Ran to the border of Zhejiang province this morning. It’s fenced off to prevent us scary Shanghai folk from bringing in disease. Last time I ran to this point two weeks ago, a man in red vest filmed me, assuming I was about to scale the fence. No red vest today!

Best of all was running alongside canals and then through the farmland, hearing local farmers speaking their highly localized language which most other Chinese can maybe halfway understand. Seeing women on the canal bank with basins washing clothing. A man halfway in the canal with soap and a washcloth on his face, sponging off. Wooden flat bottom boats anchored nearby looking as if they’ve been there since the year 1500.

With a heat index of 94, I was the only one out running. I’m also the only foreigner for miles around so a few folks looked at me askance; but in this heat, I don’t think anyone really cared one way or the other. They just kept on working the fields.