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Breathless in Beijing; beware marathoners

By Staff

Beijing, Aug 5: I gulped at my water and peered anxiously through the noontime gloom towards the Lama Temple, a sure sign my training run was nearly done.

I couldn't see it, even though the road sign said it was less than a kilometre away. Discouraged, I kicked myself back into a jog, and slogged on.

Having signed up to run a marathon in Mongolia, I was following the recommended training schedule for beginners. Except that Beijing the city where Olympic marathoners will race in 12 months' time, isn't what anyone would recommend.

The Chinese capital is one of the most polluted cities in the world.

The average concentration of fine particulates in Beijing in recent years has been 150 milligrams per cubic metre, three times the average in Los Angeles.

On a clear day, Beijing is lovely. Dusky purple mountains are visible 20 km (12 miles) to the west, while swallows flit around the curved roofs of the Forbidden City.

But on most days, the sky is white and an opaque, vaguely brownish haze cloaks buildings.

The city government has set a goal of 245 blue sky days in 2007, as part of efforts to spruce up before the Olympics.

In June, my final month of training, there were only 15 days when Beijing met the benchmark for good air quality.

My training route was the second ring road, six lanes of cars and belching buses. At just over 19 miles around, it is the right distance for the final runs needed to prepare for a marathon.

I ran early yesterdays ,less heat, less smog, less traffic, less damage to my newly athletic lungs.

I swooped out of my apartment east of the ring road, and headed south, threading my way through a succession of overpasses and dropping down along the moat that rims the south of the city.

Huffing along, I felt a tiny connection to the Olympic athletes who will throng the city. Even if the government succeeds in clearing the air by ordering cars off the roads and seeding clouds, they'll still get the muggy Beijing summer.

RINGING THE RING ROAD

To help clear its air, Beijing is moving a giant steel mill out of the city, and has shut its worst-polluting industrial plants. But about 1,000 new cars hit the streets every day, and traffic generally crawls along the ring roads.

During the Games, the city will restrict car use. A similar car clampdown was implemented for an African summit in the city last November, but still it took days for the skies to clear.

Far from the hum of passing cars, the path along the moat was a nice and open place to run. The air seemed lighter and fresher.

Easier to breathe.

But the moat, too, had a dark side. My back and arms itched in the aftermath of each run alongside it.

My runs took me past block after block of freshly battered rubble, festooned with slogans about how the ''New Beijing'' being built will welcome the New Olympics.

A narrow green belt provided respite before a bulldozered lot, and I craned my neck for the 17th century Lama Temple, a Buddhist monastery, to take shape against the dull sky.

I'd bully myself to keep running past the faded Russian embassy, then push through a bus queue, and arrive at last.

By contrast Mongolia was beautiful and clean. Clouds had magnificent sweep and shape, the water was clear, the air smelled like rain and sage, I could see the mountain peaks miles away. I was so busy looking around me the first miles were easy.

But about halfway through the marathon I flagged. So I fell back on my old habit of dividing up the run in my head.

''Over the next hill,'' I told myself, ''and it will be just like turning onto the north section of the second ring road. Keep going, turn the corner, and look for the Lama Temple.''

Reuters>

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 15:57 [IST]
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