"Hello everyone, my name is Riruko. I like comics and running. I often ask myself, what is running for? I spend a lot of time on it, and even spend my own money to run marathons abroad - not to mention I am not a professional athlete ——Is it worth it?
What’s interesting is that every time I finish running, many problems are solved.
Li Luzi, a runner born in the 1980s. Runners in Guangzhou may have encountered her by chance on the Pearl River. This fair and slender girl has refreshing short hair. She loves running but can never run fast, but she is always the happiest when running. At first glance, Riruko, a girl who looks like an ordinary girl, has one special skill, and that is painting! Yes, 's other identity is the legendary - Man! painting! Home!
△ is a beautiful girl cartoonist!
is different from those cartoonists who have the impression that they "never leave the front door nor step out, live in seclusion in a mansion, and spend endless royalties in this life"... Well, it's different. Riruko's daily life is a " positive energy girl ", She clocks in for a morning jog and clocks in with drawing in the evening. The running stories she draws are both funny and thought-provoking, conveying philosophical thoughts on life. Recently, Riruko revised every bit of her drawings since running into a book and published her running picture book "Girl, Run". However, the students who read this comic said in surprise: "I didn't expect you to be such a goddess!" , why is this? It's a long story. If you don't know Riruko yet, you might as well start by getting to know her teammate - " dream "...
Chapter 1
The taste of dreams, is it bitter or sweet?
In fact, "Girls Run" is not Riruko's debut picture book. Before this book, Riruko published 3 comics called " Cat and Rabbit Crazy ". The protagonists of Cat Rabbit Madness, a pair of young lovers, "Six-eared Rabbit" and "Magic Cat" are based on Riruko herself and her boyfriend Ryota who has been dating for 12 years.
In "Cat and Rabbit 1", Li Luzi and Liangtian first entered the society. In order to "find a roof to cover their heads", they lived a life of misery in one rental house after another from Shanghai to Guangzhou; "Cat and Rabbit" "Crazy 2" tells the story of how this poor young couple absorbed every bit of happiness in life from the simple matter of going to the supermarket; "Cat and Rabbit Crazy 3" is Riruko's personal growth story, recording 6 years of working hard in society. During the years, she transformed from a useless office worker to a full-time cartoonist.
"I will do the original painting for , I only do the painting work! " Riruko once said to the interviewer "without shame" when interviewing at a game company. Later, her boss said that she was hired based on the stack of manuscripts she brought. "Although you don't know anything about games, at least from these paintings, it can be seen that you are a person who truly loves painting."
△ Liluzi and Liangtian, Six-eared Rabbit and Magcat
Liluzi was born in a small county in Jiangxi. When she was a child, she only loved drawing and painting, so her academic performance was very poor and she was ostracized by her classmates. She finally got through the gloom. In her adolescence, she was admitted to a university in Shanghai based on her painting, but her days of freewheeling quickly came to an end. After graduation, her weak personality immediately suffered a "devastating blow" from society. At first, she wanted to draw comics and submitted her works to magazines, but she was told that "the story was boring and the drawing skills were immature." After that, due to the pressure of survival, she went to a game company in Shanghai and got her first job in her life. .
"For me, working is different from my crazy desire to draw comics. I feel that those things are not what I want to do, so I am very passive. When I was in middle school, because I didn't like school, I developed a bad habit. She used to take leave to escape, so it was the same with her first job. Although she woke up in the end, it was too late. "
After completing a big project in her first company, Riruko re-understood the meaning of work, but Ironically, she really fell ill at this time, and when she returned to the company, a pink slip was waiting for her.With no income and rising rents in Shanghai, Liluzi and Liangtian made a decision: to return to Guangzhou for development. She temporarily gave up her dream of being a cartoonist, but first looked for a way to survive in reality.
△ After settling down in Guangzhou’s “urban village”, waiting for her dream to come true
After five years of working life, the former “work scumbag” Riruko learned to take responsibility. At the same time, even when she was working overtime in the dark at the game company, she did not Stop drawing. Finally one day, the editor of a magazine extended an olive branch to her, "The day I learned that could be serialized, I was so happy that I ran around twice in the company's water bar with joy! "
Chapter 2
girl , why are you running?
"Hello everyone, my name is Riruko, and I am a cartoonist. My life now only has manuscript paper and endless work plans..."
△ The editor's private collection of "Cat and Rabbit Crazy", one edition per edition Yinoh
From being discovered by a comic magazine and serialized to the publication of "Cat and Rabbit Madness", with royalties and income from some commercial activities, Riruko has been able to support herself by drawing and has become the cartoonist she dreamed of. However, The test of life seems to have just begun.
"Cat and Rabbit Crazy" is a comic that resonates very well with young people. Nowadays, every Chinese New Year and holiday, a large number of young people who come to work in big cities suffer from "fear of returning home" because when they go back, their parents and aunts and uncles will either nag or point fingers at your life, which is like a hell on earth. , so I always find various excuses not to go home. Riruko also drew this kind of herself in "Cat and Rabbit Madness". It wasn't until her grandmother passed away that she regretted missing out on the opportunity to spend time with her family just because she didn't like to listen to nagging, and re-understood her parents' love for her. care. A reader told her that when she read this article, she happened to be with a sick family member in the hospital and burst into tears on the spot. Some readers said that while riding on the train, they saw the six-eared rabbit resigning to the game company where he had worked for 5 years and mustering up the courage to pursue his dream of being a cartoonist. He happened to be listening to the theme song of "We Will See You Again". , moved to tears.
However, although this "post-80s life drama (live drama - life full of drama)" has a group of readers who are attracted by it, it is just a flash in the pan that only appears on the comic book shelf in bookstores. People of the same age group The "marginal book" that is rarely heard of by those born in the 1980s is short for and unsaleable .
