See Red Run: (China) Weeks in Review

Shanghai Skyline - Captured on my first run along the Bund River

Week of October 13th
14 hour flight to China

Nick and I ran through Beijing!

3 Days in Beijing
1 Day at the Great Wall
Term 2 Kick-off in Shanghai
42 miles
1 Day off

This week started off with a run with Jilane and Meagan in DC and hopping on a plane to Beijing soon after that.
I landed in Beijing on Tuesday, feeling excited to be on a continent I had never been to. I got in several runs with Nick in the pollution-laced air and even ran a light minuters workout on Saturday in Shanghai along the Bund. All in all, I'm really happy to be here and am so excited to get in some more runs!

Week of October 20th
47 miles
1 Day off
7 miles @ 630 pace on the treadmill

Llama temple (photo courtesy of Nick Alcantara)

This week was full of classes daily from 8AM - 6PM but it's a totally different vibe than the MBA residency in Durham. There is actually time in the evening to go out and explore Shanghai and to get to know the city. Because of this, it's been much easier for me to run around the city, my own way of exploring around. One day the smog was too thick for my taste, so I hopped on the treadmill to get some miles in and closed the last 3 miles in sub-6:00 pace to get in some work. After a night singing my lungs out at karaoke, I forgot to set my alarm and woke up at 750am and had to frantically get dressed so I wasn't late for class that started at 8AM. Somehow I made it to class with 2 minutes to spare and was so relieved, but obviously bummed that I didn't get to run. On the last day of residency, I organized a group of classmates to run with two of our professors, one of which was leading us through some cool places in the city since he lives in Shanghai. It was a great way to get to know our professors and the city. On Sunday, it was time for me to go home and I boarded a plane at 4PM and was home at 10PM in Durham on the same day. Time travel rocks!

In the end, this residency helped me realize that I can't use these residencies as an excuse to just totally ignore running. I was hoping to get 60 miles in during this stay, but didn't reach that because I missed my alarm. I think that going forward, if I buckle down, I will definitely be able to still hit a good mileage and continue to achieve my running goals without sacrificing my performance at Duke.