Personal Narrative: A Marathon

We finish what we start. This was the motto that kept me going during the strenuous training period for a marathon. But prior to that, I must confess, I wasn’t an athlete. I was never interested in playing sports, except for recreational badminton. During gym class, I would walk three quarters of the time when it time for the dreaded mile run. I preferred staying indoors and sitting on the couch and watch movies. The first time I had heard about a marathon training program, called Dreamfar, in my school, I thought to myself, what kind of crazy person would want to run a marathon? Never did I realize, eight months later, I would be that crazy person.
The first thing the representatives of Dreamfar told me was that I didn’t need experience to

join. Still, I was hesitant to join the program because twenty-six miles is insanely far. I couldn’t even run one mile without complaining of cramps and losing my breath after a couple of minutes. All of the negative thoughts swirling in my mind were discouraging me, reminding me that I could never run a marathon because I was too lazy, too slow, and unmotivated. I couldn’t picture myself actually enjoying running; the very thought made me shudder.
Although I was doubting myself, there was a small part of me that wanted to prove myself wrong.

After a couple of weeks of debating the positives and negatives of running and being persuaded by my friends and other Dreamfar members, I finally signed up. I filled out all the necessary forms for Dreamfar and future road races and reminded myself of Dreamfar’s motto: we finish what we start.
Perhaps I was too ambitious because the training was tiring. I ran after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and early Saturday mornings. I ran when it was five degrees, eighty degrees, in the snow and rain. Dreamfar’s unofficial motto was rain or shine.
The miles increased each week and before I knew it, the last long run before the marathon was only twenty miles. Then came the marathon, 26.2 miles of runners’ high, pain, agony, and unstable weather.
I replay the moment I reached the finishing line over and over in my head. The crowd cheered for the runners as they frantically shook cowbells to give us the last boost of energy. When I crossed the finished line, I felt a huge sense of relief. I was incredibly relieved that I was finally done with the marathon after being on the road for six long hours. I was more relieved because I proved my self-doubt wrong. The road to fighting self-doubt was long and exhausting. But, I look back on my experience and say that I am much more than my

self-doubt.