The trend of running is booming

Ms. Binh in a race organized by Hai Duong Runners Anta in our province (photo provided by the character)

Happy, healthy

At 5:30 a.m. on the Hai Long bridge (Y-shaped bridge) connecting Bui Thi Xuan street to Ecorivers urban area (Hai Duong city) on a weekday morning, there were already a few people jogging. Some people were wearing headphones and running alone, others were running in groups of 2-3 people, jogging slowly and chatting happily. For more than a month now, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung (born in 1996) in Le Thanh Nghi ward has been jogging alone in this area, about 5km a day. "I work in the service industry, starting the day by exercising makes me feel more excited."

Running is for health reasons, but gradually this sport has become a passion for many people. Mr. Dao Ngoc Hien (born in 1981, in Binh Han ward), works at a foreign joint venture company, and is currently the President of Hai Duong Runner Anta Club (HDRA). This is a club that gathers people who love running in Hai Duong. Mr. Hien started running in 2019, and is one of the first members of a group of more than a dozen people who share the same passion for this sport. By 2020, when the number of participants increased, the members of the group decided to establish a club to operate more systematically. Currently, the club has nearly 100 active members with the goal of running at least 50 km per month for women and 100 km for men. The club's fanpage on social networks attracts nearly 700 members. In 2019, Mr. Hien had a goal of losing weight by jogging. At that time, he weighed 72 kg and was 1.7 m tall. Now, after 5 years of regular training, he maintains a weight of 65-66 kg with a heart rate of 53-54 beats/minute, and his health indicators are much better than before.

“For me, running every day is a dynamic meditation. When I run, I remove all thoughts and worries from my mind, focus on my breathing, steps and body sensations, and keep my mind relaxed. Thanks to this sport, I can balance the pressures in my life,” said Mr. Hien.

Conquer the "dream" distance

Ms. Pham Thi Binh in Van An ward (Chi Linh) participated in a running race.

From her initial love of running, many people have practiced hard to improve their achievements, especially for distances such as 21 km and 42 km. These are distances that require athletes to have high physical strength and concentration. One of them is Ms. Pham Thi Binh (born in 1993) in Van An ward (Chi Linh), a businesswoman. She started running in July 2020 while working as an interpreter in Taiwan. In the early days, she ran 1-3 km/day, then gradually increased to 5-10 km/day. However, due to lack of experience, after a while she got injured and had a lot of pain when walking. When she learned about it, she found out that the injury was due to overload and incorrect technique. One of the important techniques is to land on the balls of the feet to reduce the risk of injury and improve the ability to absorb shock when landing. At that time, she had no experience, so she landed on her heels, causing injury.

From those experiences, Ms. Binh gradually grasped the basic techniques and continued to conquer long distances in running such as 10 km, 21 km, 42 km. Currently, Ms. Binh's best achievement is running 21 km in under 2 hours. To achieve this achievement, every day she runs alternating speed endurance and body endurance exercises, in which the key factor is discipline.

“Every day I have to set a goal for myself, for example, today I run 10 km, tomorrow I run 21 km and I am determined to complete it. Long-distance running is not like exercising, runners are often quite alone, so it is easy to get bored and give up. Every time I run 16 km, 17 km, I have to fight with myself to try to complete the goal,” said Ms. Binh.

By training hard, Ms. Binh has won many high prizes in marathon competitions in Vietnam. In March 2022, she won third place in the 19-34 age group in the women's 21 km category at the Tien Phong Newspaper National Marathon and Long Distance Championship. In August 2022, she won second place overall in the women's 10 km category at the VnExpress Marathon Nha Trang...

After many years of persistent training, Mr. Hien's best results were running 21km in 1 hour 45 minutes, 42km in 3 hours 42 minutes. Persisting with this sport, Mr. Hien saw many changes in his personality for the better.

“Long-distance running helps me practice perseverance, patience, and tolerance to life’s pressures. Not only does it improve my health, but my life is also healthier and changing for the better,” said Mr. Hien.

Without high requirements for training conditions, just perseverance and discipline, running has attracted hundreds of people to practice regularly, many of whom have achieved high results in marathons, contributing to the implementation of Uncle Ho's teaching "each healthy citizen is a healthy country..., a strong people makes a prosperous country".

PEACEFUL