He said, 'My life has limits, but the journey is boundless.' He said he was just an ordinary running enthusiast. But I want to say, in his runner's story, you can truly see poetry and the distant horizon...

'How can the water in the canal be so clear? Because it comes from a fresh source.'This is a verse I loved during my middle school years. It has a Zen quality and is rich in philosophy. It was written by Zhu Xi, a famous Neo-Confucian philosopher, thinker, educator, and synthesizer of Confucianism during the Song Dynasty, when he returned to his hometown in Wuyuan, Huizhou. Like all Huizhou people, although Zhu Xi was born in Youxi, Fujian, and most of his life and academic activities were in Fujian, he never forgot that he was a Huizhou native and had deep feelings for his ancestral hometown. I am very fortunate to share the same hometown with this master, albeit separated by a thousand years.

'Flowing water does not decay, and the door hinge is never worm-eaten, because of movement!'I first understood this phrase from an article by Chairman Mao in my junior high Chinese class. At that time, I didn't know it was from 'Lüshi Chunqiu,' but I started to like playing basketball. Even though I was a country kid playing on a clay court, it was also our running track for PE classes.

Later, I went to high school in the county and became a member of the school basketball team. Then I went to university and became the captain of the department's basketball team. But running was just a warm-up before playing basketball, and the distance was very short. After graduation, work, and like most people, I gave up sports, spending my days socializing, smoking, and drinking... This continued until my child, Ding Xiaozhuang, graduated from elementary school and was about to enter junior high in the summer.

Suddenly, I realized Xiaozhuang had grown up. I didn't know how to face his middle school life or how to communicate better with him. I felt a bit at a loss. I decided to start running, hoping to influence him through my actions. It was October 2013 when I first encountered Codoon and realized there was such a scientific exercise app. That year, I spent 3 months running a total of 64 kilometers at a pace of nearly 7 minutes per kilometer, but I couldn't persist beyond 3 kilometers each time.

I had no running knowledge and didn't understand the importance of running shoes. I thought running was a simple exercise and didn't know about stretching afterward. So, after running 510 kilometers the next year, my left knee started to hurt, and climbing stairs became difficult. From then on, I began to search online for running tips and found many useful articles in Codoon's selected columns. I started reading them carefully.

2015 was my third year of running, and I ran 640 kilometers that year. Honestly, I still didn't find running enjoyable; I just wanted to set an example for my child, forcing myself to run. I hoped to tell Xiaozhuang every day on our way home how many kilometers I had run. Gradually, it became a habit. Every time after school, Xiaozhuang would ask me, 'Dad, how far did you run today?' So we made a pact: Xiaozhuang would aim to get into the provincial model high school—Tunxi No. 1 High School—by the time he graduated from junior high, and I would complete a marathon.

With clear goals, what we needed to do was persist! That year, I could run 7 to 8 kilometers each time. I started sharing my running routes and distances on my WeChat Moments, hoping my friends would supervise my running. At that time, I didn't know Codoon's sports circle could be used for more than just recording running data.

Last New Year's Day was a special day for me. I participated in Codoon's online event for the first time and ran 10 kilometers in 57 minutes for the first time. Gradually, I started attempting longer distances: 12 kilometers, 15 kilometers, and in March, I ran 18 kilometers at most. In May, I completed my first half marathon in 1:55:36—the Wuyuan Half Marathon.

After the Wuyuan Half Marathon, I gained confidence and planned to participate in a full marathon in the second half of the year. So I started attempting longer distances and quit smoking. In early July, Xiaozhuang received his admission notice from Tunxi No. 1 High School! Our whole family was very happy! From then on, I joined the Huangshan Running Club and truly fell in love with running! Even when traveling for work, I would bring my running shoes and run in places like the Summer Palace and Taoranting in Beijing, the city wall in Xi'an, and the Dang River in Dunhuang...

In November, I completed my first full marathon—the Hangzhou Marathon. Since then, I have run an LSD (Long Slow Distance) with my running club partners every month. Given my stable pace, the club leader recommended me to be the 4:15 pacer for this year's Huizhou Marathon in March. I successfully completed the pacing task with a finish time of 4 hours, 15 minutes, and 12 seconds.

In April, I had the privilege of participating in the Wuhan Marathon, and in May, I ran the Shexian Xin'an River Landscape Gallery Marathon. In the second half of the year, I plan to participate in the Shanghai Marathon and, of course, the Hangzhou Marathon again.

'If you can improve yourself one day, do so every day, and let there be daily renewal.' Constantly achieving a new self, constantly renewing and progressing. My life has limits, but the journey is boundless!

Written by / Codoon Friend@Daniel Ding Yi

Editor: If you have time, you can visit@Daniel Ding Yi's sports circle to see (all images in the article are from his sports circle) his poetry and distant horizon. He is not only a running enthusiast but also a photography enthusiast.

For him, integrating passion into life is a wonderful thing. From the initial agreement with his child to later falling in love with running,running has brought many surprises and changes to his life. It helped him quit smoking and taught both him and his child the value of persistence. Now, running is as much a part of his life as eating and sleeping.

@Daniel Ding Yi's sports circle highlights:​

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