Daily Evolution from Mastering Tai Chi-Chapter 44: The Half Marathon Begins

Although he was awakened by the alarm clock, Wang Ye did not feel a particularly obvious sense of fatigue after waking up.

Even the trace of drowsiness he felt upon getting up quickly vanished within ten seconds of awakening.

It was clear that after a night’s rest, his sleep had been more than adequate.

After washing up, Wang Ye didn’t immediately get ready to go out, but instead sat on the bed to check his attribute panel.

[Physical: 3.1]

[Divine: 2.0]

[Evolution Level: 24.0]

[Currently evolving, Evolution Level increases by one point daily.]

After fourteen days of evolution, his "Physical" attribute had already reached three times that of a normal person.

This was roughly equivalent to the physical standard of a top athlete.

Wang Ye immediately lay prone on the carpet in his room and did more than two hundred handstand push-ups to test his muscle strength level. The results showed that both his strength and endurance levels had significantly increased.

Although as he got closer to the human limit, the growth of his attributes started to reduce, the progress he made each day was still far beyond what normal people could achieve.

It’s important to know that anyone with several times the physical level of an ordinary person would find it hard to achieve even slight progress despite many years of training. Missing just a few days would lead to significant regression. It is like rowing against the current; if you do not advance, you will retreat.

But Wang Ye managed to maintain a steady and consistent rate of progress.

The kind of progress that was visibly apparent every day is something anyone would find addictive.

After testing his muscle strength, Wang Ye didn’t hesitate any longer. He immediately grabbed the room card and went to the door of the next room to wake his parents.

The three of them drove to a nearby mall to have a light breakfast.

Then they walked to the race venue.

Most marathon races start verifying identities and admitting participants at 5:30 a.m.

However, most people actually don’t arrive at the venue so early. Instead, they dawdle for a while before heading out because arriving too early could lead to nervousness or boredom, affecting their performance. Generally, many would lazily arrive at the venue close to 6:30 a.m. and start warming up.

By around 6:00 a.m.

Wang Ye and his parents arrived at the venue.

Seeing the scene inside the venue resembling a bustling marketplace, Wang Ye was taken aback.

He knew that a large number of people participated in marathons, but he didn’t expect there to be this many.

Reportedly, over forty thousand people registered for events like the half marathon, health runs, and more. With volunteers, staff, and bystanders, the number of people present had swelled to an incredibly overwhelming level.

Just a quick glance revealed a variety of running groups, organizations, and numerous families like Wang Ye’s.

Wang Ye didn’t hesitate and immediately led his parents through identity verification at the check-in point under the guidance of staff members. They entered the starting area and stored their clothing bags on a large truck. These trucks would head directly to the finish area, where participants could retrieve their bags after the race.

Upon entering the start area, it was already about 6:30 a.m.

Wang Ye and his parents made their way to the starting point in Zone D, where they began warming up.

Standing in Zone D, one could see the immensely large crowd of runners before them.

Due to the sheer number of marathon participants, event organizers would assign starting points based on each runner’s pacing level, usually divided into Zone A, Zone B, Zone C, and Zone D.

For instance, strong professional runners generally get assigned to Zone A, which is the frontmost starting point.

This is because most strong runners aim to break their records or set new national records, and being placed in a forward starting point is more beneficial for improving their performance and managing their energy distribution.

However, less skilled ordinary runners, like Wang Ye who had never participated in a marathon before, are usually assigned to the starting areas of Zone B, Zone C, or Zone D, the zones furthest from the start arch.

People assigned to Zone D mostly aren’t pursuing extreme results. Many running enthusiasts participate in half-marathons simply to finish and post about it on social media or just for exercise and experiencing the atmosphere.

Standing in Zone D, you’re basically engulfed by the participants ahead, and shorter people might not even see the starting point. You can only move forward when the people ahead of you move, so there’s no sense of freedom at all.

Even when the starting gun sounds, participants in the farther back sections still need to take a minute or two to slowly jog past the starting point amidst the surging crowd. This results in Zone D participants crossing the start line when Zone A participants are already close to finishing a kilometer.

Although it’s somewhat unfair,

the rules are the rules, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

If you want to secure a spot at the Zone A starting point, you must do your best to improve your running level and ranking.

Nevertheless, although the starting points differ, actual race results are ranked according to chip times.

Chip time means that before the race, each participant receives a coin-sized timing chip from the organizers. During the race, runners wear the chip; as they pass each timing point, the system at those points recognizes the runner’s information and records the passing time.

And the start arch is the first timing point on the whole course, which means that if a participant doesn’t pass through the start arch, the timing won’t begin.

Thus, most marathon races have two kinds of results: gun time and chip time.

Ignoring the surrounding crowd, Wang Ye taught his parents some warm-up exercises on the spot to loosen their ligaments and muscles and prevent injuries during the race.

His parents also could not help feeling a bit nervous faced with such an impressive and grand event, and their bodies started to stiffen a bit involuntarily.

Even though their main goal this time was to accompany Wang Ye and results didn’t matter to them, facing such a magnificent race event made it difficult for anyone to avoid feeling a bit tense.

When the three of them were almost done warming up,

there were only ten minutes to go before the start.

Just as Wang Ye was getting seriously ready to start running, suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from behind.

"Wangquan Baye?"

Hearing this name, Wang Ye’s expression suddenly stiffened.

Wangquan Baye was his online alias and an extended form of his real name. Many were aware of this online name, but who would be cheeky enough to call him by it in public?

Wang Ye immediately turned around to look at the origin of the voice.

He discovered that the person who called him by his online name was none other than Ye Yunyan, the one who had added him to the Longjiang District runners’ group chat.

"Master, can’t believe I ran into you at the venue. How long do you estimate you’ll run this time?" Ye Yunyan walked over and patted Wang Ye on the shoulder.

"Around seventy minutes," Wang Ye said straightforwardly.

A seventy-minute half-marathon is already the level of a top runner, capable of earning a top ten finish in this race.

"Uh..." Ye Yunyan seemed somewhat disbelieving, but still gave a thumbs-up and said, "Then I wish you an ideal performance. Good luck!"