Competing with limited you

I thought I would never live anywhere out of Europe, I didn’t like spicy food and too hot weather. But I’m living in Sri Lanka now. Everyday I’m eating spicy food with my fingers, going work by two usually overcrowded busses, sweating like a hell there and doing other things I have never done in my life, like watching Cricket or Rugby. And I did participate in Marathon for the first time in my life.

Worth to try

And it leads to a thought that all limitations are self-imposed and if we are limited it’s just because we are too lazy at least to try. All boundaries are human-made and all our excuses are created to convince ourselves: too hard, too inconvenient, too big or rather too small, too far away and just impossible to overcome. Maybe. But what if it’s not?

To run a Marathon was a goal of this year. Well, I haven’t thought that this idea will be realized in Colombo.  Just wanted to try and feel it. By talking about Marathon I do not mean running all 42,196 km, although I would really like to, maybe some time later. But for it body needs to be trained more.

Different with one purpose

Around 3 000 people participated in this marathon, mostly Sri Lankans, simple ordinary people and only a bunch of trained sportsmen, mostly from Kenya. There were some Italians, Germans, Australians, Polish, Finish people as well. I saw so many people younger than me running in barefoot, much much older though attempting to finish all Marathon. Some people run for the result, others – enjoyed running. Some of them stopped to catch a breath, some run whole distance without even turning back or aside, but always forward. I saw many people were smiling, taking photos or capturing that actual moment. Colombo marathon was the first one for me, my friends and many more people, yet 100th for 54-year-old German. You can be anyone in this crowd, no one will blame you, no one will recognize you and your efforts to finish the distance. It’s a competition between you and limited you.

Inner strength

Me and 8 more people run 5 kilometers so called “fun run”. This distance was the shortest possible, but at it says, it’s all about fun. At a planning point there were more forced-volunteers, but for some important reasons (overslept or got drunk in evening before) only the bravest came. And it was really fun.

We started a quarter past 6 a.m. as it’s normally getting hotter and hotter gradually. The temperature was around 23⁰ C, 80 percent humidity. Organizers couldn’t close off all roads and traffic in junctions, hence cars, busses and three-wheels rode right next to runners. Some of them did comments others encouraged not to stop. But you forget others once you are running. Only thing that matters is you and your inner strength.

I used to do sport a lot during my school times at the age of 13-16. It was my passion and a life style. After school go for trainings, participate in races, try to reach the best result and push yourself at least a little bit more, have a better result than before – compete with yourself! And I think the feeling “be better than before” is still exist. You always want to finish the same task quicker, score better and learn more. I don’t know about others, but for me it helps a lot. At least I am trying to be better and reach for better.

And once you finish the distance, it really feels like “impossible is nothing”. Fully happy, satisfied, impressed and surprised that you made it. Most people who run together with me weren’t so enthusiastic about it before, but said they felt like running even more after finish.

I am a lazy person. I like comfort, delicious food, and easy life. As one of my friends says, I’m typical Taurus. But at the same time I want to compete with that and see my limits or find a limitless zone. This was a reason of the Marathon. 5 km is just nothing, it took about 28 min. But before that, it seems so long distance, or stupid thing – run for what? Well, as I said before, you never know where it could lead you. It could be various ends in this story, but anyways, it’s worth at least to try.