当我在跑步时，我谈些什么What I Talk About When I Run

"The world just threw you a feint — don't turn tail and run."

About 3,000 words in the original; estimated reading time 8–10 minutes.

Looking Back

Written on completing 810KM.

As a card-carrying oddball, my head is forever throwing up all sorts of inexplicable, off-the-wall ideas — and then I set out to carry them through, just as strangely and just as doggedly. That includes a lot of my travel plans: even though most of them were in the works long in advance, they usually started from some odd notion. A lot of warmth and beauty has come to me this way, and in the telling, it counts as one of the memories of the journey too.

One day over the summer, walking after a run, an unusual decision — or idea — popped into my head: to spend my college years paying "tribute" to Kobe through my running data. Plenty of people, seeing this, will think I'm strange or turn up their nose — what on earth does this have to do with Kobe? But this is just the kind of oddball I've always been. So, in for a penny, in for a pound, I started listing the Mamba's big scoring games: one 81-point game, six 60+, twenty-five 50+, one hundred twenty-two 40+. And so I decided to map them one-to-one onto a total of 810KM — one 10-kilometer run, six 6-kilometer runs, twenty-five 5-kilometer runs, one hundred twenty-two 4-kilometer runs. That's why the running numbers people see me post are basically these same figures.

Stubborn as I am, once I've decided to do something I never quit halfway. What I decide to do, I'll see through to the end no matter what the middle looks like. Whether it's study, life, or love. That's exactly why so many people used to call me devoted. Though it seems that pure devotion doesn't do you much good…

So from the day I started running that summer to today, come wind or rain or blazing sun, running has been the one task that must be finished that day.

(Figure in original: July.)

(Figure in original: August. This is all territory "His Majesty" conquered.)

Over the summer I set a personal best in the 10K. It was a full 8-plus minutes faster than last year. What I remember vividly is that my first-ever 10K was on 2015.6.23 — the afternoon of the day the class of 2011 took its graduation photos. It was actually pretty "tough": partway through I nearly gave up, but I gritted my teeth and finished the whole thing. Back at the dorm I chugged two big jugs of water and half a watermelon. This year's 10K felt more comfortable and easier by comparison — still hard, but my whole mental state was much better. When I finished, I didn't even need to drink much water.

Set a fastest 6K.

Set a fastest 5K.

Set a fastest 4K.

Set a fastest 3K. Actually today was a 4K — it just doesn't count toward a fastest 4K. After a summer of sticking with it, I now accelerate easily: 5K under 22:40; 4K under 17:50. It feels like the peak of my life.

My running has two hallmarks: one, I hold a steady acceleration the whole way; two, I finish strong. The most "classic" instance was probably the 800 meters at the school sports meet in my freshman year, when I raced as the athletics club's anchor: after the first lap I was dead last, and by the finish I was first. Sprinting isn't my strong suit, but I've run the 400 in 57 seconds and the 100 in 12 seconds. The only one I've never run is the 200. In middle- and long-distance I usually kick at the end, accelerating anywhere from 400 to 600 meters.

How to Pick Up Speed and Keep Going

A lot of people ask: in middle- and long-distance running, the further you go the more your energy drains, and everyone runs out of gas — so how do you keep accelerating, and for so long?

Plenty of gurus already teach how to stick with daily exercise, so I won't go into that. What I'll mainly share is how, within any single run, to keep going or to pick up speed. Since running is my main thing, I'll use it as the example. My personal takeaway is that boosting speed and endurance in middle- and long-distance running comes down to three things: set the tone, fix the breathing, hold the line.

By "set the tone," I mean the first kilometer, or the first lap, is absolutely crucial. Because it's a distance event, if you go out too fast in the beginning or on that first lap, the later stages will suffer for it. So the early tone matters a lot. And that tone has everything to do with your personal feel — anyone who runs regularly knows that finding your rhythm makes the run half the effort, far easier; that's exactly what I mean. So at the start, you set your opening tone and your most familiar rhythm and feel according to the day's plan — and then you can cruise the rest of the way.

Fixing the breathing is simple. Getting your breathing to a normal, steady level during a long run is a must.

