Embracing the Pain
Running competitions are a curious thing.
No matter the distance, there's always a moment when pain starts to overshadow everything. This happens at different points depending on the race length.
In a 5K, it usually hits in the last kilometer. You start feeling the distance already covered in your legs, and it gets progressively worse as you approach the finish line. That final kilometer often feels five times longer than the first.
For an 800-meter race, the process is the same but happens in much quicker succession. The first 500- to 600 meters feel like a breeze, and you think this might be the race where you break your record. Then, in a matter of seconds, reality sets in, and your legs fill with lactate before you can even blink.
In those last moments of a race, you feel absolutely terrible. You question your existence and swear you'll never run a race again. But then, the next day, you find yourself checking your calendar for the next race. If there isn’t one, you search online to find one. It's curious, isn’t it? One day you're telling yourself you've ran your last race, and the next day, you’ve forgotten the pain and only remember the thrill, convincing yourself that next time you can run faster and ignore the pain.
Life is weird like that. Or rather, sports are weird like that. There's something about the challenge of competing against others and your past self that speaks to your passion every time. We always want to run faster, jump higher, or cycle further, ignoring the negative aspects.
But then, life is weird anyway. And as long as sports remain a positive part of it, we keep at it. Because what else can we do? Life seems designed to throw challenges at you, again and again. It's the way we deal with them that defines us.