I have had a tradition for myself: every Summer Olympics, I would run a half marathon each week during the three weeks of game time. Watching athletes competing really gets me excited and inspires me to do something to challenge myself.
Doing sports is part of my life since I was very young. When I was ten years old, I was selected by the coaches to play volleyball at the Beijing Eastern District Youth Physical School, 東城體校. They came to observe us during our physical exercise class and selected two tallest girls and I was one of the two. Actually, I was only tall early, lucky me ～ I am 5"6', not very tall. So I played volleyball after school from 4pm until 7pm everyday since ten and this lasted until high school. I continued to play in college for another four years and was the captain of the Women's Volleyball team.
I did and loved many other kinds of sports: tennis, swimming, yoga... Running is a relatively new hobby for me (since 2009) and it is so easy to do, just put shoes on and out you go. There in nature, I become a happy kid again, sweating, competing, observing the beauty of the natural world. Many of my poems came to my mind during those lone,peaceful hours.I used to think running was boring and was for those who couldn't play ball sports well. I later found out that it was not the case at all: running is addictive, and a good addiction, I may say.
During last Summer Olympic (August 5, 2016-August 21, 2016), I ran three half marathons each week, and interestingly, in three different cities. The first week, I attended an academic conference in China. I ran one in my hometown Beijing, along the Chang An Avenue. During that run, I even bought an egg scallion pancake from a street peddler and ate it,and waved at the stone-faced soldiers in front of 中南海,haha.So cool to tour hometown on foot that way. The second week, I was in Chicago visiting my sister. I ran one along the Lake Michigan. A beautiful course, very vibrant running crowd. Free water and Gatorades along the road sponsored by Chicago companies, very nice. The third week, I was in Grabby, Corolado, for a family vocation. So I ran one in a 18-hole gulf course nearby. This third one was the hardest due to the high altitude condition. I didn't feel sick but I felt a little harder to breathe. I managed to finish it anyway. Now I understand why the national teams take the team to train in Corolado. Once they come down to the normal altitude and breathe with the normal level of oxygen, they perform extremely well ～
Now, five years later, it is the summer Olympic game time again. I plan to follow my own tradition and run a half marathon each of the three weekends. Would my body still be able to take the challenge? I am not sure. I am five years older. We will see. I ran the first half marathon yesterday. I felt great. After a hottub soak and some rest, I was able to bounce back to normal, and even did some cooking, penne pasta with meat sauce, hahah. Below I share with you some of my photos. Marathon is a lone affair. I am used to not having any audience. On a second thought, it might be fun to share my adventure with a friend or two, like you : )
這裏還是個自然保護區，有不少野生動物。鷹在捕獵，不少鷹在這裏，我還親眼見過美國的象征白頭鷹，飛起來翅膀寬大，很美，很酷。
這裏的鹿很多，一直覺得鹿是很優雅，幹淨的動物，喜歡它們。它們在吃 Sunday Brunch.
我跑過來的時候，把小梅花鹿嚇得跑到了草叢裏。過了一會兒，小鹿的媽媽覺得我比較友好，隻是在拍照，便出來呼喚小鹿。也沒發聲，不知用的什麽心靈感應，小鹿就出來，跟著媽媽吃草去了。經過我的時候，還看了我一眼，嗬嗬
這種鳥叫 Red-winged blackbird，這隻鳥總喜歡站在這個椅子上，發出很好聽的叫聲，也不怕人，跟我都熟了，有段時間了，我走到很近很近，它才飛走。
Male Red-winged Blackbirds fiercely defend their territories during the breeding season, spending more than a quarter of daylight hours in territory defense. He chases other males out of the territory and attacks nest predators, sometimes going after much larger animals, including horses and people.
每次看到這種紅豆，總想起王維的詩，我的後院河邊有一棵。
《相思》
[唐] 王維
紅豆生南國，春來發幾枝。
願君多采擷，此物最相思。
全濕透了，你能看到的幾塊淺粉色，是唯一沒濕的地方。我自己也很驚訝，今天太悶濕了，趕緊吃了一片 salt tablet,補鹽和鉀，以防流汗多缺鹽引起腿抽筋。以前發生過一次後，就隨身帶鹽片了。
如果減去跟鹿玩，攝像的十多分鍾，與熱天跑步的速度差不多。我半馬最快的紀錄是兩個小時八分鍾，但那是十年前了。如果天氣好，我可以兩個半小時跑完；如果天氣悶熱，像昨天八十六度，一般兩個小時四十五分鍾完成。氣溫和風非常影響運動員的發揮。跑馬不怕冷，最怕熱。有一年芝加哥馬拉鬆，正當那天97度，明智的人就不跑了，會有生命危險的。
三萬步。
為俺立下汗馬功勞的腿，嗬嗬。為了這次挑戰，專門去買了雙新鞋。本來跑三百到四百邁就應該換一雙新鞋的，因為看著新，就沒在意。剛去網上查了一下Garmin表給我做的記錄，從九月份到現在，已經跑了728邁！早該換鞋了。不能因為鞋看著新就不換，否則會受傷，出各種問題的。
幾天前照的。整個的夕陽真美，多麽美好的結束 ～
期待著下周的第二個半馬拉鬆。。。
（繼續）