Holding the line has two sides: one is exercising for the long haul, the other is finishing the workout on the given day. How do you finish it that day? Because a lot of people run halfway, or nearly to the end, and still give up when they can't hold on — for that problem, beyond endurance, the methods I use are three: one, listen to music; two, shout; three, body language.

Music: it's well known that music can influence and even change people's emotions and behavior. So I mostly listen to hip-hop and rock — a charged-up beat, melody, and lyrics can hand you a lot of power.

Shouting: it might sound a little strange. It probably looks a little "odd," too. Plenty of people who've seen me run have heard me shout. When you're about to hit your wall, when you feel completely spent, one good shout can give you a lot of power.

Body language: take a look at a couple of pictures. Don't you feel that Figure 1 is full of confidence and strength, while Figure 2 looks utterly deflated and weak?

(Figure in original: the confident type.)

(Figure in original: the weak type.)

One look and it's obvious. You should get what I'm saying. The main bits of body language I use when running are a couple of moves: one is Kobe's classic Black Mamba pose, the other is a move you could call "the Great 6+1." Sounds pretty slick, doesn't it… What I want to say is: "Imitation is dangerous; imitate with caution." Though my range of motion isn't that big… and my back doesn't bend that low… I just went big to make the point.

These three methods, beyond endurance, are what I use every day when I run. Call them techniques, call them tricks — I hope they help.

What Sticking With Running Has Given Me

After I started running, my sleep quality got better. It was always good anyway… I've almost never had insomnia — which you could call a good thing, or not. Then again, the days of insomnia are probably on their way.

After I started running, if not every single day, I'm often bursting with energy. Four to five kilometers a day has become routine, and it's rare that I finish worn out and dead to the world.

After I started running, I pay more attention to how my body feels. People who don't exercise, or exercise little, might not think twice about eating greasy food, and most people's willpower is no match for human instinct — but once you stick with running, your body's own instinct tells you not to eat that way. It's the same reason a lot of people who work out can quit smoking and drinking so easily.

Running keeps you young. You can see plenty of young, gorgeous, toned, energy-radiating men and women online who look impossibly youthful — and many of them are married with kids. For women, if you want to stay young, working out is far more reliable than all those unscientific skincare secrets, than things like laser facelifts. Skip exercise, and even if you were the campus beauty or heartthrob, past 30 you'll go downhill fast. When you spot a onetime god or goddess gone soft in the tabloids (before-and-after photos), all you can do is gossip or sigh about it. The common view is that running beats any beauty regimen or cosmetic by a mile.

Running can regulate and shift your mood. The hours in Tuanjie Village and at the gym were the happiest, most joyful, most alive times. When a girl is feeling low, going out for a lap to let off steam really does help — and it's cheaper than retail therapy. You can build a great body out of it too, so why not?

I won't claim that sticking with exercise or running will change your life dramatically — it varies from person to person, after all. But what I can tell you is this: sensible, consistent exercise really does bring a kind of "rebirth" to your life. It's like opening a window that had been sealed shut inside you, letting you know yourself better; its effect on you is wholly positive and uplifting.

I never imagined the world held something that could make you feel this kind of emotional high. You watch your belly disappear, you watch the flab you used to hate disappear, and then you watch yourself grow abs — abs that feel like a washboard to the touch. Isn't that a pleasure? I've already felt the enormous joy that sticking with running long-term brings me. This is the delight running gives me. That delight cashes straight in for a ticket to a better life.

I often think that when I'm old, in the setting sun, by the sea, listening to Xu Wei, I'll still look back on those green years of running every day, of carrying out the plan step by unwavering step — and then quietly praise myself for being pretty damn great. That happiness peaks after every 5K, every 10K, when the world goes so quiet you can hear only your own breathing. Looking down at a T-shirt soaked through with sweat, my heart is brimming with confidence and satisfaction. I hope this happiness stays with me for life. May this high never come down.

And of all of it, the most important thing is persistence and self-discipline. As Luo Yonghao put it: "There's only one kind of failure, and that's quitting halfway." As the Mamba put it: only the paranoid survive. And as Murakami put it: "The fact that I don't feel like running today is exactly why I go running — that's the way a long-distance runner thinks."

I've felt the joy this sport brings me, and I hope you feel it too. Start running. Start running and keep at it, and only then will you know what, for you, will actually change.