under the raging war we run in iraq

Editor's Note:Winter Fan in Iraq @Derrick Tao, one of the city's frontrunners in March, runs through the rolling sands of Iraq with his lover to capture beautiful wedding photos and achieve their weight loss goals. Their love amidst the chaos of war is so beautiful.

@Derrick Tao: In this season when the domestic landscape should be ablaze with peach blossoms and hibiscus reflecting the sun, I jog under the starlit sky of Basra, feeling the joy of gradually losing weight and becoming more agile. Even the desert dust isn't so unbearable anymore.

Looking back, my relationship with my girlfriend solidified through running. Back then, I was a poor boy, and she was a naive girl just out of college. Our so-called romance was running laps around the campus track near our rental. She was lazy, initially complaining after just one lap, but eventually, with some encouragement, she could run several laps. We went from having nothing, spending our youthful days running together, progressing together, and reaping the rewards together.

In 2011,for the sake of our future, I braved the sandstorms and warzones to come to this Middle Eastern country, embarking on a different life path. From then on, I traded the comfort of the campus track for the rolling sands of Iraq, facing more challenges and gaining more experience. After a long period of separation, my girlfriend finally joined me in this war-torn country in 2013. She admired the story of the brave Sanmao in the Sahara Desert, which gave her the courage to come to Iraq. Although our life here is ordinary, the uniqueness of this country makes our life feel extraordinary.

Around the relatively flat sandy area of the construction site, we started our vigorous running and weight loss plan. For someone who was nearly 98 kilograms, this was no easy task. At first, the friction caused my inner thighs to peel, causing a burning pain. For a long time, my legs were so sore after running that I couldn't lift them. This pain made me want to give up, but for the sake of our weight loss plan and another beautiful plan, I gritted my teeth and persisted. My girlfriend also went from running three kilometers a day to successfully challenging ten kilometers one day. When I saw the number on the scale drop below 75 kilograms, we both felt the joy of success.

Exercise is sometimes like a lover; if you love her, she will love you back. If you neglect her, she will throw a little tantrum. Once, feeling that I had lost enough weight, I stopped running daily. The next time I tried to run ten kilometers, I clearly felt out of shape, and the number on the scale confirmed it: you can't slack off with exercise. After that, I never dared to be careless again. Gradually, exercise became a habit, and if I didn't run one day, I felt like I missed something, leaving an empty feeling inside.

Running in this still unstable place in Iraq, we have encountered some thrilling moments. I remember once, while jogging at dusk after work, we heard a burst of gunfire in the darkening evening, followed by a helicopter flying less than 50 meters overhead. Later, we found out that there had been a prison break nearby. It was truly thrilling. Looking at my girlfriend, she remained calm and unafraid, continuing to jog with me on the sandy ground.

When we got married, I hadn't lost the weight yet, so we didn't take wedding photos. This year, we made an exercise plan together, preparing to take beautiful wedding photos during our vacation back home. Of course, we couldn't leave out our nearly two-year-old son, the little star of our family. We want to preserve this beauty forever. Accompanying each other in exercise has broadened our minds. In this wonderful world of exercise, I have grasped happiness, believing that the once dark times are just faint colors, and with a heartfelt touch, tomorrow will be more beautiful, and we will cherish each other more.

In this foreign land, where we can't easily go out to prevent accidents, we are fortunate to have something we can do together: jogging. We enjoy a yogurt 'feast' after jogging, with local jam added to the yogurt. At that moment, nothing tastes better. The deliciousness of food requires pairing, like yogurt with orange peel jam; the beauty of exercise lies in overcoming what initially seemed impossible; the beauty of time is that after all the experiences, the person you love is still by your side, and when you look down at her, her eyes are full of you.

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Surprise Easter egg! Codoon running group cheers for the city frontrunners!

(Original article by Codoon user. For reprints, please contact Codoon editor.)