There are a lot of ways people in China like to exercise. People often walk; walking is considered to be good for you while admittedly a bit boring. To spice it up, people also walk backwards or carry caged birds around, slap their legs and back as they stroll around. Or just stand in the sidewalk and let others walk around them (this popular activity also transitions well into driving styles.) However, nobody really runs for fun or for exercise. At least anything more than a turtle trot is definitely out of the question. In other words, running people in China usually have a purpose.  

This gives you the context for David's story. Early one morning he set out to go for a jog to a near by park. The park is called ChangFeng gongyuan and it's a huge oasis near our compound with walking paths, man made lakes for row boats, even bouncy castles for kids. To run there, through the park, and back takes him a good hour.

So as David was coming back though the park, his final lap, he suddenly decided to sprint and give it all he had left. As he came around the last corner he was now at full speed, red in the face, pumping his arms and legs. 

From the corner of his eye he suddenly he noticed everyone around him stopping, even turning around. The ones going towards David had a look of fear on their face. The ones moving in parallel started to increase their speed with David. One man even started sprinting himself. All were trying to look past the corner to see what David was running from. Before reaching the park gate, he had three other people running with him, from whatever it was that David was running away from. As he left the park, the other people must have realized no danger was imminent and slowed down.
 
Poor David was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath and tell the story as he finally made it back home. I still can't help but smile whenever I think of the locals stopping, turning around and actually starting to run WITH David, away from the approaching danger the foreigner was running from.
 
I told David that next time he should try sprinting at the local zoo.