People welcome new lunar year by going for a run

Dozens of members of the Turtle Runners Club in Hanoi celebrated New Year with a run around Hoan Kiem Lake at 6 a.m. on Sunday, the first day of the Year of the Cat.

Instead of tracksuits, they wore ao dai in a rainbow of colors and adorned with flower motifs.

Nguyen Mai Hanh, a member, said the club's spring run has been held for several years now.

"We hit the streets on Tet in the hope that the new year will be filled with good health and boundless vitality."

Motorists give way for them, she added.

Tet marks the arrival of spring, and in Hanoi the air is crisp and the streets are deserted. The runners ran 10 kilometers through the city, stopping to take pictures at landmarks like the St. Joseph's Cathedral, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Dong Xuan market, and finishing up at Sword Lake.

On the second day they ran past the temples of Bach Ma, Voi Phuc, Kim Lien, and Quan Thanh.

Nearly 50 members of the Hai Phong Runners Club too came out on the first day of Tet, running 6.8 kilometers past the city railroad station, Hoang Van Thu Bridge, the museum, post office, and other places.

"We picked that route because it represents all that is great about Hai Phong, and we think it will also be the route chosen for the VnExpress Marathon Hai Phong in 2023," Bui Quoc Dat, a member of the club, said.

"We run in the hope we will be stronger and healthier in the Year of the Cat."

With the running culture growing in popularity in the past few decades, runners' springtime schedules have become increasingly packed across the country.

The Binh Dinh Runners Club celebrated the start of spring with a race along the coastal road. Its resolution for the coming year is to make running more popular across the south central province, which will also see the return of VnExpress Marathon Quy Nhon this year.

Members who have run marathons in under four hours have set their sights on going below three hours by the end of this year.

"It's the beginning of a new year, and we anticipate a spectacular year," Bich Thom, a member of the club, said.

Despite being busy celebrating Tet, Nguyen Tran Minh Duc in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long finds time to log the first few miles of the year.

In the sweltering southwest, Duc ran 31 kilometers since he is training for the 2023 Boston Marathon in the U.S. in April.

He is targeting new personal records this year.