At The Track

I have tried to keep up my running as much as possible since we have been here in China. It’s harder since the streets are so crowded during the days with people and crazy drivers. So I was super relieved to find out our first week here that we live maybe half a mile away from the Nanjing University track. I have only recently felt comfortable running on the streets (that’s with waking up at 5 am, the only time the streets are semi-empty), so I have spent most of the weeks here frequenting the track. As do a lot of very unique individuals.

I see the same people pretty much every day. There is the old man who insists on going the wrong way on the track. This drives me crazy! I think he does it so he can pass by all his friends and talk to them. There are some other old men who fly kites every day on the soccer field in the middle. Invariably they will all end up standing in the middle of the track lanes holding their kite- with the string at such a dangerously low level that I have been afraid for my neck at times. Then there are the whole communities of middle aged and older men and women who come out en masse and walk together in a huge block around the track, covering up every lane of course. There are also clusters of people doing Tai Chi in the middle with their traditional Chinese music blaring. Everyone else holds a portable radio as they walk around the track- so music comes from all directions- I pods don’t seem to have quite made it with this crowd yet.

One of my favorite people is this guy who always wears an orange shirt. Besides myself, he is probably one of the youngest there (and he’s got to be at least 30). At 6:00 am it seems that the only people to get up and do exercise are on the other side of 60. So, because so many of the people are considerably older than I on the track, I pass pretty much everyone up. No one seems to mind, except orange-shirt man. When I pass him, immediately he will quicken his pace, pass me back up and run faster for about a quarter-length of the track, and then settle down to his normal pace. Pretty soon though, I have caught up. And I pass him. Again, he speeds up, passes me, and runs faster for a quarter-length. This cycle repeats itself until one of us leaves the track. Every day. It makes me laugh. He just can’t bear to have a girl beat him. Well, at least I’m helping him out by making his workout a little more intense! My second favorite person isn’t there in the mornings- I see him when I happen to run in the afternoons. I have named him ‘German guy.’ No, he is not German; he’s as Chinese as they come. But at seemingly random points in his run, he will shout out German phrases or at least ‘Deutschland!’ at the top of his lungs. At times he will opt for a super loud yell instead of actual words. The first time this happened, I literally was so startled I jumped and almost tripped.

Although I get annoyed at times at these seemingly eccentric people, I have to remind myself that it is me not them who is the odd-one out. This is their track, and Mr. ‘Old-man-who-goes-the-wrong-way’ has probably been doing so for years. So now, I just smile and move aside.