About an hour passed.
Wang Ye slowed down and stopped.
Sitting on a bench, leaning on his knees, he gasped for breath.
Due to maintaining a high breathing frequency for a long time, his lungs were somewhat sore. His throat couldn't help but cough, and a strong urge to vomit arose.
"Still a bit forced..."
He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, suppressing his urge to vomit, and raised his wrist to look at his watch.
It displayed the data from his exercise session.
[10.1 kilometers.]
[Time: 00:57.50]
[Average pace: 5.47]
Upon seeing this exercise data, Wang Ye's face turned from grim to an excited smile.
This achievement has far exceeded his expectations.
Initially, he estimated that with his current athletic ability, he would take more than an hour to complete ten kilometers.
Unexpectedly, he accidentally broke the one-hour barrier this time and finished ten kilometers in just fifty-seven minutes!
Just as he was delighting in himself.
A young man wearing a baseball cap sat on the bench beside him and initiated a conversation.
"Dude, you're pretty good at long-distance running. You're also preparing for the Longjiang District Half Marathon, right?"
"Longjiang District Half Marathon?"
Wang Ye unscrewed his water bottle and took a sip.
The bottle was filled with a special electrolyte powder, giving the water a faint sweet and salty taste.
This electrolyte water can quickly replenish fluids and elements like sodium and potassium after exercise, maintaining osmotic pressure and quickly restoring energy.
Wang Ye once experienced electrolyte imbalance after running during university. This condition can lead to rapid energy depletion, fatigue, retching, and even stiffness of limbs, making it difficult to move. In severe cases, it might cause cardiac arrest, posing significant danger. If his classmates hadn't bought him an electrolyte water bottle in time, he might have been in mortal danger.
Therefore, even now, Wang Ye always carries a small water bottle when going out, with prepared electrolyte water for timely replenishment.
This is one of Wang Ye's few good habits.
"It's the half-marathon event held early next month." The young man patiently explained:
"It's the half-marathon event for our district, a rare opportunity. If you haven't signed up, you can give it a try; the registration deadline is tomorrow."
"Half marathon..."
Wang Ye pinched his chin.
Although he hasn't been running for long, he is, of course, aware of the internationally renowned marathon races.
Full marathon is a long-distance race of 42.195 kilometers. The half-marathon is a long-distance race of 21.0975 kilometers.
These are some of the world's longest track and field events.
They could indeed be considered high-risk extreme sports.
Many people have even died suddenly during the competition.
Therefore, many medical stations are set up during marathon races.
Participating in a marathon event was something he never dared to think about before.
But now, with a system and significantly improved physicality, things are different.
"Does this event have a prize?" Wang Ye suddenly asked.
"Yes, the first place gets one hundred thousand yuan, though we might not reach that level," the young man laughed awkwardly.
"Haha, that's true." Wang Ye echoed with a laugh.
Running such long distances consecutively makes one an outstanding runner, let alone achieving good results.
Only professional athletes or top amateur runners consider such things.
Others believe that Wang Ye, with his current running ability, would succeed if he could finish the race within the cutoff time.
But only Wang Ye knows that his system adds 1 Evolution Level every day. Be it attributes or running skills, he shows visible progress every other day.
Accumulating over time, the progress will be terrifying.
By the competition at the beginning of next month, he might indeed achieve a prize-worthy result.
The young man took a sip of his drink and continued: "Let me add you to our Longjiang District runner's group chat. You can exchange ideas and ask questions there."
"Sure, thanks." Wang Ye took out his phone and scanned the QR code on the young man's phone.
A few seconds passed.
The young man had already accepted the friend request and sent him a link for group invitation.
Wang Ye clicked the link and joined the group chat.
Immediately.
Beep beep beep beep.
A dense burst of message prompts popped up.
[Longjiang District Runner's Group Chat (431)]
[Not Changing Name Until Sub-250: Welcome new friend to the group! [Flowers][Flowers][Flowers]]
[In Late Autumn: Welcome new friend to the group! [Flowers][Flowers][Flowers]]
[Running Maniac: Welcome new friend to the group! [Flowers][Flowers][Flowers]]
...
Wang Ye twitched his mouth and typed a line.
[Thanks everyone, I look forward to learning more about running.]
After sending it, he set the group to Do Not Disturb mode, or else the message notifications alone would be quite bothersome.
Then, the young man he just befriended sent him two more messages.
Wang Ye opened them.
[I'm Ye Yunyan, looking forward to seeing you on the race track. [Grin]]
Followed by a registration link, [2024 Longjiang District Half Marathon Registration Portal].
Wang Ye clicked the link, selected the half-marathon project, entered his personal information, signed a disclaimer, and paid the 100 yuan registration fee, marking successful registration.
The competition date is May 1st.
Today is April 20th, leaving about ten days for preparation before the competition.
Excitement faintly emerged in Wang Ye's heart.
Given his current progress rate.
What level will he reach in the next ten days?
After saying goodbye to the young man, Wang Ye glanced at the time; it's already 12:15 PM.
Cooking now definitely isn't an option; going out to a restaurant for lunch at this hour isn't bad.
He rubbed his hungry belly and headed to a nearby commercial street.
Before long, he found a self-service diner in a quiet alleyway. He ordered braised beef brisket, stir-fried garlic sprouts with meat, and seaweed egg soup.
He then grabbed a rice ladle and scooped more than two pounds of white rice.
This meal size even made the attendant beside him stunned.
A few days ago, Wang Ye might have eaten less to lose weight.
But now, he finds that no matter how he eats, his body fat keeps decreasing.
He simply stopped controlling his diet, eating as he pleases.
Of course, what's most important is consuming enough calories to maintain his physique.
Ensuring the daily progress in evolution doesn't lead to excessive consumption leading to malnutrition.
Wang Ye carried his tray over and sat at a corner table, tore open the plastic wrapping of the disposable chopsticks, ready to snap apart the connected ends.
But before he could exert any force, the chopsticks simply broke apart.