Mar 23, 2011

The Marathon

I believe that a good metaphor for life is a marathon. Just this past Sunday, my (ahem) "FIANCE" ran the LA Marathon. I was so nervous for him I don't know why. My only concern that day was finding him among 25,000 other runners it's not like I had to run anywhere. But looking for him at the finish line was like finding a needle in a hay stack only he actually responds when you yell his name out at the top of your lungs.

During the marathon, I was inspired to see names on people's shirts that said things like: "I'm running for Pancho" (just to keep the names confidential) haha. Many were handicap, one person who ran it last year in 2010 was blind, and there was a little boy among the crowd that just blew me away.

When we finally got to the finish line to greet Ivan, he was tired, wet from the rain, excited, with bleeding ankles and a smile on his face. We were all very proud. I realized that it's in moments such as these that you forget about everything you overcame to come to the finish line, the only thing that matters is the fact that you finished.

Life is kinda similar, the journey may be long, tiring, you might get some rain and a couple injuries and bleeding ankles per se but in the end, the only things that matter are overcoming those obstacles, making it to the finish line and achieving that goal, whatever that goal may be. It all takes preparation and persistence. Many of the things we do in life are not for ourselves, many of us do things for the people we love, like that person who ran for "Pancho". Some are running blind and some are handicap, but there's a saying in spanish that says: "Querer es Poder". Everything requires sacrifice and maybe some pain. My pastor always says that its those things that come easy in life are the things that leave easily too. In other words, easy come, easy go. And victories in the marathon called life are all worth the pain and getting a little blood on your shoes.

Random: When I took the SAT Exam in 2004, I remember a sentence that said "It's time we stop praising number 1 and start praising number 10,ooo". You don't have to be number one, as long as you finish, that's all that matters.

So, who wants to run?



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