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LIFE> Travel
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Why it's always fun to run in the Beijing sun
By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-23 09:21
Swede Ingela Palomaki joined more than 400 people to run the Second Dragon Bay Cup Family Day Fun Run in Beijing's Shunyi district yesterday in a race against herself. And believe it or not, she won. "We both beat our records," Palomaki says, smiling at her fiance Jonas Mauritzou. Under glorious Beijing sunshine, she finished 5 km in 35 minutes and 9 seconds, and Mauritzou crossed the finish line in 23 and a half minutes. Palomaki says it usually takes her about half an hour to clock up 4 km and the couple has been going to the gym regularly to get in shape. Why? "So we'll look beautiful in our wedding clothes," she says, pointing to their wedding in August. "This was the perfect event for us." One of the best things about the race, the couple says, is that it dragged them away from inside the gym and out into the capital's great outdoors. "In the city, it's kind of hard to get out in the fresh air and do some outdoorsy stuff," Palomaki says. "There aren't many marathons in the city, so it's a good opportunity to do something different in Beijing." The event, sponsored by Yosemite Villas, featured 2-km, 5-km and 10-km races for adults, and 2-km races, and bicycle and tricycle races for the more than 150 kids that participated. Eight-year-old German Tim Kobiolka runs every day and says the event was a chance to enjoy his favorite pastime with his little friends. After finishing the 2-km run, Tim dashed off to the playground and started bouncing on an inflatable play-place without pausing to catch his breath. "That's because he only did the 2-km, not the 5-km," his mother Michaela Kobiolka says. "He loves running. He went to the (Beijing) Olympics and now, if you ask him what he wants to do when he grows up, he'll say he wants to win a gold medal." Tim says the reason he's infatuated with getting the gold is simple. "I want to be No 1," Tim shouts. |
