The coronavirus quarantine is no problem for determined Chinese runners

A report yesterday on the South China Morning Post‘s website focussed on an interesting spin on indoor training: some Chinese runners who are forced to stay indoors due to the coronavirus quarantine have taken to running around their apartments to get their training in, and posting their workouts on social media.

One post by popular amateur marathoner Pan Shancu about running more than 6,000 loops of an eight-metre course in his apartment attracted thousands of admiring comments.

“I have not been outside for many days, today I cannot bear sitting down any more!” he wrote. “Let’s run laps around the two massage tables in the room, then! Yes, one lap is about 8m–I ran 50K, did it in 4:48:44, sweated all over, feels great!” he posted. Pan, who claims a 2:59 personal best, practises Chinese medicine in Hangzhou, about 500 kilometres from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak.

Running is very popular in China, which boasts an estimated 25 million enthusiasts. But even those without access to a treadmill are somehow managing to run.

The story quotes another woman, who posted a humorous and encouraging story on the Chinese social media site Weibo about a ‘race’ she ran in her home: “I swipe my race card and start in the kitchen, go through the living room, turn into my daughter’s room, the less than 20m-long racecourse has beautiful scenery and on my left my husband’s snoring is cheering me on, goji berry tea from the living room table is my mid-route nutritional supply, on the right, the handsome men and beautiful women on TV are waving, cheering me on,” the runner wrote.

“This is a silent battle. I put in a burst of speed and power on to the balcony. My husband’s verdict is that I have psychological issues.”

The World Health Organization’s latest situation report on coronavirus says there are now more than 20,000 confirmed cases worldwide in 23 countries. Four hundred and twenty-five people in China have died of the virus, and one person in the Philippines has died. As of yesterday there have been four confirmed cases in Canada, with no deaths.

posted Wednesday February 5th
by Anne Francis