how to be runner in china

I went for a run today at the university track and as I was listening to the foulest rap found on my iPod, I noticed a few things about running in China that are very, very different in America. So while humming along to "Wait (The Whisper Song)" by the Ying Yang Twins (I just noticed how appropriate they are to listen to in China...hmmm) I made a list of things everyone should expect when running (or when doing anything, really) in China.

1. People will be smoking.

People will be smoking everywhere; smoking while walking, smoking while playing soccer, smoking while gawking at you run past them, smoking while sitting in the sandbox with their kids--if you can do it outside, people are smoking. So when you run past them, you're immediately struggling to breathe and coughing and generally cursing tobacco in general.

2. People will be strolling in the inside lane.

This one's not as frustrating as the smoking issue, but if you have ever run track, you know it's considered common courtesy for walkers to walk in the outside lanes, or to at least periodically check behind them to make sure they aren't in some sprinter's way. But here, toddlers and their moms, elderly, and best friends just casually walk in the inside lane. All you have to do is dodge them, but it's just good track manners to walk in the outside lane.

3. Babies/toddlers/10 year old kids will be peeing in the sandbox/on the soccer field/on the track.

I shouldn't have been as surprised by this as I was, considering babies go everywhere in China. But I did think that an enclosed space like a track would be something of a sanctuary from this.

4. You will get stared at.

Obviously.

5. The tiny old Chinese woman in jeans and dress shoes will lap you. (Sidenote: only about 1 in 10 people wear what we would consider workout clothes to workout. Most people wear jeans and whatever shoes they wore that day. Or Pumas.)

6. Someone will run approximately three inches away from your shoulder until one of you speeds up or slows down.

7. The pollution will kill your lungs (as if the smoking wasn't bad enough).

In fact, as I type this, I'm hacking and coughing like a chain smoker. Everyone I've talked to has the same problem. And if you want to hear a scary statistic that I can't cite, I heard that breathing a day in China is the equivalent of smoking 3 packs of cigarettes. Yay, cancer!

To finish this post, I give you the artistic genius of Erin Singleton. We took the original picture on our flight from Detroit to Shanghai and she added to it in class a few days ago. Behold:

On that note...