An echo of my February 11th post to one of my students.
This post is an extension of what I had written on February 11 on knowing someone who shares a similar passion. This time, the shared passion is not with any of my training or running partners, it is with one of my students who shares similarly the spirit of competition. To reiterate that extension from my February 11th post:
“Although the both of us don’t run or train together often, it’s amazing how much one can know about someone else just from running with him or her. To realize genuine happiness when someone’s doing well and to feel sadness when someone’s hurt or not doing well in a shared passion while still supporting the nature of the sport’s positive and competitive edge is something that contributed to my taking notice of how lucky I am to be a part of this sport.”
Today, one of my strongest students (by that I mean emotionally, mentally, and physically) was pacing intensely with me for a solid 10-minutes until she ran directly into a cage that protects the school’s fire alarm system. As I saw her collide forcefully into that stiff surface, my heart sank. Her face showed grimace, not the kind that she normally shows in a tough fight to finish the hard run, but the kind that showed confusion, anger, hurt, dissapproval. Although she was in pain, she kept on running to the finish for the next five minutes, albeit slower, but again, she was determined to finish. I believe she had showed herself to have a heart of a champion, but to me, all I can feel was hurt for her. At that moment, and still now, I wish the impact had happened to me instead of her, and I believe I will always feel that way. Through her pain, she kept her composure and poise, until she finally broke down teary eyed at the end of the run. At that moment, I too completely broke down because, for some reason, I feel that I have understood the relatively similar levels of hurt she had felt. The passion for the sport she and I have in common, I believe makes us stronger as individuals and, just as well, more compassionate to be even more human.
Many of her friends, including me, her teacher, are inspired by her and at the same time feel humility by her strength and humbleness.
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