Pudong IKEA is 500 Calorie Away

I just got Nike+ and started to test run with my iPhone. The first experiment is to understand how much calorie a typical running route cost. So I picked southbound of my home.

It turned out that the Pudong IKEA store is exactly 500 calories away from my home. That means, if I want to increase 33% calorie burn, or get rid of what I got from a dinner, I should just decide to visit IKEA.

A Joke

I finally understood why a typical dinner in Shanghai cost 20 RMB and a taxi ride for 6 km also cost 20 RMB – because it takes 20 RMB worth of calorie to walk over 6 km, or you can choose to take taxi – the cost and the result are the same.

I also understand why IKEA sells ice-cream at as low as 1 RMB – because it takes 90 calories to walk through the IKEA store, and that is basically what the ice-cream compensate for – 90 cal for a typical ice-cream.

Running Around Century Park

On my list, there is one more item I would list under “the reason to love Shanghai”, because there is a great park called Century Park that we can run arround it at night, and there is a small gathering at 7:30 PM every Tuesdcay that many friends will run around the Century Park together. I am just back from tonight’s event. It was nice.

About the Activity

Geoffrey started the actitive about one year before, in Oct 2005. Every Tuesday, some young people will gather at the Gate 7 of the Century Park at 7:30 PM to start the 5km around park running. They have a website called yiqipao.com, which means “Run Together” in Chinese.

I spent about 30 minutes to run all the way back. Some are back within 20 minutes, and more are within 50 minutes.

Century Park Route May be the Best Route

I have no idea about whether there is a better running route in Shanghai other than this one. There is no single red light or cross road on the 5 km of route, and the route is besides green trees on one side. The length is also just right.

map-yiqipao.png

The right line is the route and the yellow dot is the starting and ending point – the No.7 Gate of the park. You can arrive there by taking Metro Line #2 to the Century Park Station, exit at Exit No. 4, turn left after you leave the Exit, and go straght ahead to cross the wider road (the Hua Mu Road). There should be lots of people there.

Keep Running, Keep Health

I checked my weight today. Unfortunately, I am almost 70 kg now. Let me see if I can stick to run for some time and see if I can lose weight a little bit.

Keep Passion for Life

Shanghai sometimes seems disappointing in our everyday life. Just like any city seems to be to its fellow residents. But at the same time, the same boring Tuesday, the same boring night, some cheerful people are running on the 5 km path in the peaceful night. Some comes from nearby neighborhood, some even from the Zhong Shan Park, which is the other side of the city, but everyone enjoys the running so much.

Nobody said “No” to you when you want to run. The only one who holds us back is ourselves.

On the last page, actually, the second last paragraph of the Art of Travel, Alan quoted Friedrich Nietzsche:

When we observe how some people know how to manage their experiences – their insignificant, everyday experiences – so that they become an arable soil that bears fruit three times a year, while others – and how many there are! – are driven through surging waves of destiny the most multifarious currents of the times and the nations, and yet always remain on top, bobbing like a cork, then we are in the end tempted to divide (human-)kind into a minority (a minimality) of those who know how to make much of little, and a majority of those who know how to make little of much.

How true it is.

P.S. Some pictures from the dinner after the running event. They have AA dinners every Tuesday, and it is free for first time comers.

More pictures are here. I didn’t check permission to use the picture one by one yet, so feel free to drop me a line if anyone thinks not comfortable to share the pictures.

Running in Pudong

The feeling of running in Pudong is completely different than running in Puxi, and it is much better than running on the running machine in gyms.

I went to Decathlon the other day. Wow. It is a very nice store. The goods there are very decent, of high quality AND cheap. There is a bicycle meter at only 36 RMB.

I bought Domyos running shirt and running pant. Wearing the new clothes, I look professional and athletic. I never bought cloths specially designed for one sports activity before.

Decathlon

The Decathlon store is at the opposite side of Long Yang Rd. Metro Station (or the Long Yang Rd. Maglev station). It is just beside B&Q and Metro.

shanghai-decathlon-longyang.jpg

© Jian Shuo Wang

I have to say it has bad design as an entrance. I have been to B&Q for more than twenty times (I am decorating the new apartment) but didn’t noticed there is a shop by B&Q. Only after my friend Wang Chen talked about it did I realize the Decathlon logo is the logo for the shop, instead an advertisement board.

Running

After I start to run, I really enjoyed the feeling to run at Pudong. There are trees along the road and there are very few people. The slopes of bridges are natural and provide good sense of Varity to make running more interesting. Cars are passing by fast and safely. I don’t have to give ways to people, bikes, or even cars. There are separate roads for each. The air was fresh and smelled good.

map-jinxiu.rd-inc.centary.park.runway.JPG

&copyright; Jian Shuo Wang

Above is the journey I covered. The red arrow denote the way from my new apartment to the centaury park. This time, to my surprise, I managed to run to the Centaury Park and run back along the same way. That is 4 km single trip and 8 km for round trip. Ha. I feel energetic after the long-distance running. It is credited to the solid base on running I made in my high school. At that time, we run at least 3 km everyday for the whole 3 years. If I keep on practicing, I will be able to join the next Shanghai International Marathon (Chinese site) (42.195km) on November 13 this year.