Why Vietnam took up running

At school I hated running. Our PE teacher used it as a punishment: talk in class and you ran four laps of the yard in the midday sun. So nobody was more surprised than me when, at thirty-one, I signed up for a half marathon in Da Nang.

I'm not unusual. Ten years ago, people running along the river in Saigon at five in the morning were a rare sight. Now you have to weave around them. City races in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City sell out fast, and my office has its own running group on Zalo.

Part of the appeal is that running is so easy to fit in. You don't need a team, a court or much equipment. I run before work, before the heat sets in, or late at night when the traffic has died down. For someone who sits at a desk for nine hours, it's the cheapest way I know to stay in shape.

The social side surprised me most. I joined a club that meets three mornings a week, and plenty of members say they came for the exercise and stayed for the friendships. We share every run on an app, and a photo with a medal can collect hundreds of likes. I'll admit that's part of what keeps me going.

There are downsides, and I've met most of them. In my first year I bit off more than I could chew and spent a month with a sore knee. Doctors say that's typical of beginners who jump straight into long races. Running in Hanoi when the air is bad carries a risk of its own, so I check an air quality app before I go out. The costs add up as well. Race fees, decent shoes and a smartwatch soon came to more than my old gym membership.

I finished the half marathon in two hours and twenty minutes, nowhere near fast. My advice to anyone starting out is to build up slowly and listen to your body. The best part, for me, is running past the fish market at dawn while the city wakes up around me.