Marathon aficionados say no other sporting activity can quite match it with the challenges it presents to the powers of determination and perseverance. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Zhang says that had it not been for the encouragement of friends and fellow marathoners she could not have summoned up the courage to run in her first marathon. Receiving training that is scientifically based and adopting a training regime that helps you improve gradually have also been critical to her success, she says.

In fact, of all the marathoners she knows, no one would have been capable of running a marathon when they took up long-distance running, she says.

She reads extensively on how to run safely and does specific training activities every day. At first she ran three times a week, supplemented by other kinds of physical exercise, such as squats, to improve her muscles and become stronger.

In fact marathoning has now turned into a new career for her. The self-employed now also provides consulting services designing fitness programs for long-distance runners or those who wish to start running.

She particularly vaunts running outdoors as a physical exercise, as opposed to running in a gym. Indoors it takes discipline to keep on going whereas outdoors the constant change of scenery adds interest to the activity, she says.