Marathon, me, and my soul

I completed the Sundown Marathon this morning. This time round, I ran with an old friend. We both completed the race in excess of 5 hours. Throughout the race, there were moments of innocent arrogance, pain, doubt, and finally the joy of completeness when one crosses the finish line.

Innocent arrogance

During the first 15km, I actually felt like a champion runner that did'nt show much respect on the race. "It is only 42km, if I continue in this pace, within 3 hours plus I will finish the race. What's the big deal?" Such was the internal conversation between me and my soul then.

Pain

Reality began to set in from 15km onwards, the bodily fatigue began to set in and my steps were getting heavier. From 15km to 25km mark, my "running" steps were slower than normal walking steps. "Bro, are you sure you can take it?" My soul spoke to me.

Doubt

The challenging moment came during 25km to 35km. I began to doubt myself whether I could complete the race. My steps did'nt seem to gain much distance, and I was (forever)over-taken by fellow runners (young, old, fat, thin, men and women etc). "Bro, why are you doing this on Sunday morning? Give up, have a good meal and sleep." My soul spoke, and it was tempting to quit.

Joy

"Life is not about how you start, but how you end. See to it you complete the task you set out to do." Amazingly, my soul now encourages me! From 35km onwards, I added every single ounce of strength onto my feets, sometime even closed my eyes, sometime scream. "Yes, I ought to complete the race!" I did'nt care about the speed, I just wanted to propel forward.

And I crossed the finish line after 5hrs 49min 59sec!

What a race between me and myself; and what a conversation between me and my soul !

Join me next time round.