Experience Something!
“If you want to win something, run 100 meters.
If you want to experience something, run a marathon.”
Emil Zatopek (1922-2000)
I am amazed how some people are gifted with the ability to concisely describe complex feelings with few words. The above quote is one of the most well known from Emil Zatopek (aka “The Locomotive”). Zatopek, in addition to his well liked personality and temparement, was a runners’ runner. His legendary career probably reached its pinnacle when he achieved the “triple crown,” winning the 5000meters, 10000meters, and the marathon at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. This is thaught by many as a feat that will never be matched again.
Much can (and will) be said about Zatopek. However, I mention him here for the above stated quote attributed to him. Indeed he boiled down the thrill of the marathon to just two words- “experience something.”
The 30th edition of the Marine Corps Marathon was run today in Washington, D.C. This particular marathon has a special place in my heart because it was at this very race in 1999 (two weeks after getting married!) that I achieved my long held goal of completing a marathon. And, did I ever “experience something”!!
My finishing time was a pedestrian 5hr and 24min- but I got myself from the starting line to the finish line, 26.2 miles later, one step at a time. And in between, I experienced feelings ranging from energetic to utter exhaustion, from excitement to distress, and from hopfullness to being resigned.
Running and finishing the marathon taught me several lessons regarding literal and figurative roocha. First, if you set a goal, write it down on paper, keep it in sight, and are prepared to pay the price, then you can eventually achieve your goal and win your roocha. I have always wanted to run a marathon and I had put this goal down in writing as early as 1992. I had no idea what it was going to take to prepare for and run a marathon, but I knew I wanted to do it as one of my lifetime goals. Everytime I watched a marathon on TV, I would continue to think when it would be the time to run one. In the fall of 1998, a friend of mine (I will call him Al to protect his identity) and I made an agreement that we would train for and run the 1999 Marine Corps Marathon.
For the following twelve months, I can say I had the coming marathon in my mind on a daily basis. I went through many challenging early morning training runs, and a year later in October 1999, my friend Al and I toed the starting line of the marathon, and several hours later, crossed the finish line together. I actually hopped up and down with joy as I crossed the finish line with the realization that my goal had been achieved.
Second, when you feel like you can not go any further, you will be surprised how much roocha you have left in you, as long as you stay determined to put one foot infront of the other. Conventional wisdom says that most runners hit “the wall” in the marathon around the 20th mile. Although I am late for many things in life, I was quite early on this one. Somewhere between the 16th and 17th mile, I had a face-to-face encounter with “the wall”. It was everything I expected and more. The proverbial “piano on your back” or “being jumped by a gorilla” do no justice to what I felt when I hit the wall. I can honestly say that was the most exhausted feeling (even worse than what I felt at the finish line) I have experienced in my entire life. The last drip of energy had been sapped out of my body, and I wanted to just drop to the ground and give up right there and then. However, my friend Al kept urging me “just one more mile”, and as I kept taking one small step after another, I was eventually able to get to the finish line. Al kept warning me that I would forever regret it if I quit and I am so glad I did not quit at that spot. I can honestly say now that in all hurdles I face in real life roocha, I often time look back to the 16th mile of that marathon and tell myself that I can push myself just a little bit further despite the hurdle in front of me.
And this takes me to the third lesson. When you go out for a long roocha, in real life or otherwise, it is great to have someone by your side. Looking back to the ordeal at the 16th mile, I can definitely say that I would have quit had Al (who had already ran a marathon before) not been there to encourage me to keep going. When it was Al’s turn to struggle at the 21st mile, I was there to return the favor and keep him going. Together, we were able to get to the finish line and celebrate the joy of pushing ourselves to the limit and not having quit. In addition to Al, it was energizing to be cheered on by my lovely new bride (I’ll call her Azeb) and her brother (I'll call him Alex). Azeb and Alex ran from one point to another to cheer us on as we crossed certain points, and they were sights for sore eyes each time we spotted them. Seeing them each time seemed to provide a boost of energy for the next mile of the race. Having run many road races alone previously, I am so glad I had family and friends as support during the marathon and as someone to celebrate with at the finish line.
The fourth lesson, and perhaps the most gratifying one, is that your success in roocha will spur others on to be successful in their own roocha. I am currently not doing much roocha, but I am glad to see others continue. After completing my marathon (and talking non-stop about that experience), my younger brother and sister have gotten interested in the marathon and each have successfully completed more than one marathon. I have introduced another friend to roocha, and he has continued to complete one marathon every year for the past five years. But the ultimate joy is seeing young children of friends and relatives take up interest in roocha. Young Michael is tearing up all the competition at different races and he seems to be a star in the making. Young Omedla has taken recent interest in roocha and called me yesterday with the excitement of running a fast time in the mile. I hope that my own two children, Addis and Maya, will develop interest in roocha someday.
I wonder how all this would have been different had I dropped out at the 16th mile of the Marine Corps Marathon six years ago. Would my outlook in roocha and real life have been any different? Perhaps, but I will never know. I don't want to dwell much on that. Instead, I do want to urge you to take the great advise of the legendary Emil Zatopek to go out and “experience something.”
“If you want to win something, run 100 meters.
If you want to experience something, run a marathon.”
