Tag Archives: Marathon

When Life Gives You Lemons

Why the Fishes Multiplied

For about two months now, hubby and I have been confronted with the question of our mortality – well, hubby’s mortality, to be exact.

It is not easy to imagine this. Hubby does not drink, does not smoke, is an athlete – he lifts weights, plays basketball, soccer, rowing, just ran a marathon.   Healthy and active would be words to describe him.

Or so we thought.

When the doctor pronounced that his heart was weak, it sounded like a bad joke.  But tests after test confirmed that something was wrong.  But why it is happening, no one can explain.

And why him?

We talked to his heart (asked it to heal, asked it for forgiveness, told it we loved it), prayed, went to a Chinese herbalist, followed the doctors’ advise to the letter (no strenuous activity, drink medicine, no-fat diet), I tried to be a really good, dutiful, obedient, loving wife (was it too late?), but hubby’s heart continued to deteriorate and weaken.

Until the ultimatum – he had to have a pacemaker implanted.

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King of the Road and the Human Spirit

Waking the Dragon Within

Waking the Dragon Within

King of the Road: a marathon.

I stand stationary within the sea of runners, the camera of my eyes running through the length of everyone fighting the battle of man versus himself.  And I cannot help but be amazed – what is it that makes man want to go through this undertaking and fight this battle against gravity, against skyrocketing heart rates, against pain?  There must be pain: the initial brittleness of the bone, the resistance of the heart and then the pumping of the sweat through the glands until it breaks out and the player is bathed with the prize of having won against his will.  The most natural state, after all, is supine.  Yes, there must be pain.

Deliverance too.  Because otherwise, why would they do it?  I am almost sure that there is an insight here.

What is it?

I look about: they seem normal to me – some old, some new, maybe single, maybe fathers, maybe mothers.  Some children are on the grass, playing, cheering a parent or parents on.  I see celebrities: Rovilson Fernandez, a Kenyan runner, there were sightings too of Karylle.  But mostly there was humanity – converged in these acres of grass, in various poses as they flex their bones and mentally prepare for the run.

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