Beijing designed their own team T-shirt, and will often hand out gifts to their runners if their activities have been sponsored by companies.

For running clubs, organizing running activities with different themes is a creative way to boost the popularity of the sport. 

"We try our best to infuse running with meaningful and fun elements," said Fred Hu, founder of RoadKissers Running Crew. The club has held running events such as a relay half-marathon race and "suit" running. They also travel to other cities and overseas to run together.

Runners take part in the "Suit" Run organized by the RoadKissers Running Crew. Photo: Courtesy of Fred Hu


Making running social

The WeChat Moments of Song Jia, 34, a member of Team Run Beijing, is filled with uploads of everything about running: training and nutrition tips, inspiring and motivational stories about runners around the world. She also posts her own running achievements: the routes, distances and time of her runs. She describes herself as a "Running Gear Party" member - people who like to buy and show off their latest and most fashionable sportswear and shoes.

She also created a profile on social running app Joy Run, actively interacting with her running buddies. While Nike Running is more popular in the West, its Chinese counterparts including Joy Run, Codoon and Run Again, are accumulating more users in China, for their more social functions and localized services.

A year ago however, Song, a full-time housewife, was suffering from postnatal depression. Running helped her not only keep fit, but also expand her social circle and make new friends.

"I fell in love with running because I made a lot of friends," said Song. "The social networking apps give us the opportunity to communicate and learn from elite runners. But it is the happiness I feel while running slowly with a group of beginner runners, that means more to me."

James Fowler, a medical genetics and political science professor in the US, was quoted in a Runner's World article in 2012 as saying that social media has a clear impact on people's motivation to exercise.

"[A] public display of exercising increases their motivation and holds them accountable to their training goals," the article suggested. "That's true especially for a younger generation of runners who were raised with Facebook and Twitter; for them, creating a public running 'persona' through social media is just a normal part of life."

The meaning of running

Hu agrees with the motivational factor of social networking apps, however he points out that excessive flaunting and boasting on these platforms can be inappropriate, leading runners and some sports enterprises to undervalue the essence and meaning of the workout. 

Sun Yingjie, a retired track and field athlete who won the Beijing International Marathon in 2003, 2004 and 2005, said she felt that a lot of people's attitudes toward running "is not correct."

"The most significant thing about running is to keep healthy," said Sun. "The excessive pursuit of improving running times, accounting for your exercise and showing off will lead to deviation and result in physical injury, which is unsustainable."

In 2013, Sun founded the Sun Yingjie Running Club based in the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing, where she coaches and mentors runners. Sun wants to use her expertise as a professional runner to help other runners. For example, she has designed training programs that combine endurance and strength training, a day of intense endurance training, followed by another day of speed training. On Saturday, 39 people from her club will participate in the "10 Kilometer Mass Run."

Sun said that during the 18 years when she was a professional athlete, she tried her best to practice and compete as her duty and responsibility to the country. Athletes often overdo it and over-exercise in order to win medals which results in injuries. Now she only runs for her own enjoyment and as a role model to inspire others. She said this made her discover that there is joy in just running and not only in competing. 

"The happiness one gets from running compensates for the anxieties in life," said Sun.

Joining the action

Sun said China's running culture is still lagging behind countries such as the US and Japan. "Running is now prevalent in first and second tier cities, but more people in smaller cities should join the trend."

Chen Mo, a veteran sports correspondent with Beijing Sports Radio took up running a year ago for one purpose: to better understand the sport and its fans so as to make her reportage more professional.

During the Beijing International Marathon and other running events, Chen conducted her interviews while running alongside the runners.

"The avid runners today are actually athletes, because they are dedicated in their daily training. They share their understandings, tactics and training methods [with others], and ways to avoid and overcome injuries. They are influencing people as athletes do," said Chen.

The passion of ordinary runners will promote the sports development in China as a whole,  said Chen. If common people can experience an injury, for example, Achilles tendinitis, they won't be as intolerant if professional athletes suffering the same fail while competing in international games, said Chen.

"Nowadays, running has become a trendy and popular sport. It is good to see the enthusiasm. However, running should become a habit that persists, otherwise it will be more like going to a party to just have fun."

For Qu, who started out running to lose weight, running has indeed become a habit and a skill that can be used to take part in other more comprehensive sports. "My aim is to finish a marathon within three hours and 30 minutes," said Qu. "What's more, I have also started triathlon training and cross-country races."



Posted in: Metro Beijing

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