Chapter 222: The Half Marathon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

100,000 yuan was by no means a small figure. It would take Dai Li two years to save up that much money, even if he didn't spend any of it on daily necessities. What made it even better was that it had been given to him by the police; it was much better than finding money on the street, as it was completely trouble free.

"To receive the money, you need to go through some formalities. If you have time, you can go directly to our bureau to get it. You can contact me in advance; here's my card." Dahu Fu handed a name card to Dai Li, then said, "We'll keep your identity secret. Don't worry."

Dai Li took the name card, still feeling very surprised and happy.

Dahu Fu then asked, "Coach Li, I actually want to ask you for another favor."

"Sure, just tell me what it is," Dai Li said immediately.

Dahu Fu said, "You know, there is a national fitness program underway across the entire country. Next month, our city will hold the Jinyan Lake Half Marathon. Besides the marathon lovers among the residents, the big enterprises in the city will also organize their staff to take part in it. We the police have also organized a team.

"This is only a match for amateurs, and it is more about participation than results. But we are the police, so this makes it a little special for us; if we get very poor results, the people will doubt our competence as policemen. So, I'm hoping that you would be willing to train our participants."

Dai Li nodded his head to show he had understood the request. He had heard about the half marathon match taking place next month. It was for amateurs, and was mainly to draw more residents to participate in the national fitness campaign. The prize for the race was not high; the main purpose was to have fun. Some coaches of the national team had also planned to run the match. Among them was Coach Liu, who was in charge of the marathon training; he had asked for his annual leave to prepare for it.

Compared to the other participants, the policemen were obviously special. In the opinion of the ordinary people, policemen were all professionally trained, so they should be able to run faster and have better endurance. Otherwise, how could they catch thieves?

So, if the policemen did not get a good score in this marathon, the residents would naturally think that the policemen were not skilled enough for the responsibility of taking down criminals and protecting the people.

If they did well in the match, on the other hand, they would be able to show that they were well-trained for their job. Therefore, it could considered a PR campaign for the police to organize a team to participate in the half marathon. If they did well, people would praise their excellence; otherwise, they would lose points in the minds of the public. This was why the police had attached great importance to this half marathon. They not only sent their strongest members for it, but also planned to have a professional coach train them.

When it came to coaching for a marathon, the coaches on the national track and field team were surely the most professional. Before Dai Li had come, Dahu Fu had already spoken to Li Xue about it. However, several famous long-distance running coaches were heavily scheduled for coaching tasks, and did not have time for this. So, Dahu Fu had decided to ask Dai Li for his assistance instead.

Dahu Fu thought that because Dai Li was quite young, he would be more approachable, and would not be very busy with his coaching tasks, which would make him more likely to help. In addition, Dai Li had just gotten the 100,000 yuan reward from the police. He should still have very positive feelings towards the police, and be more likely to agree.

Hearing what Dahu Fu said, Dai Li hesitated and glanced at Li Xue, who was next to him, obviously hoping to hear what his teacher thought.

Li Xue nodded with a smile, "Since Mr. Fu is so fond of you, just go. We don't have much training to do these days, anyway."

It seemed that Li Xue also thought it would be good for Dai Li to accept the invitation of the police. Society was full of people linked to each other through favors and connections, which meant it would do Dai Li good to know more people, as he was currently only a grassroot drifter from Beijing with no power nor backing.

Seeing that Li Xue had no objections, Dai Li nodded in agreement. "Alright. Because Mr. Fu has asked, I will humbly accept your offer."

The match would begin next month, which meant that Dai Li would only have three weeks maximum for training.

When training for long distance running, three weeks was really too short. What made it worse was that the policemen could not train full time; they had to work during the day, and could only train for two or three hours after work.

Even though Dai Li had upgraded to the immediate phase of a top-level coach, two or three hours of training per day for three weeks was by no means a sufficient guarantee that the police officers would improve much. Therefore, Dai Li put the training emphasis on the tactics and distribution of physical strength.

