Marathon fever dashes across China

Runners prepared at the starting line of the Dalian International Marathon in Liaoning province in May. Tao Ni joined the roughly 30,000 runners for her first half marathon.

"When I knew our group was going to participate in this year's Dalian Marathon, I felt both excited and nervous," she said. "I knew nothing about marathons when I joined the group last year. But I've trained a long time for it. And now my dream has come true."

Tao is a newcomer to marathons, and so is China.