Coronavirus: Chinese runners forced to train indoors, as one man completes 50km around two tables
- The coronavirus means runners are unable or unwilling to venture outdoors, but it will not stop China’s love of running, even if they have to do it indoors
China has fallen in love with running – estimates say around 25 million Chinese run regularly – and an outbreak of a virus is not going to put a stop to that.
A few days ago, one runner posted on Weibo a “commentary” of a one-person “race” she did in her family flat.
“I swipe my race card and start in the kitchen, go through the living room, turn into my daughter’s room, the less than 20m-long racecourse has beautiful scenery and on my left my husband’s snoring is cheering me on, goji berry tea from the living room table is my mid-route nutritional supply, on the right, the handsome men and beautiful women on TV are waving, cheering me on,” the runner wrote. “This is a silent battle. I put in a burst of speed and power on to the balcony. My husband’s verdict is that I have psychological issues.”
But the current hero of the Chinese running community is Pan Shancu, from Hangzhou. Pan works as a Chinese medicine health therapist and is a well-known amateur marathoner with a two-hour, 59-minute personal best. Stuck in his flat, he recently ran 6,250 loops in one room.
“I have not been outside for many days, today I cannot bear sitting down any more!” he wrote. “Let’s run laps around the two massage tables in the room, then! Yes, one lap is about 8m – I ran 50km, did it in 4:48:44, sweated all over, feels great!”