Marathon is such a sports activity that still makes runners passionate after a thousand years of development.
On March 31, 2019, Wang Guanwu, Zhao Yehua and Yang Tianjiao, who were members of the marathon team of Yingherui, attended Zhengzhou marathon under the leadership of Zhou Jianhua, General Manager of Yingherui.
From 2016 to today, Yang Tianjiao, a member of the marathon team, has completed four half-course marathons and three full-course marathons. After her participation in Zhengzhou marathon, she recorded those past struggles of running.
On March 31, 2019, I participated in Zhengzhou marathon, which was my third half-course marathon, and completed it with 4 hours, 46 minutes and 29 seconds, improving my personal best by 52 minutes and 46 seconds.
Come on. A record of our running.
We began to run when the starting gun fired. I ran at a stable speed for the first 15 kilometers, and started to run at a slower speed since the 16th kilometer. One colleague continued to run forward to strive for his personal best.
Mr. Zhou Jianhua, General Manager of our company, accompanied me to briefly adjust my pace, and we resumed the normal speed at the 17th kilometer. We hit the wall at the 34th kilometer, and stopped to replenish energy gel and drink water. Afterwards, we kept our chins up and continued to run to the 40th kilometer, which was approaching the finish line. We ran to the finish line with our last bit of willpower.
I am grateful to Mr. Zhou for accompanying us in the whole course of the marathon and leading us to carry out a four-month well-organized training before the marathon. A colleague who had been training together also significantly improved his personal best.
Falling in love with running
I can’t help but recalling the first time I participated in our company’s runner training when I just joined the company. At that time, other colleagues had already exercised for a while, and I followed them in the end of the team and was out of breath.
Taken at Lianshihu Park on April 12, 2014
After falling in love with running, we’ve developed a regular routine and become more alive. We all grow “younger”. At work, we are always energetic.
Insisting on running for our goal
I tried full-course marathon for the first time in April 2016, and successfully completed it. In the four half-course marathons afterwards, I kept refreshing my personal best.
I tried whole-course marathon for the first time in September 2017.
I took a challenge to try the whole-course marathon again in September 2018, and did not improve my result.
In order to get ahead of ourselves and go beyond our limits, we started a special training in the coldest days in 2018. By running, we’ve changed ourselves and affected others. More and more colleagues have been affected by us, and our team has grown bigger.
Our company has also introduced various incentive policies to call on everyone to join the runner team and fall in love with sports and fitness. Our company encourages us to set a higher goal for us every year and achieve our smaller goals every month or every week.
We run from dawn to early morning, and from winter to spring. By running, we’ve gotten rid of our laziness and hesitation, and developed firmness and confidence.
As once said by Haruki Murakami, the finish line is just a mark with not much sense and the key is how you get there. It is the same with our life.
Our life is more like a marathon. We are not entangled with the moments of gains and losses, and we develop our firm beliefs to get out of our comfort zones. We follow our heart to get ahead of ourselves, so that we finally achieve our ultimate goals.
By Yang Tianjiao
