Taking a good run at life
In the past five years, 69-year-old Lin Jingdong has gone from being a reluctant jogger to become a high-achieving runner by some considerable distance, Fang Aiqing reports.
There’s a widely used quote, attributed to someone called Ronald Rook, that states: “I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” To non-runners, it can sound a little pretentious.
And, when, in 2016, Lin Jingdong heard a friend say that he found running addictive, the then 65-year-old man from the city of Shantou in Guangdong province thought it was just a brag.
However, when the friend, who often went climbing with him, turned up for their hikes less and less, Lin hesitantly laced up his running shoes.
Now, just under five years later, he enjoys the sport immensely — arguably, more than most people.
His extraordinary passion for pounding the pavements has led to many impressive feats, such as his recent run from Chengdu to Lhasa along the well-known Sichuan-Tibet Road. Some parts of the route are at an altitude of over 4,000 meters.
It took 44 days for Lin to finish the nearly 2,000 kilometer journey, which he completed in August. Most of the time, he was jogging with a backpack containing just basic necessities and weighing around 7 kilograms.
He didn’t take any emergency medicine — nor fear — with him. When he was exhausted, or suffering from altitude sickness, he would just walk.
Usually, he would start before dawn and, as a vegetarian, would mainly eat instant porridge and from self-heating food packets.
The temperature near the border of the two provincial-level administrations regularly drops below zero degrees Celsius, so he would wear winter outdoor jackets. At one point along the route, he was delayed by a downpour mingled with hailstones.
Nevertheless, every day he covered, on average, more distance than a full marathon. His highest tally was 70.5 km in a single day.
Joining him on this adventure was a friend, Li Lanhua, cycling with her 9-year-old daughter on the back. However, needing to send the girl to school, Li went on to finish the journey in advance of Lin.
“When I was able to reach Lhasa alone, I had no regrets,” Lin says.
Some 500 people followed his journey and celebrated his success through a WeChat group. They still continue sharing running data in the group.
Previously, in 2017, Lin spent 53 days running from Shantou to Laizhou, Shandong province, covering 2,400 km. He also ran around the perimeter of Hainan Island, which is around 800 km, in under two weeks the following year.
In addition, he has added the completion of three ultramarathons — each over 100 km in length — two dozen full marathons and hundreds of half-marathon events nationwide over the years.
Lin runs almost every day. Instead of running to keep fit, he takes it as part of life.
During the interview, it feels like the retort: “I do it by just following my heart.” That is his universal answer to almost every question — he seldom sets goals for routinely running, nor is he running for any purpose.
In his description, when he is in his stride, his breathing remains steady and his mind is in a state of tabula rasa — a blank slate, upon which knowledge deriving from experience or perception of external stimuli can be etched.
The night of the interview, he drank more than a bottle of wine — alcohol is another hobby he names — but it wouldn’t keep him from running the following morning, he says, laughing.
Usually he gets up at around 6 o’clock and running is the first thing he does.
Lin’s nickname online is Woaimama, meaning “I love my mother” in Chinese.
With his 88-year-old mother still healthy at home, he says he feels forever young.
Opinions of family members have never bothered him, although he keeps his mother informed when he’s away running.
With his family living in Shantou, he lives alone in a village at the bottom of Wutong Mountain in Shenzhen to ensure his independence, but travels back and forth frequently.
“This way, I don’t have to take care of others, nor do others need to take care of me,” he explains.
He is addicted to running, as Lin puts it, because he enjoys running himself, and people around him enjoy seeing him run, just like they would appreciate a stage performance.
Jiang Hai, a former special operations soldier in the military and currently an entrepreneur, is one of the many runners encouraged and inspired by Lin.
Having known each other via a runners’ group online, Jiang offered to visit him in Shenzhen and they became friends later.
Jiang, 44, usually calls Lin his teacher. He says, Lin, who is more than 20 years older, thinks differently and his life philosophy unwittingly helps him open his mind and resolve conflicts in life.
Day to day, Lin frequently hangs around Wutong Mountain, nearly 1,000 meters above sea level, singing freely out of his own creativity. Sometimes he goes up and down more than once a day.
“I will run as long as I’m alive. That’s my final wish,” he says.
I will run as long as I’m alive. That’s my final wish.”
Lin Jingdong, running enthusiast