Police brighten foreigner's rainy afternoon with kindness

The rain is pouring and we're huffing and puffing. A jog around the 2.2-kilometer track at the National Olympic Sports Center has turned into a trudge through showers as our feet splash through the newly formed puddles brought by a cluster of clouds blanketing the Beijing sky. It all happened in the past 30 minutes, but our soaked shirts suggest we've been running in the rain the entire day, or that we've just stepped out of a pool after swimming with our clothes on.

My running partner, Kim, and I head to our usual, favorite spot at the end of the loop. There, our water bottles, phone chargers and electrolyte power packets will be waiting patiently behind a small hospitality building where the park's security guards rest when they're not escorting cars through the entrance. We've regularly left our belongings there during the dozen or so times we've jogged at the track, and without fail, they've been there for us when we return.

Only this time, in the pouring rain, our items are gone. Most of them, at least. My $15 aluminum water bottle and $15 portable charger are missing, but for some reason the packets of Pocari Sweat powder are still lying on the ground.