The Circle is Now Complete...
Originally written on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 9:23pm
To borrow a line from "Star Wars: A New Hope", I thought it a fitting title for what I had in mind for this note.
One year. That's how long I've been racing. The 2007 Five Points of Life Marathon in Gainesville was the first time I had ever attempted running in a race since I graduated high school. Moreover, unlike all of the 5k races I ran in Cross Country, I had leap-frogged all the intermediate distances and jumped straight to the 26.2 mile marathon. As I've written before, I couldn't finish it. Despite all of the hard training and work I wasn't able to adapt to the extremely cold conditions and had to stop shortly before mile 23. I kept a positive outlook on the day and the race, but it really bothered me that the first test of my new conviction and lifestyle met with, in my eyes, surrender. I vowed that day never to quit again. No matter the cost.
One year. That's how long I've had to grow since that day. The countless hours I've spent training myself. The redoubled efforts to accomplish new feats and meet my ever-rising expectations and standards. Everything I had accomplished and the immeasurable amount of personal growth I had achieved in the past year was amazing...and yet I still had that blemish of giving up in my mind. So I signed up for the Gainesville marathon again. I approached the race with no expectations. Just finish the race. That's all I cared about.
One year. That's how long I had been waiting for redemption. Come race day morning, I had a very intricate plan. Run. A lot. Fast. Hey, it worked. The first ten miles I spent following my "pace pal". Basically the person I felt would keep a similar pace to what I felt comfortable running for the entire race. After that tenth mile, however, I was still feeling fresh and decided to start running "naturally". Running for me is a lot of fun, but it's also competitive. I'm not the kind of person to hang back and just keep the same constant pace throughout the race. I am much more likely to be a better runner when surrounded by better athletes. I am much more of aRoger Bannister than I am aJohn Landy. That is to say, I am only as good as my competition makes me. So at the halfway point (1:40) I still felt fresh and wanted to push myself to see how well I could do. So I ran naturally. I found the person ahead of me. I caught them. I passed them. I found the next person ahead of me. Repeat. I ran the second half of the marathon five minutes faster than the first, and finished seventh overall.
One year. That's how long I have been living my new life.
I felt great. I feel great. I had such an amazing time throughout the weekend and race. This past year has seen a number of changes to my personality, behavior, and general outlook on life. As with anything in life there are always ups and downs, but it is important to remember to keep that determination and positive spirit when things don't seem at their best; even more so than when everything in life seems to be falling your way. Everything happens for a reason; even if you do not see it right away. Without my failure last year I would never have pushed myself so hard to finish the Sarasota marathon two weeks later. I would never have received a phone call from a concerned friend to start resting and branch out. I would never have raced in my first triathlon a week later. I would never have known all of the joys of this one year.
One year. That's how long I have lived in this reflection. What does your reflection show you?
To borrow a line from "Star Wars: A New Hope", I thought it a fitting title for what I had in mind for this note.
One year. That's how long I've been racing. The 2007 Five Points of Life Marathon in Gainesville was the first time I had ever attempted running in a race since I graduated high school. Moreover, unlike all of the 5k races I ran in Cross Country, I had leap-frogged all the intermediate distances and jumped straight to the 26.2 mile marathon. As I've written before, I couldn't finish it. Despite all of the hard training and work I wasn't able to adapt to the extremely cold conditions and had to stop shortly before mile 23. I kept a positive outlook on the day and the race, but it really bothered me that the first test of my new conviction and lifestyle met with, in my eyes, surrender. I vowed that day never to quit again. No matter the cost.
One year. That's how long I've had to grow since that day. The countless hours I've spent training myself. The redoubled efforts to accomplish new feats and meet my ever-rising expectations and standards. Everything I had accomplished and the immeasurable amount of personal growth I had achieved in the past year was amazing...and yet I still had that blemish of giving up in my mind. So I signed up for the Gainesville marathon again. I approached the race with no expectations. Just finish the race. That's all I cared about.
One year. That's how long I had been waiting for redemption. Come race day morning, I had a very intricate plan. Run. A lot. Fast. Hey, it worked. The first ten miles I spent following my "pace pal". Basically the person I felt would keep a similar pace to what I felt comfortable running for the entire race. After that tenth mile, however, I was still feeling fresh and decided to start running "naturally". Running for me is a lot of fun, but it's also competitive. I'm not the kind of person to hang back and just keep the same constant pace throughout the race. I am much more likely to be a better runner when surrounded by better athletes. I am much more of aRoger Bannister than I am aJohn Landy. That is to say, I am only as good as my competition makes me. So at the halfway point (1:40) I still felt fresh and wanted to push myself to see how well I could do. So I ran naturally. I found the person ahead of me. I caught them. I passed them. I found the next person ahead of me. Repeat. I ran the second half of the marathon five minutes faster than the first, and finished seventh overall.
One year. That's how long I have been living my new life.
I felt great. I feel great. I had such an amazing time throughout the weekend and race. This past year has seen a number of changes to my personality, behavior, and general outlook on life. As with anything in life there are always ups and downs, but it is important to remember to keep that determination and positive spirit when things don't seem at their best; even more so than when everything in life seems to be falling your way. Everything happens for a reason; even if you do not see it right away. Without my failure last year I would never have pushed myself so hard to finish the Sarasota marathon two weeks later. I would never have received a phone call from a concerned friend to start resting and branch out. I would never have raced in my first triathlon a week later. I would never have known all of the joys of this one year.
One year. That's how long I have lived in this reflection. What does your reflection show you?
posted by Marcos Redondo - Running For Hope at
8:19 PM
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