My Dearest
Readers,
after
returning from the Chicago Marathon I want to use today’s words to re-establish
what I formerly said about finishing, because one thing I knew and realized
right after the race was over…that you have no idea what finishing is unless
you do finally finish. In today’s discourse I want to use all phrases, all
textuality that is available to capture this overwhelming feeling of finishing
something, I will try to put this incredible feeling into words, for you to
grab it, to grasp it, to touch it, and to feel it!
Before the
race I was filled with a mixture of anxiety and excitement, inter-woven, I
could feel the time running out slowly, the race approaching more and more
every second; but one thing I never thought about: that I would enter and not
give it my all, all that I have to give. I always knew it was going to be hard,
and tough, and painful, all that I was aware of; but one thing filled me with
subliminal delight and eased my fraught mind: that I do face this big
task, that I do rise to this challenge, and that all preparations, all
training, all this hard work has finally brought me here, not just to a race,
but a damn test, an epitome of a statement I wanted to issue.
When I was
running my thoughts were wandering from one place to another, it was an emotional
turmoil in which I tried to keep control over myself, because I knew that today
was not practice, this was real…and it was on. The people cheering for the
runners did a great job reminding me of that all the time. As I kept running I
enjoyed the excitement of being in this race, when my eyes caught a poster with
inscribed words I will never forget in my entire life; it read:
“Pain is temporary, but finishing lasts a lifetime!”
These words still have the
ability to make me tremble like an aspen leaf and shake the depths of my body
and soul. They ultimately and permanently reminded me of the one thing I came
for, of why I was here: to finish!
Through the
entire race these words were running through my mind just like I was running
through the streets of the Windy City, they reverberated, echoed in my brain
and would never leave me. They reminded me over and over again to never stop,
to never give up in this long lasting fight with myself. They encouraged me to
remain strong, to overcome the pain that penetrated my fatigued legs like an
acute but somewhat steady twitch…but I knew that this was going to be temporary;
I wanted what was persistent, nothing evanescent but what is there constantly,
for a lifetime, I wanted what lasts forever…
…and after
an awful long time I finally realized and knew, what finishing really
meant; it is not just the act of bringing something to an end, it is not
crossing the finish line itself, no…it is everything in between, from the
initial moment you made your decision all the way to crossing this finish line…it
is the strongest of all will to never give up, to never stop; it is the
persistent will to complete, to not drop out halfway when you begin telling
yourself that it was probably the best idea. Finishing is the blood you sweat,
the fight with yourself, it is when you continue regardless of anything that
could stop you from going, when you go on, when you march on, with your head
held high. It is endurance, perseverance, it is competing, completing, and it
is succeeding; it is when you overcome all entities that tell you to stop, all
the burden, all the pain, it is when you never yield, when you’re still doing
when others don’t.
