Marathon, An Analogy

I’ve never run a marathon. In fact, I barely run. But I have friends who run, and I am pretty sure you would do. If not, you can probably see from various social media posts about strangers who run marathons. I notice that from pictures of runners, that no one ever look good while running a marathon. Mind you, your body and all look well, especially a long while after running where you have showered, combed their hair and all, but my point is during the marathon itself, the runners’ face are never flattering. They normally look like they have some kind of hatred in them (maybe they hate lazy bums like me) or some people would say they have determination in their eyes. I’ve listened to the audiobook by Goggins who did countless marathon and triathlon, so I imagine other runners might be really fighting with something, and running a marathon is not a simple thing.

When marathons end though, the winners, or finishers, don’t mind about those pictures. It’s the picture on the podium or holding the medals that counts. No more distorted or contorted faces, trying to squeeze the last of their energy. Only smiling faces, happy with their achievement.

In both situation, the person in the picture is the same: the same runner. Regardless if he’s plain looking or Adonius looking, the picture at the end is what makes a better photo. People might laugh at the picture showing them struggling, and they might too themselves, but the end picture is what is normally shared on social media and be looked at in years to come.

My analogy is that in life, your hardship will never look pretty. But in the end, it is the smiling face, having overcoming the hurdles, is the one that will be looked at. So if you (or me) feel like life is ugly right now and things are not working in your favour, just imagine that right now, you’re in those ‘ugly’ moments while running a marathon, and it will pass soon enough.

Thank you for reading.