Just Run, What Do You Think?

At six, his mother left him on his grandmother’s doorstep. He drifted from place to place for two years, surviving by stealing and begging. At twelve, he stole three steamed buns from a market and was caught by a burly, dark-skinned PE teacher, who grabbed him by the wrist. The man didn’t hit him. He only said, “Come with me. I’ll make sure you’re fed.” He followed Old Zhao back to “Safe Harbor,” a dilapidated little courtyard crowded with dozens of children in desperate circumstances. He went from resisting training to running with all his might, from winning the provincial championship to being specially recruited by Waseda University. On Japan’s ekiden circuit, he won a section prize in the “Flower’s Second Section,” then withdrew from the Hakone Ekiden in the snow after injuring his knee. In his senior year, he ran a marathon with his knee taped up and earned a time that placed him among the top ten in history. After graduation, he turned down a high-paying job in Japan and returned to his hometown. He was going to do something everyone thought was crazy: bring campus ekiden races to China. From beneath a bridge to Hakone, from running alone to passing the baton as part of a team. Old Zhao gave him a home, and now he wanted to turn that home into a safe harbor for many more people.