I was once cooling down at the gym, and I saw ESPN's coverage of the Tokyo marathon. I saw the last 2 kilometers of the race winner and I was soo inspired.
Their was a leading pack made up of different races (by saying races here I meant races as in human genetic races), all colors represented. But there were two nationalities standing out, the ethiopians and the japanese. Everyone in the leading pack were competitive. They were tightly knit. They all ran close together, never letting anyone run ahead of the rest by more than two feet. None of them wanted to get left behind. An imaginary string attached to their waists kept them all together. And their faces were all close to crying. I swear I could feel their pain through the screen!
Then they passed the forty kilometer mark. They were just above 2 hours. Just 2 clicks more. All of a sudden they start throwing things on the ground, like visors, shades, belts and all other non-essentials they had on them. They threw with force, like boom!!! Games faces were on, as if the current suffering they've been enduring isn't enough yet. Then the group starts breaking up. My gawd!!! I was stading there beside the hamsters, close to crying myself! The face of the leader was screaming in pain! My golly! I was glued! What a run!
The awarding ceremony started immediately after the race. A Japanese guy won.
On a small corner of the screen, there was another panel showing what another camera was covering. There was a japanese lady who's legs just gave up around 36 kilometers. She just started walking and her legs bent like jello. Then she stood up. Crying, I bet. Hunched. Her hands were on her legs to support her and probably also to either heal them of their misery or affect them emotionaly with touch of concern.
Then she started walking again, wobbly. She fell again. All this was happening while the first placer was receiving his medal. I wanted to shout "Never give up!!! Never give up!!! Never give up!!!" But the only ones who'd hear me will be the hamsters running on the treadmill.