City-Pier-City

My friends were running the City-Pier-City marathon today and I went to say ‘Hello’ and to support. It was the first time I actually came to mingle with participants and supporters instead of bumping into them downtown and think to myself how crazy those people were.

I don’t run. I don’t understand why people would want to run. There are so many other ways to keep up your condition. Whereas running just seems totally pointless. Much more pointless than football even. Just think of it: these people go outside in any kind of weather (some even try to do that at -9 degrees Celsius) and run rounds in a park or somewhere. It’s not a way to reach a destination where they have some business or other. They are not chasing and catching anyone or anything. They just watch the time and are happy to reach a result that doesn’t lead to anything really. Whatever.

But today I stood along the course, very near the finish, and watched the people coming in after a run of ten or twenty kilometres. The sole fact that those people actually ran the whole distance and made it to the finish was striking to me. They were covered in sweat, breathing heavily and some hardly able to move their feet anymore. And still, despite all that, despite their red faces and wild eyes they had the energy to toss their hair and lift their arms to look good on the finish photos.

Respect!

I spotted The Spiderman at the finish of the 10km run.