Editor’s note: The author recalled the past of running and wrote that running can bring people happiness, relaxation and physical comfort. Let’s take a look at this article and run together.

Let’s run together

Author: Bian Hongxing

Are you busy?

If you are not busy, then let’s run together Right!?

I love running, and I also love to invite friends to run together. On many dawns, afternoons or evenings, I would run side by side with fellow runners on the playground or on the city's riverside trails for two to three kilometers or five to six kilometers. After a grueling exercise process, I was exhausted. Sweat densely and stinky, thereby enjoying the relaxation of your mind and the comfort of your whole body.

Running together has been with me for many years.

After joining the army, running has become a daily routine for soldiers. I run during morning exercises, during physical training, and often during class time. In order to pass the year-end physical fitness test, to get a good ranking in the martial arts competition, in order to be a squad leader, promoted to non-commissioned officer, join the party, learn technology, and pass the military academy, the comrades are seizing the opportunity to run as hard as they can, even with sandbags tied to their legs. Running with a sandbag on his back. At that time, the 5-kilometer long-distance running was a compulsory test for the military's physical fitness assessment. If you ran within 19 minutes, you were excellent, if you ran within 21 minutes, you were good, and if you ran within 23 minutes, you were passing. I am a soldier news reporter and a machine soldier. My main task is to write articles for military newspapers and praise the good people and good deeds in the unit. I hang out with a bunch of officers all day long and deal with words for a long time, so running training is better than There were too few soldiers of the same age in the combat squad, so the running scores fell below the passing line for a long time. They are no better than those company soldiers, especially the infantry companies and reconnaissance companies. Even if they run 5 kilometers three times a day, they are still excellent. In those years, those long-distance runners who were known as "Scuds", "Flying on Grass", "Magic Walkers", really made me envious and admired!

What should I do? Although they are born with insufficient genes and lack of training. , then I have to run too. If you don't run, you'll not only miss out on the military uniform, but if you can't pass the running test, you won't be able to go to the military academy. I had no other choice, so I found a soldier of the same year who was also interested in taking the military academy and had excellent running scores. I got up early every day and ran with him on the road outside the camp. Our army is stationed in a remote location, there are few vehicles on the road, and it is still dark, so the running environment is still very good. However, this road has downhills, uphills, and turns. After a short run, I was out of breath and didn't want to run anymore. At this time, my comrades encouraged me, motivated me, and even pulled me, running through two or three villages where dogs barked one after another on the roadside, and ran back to our camp, until I finally ran into the gate of the military academy.

After attending the military academy, I started running more often. After the self-study at 9pm every night, everyone runs together. I rarely wear long clothes and pants, and most of the time I wear tank tops and shorts. We ran around the teaching area, one lap was less than 2 kilometers, and we completed the training task after running 3 laps. I like to run next to my Qingyang classmate who is in the same class and room. He joined the army a year before me, worked as a clerk, was excellent at writing and drawing, and was also humorous in his speech. He had experience in running. When I couldn't run anymore and felt like I couldn't move my legs, he taught me to swing my arms back and forth in a large way, and use the power of the arm swing to drive the coordinated movement of my legs. I tried it immediately and the effect was really good. This trick actually became an experience that I passed on to my running friends in the future. In this way, we ran through the military school together until I became an officer, and from a second lieutenant to a lieutenant.

Eighteen years ago, when I had just become a lieutenant officer, I was lucky enough to work in the military newspaper office. Here, running a newspaper has become my job, and working overtime has become the norm. Because I have to rush, wait for, and edit manuscripts, it is common for me to not be able to eat at meal time and to be unable to sleep at twelve o'clock in the evening. If things go on like this, sitting for too long and staying up too late, some old newspaper workers have developed occupational diseases, some have rickets, hunchbacks, hair loss, some have sciatic nerve compression, varicose veins in their legs, and some are troubled by insomnia. It was late at night and I was lying on the bed with my eyes wide open and no sleep at all. I counted sheep, guns, tanks and cannons in my mouth to no avail. In the end, I could only fall asleep with the help of hypnotic drugs. In order not to follow in their footsteps, young colleagues often choose one or two sports to keep fit. And running is especially popular among everyone. Gradually, colleagues who love running agreed to form a circle of running friends.

As soon as it is time for physical training at 5 pm, if the work at hand is not too busy, they will consciously go to the circular track in the camp playground and run in groups for several or more than a dozen laps. They have done this for many years and never tire of it.

