Thursday, February 11, 2010
with a little help from my friends.
sunday morning. i got out of bed, took a warm shower, and put my running shirt on. a shirt that has always (since October) two things pinned to it from the night before- a race bib in the center, and a pink ribbon at its heart. i greet my mom farewell, she wishes me luck, and i head out into the night. an hour later, as fireworks finished dancing in the dawn, i said a silent prayer, and began another run.
but this was no ordinary run. for the first time, i would be running a half-marathon distance of 21.1 kilometers, and with it, the pledges of 20 heroes who answered my invitation to donate to this cause through the efforts of this organization. for my first time running a distance i had never run before, i needed these people to make this run not just for myself, not for themselves, either, but for others whom we had the power to help.
it was not by coincidence that i decided to run my first 21K to this race in particular. it has become a watershed running event, because the half- and full-marathon distances would bring us up Manila's aptly named 'Skyway'. For the half-marathon runners, just under half the entire route would be run through this tollway, which, at its highest, towers 40 meters above the city. there were more than a handful of runners who had to stop to take pictures of themselves and of the stunning backdrop to their sunday morning run.
beginners' training programs for half-marathons often take you to 18K, but do not extend beyond it. at that point, having run just under two hours, with a major elevated overpass still ahead, through 5 water stations, having had 3 cycles of alternating pain and relief (or maybe numbness already) on both my knees, with my thighs and calves screaming for oxygen from all the exertion never done before, my mind began to wander... could i really finish this race?
and that's when my thoughts went to the 20 people who made commitments to donate, should i finish it. while the amounts they pledged served as a positive motivation, my mindset was not as motivation, but a challenge, a call to step up. i knew that i could not let them down and fail, being so close to the end. this was not about me, and maybe this was partly about them, but it was mostly about the amount i knew we would donate upon my finishing, and how much that amount would provide to educate children across the country to alleviate illiteracy, unemployment, and, hopefully, poverty. it was about the people whom we might never meet, never encounter, and yet we would change their lives, not only because we had the capacity to do so, but because we chose to do so.
and so i forged on, oblivious of the pain in my legs, numb to the friction of my soaked shirt, and determined to finish the race, and finish as hard as i could. and i crossed the finish at 2:24:51, a number that, to me, was just that- a number. i had come into this race not to make any significant time, but to finish. in finishing, i became a conduit for a handful of people to help even more. we finished this race. we became a helping hand. we contributed to make a positive change.
to those 20 people, i wish i had more to say to you. but there are never enough words.
sunday morning. i got out of bed, took a warm shower, and put my running shirt on. a shirt that has always (since October) two things pinned to it from the night before- a race bib in the center, and a pink ribbon at its heart. i greet my mom farewell, she wishes me luck, and i head out into the night. an hour later, as fireworks finished dancing in the dawn, i said a silent prayer, and began another run.
but this was no ordinary run. for the first time, i would be running a half-marathon distance of 21.1 kilometers, and with it, the pledges of 20 heroes who answered my invitation to donate to this cause through the efforts of this organization. for my first time running a distance i had never run before, i needed these people to make this run not just for myself, not for themselves, either, but for others whom we had the power to help.
it was not by coincidence that i decided to run my first 21K to this race in particular. it has become a watershed running event, because the half- and full-marathon distances would bring us up Manila's aptly named 'Skyway'. For the half-marathon runners, just under half the entire route would be run through this tollway, which, at its highest, towers 40 meters above the city. there were more than a handful of runners who had to stop to take pictures of themselves and of the stunning backdrop to their sunday morning run.
beginners' training programs for half-marathons often take you to 18K, but do not extend beyond it. at that point, having run just under two hours, with a major elevated overpass still ahead, through 5 water stations, having had 3 cycles of alternating pain and relief (or maybe numbness already) on both my knees, with my thighs and calves screaming for oxygen from all the exertion never done before, my mind began to wander... could i really finish this race?
and that's when my thoughts went to the 20 people who made commitments to donate, should i finish it. while the amounts they pledged served as a positive motivation, my mindset was not as motivation, but a challenge, a call to step up. i knew that i could not let them down and fail, being so close to the end. this was not about me, and maybe this was partly about them, but it was mostly about the amount i knew we would donate upon my finishing, and how much that amount would provide to educate children across the country to alleviate illiteracy, unemployment, and, hopefully, poverty. it was about the people whom we might never meet, never encounter, and yet we would change their lives, not only because we had the capacity to do so, but because we chose to do so.
and so i forged on, oblivious of the pain in my legs, numb to the friction of my soaked shirt, and determined to finish the race, and finish as hard as i could. and i crossed the finish at 2:24:51, a number that, to me, was just that- a number. i had come into this race not to make any significant time, but to finish. in finishing, i became a conduit for a handful of people to help even more. we finished this race. we became a helping hand. we contributed to make a positive change.
to those 20 people, i wish i had more to say to you. but there are never enough words.