Emil Zatopek (1922-2000)
I am amazed how some people are gifted with the ability to concisely describe complex feelings with few words. The above quote is one of the most well known from Emil Zatopek (aka “The Locomotive”). Zatopek, in addition to his well liked personality and temparement, was a runners’ runner. His legendary career probably reached its pinnacle when he achieved the “triple crown,” winning the 5000meters, 10000meters, and the marathon at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. This is thaught by many as a feat that will never be matched again.
Much can (and will) be said about Zatopek. However, I mention him here for the above stated quote attributed to him. Indeed he boiled down the thrill of the marathon to just two words- “experience something.”
The 30th edition of the Marine Corps Marathon was run today in Washington, D.C. This particular marathon has a special place in my heart because it was at this very race in 1999 (two weeks after getting married!) that I achieved my long held goal of completing a marathon. And, did I ever “experience something”!!
My finishing time was a pedestrian 5hr and 24min- but I got myself from the starting line to the finish line, 26.2 miles later, one step at a time. And in between, I experienced feelings ranging from energetic to utter exhaustion, from excitement to distress, and from hopfullness to being resigned.
Running and finishing the marathon taught me several lessons regarding literal and figurative roocha. First, if you set a goal, write it down on paper, keep it in sight, and are prepared to pay the price, then you can eventually achieve your goal and win your roocha. I have always wanted to run a marathon and I had put this goal down in writing as early as 1992. I had no idea what it was going to take to prepare for and run a marathon, but I knew I wanted to do it as one of my lifetime goals. Everytime I watched a marathon on TV, I would continue to think when it would be the time to run one. In the fall of 1998, a friend of mine (I will call him Al to protect his identity) and I made an agreement that we would train for and run the 1999 Marine Corps Marathon.
For the following twelve months, I can say I had the coming marathon in my mind on a daily basis. I went through many challenging early morning training runs, and a year later in October 1999, my friend Al and I toed the starting line of the marathon, and several hours later, crossed the finish line together. I actually hopped up and down with joy as I crossed the finish line with the realization that my goal had been achieved.
Second, when you feel like you can not go any further, you will be surprised how much roocha you have left in you, as long as you stay determined to put one foot infront of the other. Conventional wisdom says that most runners hit “the wall” in the marathon around the 20th mile. Although I am late for many things in life, I was quite early on this one. Somewhere between the 16th and 17th mile, I had a face-to-face encounter with “the wall”. It was everything I expected and more. The proverbial “piano on your back” or “being jumped by a gorilla” do no justice to what I felt when I hit the wall. I can honestly say that was the most exhausted feeling (even worse than what I felt at the finish line) I have experienced in my entire life. The last drip of energy had been sapped out of my body, and I wanted to just drop to the ground and give up right there and then. However, my friend Al kept urging me “just one more mile”, and as I kept taking one small step after another, I was eventually able to get to the finish line. Al kept warning me that I would forever regret it if I quit and I am so glad I did not quit at that spot. I can honestly say now that in all hurdles I face in real life roocha, I often time look back to the 16th mile of that marathon and tell myself that I can push myself just a little bit further despite the hurdle in front of me.
And this takes me to the third lesson. When you go out for a long roocha, in real life or otherwise, it is great to have someone by your side. Looking back to the ordeal at the 16th mile, I can definitely say that I would have quit had Al (who had already ran a marathon before) not been there to encourage me to keep going. When it was Al’s turn to struggle at the 21st mile, I was there to return the favor and keep him going. Together, we were able to get to the finish line and celebrate the joy of pushing ourselves to the limit and not having quit. In addition to Al, it was energizing to be cheered on by my lovely new bride (I’ll call her Azeb) and her brother (I'll call him Alex). Azeb and Alex ran from one point to another to cheer us on as we crossed certain points, and they were sights for sore eyes each time we spotted them. Seeing them each time seemed to provide a boost of energy for the next mile of the race. Having run many road races alone previously, I am so glad I had family and friends as support during the marathon and as someone to celebrate with at the finish line.
The fourth lesson, and perhaps the most gratifying one, is that your success in roocha will spur others on to be successful in their own roocha. I am currently not doing much roocha, but I am glad to see others continue. After completing my marathon (and talking non-stop about that experience), my younger brother and sister have gotten interested in the marathon and each have successfully completed more than one marathon. I have introduced another friend to roocha, and he has continued to complete one marathon every year for the past five years. But the ultimate joy is seeing young children of friends and relatives take up interest in roocha. Young Michael is tearing up all the competition at different races and he seems to be a star in the making. Young Omedla has taken recent interest in roocha and called me yesterday with the excitement of running a fast time in the mile. I hope that my own two children, Addis and Maya, will develop interest in roocha someday.
I wonder how all this would have been different had I dropped out at the 16th mile of the Marine Corps Marathon six years ago. Would my outlook in roocha and real life have been any different? Perhaps, but I will never know. I don't want to dwell much on that. Instead, I do want to urge you to take the great advise of the legendary Emil Zatopek to go out and “experience something.”
posted by roocha at 10:55 PM
1 Comments:
Great article - keep plugging and don't stop your RooCHa.
For me, it has become a way TO life. I get bored and tired the days that I don't run.
I love the inspiration you've brought to children and other adults. I can share that experience myself.
Finally, from some expat to another and from a fellow marathon runner, not only do I appreciate you enthusiasm for the sport (which is easy to do as an Ethiopian) but the fact that you're walking the walk is HUGE. Keep it up, brother, and may the Lord be with you as you trek your miles...
A.S.
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