My main non-research-related social group in Beijing was the runners. They kept me “real” – or at least healthy and sane, particularly on days when research-related woes or archival red tape threatened to send me in search of booze.
At the start of the Li-Ning relay race. Second from left is L, the (fast) distance runner and fitness program guru, and second from right is M, the fearless leader.
After a run through the hutongs with the fearless leader and his sidekick, we met other Chaoyang park runners at Mao Mao Chong’s for drinks. This was on one of my final days living in Beijing. (My going-away gift was a pair of glasses without glass in them. It was a popular fad in China at the time that I never understood.)
