It was a morning bathed in sunlight, filled with birdsong and blooming flowers.
Along a lightly traveled country road on the outskirts, a long line of cars was parked beside the highway. More than a hundred people had gathered in front of a roadside supermarket. Most wore quick-drying T-shirts and shorts, with brightly colored running shoes on their feet. At a command from the organizers, everyone surged forward in a swarm.
They were all marathon enthusiasts, though some might have been professionals. They released the pressure and exhaustion of daily life through the pure freedom of running. They might not have found themselves in the run, but they were being themselves. They used physical fatigue to ease mental repression, felt freedom in the wind stirred up by their running, and sought a brief moment of transcendence in the quiet struggle against themselves.
On such a lovely Saturday, getting up early, traveling from the city to the outskirts, and paying out of pocket just to come run—if they weren't being themselves, what else could they be doing...
Ye Zhenzhen wasn't one of the stragglers. She was actually pretty good. Among the hundred or so runners, she was in the middle of the pack.
"Is this your first time joining an event like this? How does it feel?" Ye Zhenzhen asked with a smile.
"It's my first time joining one privately organized by a club. Before this, I joined a few full marathons with others, but I was just running alongside them. As for how it feels, there's nothing particularly special about it. It's just running, only with more people, so it feels livelier. But that liveliness won't last long. We've only just started; the gaps will open up soon."
Wang ran slowly alongside Ye Zhenzhen and laughed. "Still, you've really made