The refreshment stop nobody wants

There's a distinct chill in the spring morning air, but it's going to take more than a bit of physical discomfort to keep Luan Yushuai from doing what he has to do. Despite his heavy workload as a parcels deliveryman in the Haidian district of Beijing, he's determined to squeeze in time for a short run in Xitucheng Park. It's almost as though Luan feels his life and happiness depend on his getting out into that park. In fact, when you consider how integral running has become to him over the past three years, perhaps they are.

So pity someone like Luan, largely bound to his home－work aside－over the past few months because of mass gatherings being banned throughout the country as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.

But of course that was not going to deter Luan. He simply continued his workout routine within the confines of his home, but now that things are slowly returning to normal in Beijing, he has resumed his morning outdoor runs, wearing a mask and having Xitucheng Park almost to himself as he runs.

Until three years ago the only activity that required Luan to get his legs moving and for him to put on a burst of speed was when he occasionally had to make an urgent delivery. For him, running was strictly a spectator sport, something he watched others doing as he made his deliveries in the Jiaotong University area. Eventually though, Luan decided that he too should get in on the running act, and like many of those he saw who were serious, no-half-measures athletes, he decided that he would set an imposing challenge for himself: to run a marathon.

After several months of slowly building up his muscles, his stamina and the distances he was running, he entered the Beijing Marathon in 2017. His employer, JD Logistics, was a sponsor of the event and offered places in the race to any of its employees deemed to have a chance of acquitting themselves well in the event. Luan took up the challenge, and when he finished in a highly respectable time of 4:23:43 workmates quickly surrounded him, offering their congratulations.