In long distance running, physical strength distribution was obviously a key point. The longer the running distance was, the more important physical strength distribution would be. Many people can complete a 5000- or 10,000-meter run, but not a marathon; the difference is the lack of knowledge on physical strength distribution.

The key factor for physical strength distribution in a marathon lies in the later half, especially the last third of the total distance. Many runners can suffer from cramps, fainting, and even have to withdraw from the match due to an improper distribution of physical strength.

Professional marathon runners had to distribute their strength very accurately; what speed to run in which mile, how much energy to use—everything had to be controlled precisely. For amateur runners, on the other hand, it would be a successful strength distribution if they could have the strength to run the entire distance at a consistent speed.

The tactics for marathon running were quite like that of a 10,000-meter run. If they ran in a team, the team members should stick together as much as possible and change the lead runner every so often regularly. This way, they could save a lot of strength.

During the later phase of a marathon, mental strength was also very important. It requires tenacity to tap one's potential and challenge one's limits.

Mentality is also a very important factor. When running a marathon, especially during the later phase, many people would feel very happy if they overtook their opponents, and feel upset if they were passed themselves. If a runner is overtaken by several opponents successively, they may even want to drop out—this is where a runner's mentality comes into play.

As a matter of fact, when you are tired during a marathon, your opponents feel the same way. Especially when all the contestants are of a similar skill level, because everyone has covered the same distance in the same time and has consumed the same amount of energy, whoever can stick with it until the end will win.

For professional athletes, "sticking with it" was the very content of their daily training. For amateurs, however, learning to "stick with it" on the racetrack was the hardest part.

Among the skyscrapers in the CBD business center of Huajing City converged all the economic, technological, and cultural forces of the city. All mega enterprises of the financial, trade, service, exhibition, and consultation fields had set up offices here.

The Dingtian Group was a nationally leading group company covering real estate, film & television, tourism, consumption, and sport industries. With their total assets worth nearly 500 billion yuan, it ranked within the global top 2000 on the Forbes list. In comparison, the Continental Group of Haiquan Fang's father's was only but a small company.

The headquarters of the Dingtian Group was not in Jinghua City; instead, it was a luxurious office in the CBD business center of Jinghua. The office was located in the tallest landmark building in the CBD area, which had been built by one of the Dingtian Group's subsidiaries— the Sky Height real estate company.

In front of the window of the Dingtian Group's office stood a 24 or 25-year-old woman in business suit. Through the huge French window, she was looking at the endless stream of people down the road.

There was a knock on the door, then came in a man in his fifties wearing a suit, with a thick folder in his hand.

"Yunan, I've read the proposal you wrote. Go ahead as you planned!" said the man.

Turning around, the woman in business suit showed her beautiful egg-shaped face. She had light makeup on her face—she had only drawn in her eyebrows, wore a little lipstick, and the powder foundation she had on was not even noticeable. All these things had highlighted her fair and tender skin well. Her eyes are shiny, and showed a tinge of unyielding spirit, yet the dimples on her cheek added some sweetness to her look.

"Uncle Wang, please don't call me by my name in the company, will you?" Her voice was as sweet as the dimples on her face.

"All right, all right; Director Xiao!" said the man, a warm smile full of affection on his face. "You think they don't know who you actually are if I don't say your name? Those young people in the office are quite gossipy. As a girl of this age, you were parachuted into this position as a director. They might have guessed who you are the first day you were here."

Putting down the folder in his hand, the man changed the subject. "The half marathon by the Jinyan Lake is about to arrive. How is the preparation going? I heard that you have hired a professional coach?"

The girl nodded. "I hired Baogang Liu. He is the coach of the national marathon team. He had asked for his annual leave to train our runners.

"That's good. The contestants we chose are all veterans who are already good at sports themselves. Now, with training from a nation team coach, I'm sure we can win the championship," the man said.

The girl replied, "We must win. We spent 10.2 billion yuan to buy the land of the Jinyan Lake, and this half marathon is the first step to advertise our Jinyan Lake project. We need this to make a good start."