I have always admired runners. Running, this seemingly very simple and boring sport, is not easy to persist. About three years ago, My former colleague Cindy chatted about her marathon experience: the excitement at the start of the run, laborious and super tiresome during the process, the effort to keep up to the end, and the joy of reaching the finishing line, the feeling of achieving something great. I was green with envy hearing her experience, admiring the great qualities marathoners must possess in order to accomplish such feat. Cindy is not only an infectious disease doctor, she also lead her own research lab and published several high influence papers. She is a single mom, raised a son on her own. Her career achievement must have to do with the great qualities that carry her through the marathon game. About a year ago, impressed with the simplicity and easiness of running, I switched my exercise from swimming to running. Though I had a good start and kept it up, running about 2miles a day, I didnot particularly like it. To me, it’s just a procedure in life, similar to brush teeth in the morning or swipe a card upon arrival to work. Half a year ago during my morning run, I was surprised to run into Julia, my kids math teacher. She teaches grade 2-5 math. Because of her, my son started his love affair with math, and once said to me that when he grows up, he wants to be a great math teacher like Julia. Julia does not live in our neighborhood. She told me she is training for participating in this year’s marathon game. She run from her house to mine, about 12 miles distance. From then on, I quietly changed my daily run from 2miles to 3miles…. At the start of this year, I run into Julia again, she asked me whether I want to participate in 5K race. My automatic response was “No.” I’ve always considered myself as sport-challenged. Then, there was an inner voice said “why not?”. The great “why not” carry me to the “kilometer for kids “ race. With some coaxing I drag my daughter to participate in the race too. On the day of the race, everything went smoothly: I did not forget to bring stuff, there was no traffic jam, easy parking, great weather. I was full of confident and find a front position, dashed out with the blow of the whistle. The road condition was completely different from my daily run in our neighborhood, it was country road, a mixture of uphill, down hill and grass field. I think the organizer must understand that the darkest hour in the night is before down. They have arranged a big uphill toward the end of the race. My leg felt like carrying the lead upon climbing the last hill before the finishing line, I could feel the urge inside me to stop the run and just walk up……But once I persist through that period, everything felt so great, one word “cool”.
Now I have being running for more than a year now. I really start to like this exercise. It’s easy to do, and trains both your body and mind. By participating in the race, one not only enhance his/her own confidence, but also got to feel and share the enthusiasm from fellow runners. What a great thing to do.
