Today you get two new Chinese words! The first is min’gan, which means “sensitive.” This is an important word in China, especially when you are doing research in political science, as there are many min’gan subjects (you can probably guess what some of these are—for instance, Richard Gere). On the other hand, things that might be min’gan in the United States are not at all so here. Random strangers ask you things like “How old are you? Are you married? (If not, why not?) How many children do you have? (If none, why not?) How much money do you make?”
One of the disadvantages of this being a training as well as a travel blog is that occasionally I may need to, in the interests of complete honesty and disclosure, write about some min’gan things—in other words, some of the unpleasant physical aspects of long-distance running, or just running in general. Blisters, chafing in odd spots, etc. are probably the inevitable outcomes of such training. Today was my first run since having that cold, just 5k on the treadmill in the King Gym, but, for today’s other Chinese lesson, let me just say “Tian a!” That means, “Oh, my God,” or, literally, “Sky (heaven) ah!” My run was actually quite good—I felt surprisingly strong and it wasn’t a strain at all to run the 5k in about 27 minutes (fairly fast, for me). But then I got off the treadmill and I felt like my shorts were burning my legs!
Let me explain the origins of these particular shorts. They are from the Yashow Market, one of a few markets in Beijing specializing in export clothing, both genuine and knock-off, and crawling with foreigners. When I joined the King Gym I went there in search of indoor running clothes (or perhaps I just wanted an excuse to shop). So my “Nike” shorts (I think they are genuine, actually, and they cost all of $8) seemed to be fine until I got off the treadmill when they caused my legs to have this burning sensation. So now I wonder, is the clothing at the Yashow Market some sort of military project to test new weapons on unsuspecting laowais in search of bargains?
OK, that is about as “confessional” as these “pages” will hopefully get.
P.S. The burning went away rather fast--I guess that weapon still needs some work.
3 comments:
Do you need Bodyglide??
Hi Sharon, I am a Mohican-running friend of Jim's--did I meet you at the Grist Mill last year? (Can't remember any longer!!)
I think it's great that you are running the Wall Marathon!!
Do you have any baby powder? Although, if you buy an off brand, it may be some funky talc and make it worse - maybe it was some synthetic preservative on the material prior to washing? Anyhow, I laughed out loud when I read your post, sorry - couldn't help myself! Hope your next run is event free...:) Jean
Do you want us to send you some running apparel? As you know, we have Target real close by and certainly I would be more than glad to send you off a pair of anything so that you do not suffer! We are glad that you must be feeling better. Keep up the good work and the great blog!
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