Glory of the run outweighs fears over air quality

If not for the heavy smog that blanketed the capital city, the 34th Beijing Marathon on Sunday would have been almost flawless.

It is my favorite race not only because it ranks No 1 in China in terms of its history, size and levels of participants, but also because I recorded my personal best during last year's event. It is my home turf, and I wanted to take advantage of it again to test my limits.

I learned about the possibility of smog days ago, but still prayed on Saturday that a magical north wind would sweep the haze away overnight, as happened on Oct 20, 2013, when Beijing was blessed with an azure sky on race day despite heavy air pollution the previous days. But good luck did not befall us this time. When I looked out of my window early in the morning, I could barely make out the surrounding buildings.