Simply running is hard and boring. If you run a lap alone, you are most likely to give up halfway, which requires a lot of perseverance. Because I often run with my comrades and colleagues, under their guidance and encouragement, I actually persisted.

Compared with other sports, running has many advantages: it is not restricted by equipment, venue, time, number of people, or funds. It is a systemic exercise for the whole body, suitable for men, women, old and young, easy to carry out, and has a high safety factor. No personnel support is required, the intensity can be self-regulated, etc. From this aspect, other sports are not as good as running.

There is a fat colleague in the company who once suffered from a severe cough. Various treatments failed to show any effect. He relentlessly insists on long-distance running every day, and the amount of exercise every day is no less than ten kilometers. A year later, his cough got better without treatment, and his body became much more toned. The fat man who weighed nearly 160 kilograms turned out to be a handsome boy weighing more than 120 kilograms, which made those who rely on drugs to lose weight and get in shape scream? Unbelievable?. His comrades felt that he had lost too much weight in proportion to his height and reminded him that it would be better and more beneficial to his health to gain some weight back. He said: "That's easy". By controlling the amount of running exercise, he was able to steadily control his weight at around 140 pounds after half a year. I can be as thin as I want and gain as much weight as I want. Isn't this amazing? My colleague responded with a smile: "I just take care of my body. I have the final say on my body."

There is also a division chief who was originally transferred from the Xinjiang Army and has been running every day for nearly 30 years. He is not a fast runner, but his time is no less than 40 minutes, and sometimes he runs several laps backwards. He said that if the running time is short, the effect will not be obvious, and running backwards is very beneficial to the kidneys. Also because of long-term running, he has a very standard body shape in his 50s, without any belly, his face is bright and flawless, and he is always full of energy. He gives the impression that he is only about 40 years old. Now, although he has retired, he has been re-employed by the "Liberation Army Daily" and continues to work as a newspaper editor.

There are many hidden benefits to running together.

For example, being able to think about and discuss issues. When people exercise, their brains also move and are in an excited state. They often think quickly and have inspiration. As you run, you may be able to come up with a better title for a manuscript or a better argument for a speech. When you encounter a problem that you don’t understand, maybe a few words of advice from a running friend will make you suddenly enlightened.

For example, you can make good friends. Even though they are colleagues in the same unit and comrades in the same compound, there are not many opportunities to talk together. But just run together. There are no phone calls, no other distractions, and no emphasis on job status. Regardless of family affairs, national affairs, or world affairs, whether parents, wives, or children, we can communicate and be involved in everything. As time went by, the relationship between them became inseparable running friends.

For example, it can make people happy. We often run together and we are very lively. While running, chatting and cheering up. Who suddenly couldn't run anymore and wanted to give up. We told him: "News people are always on the road!" Or we said to him: "Run, brother!" He laughed and kept up with everyone's pace again. My colleagues in the newspaper office are very cultured, and they often make people laugh when they tell jokes and jokes. Running, talking, listening, and having fun not only exercise the body, but also activate the mood and strengthen the feelings. This kind of time is still very happy and enjoyable.

But things are unpredictable. Due to the adjustment and reform of the military establishment system, our newspaper "People's Army" ceased publication on January 15, 2016. Since then, colleagues at the newspaper have left their positions as editors and reporters one after another. Some retired, changed jobs, took off the military uniforms they had worn for many years, and some went to other positions in other units. After two years, we no longer see gay people running on the playground. I go there once in a while, but I can no longer appreciate the fun of running together. The once bustling playground suddenly felt lonely, empty, and unfamiliar.

Some of my colleagues at the time went to Beijing and Nanjing, and some to Chengdu and Xi'an, gradually moving to the southeast and northwest of the motherland. But no matter where we are, our communication with each other and the messages in WeChat Moments have not been interrupted.

Most of those who had the habit of loving running at the beginning still continue to do so in different cities and on different trails. I once heard that an old director of a newspaper participated in the long-distance race around the city wall in Xi'an and ranked among the top 50 in the amateur group. I have also heard that several colleagues participated in city marathons in Beijing, Nanjing, and Lanzhou and completed the entire course, with good results. I can see their exercise intensity every day through WeChat Sports and Yuepao Circle on my mobile phone, and I can also think of their strong and healthy postures when they were running. Nowadays, although the newspaper we have been working with for many years has stopped and the newspaper office has completely disappeared, the unforgettable memory is still there. I can still think of the days of running together as if it was yesterday and in front of me.

I still love running. When you are worried, lonely, or bored, you will want to go for a run, and you will also involuntarily think of your comrades and colleagues who you used to run with.

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