Runner-4

September 17, 2012

After her coach quit, her motivation for running went down. She rested for several days.　She insisted on what her coach said, she shouldn't run if she felt bad. She felt bad because of him!
Her first marathon day was approaching. So she started running but she couldn't concentrate on it. Soon her boyfriend said that her form was not the one she had used with the coach. It made her upset. The more she pursued her original form the more her form became far from it. She was becoming confused.
Today she was sitting on the bench in the park. She was thinking about why humans run. She saw a child running. He fell down and

cried. His mother helped him to stand up. Then, amazingly he started to run again! She thought. "Wasn't he afraid of falling again? Maybe children are nearer to primitive animals than adults are. Why do animals run? Of course they run to get their food. Or small animals run to escape from being eaten. Only humans run without purpose. Without purpose? Can't fun be the purpose? Isn't fun a good reason?" She didn't know.
She saw a middle aged woman performing taichi in the distance. Her rhythm was very slow and her form was elegant. She was watching her action for a while. Suddenly she got an idea. She stood and posed with a running form and began to run very slowly, as slow as taichi. She remembered her coach said that she should listen to the voice from the depths of her mind. She concentrated on her form. She closed her eyes. She felt her form was starting to be better. She performed earnestly.
After her performance she opened her eyes and saw a lot of children were gathered around watching her. She felt embarrassed and said. "You guys, what are you doing?" The children looked too shy to say anything and stared at her. Soon one boy came to her and said. "We've never seen your type of running form. It's interesting. Can we imitate you?" She laughed and said. "Why not?" She started her running performance again, this time a little faster. The children followed her imitating her. This embarrassed her but at the same time she felt proud of it.
(To be continued...)