While the athlete kept trying to strike up a conversation, Li Bai didn’t say a word.
He ran ahead of Liang Manjun, cutting through the wind, as if he hadn’t heard anything happening behind him.
The athlete shot Li Bai a contemptuous glance.
What a useless man!
His girlfriend was being pestered, yet he was too scared to even make a sound!
If it were him, he would’ve thrown a punch right away!
Such a beauty—why stick with this loser? Better come with me!
The athlete was confident he could give her both satisfaction and a strong sense of security!
“Hey beauty, let’s add each other on WeChat? We can run together sometime.”
He pulled out his phone, grinning shamelessly as he tried to get Liang Manjun’s contact.
At that moment, Li Bai suddenly sped up.
A faint curve tugged at the corner of Liang Manjun’s lips as she immediately understood and followed his pace.
“Damn, why are you running so fast?”
Unwilling to back down, the athlete chased after them.
But he was a sprinter.
At their speed, he could easily overtake them within 100 meters.
Even 200 meters wouldn’t be a problem.
At 400 meters, catching up would start to feel a bit difficult.
At 1,000 meters…
Before he could even properly accelerate to catch up, he had already run a full kilometer.
This continuous change in pace was something a short-distance runner simply couldn’t handle.
When the gap suddenly stretched to 10 meters, he lowered his head and pumped his arms, trying to catch up again.
But as he chased, his speed unconsciously dropped.
When he looked up, Li Bai and Liang Manjun were already like two sleek sports cars, sprinting farther and farther away.
15 meters, 20 meters, 50 meters, 100 meters… until they completely disappeared from his sight.
“Damn, are they even human? Running the outer ring this fast?!”
The athlete finally stopped, panting heavily, complaining in frustration.
…
After completing the 18-kilometer run, Li Bai and Liang Manjun returned to Ocean University.
This time, unlike their last run at the forest park, they didn’t part ways immediately.
It was dinner time.
Li Bai didn’t put on any macho airs by inviting her to some fancy meal.
He wasn’t familiar with the university town and didn’t know where to find good food.
When Liang Manjun asked if he wanted to eat at the campus cafeteria, Li Bai readily agreed.
She even swiped her meal card for him.
“Thanks, Teacher Liang. I’ll treat you to a meal next time,” Li Bai said.
“You’re welcome.”
Their conversation was simple and polite, like old acquaintances.
At the same time, there was a clear sense of distance—Li Bai never overstepped where courtesy was required.
They carried their trays and sat down face-to-face at a window-side corner in the cafeteria.
At this hour, there weren’t many students left, but the combination of Li Bai and Liang Manjun still drew occasional glances.
They ignored it all and focused on eating.
Li Bai’s plate was piled high with rice, and the meat dishes were stacked generously.
There was no need to feel embarrassed—Liang Manjun was the same, her plate also heaped like a small mountain.
Looking at her slim figure, with a perfectly toned waist and not an ounce of excess fat, no one would believe she could eat so much.
But Li Bai understood.
Ever since he started running, his appetite had been steadily increasing.
There was no need to worry about gaining weight—running burned far more calories.
Liang Manjun was clearly the same.
What was there to fear from eating more? Run 10 kilometers, and all those extra calories would be gone!
They ate in silence, not exchanging a single word during the meal.
To an outsider, they might have looked like complete strangers.
It was only after finishing that they finally spoke, and it was Liang Manjun who asked first.
“Did you sign up for the Jinhai Marathon?”
She knew Li Bai was aiming to run a marathon.
Even without Ji Ziyang telling her, she could tell from his training.
“Yeah, I signed up. But the lottery results aren’t out yet, right?” Li Bai replied with a smile.
Liang Manjun nodded.
“It’s my first time registering. Not sure if I’ll get selected. I heard getting in depends on luck.”
Li Bai wasn’t as reserved as Liang Manjun.
When he talked to someone he got along with, he could speak quite freely.
“If I don’t get selected, I’m planning to buy a charity entry.”
He was no longer a beginner in running. Through his own research, he had learned the details of marathon registration.
If you failed in the lottery, you could still participate through sponsor slots or charity entries.
Sponsor slots could sometimes be obtained through official account lotteries, or by purchasing a certain amount of sponsor products.
Charity entries, on the other hand, were obtained through donations.
In domestic marathons, the standard registration fee was usually between 150 and 200 yuan.
For charity entries, in addition to the registration fee, you would need to donate 2,000 to 3,000 yuan.
As for sponsor slots, Li Bai wasn’t considering them for now.
They were more complicated to obtain, and he didn’t want to buy a bunch of things he didn’t need.
It was simpler to just donate and contribute to charity.
Of course, getting selected through the lottery would be the easiest option.
As Liang Manjun listened, her eyes flickered slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn’t.
Only after Li Bai finished did she ask, “Did you register for the half marathon or the full marathon?”
“The full marathon.”
“You’ve never run a half marathon?”
“Yeah.”
“Skipping the half marathon and going straight to a full marathon is a bit risky.”
This was the longest sentence Liang Manjun had spoken today.
Before Li Bai could respond, she continued, “But your ability is quite good. The half marathon wouldn’t be a problem for you, so whether you run it or not doesn’t matter much.”
Both of them had already run 27 kilometers.
With that level of endurance, completing a 21-kilometer half marathon wouldn’t just be possible—the results would likely be quite decent.
Of course, that was in comparison to the general running population.
What Liang Manjun didn’t know was that Li Bai’s goal was to complete a full marathon in at least 2 hours and 30 minutes!
Li Bai didn’t boast. Instead, he smiled and asked, “Teacher Liang, I heard finishing a full marathon is pretty tough. Many people hit the wall around 35 kilometers. Is that true?”
Liang Manjun seemed to switch into teaching mode, explaining calmly, “Yes. A full marathon isn’t just two half marathons combined—it’s a completely different level.”
“It’s not necessarily 35 kilometers. It depends on the individual. Some people hit the wall at 30 kilometers.”
“It feels like your whole body has been beaten up. And even after that, you still have to struggle to keep running.”
The analogy was vivid, and Li Bai couldn’t help but laugh.
Looking at her cold expression, he suddenly found her a bit quietly endearing.
“If you want to finish a full marathon, you first need enough mileage—at least 200 kilometers per month.”
“I’ve got that.”
Li Bai was running far more than 10 kilometers per day on average.
And he ran every single day without rest.
It could be said that his mileage far exceeded that of the average runner, even comparable to professional marathon runners in the country.
“You need to maintain that for at least three months.”
“Uh… I might fall short on that.”
Li Bai calculated the timing of the Jinhai Marathon. There were only about two months left until race day.
“It’s not an absolute requirement. It depends on your training condition. And also your pacing during the race.”
“Pacing during the race?”
“Some first-time marathon runners have decent endurance, but they can’t control their pace in the first 10 kilometers.”
“When everyone starts together, you get caught up in the moment and run too fast at the beginning. Later, your stamina can’t keep up, and you collapse.”
Liang Manjun looked at him, her tone carrying a deeper meaning. “Train first. Then we’ll see how things go on race day.”