That's the best way I can describe my current training status for this marathon. I've survived it, or at least most of it. What remains is a roughly two-week tapering down program in which I run shorter distances and rest my body for the big race day.
These past few months were not without several injuries (which were mostly minor, but felt on the verge of becoming major), nor were they without days of utter doubt--physical, mental, and emotional. At different times the sun beat me down, exhaustion got the best of me, and pain overtook my body. But what prevailed throughout this most rigorous challenge I've ever willingly undertaken was an almost overwhelming desire to achieve something big in my life. All around me people were getting married, having babies, and--well, mostly having babies. So I made this experience my baby. I took great care in planning it, I nurtured it, and I tried to be patient with it in difficult times. Perhaps that's as far as I can reasonably stretch the metaphor (I could unreasonably take it much further, but I'll spare the reader--be grateful).
So while I don't have a human child to show for my efforts, I have--or will have, come marathon day--a renewed sense of self and a stronger belief in the human capacity to endure, overcome, and reinvent. I think these are also good contributions to society. In the end, I will have no qualms in saying that I, too, have achieved something great.
These past few months were not without several injuries (which were mostly minor, but felt on the verge of becoming major), nor were they without days of utter doubt--physical, mental, and emotional. At different times the sun beat me down, exhaustion got the best of me, and pain overtook my body. But what prevailed throughout this most rigorous challenge I've ever willingly undertaken was an almost overwhelming desire to achieve something big in my life. All around me people were getting married, having babies, and--well, mostly having babies. So I made this experience my baby. I took great care in planning it, I nurtured it, and I tried to be patient with it in difficult times. Perhaps that's as far as I can reasonably stretch the metaphor (I could unreasonably take it much further, but I'll spare the reader--be grateful).
So while I don't have a human child to show for my efforts, I have--or will have, come marathon day--a renewed sense of self and a stronger belief in the human capacity to endure, overcome, and reinvent. I think these are also good contributions to society. In the end, I will have no qualms in saying that I, too, have achieved something great.
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