△ He built a rented house in an urban village with nothing as his own "comic studio", where he spent days and nights rushing to write manuscripts.
"I was most stressed when signing the book. Not many people came, and then they came with me." There is a long queue for autograph signings by best-selling authors, and the frustration is so strong..."
The three volumes of "Cat and Rabbit Crazy" have a total of 20,000 copies printed. In comparison, the best-selling American-style comics nowadays, the most popular works are sold 30,000 or 40,000 copies is not a problem.
"I once went to a bookstore to look for Cat and Rabbit Madness, only to find that Cat and Rabbit Madness was in the children's section."
The poor sales of Cat and Rabbit Madness made Riruko a little depressed, " I am old and don't have much money, so the book sales Not good, I started to doubt my own worth, and suddenly felt very inferior . "
On days like this, Riruko started running.
Initially, I was invited to participate in a social event and I couldn't refuse it. After I went there, I found out that it was a running event. At that time, Riruko was wearing a random sweater and skirt. She was slovenly and with a haggard appearance. She felt that she was out of tune with those sunny runners. She suddenly felt inferior and tried to escape by pretending to be sick. However, the friend who invited her to participate in the event was too enthusiastic, so she had to get in the filming car and follow the team of runners. Unexpectedly, watching others run 5 kilometers, looking at those people who were sweating, rosy and happy, made her instinctively yearn for , so she got off the car and started running with the large group.
Just like that, Riruko followed everyone and ran 5 kilometers. She herself couldn't believe that she had run so far. Moreover, just one run made her mood change so much.."From that time on, I fell in love with running, and also fell in love with the confident and cute self after running!"
△ Many streets in Guangzhou can be seen running by Li Luzi
Luzi and I discussed "Why do we run?" "topic of. We all believe that running has nothing to do with age, gender, extraordinary athletic ability, or appearance and personality. The need for running comes from inner strength.
"The underlying reason why I started running is because of my anxiety about the current situation.. I used to want to be a cartoonist, but now I have realized it and published a book. But in fact, I never wanted to face the market until I had to face the competitive environment. I started to feel confused, and I started to want to escape, and I often doubted whether I had any talent. "
Running allowed Riruko to get closer to her heart. While running, she drew pictures of herself, "I am an easy person. An impatient person, running makes me reflect on myself on a deeper level and helps me live in the present moment. "
Chapter 3
A Better Transformation
"Running combines two of the most basic human desires - to escape from fear and to run towards beauty. The rise and fall of long-distance running. There are always fluctuations in the economic cycle, and running will be popular when the economic environment is bad. For individuals, when the situation is bad, running is a way to get out of trouble. "
——"Born to Run"
△ Editor's private collection. "Girl, Run"
signed and drawn by Riko Riko. If you read "Girl, Run" from beginning to end, you will find that by the time you see 1/4 of the way through, Roko is a person who can just run 6 kilometers. Rookie, when I saw 2/3, Riko ran 17 kilometers for the first time, and when I saw the ending... well, Riko was running confidently on the track of her first half marathon.
If you have also run, you will understand that the accumulation of distance is not just the accumulation of distance, and running on the same road every day does not mean repetition.
The publication of "Girl, Run" also went through many twists and turns. First, the publishing house with which it had long-term cooperation refused to publish a "money-losing book" again, so it went to many publishing houses, either because it wanted Riruko to join a large number of runners. The guide turned into a book of practical training information, because "I don't know how to sell such a subject." This time, Riruko actively took the lead in planning the marketing plan and no longer "sit back and wait for death". Her efforts also led the publishing house to actively cooperate.
"Someone asked me, after you challenged that half marathon, did you really experience a different life? Now I can answer without hesitation: "Yes! "From being accustomed to dependence to taking action, from being afraid of difficulties to daring to challenge, from hating yourself to recognizing yourself, this is a different life."
△ Riruko participated with the heroines of "Girls, Run" In the 2014 Taipei Women's Half Marathon
"Girls, Run", in addition to Riruko herself, the running stories of four other girls were also drawn. Taiwan's "Running Goddess" Ouyang Jing once suffered from depression, and through running He redeemed himself; Riruko’s good friend Mochi successfully lost weight through running and gained beauty and confidence; Guangzhou running friend Jolin found his dear partner through running... drew these stories because Riruko wanted to share the benefits of running. Joy , in the process of revising the content before publishing the book, Luzi did not slow down. She joined the 42 Brigade running group, completed her first full marathon in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and even returned after finishing the marathon. Challenged hiking.
△ The 38km LSD training for the whole marathon was completed!
"After watching "Girl, Run", many former fans said that they wanted to go running immediately after watching it! A friend of mine is a nutritionist. She didn't do much exercise originally, but after reading my book, she said , she went out running for 7 days in a row, and every day she ran longer than the previous day. I was really happy to hear this feedback.”
△ During the competition, experience the festive atmosphere
Morning!
For Riruko, the new day now starts with calligraphy practice and morning running at 6 o’clock, and naturally a delicious breakfast after the run is indispensable. However, since she accidentally carried the "goddess baggage", she didn't dare to go out dressed casually for a while. "Actually, my book says 'Run and you will be the goddess in your mind'. But everyone will equate it to 'you are a goddess when you run', so that's it..."
Although Riruko said this, at this moment, I still want to say it to her and all the girls who are reading this article. ： Run! You will see your transformation. Run! You are a goddess!
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- Small Travel recommendation -
Li Luzi’s first marathon is her!
2016 Chiang Mai Marathon
(click to read the original text for details)
