Taking a good run at life

The temperature near the border of the two provincial-level administrations regularly drops below zero degrees Celsius, so he would wear winter outdoor jackets. At one point along the route, he was delayed by a downpour mingled with hailstones.

Nevertheless, every day he covered, on average, more distance than a full marathon. His highest tally was 70.5 km in a single day.

Joining him on this adventure was a friend, Li Lanhua, cycling with her 9-year-old daughter on the back. However, needing to send the girl to school, Li went on to finish the journey in advance of Lin.

"When I was able to reach Lhasa alone, I had no regrets," Lin says.

Some 500 people followed his journey and celebrated his success through a WeChat group. They still continue sharing running data in the group.

Previously, in 2017, Lin spent 53 days running from Shantou to Laizhou, Shandong province, covering 2,400 km. He also ran around the perimeter of Hainan Island, which is around 800 km, in under two weeks the following year.

In addition, he has added the completion of three ultramarathons-each over 100 km in length-two dozen full marathons and hundreds of half-marathon events nationwide over the years.

Lin runs almost every day. Instead of running to keep fit, he takes it as part of life.

During the interview, it feels like the retort: "I do it by just following my heart." That is his universal answer to almost every question-he seldom sets goals for routinely running, nor is he running for any purpose.

In his description, when he is in his stride, his breathing remains steady and his mind is in a state of tabula rasa-a blank slate, upon which knowledge deriving from experience or perception of external stimuli can be etched.

The night of the interview, he drank more than a bottle of wine-alcohol is another hobby he names-but it wouldn't keep him from running the following morning, he says, laughing.

Usually he gets up at around 6 o'clock and running is the first thing he does.