me as a slow uncle halfway to centurion, often gets zipped past by girls of various age goups in the parks along the bund stretch. There are so many fast runners here in SH along especially where i live and do my runs.
1) in one of the weekends morning earlier this year along westbund, i was doing a slow LSD run approx. at 7min/km pace when a group of fully geared up 3 good-looking ladies (sunglasses, running tights and top, high compression socks, top notch running shoes from western/jap brands) overtook me as they chatted with each other along the way.
2) there is this uncle in his 70s, will film his runs daily and cruise along at around 6min/km pace while everyone who recognise him will wave at him to greet him
3) It gets worse if one runs much earlier, eg. before sunrise, or just before end of office hours till into the evenings, the real enthusiasts are out there running, many of them cruise effortlessly at 5min/km pace or faster
4) on weekend mornings, there is this stretch at 黄浦滨江, with a stretch of roads that serves as a circuit for some of the best runners in shanghai for their workouts. One can search 苗江路 which is famous here in the marathon scene. Most of the long runs (easily go beyond 30km) are done below 4min/km pace throughout. Some will do their fast intervals there as there are 3 circuits to cover (1.35km/1.85km/2.7km per lap). Won't surprise me if someone there outruns SRY.
This is just one part of SH. There are many more similar places with plenty of running talents, eg. bund stretch on pudong side, 世纪公园, various stretches of the Suzhou Creek and many other parks.
The sheer scale here is quite amazing which contributes to the lively and vibrant running community.
ok thank you for wasting 1min of your time listening to my opinion on China, in particularly in SH which probably difficult for ppl in SG to relate.