Viva Christo Re!

The marathon is completed, and this with the result of my life. I do not know yet precisely, what the time was because just before the start my watch let me down and refused to operate. I know that the gross result was 4:14. The tail of the marathon where I found my proper place had to wait for a while before the time was measured.

The strategy was as follows: I start with those who ran 4:30 and than after a while I leave them and run at my own pace. Then I catch those who aim at 4:15 and I run to the finishing line. That’s what I did. I caught them before the half-way point and since I enjoyed running, I went on going at my own pace. The idea was that if I hit the wall, I could always come back to them. And I was right. Though I finished before them, I owe it to their pace makers that in spite of weakness I worked myself up and kept the pace.

Marathon is something special. This is a big challenge, an opportunity to face up to a real weakness when all that’s left is the will to fight while the body says “Enough”. On many, exceptionally many occasions I saw other runners who gave up or, worse still, were taken by ambulances. This shows that it is s true challenge. We know very well what’s happened with our runner at the half-marathon on the Uznam Island. I am proud of him because he didn;t give up and he keeps on training.

Next year we’ll fight again. And now we’re going to celebrate.

Fr Jay