Since 2013, about 50 games of the China Association of Athletics registered marathon events each year, and roughly the same number of mountain cross-country races, have converged into a championship of mainstream gold medal sports. While rushing through the competitive roads, they have turned into A million people participated in the competition, and 300 million people watched the national fitness feast through on-site and television screens. Even this is the most significant social and cultural phenomenon in China since 2008.
When I went to the United States on behalf of the sports media group two years ago to negotiate the Chinese copyright of "Runner's World" with the Rockdale Group, we have a firm belief even though we are not aware that this tide will come so quickly and violently. Forty years of running has been popular in the West. As a public product of human civilization, with the rise of China’s economy and the improvement of public living conditions, it will surely set off a wave of running China. In terms of running sports, after the massive and strong Chinese fortress was conquered, this simple movement, in which mankind was born naturally to feed back humanity, has won a global victory. Is football the first sport? joke.
Marathon is a huge container, health, weight loss, show, etc., is also an easy way to invest in health and an important way to dialogue with the world. But this is not fundamental, because the explosive popularity of the marathon in China is a dance between urban white-collar workers and the urban government. Behind this, there are complex and delicate changes in social relations and values. For a city, although the cost of a marathon event is about 10 million yuan, the government only pays for the cost of resources such as security, traffic control, medical emergency, etc. (other inputs are handled by the contractor through investment promotion), and after With the large-scale participation of webcasts and other media, it is difficult to reach other events. No cost urban marketing, no cost tourism promotion, but also can earn a good reputation for the importance of national fitness.
The other side of the dance is such a group of people known as white-collar workers. They disguise themselves, day in and day out, through crowded public transport, congested city roads, between offices and homes, from a small seat in a huge matchbox to another huge matchbox and a small bed. The reinforced concrete forest is the vehicle of the cage. The city is not like a zoo? Do you want to escape? At least, do you want to, on a certain weekend, breathe?
Marathon can not solve the mysteries of complex life, but at least you can have the opportunity to face society in a different way and face. 42.195K There are no urban roads disturbed by cars, lighting white flames of self-liberation. Sun Dasheng, Pig, Transformers, Spider-Man, Iron Soldiers, and “Red Guardsâ€... With the help of Mara’s broadened space, white-collar workers are excited to release a wide variety of parody in the context of machinery, nervousness, anxiety and constant frustration. And irony flowers. The marathon is essentially a huge show of white-collar workers in the city. It is almost unrelated to athletics.
Of the nearly one million marathon runners in 2014, the number of finishers in 6 hours was 75,000 (the United States was 540,000), and it was truly the participation that focused on the show. Of course, some people still say that they are serious about starting. There are white-collar writers in the runners, such as Liu Zhenyun; artists, such as Sun Nan and Sha Baoliang; and local tyrants such as Yu Liang and Pan Shiyi, who either explore the world with their bodies or accumulate spiritual energy in difficult marches. Or to show leadership style and personal charisma, but these people are just a decoration for the marathon; runners also have less income than white-collar workers. They are plain clothes and tenaciously develop their personal living space on the run. The idea of ​​multiple shares was torn on the runway of 42.195K, but the white-collar workers were the backbone of the hot Chinese marathon.
White-collar workers are also proposing a huge marathon consumer market. Running equipment means a strong sense of ceremonies. The standard for ordinary white-collar runners is “1212â€, 1000 yuan for running shoes, 1,000 yuan for sports glasses, 2,000 yuan for gradient compression garments, and 2,000 yuan for sports. Watches, along with other small bits and pieces, are worth a million dollars a decent line. "Runner's World" once had an interesting estimate. The cost of an American runner's life is ambiguous and extravagant in three levels: $14,358, $56,942, and $212,872. The Chinese version of this calculation is: the minimalist 14100 yuan, the ordinary 243,000 yuan, and the local giant 1101900 yuan. White collars should be between ordinary and local tyrants. The country proposes that the sports industry in 2025 will reach a scale of RMB 5 trillion. White-collar workers are the main force for consumption.
Of course, outside the show, the spirit of the marathon also has a fatal attraction for the thinking white-collar workers. Using feet to measure the earth, 42.195K, inadvertently eliminates the individual's belief crisis and belief crisis. Thinking about life in extremely difficult circumstances does not necessarily mean writing a best-seller every day, as in the village. However, the individual's perplexed life is mostly solved. This is the philosophical game between Old Me and New Me. Running, like a flame, engulfs the boring, sensitive, depressed, anxious and pessimistic self.
Deeper, running is a tool of identity compensation, helping to rebuild self-confidence and dignity. Running begins with fitness, but with the severe infiltration of personal behavior patterns and modes of thinking, it eventually evolved into a new way of life. Its fundamental characteristic is that it does not need to applaud others to challenge individual limits. 42.195k, is such a journey, has paid the utmost effort, endures loneliness and loneliness, does not complain, does not give up, when rushes to the finish line, even remembers in the future, even oneself will be moved repeatedly. Basically, running is a kind of spiritual practice.
Although the white-collar workers have supported hundreds of marathons and cross-country races in China, the white-collar workers who have moved are still only a small part. The Chinese marathon is still in the stage of enlightenment. Using the Strait across the Taiwan Straits as a reference, Taiwan Island has a population of more than 20 million. The annual official road races are about 300 games, which is six times that of the mainland. Each year, the number of participants exceeds 1 million, which is currently the same as the mainland. With a population base of more than 1.3 billion people on the mainland, it can be expected that the marathon will exceed 100 games and the number of participants will exceed 2 million in at most 3 years.
Many people fear the marathon. In fact, on the technical level, a normal person can basically finish within 6 hours after 4-5 months of scientific training. It's important to go step by step and develop the habit of running at least two or three times a week, each at a distance of 6 to 10 kilometers. As for the sudden death, the incidence in the world is one in 100,000, and the drowned person basically has congenital heart defects. For the sake of safety, it is better to go to the hospital for a heart check.
In the last two sentences, one, if you are still lazy on the couch, you may have fallen behind an era. Second, if you run up now, you may still belong to the tide of this era.