Long distance relationship

Huang completed the challenging route, which featured a total ascent of 436 meters, a descent of 438m, and a maximum hill gradient of 13.5 percent, in two hours, 41 minutes and three seconds.

Her personal best marathon time is 2:32:16, achieved at the 2023 Beijing Marathon last November. It was also the best performance by an amateur female runner in China.

Growing up in Zhaotong, in Southwest China's Yunnan province, Huang didn't discover her talent for long-distance running until she left her hometown to study computer science at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

In 2011, during a 3,000m race at a school sports meet, her outstanding performance caught the attention of a coach.

This marked the beginning of her journey into long-distance running, as she started training in her spare time and occasionally participated in competitions.

In 2015, she represented the university in a student marathon league held in Xiamen, Fujian province, where she completed her first full marathon with a time of 4:01:36.

After graduation, she became a programmer at Xiamen International Bank and settled in the city.

To relieve work-related stress, she resumed running as a way to unwind.

"Every run leaves me feeling refreshed, as if the stress has been released, and I also feel a great sense of achievement," she said.

She was also an active competitor in a local 5km night running league in Xiamen, noting that: "Training for 5km races helped improve my marathon performance."

Her competitive spirit drove her to continually pursue faster times. In the 2019 Beijing Marathon, she finished in 2:50:00.

"In 2020, I really wanted to run 5km in under 18 minutes, but I couldn't manage it. I felt I was plateauing, so I decided to join a running club to train and interact with others," she explained.